A few weeks later, a well-known sex worker in Unterweger’s hometown went missing. Her body was found several months later, and she was killed the same way as Bockova. A third woman, Heidemarie Hammerer, was killed shortly after the others. She was found on her back, also covered in leaves. All three were strangled either with their bras or stockings.

The fourth woman Unterweger killed was different. She, too, was a sex worker, but Unterweger took a different approach in the days leading up to her killing. He called her parents a few times beforehand, and he taunted them about how their daughter earned her living. Her corpse was found six months later. She, like the three previous victims, was also found with lingerie around her neck.

Four more prostitutes who worked in Vienna went missing within one month of each other. They were all strangled with an article of their own clothes. It was clear to the Austrian police now that they were dealing with a dangerous serial killer.

Related: The Little-Known Serial Killer Who Murdered 23 Men

August Schenner was 70 years old at the time of the slayings. He was a retired investigator who told the Austrian police that the circumstances of prostitutes’ deaths reminded him of a killer he had caught nearly 20 years older. That killer was none other than Jack Unterweger.

As police began to close in on him, Unterweger was hired by an Austrian magazine to write an article on crime in LA that focused on the differences between the Austrian and American perceptions of prostitution. While on his trip to Los Angeles, Untweger went on ride-alongs with the LAPD and gave them insight on catching killers.

Poet of Death: The Twisted Case of Jack Unterweger, the Vienna Strangler

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