July 17, 1975

July 17, 1975, marks the discovery of human remains at Zeißstraße 74, the finding that turned a firefighting operation into a murder investigation and brought Fritz Honka under immediate suspicion.

Discovery at Zeißstraße 74

During efforts to extinguish a fire, firefighters found body parts in a side compartment of the building’s attic. The remains indicated that a homicide had taken place. The discovery was concrete and abrupt: hidden remains surfaced not through a search for a missing person, but in the course of dealing with a fire.

Investigation and confession

Suspicion quickly focused on the forty-year-old night watchman Fritz Honka. After remaining silent for several days, he confessed to the murders during questioning on July 29, addressing criminal investigators Peter Seeler and Hans-Peter Untermann. The interval between the discovery and confession made July 17 the point at which the concealed killings entered the investigation.