Kurt-Werner Wichmann (8 August 1949 – 25 April 1993) was a German serial killer who was possibly linked to the Göhrde Murders. Youth Wichmann was first sent to a young offenders' institution at the age of 14 after he had threatened a subletting tenant in his parents' house with a knife and had tried to strangle her. At that time, Wichmann did not live at home but at a care home in Wichernstift. He did not want to stay there any longer, and to this end stole money from his parents. His father was a violent man who reportedly mistreated his sons. At 16, Wichmann attacked a cyclist and sexually abused her, for which he received six months' probation. In 1967, he threatened police officers with a small-calibre weapon. He was sentenced to one year of juvenile detention. In 1968, 38-year-old Ilse G. was shot four times in the back with a small-calibre rifle while riding a bicycle in a forest near Lüneburg. She died on the spot. Witnesses saw a youth fitting Wichmann's description fleeing the scene, and the police started a file on him. Although small-calibre rifles and newspaper clippings were found in his possession, Wichmann was not charged. In 1970, Wichmann was sentenced to five-and-a-half years of juvenile punishment for the rape of a hitchhiker, whom he also tried to strangle. The hitchhiker managed to persuade him to let her go. When Wichmann read the news in the newspaper, he felt misrepresented and went to the police to correct this, which led to his arrest. Description Wichmann was described as a blond, down-to-earth man with a well-groomed appearance. A witness described him as a silent man with "cold, icy eyes eyeing everything". Others described him as an arrogant and egotistical loner. He lived in a house in a cul-de-sac on the forested edge of Lüneberg. He grew up in that house, had a German shepherd, and leaned toward fascist political attitudes – on his property he occasionally hoisted the Reichskriegsflagge. In the course of time, he had also made several modifications to the house, including secret caches and a door that led to nothing. Disappearance of Birgit Meier In 1989, a few weeks after the disappearance of Birgit Meier, connections between her and Wichmann became apparent. Initially, investigators suspected that she had died by suicide or had been killed by her husband, but they later focused the