Ex-boyfriend killed Jenni

“He certainly trivialized the crime for himself”

So full of life: Jenni in a dirndl. The murder suspect shows what he thinks of the rule of law.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/M. Prewein zVg)

Jennifer Scharinger was missing for eight years, now her ex has made a gruesome confession. The "Krone" asked forensic psychiatrist Sigrun Roßmanith how a person can live with their atrocity for years - and what made them confess in the end.

After eight years of uncertainty, light has finally been shed on the missing person mystery surrounding law student Jennifer Scharinger. As reported, her ex-boyfriend - Andreas G. (name changed) - made an extensive confession on Monday.

Yes, he once killed his girlfriend - on January 22, 2018 - in her apartment in Vienna-Brigittenau. In the course of an argument. The then 21-year-old had wanted to end the relationship with him, "then there was a fight between us, I pressed my arms against Jenni's neck - and strangled her". Forensic psychiatrist Sigrun Roßmanith explains how the perpetrator was able to live with the guilt for years.

"Krone": Dr. Roßmanith - a man allegedly voluntarily confesses eight years after committing a horrific crime. Why do you think he did this?
Sigrun Roßmanith: I assume that this voluntary confession was triggered by fear; by the tormenting fear within him that he would soon be convicted of his crime anyway. Apparently, he was unable to withstand this pressure mentally - and therefore "fled the scene", so to speak. With a confession about his terrible actions.

Forensic psychiatrist Sigrun Roßmanith(Bild: Imre Antal)

But how was the perpetrator able to live - for so long - with the knowledge that he had killed a person?
He probably repressed it, perhaps even convincing himself that the crime had not actually happened. However, he probably trivialized what had happened in order to ease his conscience. By blaming the victim and unfortunate circumstances in his mind. As a result, he deliberately took the blame away from himself.

But he was repeatedly confronted with the terrible suspicions against him, through questioning by the CID; through the many searches by the mother of the "missing person", through her repeatedly - and publicly - expressed conviction that he was the murderer of her beloved daughter ...
All of these were, of course, "pinpricks" that gradually brought his construct of lies crashing down. Eventually so much so that he preferred to hand himself over to the police rather than continue to be the hunted. By the victim's family, by the authorities. And probably also by himself.