Berlin doctor accused of murdering eight patients by setting fire to flats to destroy evidence

berlin - A doctor from Berlin who was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of murdering four patients is now also accused of killing four others, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office in the German capital.

A doctor from Berlin, Johannes M. (40), who specializes in palliative care and worked for a nursing service, has been accused of murdering eight patients. He was initially taken into custody on August 6 for the murder of four patients.

The police examined the files of several patients and conducted forensic investigations, including exhuming two bodies, leading to suspicions that the suspect had more victims. The motive behind the killings is believed to be the perpetrator's desire to kill.

The 40-year-old doctor allegedly administered a mixture of drugs to a 70-year-old patient on June 24, 2022, setting fire to his apartment afterwards to cover his tracks. Similar incidents reportedly occurred on January 29 with a 70-year-old man and on April 4 with a 61-year-old woman. On April 29, he is said to have given an 83-year-old man in a nursing home a deadly cocktail of drugs.

The four victims revealed in August were women aged between 72 and 94 who lived in Neukölln and Treptow, two working-class districts in Berlin, and were killed between June 11 and July 24, 2024. Although his victims were seriously ill, they were not terminally ill. The suspect has not responded to the allegations, according to prosecutors.