Inside Mainz forensic medicine: the state's only autopsy institute, from the Weitefeld killer to the Luise case

The only institute in Rhineland-Palatinate

The Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University Medical Center Mainz is the sole facility of its kind in the state. Its roughly ten physicians perform autopsies, write expert reports, and handle all legally relevant deaths, from traffic accidents to drownings and unexplained fatalities. Director Tanja Germerott, who has led the institute since 2017, describes the work as varied: sometimes manual labour, sometimes a puzzle. "I never know what the day will bring," she says.

I never know what the day will bring.

The institute occupies a building in the Oberstadt district and houses three autopsy tables. Two stand side by side in one room, while a third is isolated in a neighbouring room, a layout that proved useful during the coronavirus pandemic and remains important for infectious cases such as tuberculosis or meningitis.

Notable cases

Several high-profile autopsies have been conducted here. In 2025, the body of the 61-year-old Weitefeld triple murderer was examined and identified after four months without a trace. The man had allegedly killed a couple and their 16-year-old son in April. A witness later found his body in a field near a small stream. Germerott recalls that the case was not technically extraordinary, but the surrounding media attention made it stand out.

Another case that drew nationwide horror was the autopsy of 12-year-old Luise from Freudenberg in the Siegerland. Two girls, aged 12 and 13, confessed to the killing. The institute also played a role in identifying victims of the 2021 Ahr valley flood, a catastrophe that destroyed many dental practices and complicated the comparison of dental records.

Tools and techniques

Beside the stainless steel tables lies an assortment of instruments: knives, scalpels, rib shears, a saw for opening skulls, a hammer, and metal wedges for splitting strong bones. Staff work in protective clothing, plastic aprons, cut-resistant gloves, and face masks. Depending on complexity, the "pure table time" can range from one and a half to seven or eight hours, Germerott explains.

We see some heavy stuff. You have to be able to handle it and not be too sensitive to smells, especially in summer.

Identification relies on individual features such as tattoos, scars, and surgical implants, whose serial numbers can be traced. Fingerprints, teeth, and DNA are also used, as are the highly individual paranasal sinuses. All these methods require comparison material, such as earlier X-rays or CT scans, which were often lost in the flood.

The human toll

Germerott finds cases where bodies have lain unnoticed in homes for a long time particularly sad. "Behind that is the fact that these people were apparently missed by no one," she says. The work demands resilience and a tolerance for decomposition odours, especially in summer. The institute remains the central point for all forensic medical questions in Rhineland-Palatinate, combining craftsmanship with the intellectual challenge of reconstructing the final moments of a life.