September 22, 1874 - Ernst August Wagner

Ernst August Wagner (22 September 1874 – 27 April 1938) was a German teacher and mass murderer. On 4 September 1913, Wagner fatally stabbed his wife and four children in Degerloch.

Wagner cited his fear of being exposed as a zoophiliac as the primary motive. He was the first person in Württemberg to be found not guilty by reason of insanity after several psychiatric assessments had diagnosed him with paranoia. He was brought to an asylum in Winnenthal, where Wagner wrote several plays and dramas, none of which were ever performed. He died there of tuberculosis in 1938.

The case was of immediate interest due to Wagner's troubled personal life, marked by mental illness and familial issues, which was seen as having heavily contributed to the murders.

Content sourced from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst August Wagner under CC BY-SA 4.0.