A serial killer dubbed the “Aachen Strangler” was found dead in his prison cell after electrocuting himself while engaging in “autoerotic actions,” police have said. 
 
 Egidius Schiffer, 62, who was sentenced to life in 2008 for murdering five female hitchhikers between 1983 and 1990, was still hooked up to live electricity when his cell was unlocked on Sunday morning. 
 
 “He removed a cable from his bedside table lamp, then wound it around his nipples and his penis and stuck the end in a power socket,” said Candida Tunkel, a spokeswoman for Bochum prison. 
 
 A post-mortem established the cause of death as heart failure following an electric current through the chest. Police said there were no indications of suicide or foul play and his lawyer said… ||||| A GERMAN serial killer who murdered five female hitchhikers accidentally killed himself performing a strange solo sex act in his prison cell over the weekend, reports claim. 
 
 Egidius Schiffer, dubbed the "Aachen Strangler", gave himself a fatal electric shock after tying a cable from a lamp around his penis and nipples, police said. 
 
 WIKIMEDIA 2 German serial killer Egidius Schiffer, 62, accidentally killed himself during a bizarre solo sex act in his prison cell 
 
 He was still tied up when guards at Bochum prison, in the North Rhine-Westphalia state, opened his room up on Monday morning, the Times reported. 
 
 Prison spokeswoman Candida Tunkel said: "He removed a cable from his bedside table lamp. 
 
 "Then he wound it around his nipples and his penis and stuck the end in a power socket." 
 
 A post-mortem established Schiffer, 62, died of heart failure as a result of an electric current flowing through his chest. 
 
 Alamy 2 Schiffer was found dead in his cell in Bochum, western Germany, when guards opened his door on Monday morning 
 
 Cops said they did not suspect foul play and his lawyer claimed the murderer was not suicidal. 
 
 Schiffer was sentenced to life in 2008 for a string of grisly murders committed between 1983 and 1990. 
 
 The authorities used DNA evidence to convict him 18 years after his final murder. 
 
 He picked up his victims, one of whom was just 15, as they tried hitch rides home from nightclubs before handcuffing and tying them up. 
 
 The monster raped three of the women and buried them in the woods. 
 
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 The former insurance salesman was arrested back in 2007 while stealing scrap metal. 
 
 He decided to give a DNA sample voluntarily which eventually connected him to the unsolved murders. 
 
 Schiffer initially confessed before withdrawing his testimony, claiming he was sadomasochistic and the thought of being locked up excited him. 
 
 We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. ||||| A German serial killer accidentally electrocuted himself in prison after taking part in an autoerotic sex act, officials say. 
 
 "He removed a cable from his bedside table lamp, then wound it around his nipples and his penis and stuck the end in a power socket," said Bochum prison spokeswoman Candida Tunkel, according to U.K. newspaper the Times. 
 
 The Times reports that 62-year-old Egidius Schiffer, known as the "Aachen Strangler," was still plugged into the device after he was discovered by guards at Bochum prison, located in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia state, on Monday morning. 
 
 A post-mortem evaluation determined that Schiffer died as a result of heart failure caused by the electricity coursing through his body, according to U.K. tabloid The Sun. 
 
 Schiffer was serving a life sentence for murdering five female hitchhikers, one of whom was only 15 years old, between 1983 and 1990. They were all trying to get home after spending nights clubbing in northwestern Germany, according to the Times, and he handcuffed and strangled them with a piece of rope. Further, he raped three of the women, and disposed of their bodies in the woods. 
 
 He was sentenced in 2008, after authorities utilized DNA evidence to lock him up. 
 
 According to The Sun, Schiffer, a former insurance salesman, was arrested in 2007 for stealing scrap metal. He was linked to the then-unsolved murders after he voluntarily provided a DNA sample. 
 
 Claiming to be sadomasochistic, he initially confessed to the killings because he was supposedly exhilarated by the thought of being put behind bars. However, he eventually retracted his testimony. 
 
 Police said they did not suspect any foul play in Schiffer's death, and his lawyer asserted that the convicted murderer was not at all suicidal, The Sun reports. 
 
 [Credit: Wikimedia Commons]
– It involves a lamp—that's all you need to know. For those reading on, serial killer Egifius Schiffer died in what appears to be an autoerotic sex act while serving life in a German prison, Oxygen reports. Schiffer, 62, was found last week hooked up to a lamp cable at Bochum prison in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia. "He removed a cable from his bedside table lamp, then wound it around his nipples and his penis and stuck the end in a power socket," a prison spokeswoman tells the Times of London. A post-mortem found that Schiffer died from heart failure due to excessive electricity in his chest. Known as the "Aachen Strangler," Schiffer initially got away with murdering five female hitchhikers in the 1980s. But the former insurance salesman was picked up in 2007 for stealing scrap metal, and agreed to give up a DNA sample that linked him to the murders, per the Sun. A self-proclaimed sadomasochist, Schiffer then admitted his guilt because he was apparently excited about going to prison—but later changed his mind and claimed innocence. Police say they doubt anyone killed Schiffer, and his lawyer says he wasn't at all suicidal.