Franz Schmidt

Franz Schmidt (24 February 1930 – 14 May 2017) was an Austrian serial killer who was twice sentenced to life imprisonment, once for a child murder in 1957 and for a double murder in 1984. Accounting sentences for other convictions up to his release in 2013, he was one of the longest-serving convicts in the country's history. Early life and crimes Franz Schmidt was born on 24 February 1930, in Weißenkirchen im Attergau. The first child of an unmarried maid who had had an affair with her employer, he was adopted at an early age and later sent to the Kaiserebersdorf Educational Institution, where he trained as a carpenter. After his release, he moved to Wels, married and had a child. In 1957, Schmidt was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Innsbruck Regional Court for killing a 14-year-old with a pitchfork handle, in addition to receiving an 8-year sentence for arson and attempted murder of another young woman. During his detainment, he confessed to attacking a 38-year-old woman in Pöham, and after a psychiatric reevaluation, the examining psychiatrist's report attested that he lacked any moral insight and exhibited sadistic tendencies. Nevertheless, on July 22, 1981, Schmidt was paroled for good behaviour, and was given a 10-year probation period. Double murder On 14 June 1984, Schmidt broke into a house in Redlham, where he mercilessly stabbed to death 39-year-old Gertrude Reiter and slashed the neck of her 3-year-old daughter, Barbara. Their bodies were found by the head of the family, Franz, who quickly notified the gendarmes. After a few months of gathering evidence and witness testimonies, the police arrested Schmidt on August 3.