Man killed in mysterious crossbow deaths ‘led medieval cult and treated women like slaves’

Torsten Weiss ran Middle Ages-themed shop displaying weapons, Knights Templar pennants and bloodstained mannequin

Peter Stubley
Thursday 16 May 2019 14:16 BST
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A police investigation began after three people were found dead in a hotel on the banks of the river Ilz in Passau, southern Germany
A police investigation began after three people were found dead in a hotel on the banks of the river Ilz in Passau, southern Germany

The man found shot dead with two women in a mysterious crossbow murder-suicide pact was the leader of a medieval cult, according to German media reports.

Torsten Weiss, 53, was described as a domineering “sex guru” who treated the female members of his group like “slaves”, using psychological manipulation and physical force.

He also ran a Middle Ages-themed shop displaying weapons, Knights Templar pennants and a bloodstained mannequin.

The new details emerged as police continued to investigate a total of five mysterious deaths linked to the group.

Their investigation began on Saturday when staff at the Triftsperre hotel in Passau, Bavaria, discovered the dead bodies of Weiss, his 33-year-old partner Kerstin Enders and Farina Caspari, 30.

Mr Weiss and Ms Enders, who had both been shot in the chest and head with crossbow bolts, were lying in bed holding hands next to their wills.

Ms Caspari was found on the floor at the other end of the room with a crossbow wound to her neck. Three crossbows were recovered.

Police said they had no evidence anyone else was involved, suggesting that Ms Caspari killed the couple before taking her own life.

Two days later, police found the dead bodies of two other women at Ms Caspari’s apartment nearly 700km north in Wittingen, Lower Saxony.

Local media identified them as Ms Caspari’s 35-year-old girlfriend and a 19-year-old woman known as Carina U.

The cause of their deaths remains unclear, detectives said. No crossbows or arrows were found.

Mr Weiss was “in relationships with several women whom he ruled over like a master”, according to reports in the German tabloid Bild.

His former landlord told the newspaper that the women kept their heads bowed and behaved like slaves.

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“Investigators suspect they were all members of a kind of sex circle with a focus on the Middle Ages,” reported German TV station RTL, which described Weiss as a “sex guru”.

Police said their investigation revealed “no evidence of a dispute between the parties involved”.

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