Mom Fired Seven Shots At Her Daughter’s Killer
Marianne Bachmeier: Vigilante Justice for a Lost Daughter
Marianne Bachmeier’s life was forever changed on May 5, 1980, when her seven-year-old daughter, Anna, was abducted and murdered by Klaus Grabowski.
Anna had skipped school and tragically fell into the hands of the convicted s** offender,
who strangled her and dumped her body in a canal.
Grabowski had a history of sexual offenses, including chemical castration, which he later tried to reverse.
During Grabowski’s trial in 1981, grief and outrage consumed Bachmeier.
On the third day of proceedings, she smuggled a small pistol into the courtroom and fired seven shots, hitting him six times.
She later explained, “I wanted to shoot him in the face.
Unfortunately, I hit him in the back. Hopefully, he’s dead.” Grabowski died instantly.
Bachmeier was convicted of manslaughter, not murder, and sentenced to six years, serving three.
Public reaction was divided: some sympathized with her grief, while others criticized her actions.
After release, she lived abroad before returning to Germany, where she died of pancreatic cancer in 1996,
and was buried beside Anna. Her case remains one of post-war Germany’s most notorious acts of vigilante justice.
