[imagesource: The Telegraph]

Stefan Trogisch, pictured above, was a German overhead power line technician who disappeared on September 6 last year after taking a taxi to Pankow, a suburb in northern Berlin.

The last person to see him alive, other than the man he was meeting, was the taxi driver.

Trogisch was meeting Stefan R, with the two having connected via a gay dating website.

Stefan R now stands accused of luring his victim to his home, where it’s alleged he killed, dismembered, and ate parts of Trogisch’s body to satisfy cannibalistic sexual desires.

The Guardian reporting below:

The case was first uncovered last November, after human bones were found in a park in the north-eastern Pankow district of Berlin.

On closer examination, police investigators identified the remains as belonging to the body of missing Berliner Stefan T.

After searching the victim’s phone, investigators were led to the house of the accused, where they found traces of blood, more remains and a set of suspicious work tools.

Other body parts were allegedly scattered across Pankow, and police also found 25 kilograms of sodium hydroxide, a chemical that can be used to dissolve human remains, in the house.

Court proceedings kicked off this week, with lawyers for the accused saying he did not wish to testify while seeking a suspension of the trial.

The judge cancelled the rest of the week’s proceedings, and the trial will proceed next Tuesday.

Prosecutors allege that the accused regularly searched Google using terms related to cannibalism, and was active in online “cannibal forums”.

Over to The Telegraph:

Originally from a small village of just 400 people in southwest Germany, he moved to Berlin in 2011 and was a teacher at a local secondary school at the time of his arrest.

Lawyers for Trogisch’s family allege that Stefan R used the name “Masterbutcher79” online, a possible reference to Armin Meiwes, who was known as the “Master Butcher of Rotenburg”.

Meiwes was convicted of a 2001 cannibal killing in 2006, having castrated, killed, and eaten a man he met over the internet.

In that case, Meiwes presented video footage he had filmed, which appeared to show that he had his victim’s consent to carry out the killing.

Despite that, Meiwes was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

There is no evidence to show that Trogisch consented to his killing.

If found guilty of the murder, Stefan R will face life in prison, with a verdict expected to be handed down in October.

[sources:guardian&telegraph]