Hans Schmidt: The Only Catholic Priest Executed in the United States
On the morning of February 18, 1916, Hans Schmidt entered the death chamber at Sing Sing Prison. Moments before being seated in the electric chair, he murmured, "My last word is to say goodbye to my dear old mother!" Within minutes, he was dead—forever infamous as the only Catholic priest to be executed in the United States. His crime? A brutal and ritualistic murder that horrified the nation, yet was only the tip of the iceberg in a life filled with deception, perversion, and possible additional murders.
A Troubled Beginning in Bavaria
Hans Schmidt was born in 1881 in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. His childhood was bleak—his father was known to be violently abusive, regularly beating both Hans and his mother. But it was not merely the trauma of his upbringing that set him apart. From a young age, Schmidt exhibited deeply disturbing behaviour. He was fascinated by dismemberment, drinking blood, and death. His family recalled how he once beheaded two of their geese and kept the severed heads in his pockets. He spent much of his free time at the village slaughterhouse, captivated by the sight of animals being butchered.
Despite these disturbing tendencies, Schmidt pursued a religious vocation. He was ordained in 1904, though there were serious doubts about his fitness for the priesthood. Indeed, Schmidt himself later claimed that his real ordination had been performed by Saint Elizabeth in a divine vision. His time in Germany was short-lived; he was arrested in 1905 for forging diplomas but avoided prison by being declared mentally unfit. After a series of inappropriate relationships, accusations of child molestation, and erratic behaviour that alarmed fellow clergy members, Schmidt emigrated to the United States in 1909.
A Path of Deception and Violence
Schmidt's time in the U.S. was marked by constant relocation due to conflicts with fellow priests and Church authorities. His assignments included St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and later St. Boniface’s Church in New York City, where he met Anna Aumüller, a young Austrian immigrant working as a housekeeper. The two began a secret affair, despite Schmidt’s priestly vows of celibacy.
By December 1912, Schmidt was leading a double life—simultaneously engaging in a romantic relationship with Anna while also involved in a secret homosexual affair with a New York City dentist named Ernest Muret. He and Muret also operated a counterfeiting ring, further demonstrating his taste for deception.
When Schmidt was transferred to St. Joseph’s Church in Harlem, he continued seeing Anna in secret. Their relationship escalated when Schmidt, in violation of Catholic law, conducted a private marriage ceremony between them. But when Anna became pregnant, Schmidt faced a crisis—exposure of his actions would mean the end of his priesthood.
Murder and Dismemberment
On the night of September 2, 1913, Schmidt went to the apartment he had rented for Anna under the alias "A. Van Dyke." While she slept, he slashed her throat with a butcher’s knife. But his crime did not end there. He proceeded to drink her blood, sexually violate her corpse, and methodically dismember her body. He wrapped her remains in pillowcases and newspapers, tying heavy stones to them before throwing the parts into the Hudson River.
Despite Schmidt’s careful planning, his crime was soon discovered. Pieces of Anna’s torso washed ashore in New Jersey, and detectives traced the monogrammed pillowcases back to the furniture store where they had been purchased. From there, they followed a trail of receipts and addresses that led them to Schmidt’s apartment. Inside, they found an unmistakable crime scene—blood-stained walls, a large butcher’s knife, and letters linking Schmidt to Anna.
When confronted at St. Joseph’s Church, Schmidt confessed immediately: "I killed her! I killed her because I loved her!" The press soon descended on the case, sensationalizing every lurid detail.
Trial and Execution
Schmidt’s trial was a spectacle. His defence argued insanity, pointing to his claims of divine visions and his history of erratic behaviour. Experts testified that he came from a long line of mentally unstable relatives. However, the prosecution countered with evidence of premeditation—including a life insurance policy he had taken out in Anna’s name months before the murder. The first trial ended in a hung jury, but a second trial quickly convicted him of first-degree murder. On February 5, 1914, he was sentenced to death.
In the years leading up to his execution, Schmidt admitted to feigning insanity in court. He even attempted to shift the blame to his former lover, Dr. Muret, claiming that Anna had died during a botched abortion and that he had simply disposed of her body. But the courts dismissed his new claims.
At dawn on February 18, 1916, Hans Schmidt was led to the electric chair. His last words were a plea for forgiveness and a farewell to his mother. Three jolts of electricity ended his life, and his body was quietly buried at an undisclosed location in New York, as his family was unable to transport him back to Germany due to the ongoing World War.
A Trail of Possible Victims
Schmidt’s crimes did not end with Anna’s murder. Investigators uncovered a second apartment filled with counterfeit money and evidence of a planned life insurance scam. Additionally, he was linked to several disappearances. A woman named Helen Green, who had been seen with Schmidt, vanished shortly before Anna’s murder. Another woman, whom Schmidt had once introduced as his wife, also disappeared. Witnesses reported seeing Schmidt with a five-year-old boy, whom he claimed was his son; the child was never seen again.
Perhaps most chillingly, Schmidt became a suspect in the 1909 murder of Alma Kellner, a nine-year-old girl found dismembered in the basement of St. John’s Parish in Louisville—the same church where Schmidt had worked. A janitor named Joseph Wendling was convicted of the crime, but doubts lingered. Schmidt’s method of dismembering Anna bore striking similarities to the Kellner case, leading some to believe that he had gotten away with an earlier murder.
The Dark Legacy of Hans Schmidt
The story of Hans Schmidt remains unique in American history. He was the only Catholic priest ever executed in the United States, and his crimes shattered the trust placed in religious figures. The case highlighted the tendency of Church authorities to quietly relocate problematic priests rather than addressing misconduct—a pattern that would surface again decades later in cases of clerical abuse.