Bernhard Prigan

{{short description|German serial killer (born 1920)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}

{{Infobox serial killer

| name = Bernhard Prigan

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| alt =

| birth_name =

| alias = "The Strangler"
"The Highway Killer"

| birth_date = 1920

| birth_place = Germany

| death_date =

| death_place =

| cause =

| conviction = Murder

| sentence = Life imprisonment

| victims = 3–16

| beginyear = 1947

| endyear = 1952

| country = Allied-occupied Germany, West Germany

| states =

| apprehended = 7 November 1952

| imprisoned =

}}

Bernhard Prigan (born 1920) is a German serial killer who killed at least three women between the end of the 1940s and the early 1950s.At the end of 1952 he was 32 years old, cf. {{cite web |url=http://www.abendblatt.de/archiv/article.php?xmlurl=http%3A%2F%2Farchiv.abendblatt.de%2Fha%2F1953%2Fxml%2F19530121xml%2Fhabxml53_1555.xml&pdfurl=http%3A%2F%2Farchiv.abendblatt.de%2Fha%2F1953%2Fpdf%2F19530121.pdf%2FASV_HAB_19530121_HA_010.pdf |title=Noch 16 Verbrechen ungeklärt / Neue Großfahndung nach einem zweiten Täter |trans-title=Still 16 crimes unsolved / New large-scale manhunt for a second perpetrator |website=abendblatt.de |language=de |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025141230/http://www.abendblatt.de/archiv/article.php?xmlurl=http%3A%2F%2Farchiv.abendblatt.de%2Fha%2F1953%2Fxml%2F19530121xml%2Fhabxml53_1555.xml&pdfurl=http%3A%2F%2Farchiv.abendblatt.de%2Fha%2F1953%2Fpdf%2F19530121.pdf%2FASV_HAB_19530121_HA_010.pdf |date=January 21, 1953 |accessdate=March 8, 2012 |archivedate=October 25, 2014}}''

Prigan always sought his victims in the immediate vicinity of controlled-access highways and major roads, and it is unknown how many of these so-called "Highway murders" he committed. He was described by the press as "The Strangler", and "The Highway Killer",{{cite web |url=http://erichs-kriminalarchiv.npage.de/1941-1960/1-seite-mit-25-faellen.html |title=Der Fall - Bernhard Prigan |trans-title=The Case - Bernhard Prigan |website=erichs-kriminalarchiv.npage.de |language=de |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723163946/http://erichs-kriminalarchiv.npage.de/1941-1960/1-seite-mit-25-faellen.html |archivedate=July 23, 2012 |accessdate=July 23, 2012}}

On 7 November 1952, Prigan was arrested in a village near Mannheim. He confessed to three murders, including the murder of 49-year-old seamstress Wilma Sulzer from Altlußheim five days earlier. A bread crust found at the crime scene near the main road to Mannheim contributed to his arrest. Based on this, authorities tracked down the bread factory's location. There, a trader described seeing a man with a headband. A patrolman, whom Prigan had asked for directions, later recalled talking to him. On the day of his arrest, he had killed 51-year-old housewife Margarethe Pohl in the forest with a club. He was observed by a student, who fled out of fear. Prigan caught up to him, asking him about a pump and advising him not to go to the woods any more, as there were "drunk guys".

On 19 December 1953, Prigan was sentenced to three times life imprisonment after four days of trial. Unlike today, a total sentence of several life imprisonments was not yet formed.{{cite web |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2907943 |title=Hunchback Gaoled for Murders |newspaper=Canberra Times |date=December 21, 1953 |access-date=March 8, 2012}}