Web obsession led to savage murder

LONDON (Reuters) – A German office worker was found guilty Monday of the savage murder of a British man whose girlfriend he had become obsessed with after they met on a website.

David Heiss, 21, stabbed Matthew Pyke 86 times in a brutal attack after traveling over from Germany and forcing his way into the couple's flat in Nottingham.

Before he died following the attack in September last year, the court heard that Pyke, 20, had managed to write "Dav" -- the first three letters of Heiss's name -- on the side of his computer using his own blood, the Press Association reported.

Heiss, who denied murder and said he was acting out of self defense, was given a life prison sentence and told he would serve at least 18 years in jail.

The court heard that Heiss had become infatuated with Pyke's girlfriend Joanna Witton through a war games website the couple ran together from their flat.

He began bombarding Witton with messages of love, visited the couple twice and pestered them until finally they blocked him from their website.

Just days before the murder, he sent an email to Pyke saying he had "something I would like to give to you."

"It was an act that was born out of obsession and hatred in equal measure," said prosecutor Shaun Smith.

"It was obsession for Joanna Witton and hatred for Matthew, because he was Joanna's boyfriend."

Heiss flew over from his home in Frankfurt and made his way to the couple's home. He waited until Witton had left for work before forcing his way in and launching a ferocious attack on Pyke. He returned back to Germany the next day.

"I have no doubt that at some stage you decided that Matthew had to die, and that your killing of him involved a substantial degree of both planning and premeditation, which is a significant aggravating factor," the judge Justice Keith said.

Witton and Pyke's family said in a statement: "We will never truly come to terms with what happened to Matthew that morning.

"It's not fair that we should all have to live like this for the rest of our lives because of one man's actions. He has taken a wonderful, caring, loving young man from all of us."

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Heydon said the brutality of the attack and the clinical planning involved had made it the most harrowing case he had investigated.

"Heiss had become so besotted with Joanna that he decided to plan Matthew's murder several days, if not weeks, in advance," he said.

"In my view, David Heiss is the most callous, cold-hearted individual I have dealt with."

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and? nice news note. Any comments? This is clearly a heinous crime and shows loopholes in stalker activity in europe.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

David Heiss, 21, stabbed Matthew Pyke 86 times in a brutal attack after traveling over from Germany and forcing his way into the couple's flat in Nottingham.

Before he died following the attack in September last year, the court heard that Pyke, 20, had managed to write "Dav" -- the first three letters of Heiss's name -- on the side of his computer using his own blood, the Press Association reported.

IIRC even the Manson murders they didn't stab anyone 86 times.

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as i recall the Manson murders were intended to be in retaliation to the previous owners of sharon tates home. Apparently the previous owner slighted Manson. The manson clan was unaware of the home sale and killed everyone there anyway.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

as i recall the Manson murders were intended to be in retaliation to the previous owners of sharon tates home. Apparently the previous owner slighted Manson. The manson clan was unaware of the home sale and killed everyone there anyway.

AFIK the home was owned by Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son, but was a rental property. But that still does not explain the LaBianca murders the next night.
From http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/manson/confess_4.html

"Because we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world, that the world would have to stand up and take notice."
Atkins went on to explain that they selected the Tate house because it was isolated. Susan said they knew who the owner was but they didn't know or care who would be at the house that night.

I was living in LA at the time and this did shock and burned into memory many details. I'll take the words of one of the self confessed murders at face value on the reason.

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Looks to me that the article's (and thus the thread's) title is a little bit of a stretch "Web obsession ...". The article itself states that the murderer was obsessed with his victim rather than the web. If they'd met in a bar, would the article have been titled "Bar obsession ...", I suspect not. Media hysteria anyone ...

Though as the British comedian Marcus Brigstocke says, we all grew up on Pong and Pacman. If Pacman had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music...

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I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

If Pacman had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music...

Sounds like the disco scene.

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me@rescam.org

If Pacman had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music...

Sounds like the disco scene.

Sounds like any modern Rave. Pills and repetitive techno music galore.

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