Marianne Bachmeier was born and raised in the small, central German town of Sarstedt on June 3rd, 1950. Her childhood and young adulthood was riddled with bad decisions and complications. At 16 years old, Marianne had her first child and just two years later she found herself pregnant again. Her first two children were both put up for adoption. To turn turbulence to turmoil, shortly before giving birth to her second child, she was raped. Even worse still, her assailant was never identified. On November 14th, 1972, Marianne had her third and final child, Anna Bachmeier. Marianne raised Anna herself.

Fast forward to May 4th, 1980, when Anna was just 7 years old, she and her mother got into an argument. This prompted Anna to skip school the next day to spite her mother.

On May 5th, 1980, Anna was abducted by their neighbour, Klaus Grabowski, a 35 year old convicted sex offender who had previously been arrested and prosecuted for the sexual abuse and attempted murder of two young girls. At this time in Germany, convicted sex offenders were castrated. Unfortunately, a lapse in oversight allowed Grabowski to undergo hormone therapy just two years later to restore his libido. On that day in 1980, this deranged, child-molester invited sweet Anna to his house, effectively holding her hostage and ultimately strangling her before packing her body into a box to be buried. After being arrested that same day, he claimed Anna was blackmailing him, claiming she would tell people he inappropriately touched her unless he paid her money.

Rather than show a shred of accountability, Grabowski continued to blame his 7 year old victim for his actions. Stating that Anna’s desire to “extort” him caused him “anger and fear.” Having had to sit through three days of excruciating detail and recall of the violent crime, Marianne had been through enough. On March 6th, 1981, she arrived at the Lübeck District Courthouse with a .22 caliber Beretta 70 pistol smuggled in her coat. While Grabowski was in the front of the courtroom, Marianne walked about 10 feet behind him, dawned the pistol, and fired at least seven shots, connecting with six and killing Grabowski instantly.

Throughout Marianne Bachmeier’s life, she constantly felt as if she had no control. But when the only thing in her life that she truly loved was taken away from her, she forcefully took control into her own hands ensuring this “man” could never make any other mother feel the way she had felt. On March 6th, 1981, Marianne Bachmeier became known as “Mother Vengeance.”