Entire family bludgeoned to death with farming tool before murderer moves into home

On a spring evening in a sleepy German village over 100 years ago, an entire family was brutally murdered in what would become one of the most puzzling unsolved crimes of the century. On March 31, 1992, the Gruber family were bludgeoned to death with a mattock, similar to a pickaxe, on their small farmstead in Waidhofen, Bavaria.

Four days later, the bodies of Andreas Gruber, 63, his wife Cäzilia, 72, their widowed daughter Viktoria Gabriel, 35, Viktoria's children Cäzilia, 7, and Josef, 2, and their maid, Maria Baumgartner, 44, were all discovered. But what happened during this time was extremely unusual. The perpetrator moved into the Grubers' home for three days, eating their food, feeding their animals, and warming up in front of their fireplace. In the months leading up to the murders, strange occurrences began plaguing the farmstead.

Viktoria also began a relationship with Lorenz Schlittenbauer, who would later discover the bodies and become a prime suspect, after his first wife died.

The Gruber family's previous maid, Kreszenz Rieger, quit after reportedly hearing strange noises coming from the attic and believing the house to be haunted.

Andreas also discovered a newspaper from Munich, 43 miles away, that he did not purchase, and no one in the area was subscribed to.

Mere days before his death, the father told neighbours that he had found tracks in the fresh snow from the nearby forest to the farm's machine room, the lock on which was broken.

Later that night, the Grubers heard footsteps coming from the attic, but Andreas found nothing suspicious when he went up there.

When his neighbours heard of these incidents, they offered help that was rejected, and nothing was ever reported to the police.

On the afternoon of Germany's most gruesome unsolved crime, Maria arrived at the farmstead for her first day at work.

Hours later, Viktoria, her daughter, and her parents were lured into the barn through the stable and brutally beaten to death one by one with the mattock.

The perpetrator then went into the living quarters, where he killed Josef, who was sleeping in his bassinet, and Maria, who was also in bed.

Four days later, coffee sellers Hans and Edward Schirovsky arrived at the farmstead to take an order, only to find no one responded to their knocks on the door and windows, and the garden was empty.

Concerns for the Grubers' whereabouts continued to grow as they stopped attending church, and the children were truant from school.

On April 4, Schlittenbauer sent his son Johann and stepson Josef to try to contact the family, going to the farmstead himself when they found nothing.

He and his neighbours, Michael Poll and Jakob Sigil, entered the barn to find the bodies of Andreas, his wife, daughter, and granddaughter. Maria and Josef were then discovered in the living quarters.

An investigation into their deaths was conducted by a team from Munich, led by Inspector Georg Reinbruber.

He quickly ran into problems as the crime scene was heavily contaminated by people who moved the bodies and potential evidence, and even cooked meals in the kitchen.

Investigators initially operated under the assumption that the motive was robbery and questioned travelling craftsmen, vagrants, and people from nearby villages.

However, they soon discovered that the cattle had been fed, the entire supply of bread had been eaten, and meat had recently been cut from the pantry.

Suspects were repeatedly arrested for years after the murder, but none were ever charged, and the case was officially closed in 1955.

Today, the case is the subject of many theories from true crime enthusiasts. Some think that Viktoria's husband, Karl, came back to Germany to commit the attack while everyone thought he'd been killed in WWI.

Others believe that Schlittenbauer was involved due to his relationship with Viktoria and claim that he was actually Josef's father.

It's thought that he wanted to marry Viktoria, but when her father forbade it, he launched the violent attack.

Suspiciously, he also broke into the barn when he discovered the bodies, despite having a key to the house that went missing just days before the murders.

Despite numerous theories circulating over the past 100 years, the case remains unsolved.