Hubert Pilčík (October 14, 1891 – September 9, 1951) was a Czechoslovak serial killer. After the Second World War, Pilčík started smuggling people across the border from Czechoslovakia into West Germany. He started killing his customers in 1948, when he was in his fifties. After his capture, Pilčík committed suicide in a prison in Plzeň on September 9, 1951. He was accused of five murders, although the exact number of his victims is unknown. It is possible he killed tens of people. Biography Hubert Pilčík was born on October 14, 1891 in Nový Hrozenkov, Vsetín District in what is now the Czech Republic. He went from job to job, ending up in the Škoda factory in Plzeň, where he remained until his retirement. His wife, Antonie, was 11 years younger. They had no children. After the Communist Party came to power in 1948, up to 250,000 people emigrated from Czechoslovakia. Many people used the services of human smugglers to go to West Germany or Austria. On the evening of March 6, 1951, a fire broke out in an abandoned forestry cottage called "Lipovka". Burnt human remains were found the next day. Investigators determined that the body was burnt using accelerants. An autopsy concluded that the remains belonged to a man who was likely to have been burnt alive, but no definite conclusion was reached. On July 20, children playing in sand near the city of Senec found a human leg. This led to the discovery of a shallow grave containing the decaying remains of a young woman. She was gagged and had a rope around her neck. Through a specific dental work, the victim was identified as Renata Balleyova, a photographer from Plzeň. Interviews with relatives determined that Balleyova and her father Emanuel were intending to defect from Czechoslovakia. One of her relatives provided letters from Bavaria which "proved" that Balleyova, Emanuel, and his 12-year-old niece were in West Germany. Soon, the investigators focused on Pilčík, then a retiree with a good reputation. Pilčík was known to be a nature-lover and claimed to have been a sailor who survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Pilčík was considered dangerous; therefore, in September, a special team of police officers entered his home, along with two members of SNB, disguised as electricians, and arrested him. They found four firearms and numerous items in suitcases (from various victims); they also rescued Emanuel's