July 3^rd. On this day in 1976, German police made a shocking discovery that ended a decades-long killing spree.

They arrested Joachim Kroll — a quiet, reclusive factory worker — who turned out to be one of Germany’s most horrific serial killers.

Kroll had murdered at least 14 people over 21 years. His victims were mostly women and young children, and his crimes involved strangulation, mutilation, and in some cases… cannibalism.

He was finally caught because of a clogged toilet. When neighbors complained, plumbers discovered human flesh in the pipes. The trail led directly to Kroll’s apartment in Duisburg, where police found the body of a missing 4-year-old girl—partially dismembered and stored in the refrigerator.

In custody, Kroll confessed to a string of murders with chilling calm. He admitted to eating parts of his victims to “save money on food.”

In 1982, he was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 1991.

His arrest exposed major flaws in West Germany’s policing—several innocent men had been wrongly convicted for murders Kroll actually committed.

Joachim Kroll remains one of the most disturbing figures in European crime history—a predator hiding in plain sight for over two decades.