Overview
- Meiwes and 43-year-old Bernd Brandes met on cannibalism fetish forums and agreed that Brandes would be killed and eaten.
- In March 2001, Brandes traveled to Meiwes' home in Wüsterfeld near Rotenburg, where Meiwes recorded the events on video.
- Meiwes amputated Brandes' penis and attempted to cook and serve it before fatally stabbing him as he weakened from blood loss.
- Investigators found the body had been dismembered, with parts hung on hooks and stored in a freezer, and estimated Meiwes later consumed about 20 kilograms of flesh.
- An initial manslaughter verdict highlighted the lack of a cannibalism statute in Germany, and a retrial upgraded the conviction to murder for sexual gratification; Meiwes remains imprisoned.