She walked into a courtroom, pulled out a gun, and shot her daughter’s murderer seven times.

On March 6, 1981, Marianne Bachmeier walked into a courtroom in Lübeck, Germany, and emptied a Beretta into Klaus Grabowski, the man on trial for murdering her seven-year-old daughter Anna. Grabowski, a convicted sex offender, had abducted, abused, and strangled Anna in May 1980. During the trial, he attempted to smear Anna’s reputation, claiming she had tried to seduce and blackmail him. Marianne smuggled the gun past security, fired eight bullets—seven of which struck Grabowski in the back—and instantly killed him. She was convicted of manslaughter and served three years. Germany has debated her actions ever since.

She walked into a courtroom, pulled out a gun, and shot her daughter’s murderer seven times. On March 6, 1981, Marianne Bachmeier delivered a verdict that no court could match. The third day of the trial for Klaus Grabowski, the man accused of murdering her seven-year-old daughter Anna, was about to become the last day of his life.
Anna’s story ended on May 5, 1980. After a routine argument with her mother, the seven-year-old skipped school to visit a friend. She never arrived. Grabowski, a 35-year-old local butcher with a history of sex offenses, intercepted her. He held Anna captive in his apartment for hours, subjected her to unspeakable abuse, and finally strangled her to death. He packed her small body into a box and stashed it near a canal bank. His own fiancée, suspicious of his behavior, alerted authorities. He was arrested that evening at his favorite pub.
Grabowski’s past ignited public fury even before the trial began. He was a convicted sex offender who had served time for assaulting two young girls. In 1976, while in prison, he underwent voluntary castration. Two years later, he began hormone treatments to reverse the procedure so he could pursue a relationship with his fiancée. The image of a man who had deliberately undone his own chemical castration to live a normal life while Anna lay dead was more than many could stomach.
During the trial, Grabowski confessed to the murder but denied sexual abuse. Instead, he employed a defense so repulsive that it pushed his victim’s mother past the breaking point. He claimed the seven-year-old had attempted to seduce and blackmail him, demanding money under the threat of telling her mother he had touched her. The court remained skeptical, but the smear campaign against her deceased daughter was more than Marianne could bear.
On the third day of the trial, Marianne smuggled a Beretta M1934 past security and armed guards. Shortly after entering the courtroom, she drew the weapon from her handbag and emptied the magazine. Seven of eight bullets struck Grabowski in the back, killing him instantly. “He killed my daughter… I wanted to shoot him in the face, but I shot him in the back… I hope he’s dead,” she reportedly said as she dropped the gun.
The world watched as the “Revenge Mom” was arrested and charged with murder. Initial media coverage canonized her as a grieving saint. But as journalists dug into her past, uncovering the two previous adoptions and her life as a pub owner, the narrative shifted. The “perfect mother” image cracked under tabloid scrutiny. She had given up two children for adoption as a teenager. She ran a bar. She was not the idealized figure the press had initially constructed.
In 1983, the court convicted Marianne of premeditated manslaughter and unlawful firearm possession. She received a six-year sentence but served only three. The verdict split Germany. An Allensbach Institute survey showed the country almost evenly divided, with roughly equal thirds viewing the sentence as appropriate, too light, or too harsh. The debate over what justice meant in her case has never fully settled.
Following her release, Marianne moved to Nigeria, married, and later relocated to Sicily after a divorce in 1990. A pancreatic cancer diagnosis eventually brought her back to Lübeck. In a 1995 interview, she remained defiant, admitting the shooting was a calculated act intended to stop Grabowski from further desecrating Anna’s memory with lies.
Marianne Bachmeier died in a Lübeck hospital on September 17, 1996. In accordance with her wishes, she was buried next to Anna. Decades later, her case remains the definitive debate on vigilante justice. Was she a criminal who subverted the law, or a mother providing the only “fair” punishment for an unrepentant predator? The answer depends on who you ask. But one thing is certain: Klaus Grabowski never had another chance to drag Anna’s name through the mud. Marianne made sure of that.