Who was serial killer Dirk P. and why is he called the Darkroom Murderer?
DIRK P. was an alias used by a serial killer who targeted men in Berlin gay bars.
Here we take a look at his grisly crimes and why he became known as the Darkroom Murderer.
Who was the Darkroom Murderer?
Three men were murdered in Berlin in 2012 when they were drugged with a lethal dose of GHB — known as "liquid ecstasy" — and then robbed.
Crime scenes in the cases provided few clues or any hard evidence, leaving cops scrambling to find a suspect.
A young man was found dead at sex club Grosse Freiheit 114 in April of that year.
Bartender Matthias recalled it was a typical Friday night when his boss rang his doorbell and asked him to come to the club.
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He said: "The next thing I know we have a dead body at our bar. I didn’t know who, why, how or what.
"My co-worker who found him didn’t initially think he was dead, he was trying to wake him up.
"He put a glass of water next to him and said he would be back in ten minutes and then he’d have to kick him out.
"But when he came back the man’s skin had changed colour and it was at this stage he realised what was actually going on.
"The crew thought it might have been a sex accident, or too much drugs or alcohol or a combination of everything."
Police were called to the scene — but were unable to find any evidence or identify the man.
Senior homicide investigator Andreas Voges said: "It’s the kind of place you’d expect a lot of evidence, including DNA evidence…
It is hard to understand why someone would do this: rob someone of their life
Regine Luck
"There were paper tissues lying around and we inspected the garbage that was filled with condoms.
"But with nothing to identify the body, it was a John Doe case."
The coroner found evidence of strangulation but nothing to suggest a struggle.
When police returned to the bar with a photo of the victim he was identified as 32-year-old Nicky Miller.
One of the employees recognised him as a regular who worked at the nearby metro market.
Nicky's sister Anka Hilgert described him as a beautiful person who was loved by everyone and would often "wear a wig and pass as a woman... and sometimes dressed in high heels".
Although there was no conclusive evidence to prove Nicky's death was murder, coroner Dr Sven Hartwig admitted they couldn't rule out the possibility that the victim was poisoned.
Sven said: "Other than alcohol, no other substances could be forensically traced on Nicky.
Even though the total loot from Dirk P.'s crimes was only 500 €, a German court believed greed was the main motive.
However, Judge Peter Schuster also stated in his verdict: "He also wanted to feel total power over others and revel in it."
Dirk P. served as a trainee teacher at an elementary school in Brandenburg before his crime spree.
He had also trained as a nurse — equipping him with knowledge about the deadly impact of GHB.
Prior to these heinous crimes, his criminal record was clean.
The murderer took his own life in 2014 while he was behind bars.
Why was Dirk P. called the Darkroom Murderer?
The unidentified assailant was initially referred to as the Darkroom Murderer.
This is because one of the murders occurred in a darkroom of a Berlin gay club.
Many Berlin clubs offered the LGBTQ+ community unrestricted access to "dark rooms" — a safe place for anonymous sex with strangers.
How to find out more about the Darkroom Murderer
The investigation into the Darkroom Murderer features in Netflix's latest docuseries — Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer, which is available from April 3.
The true crime show features the voices of investigators who worked on the case, relatives of the men who were killed, and a survivor who narrowly escaped the same fate.
Homicide lead investigator Monika Laschke tells the show: "This is the kind of case that made me feel we were dealing with a monster.
"A once in a century case."
Crime Scene is a franchise created by filmmaker Joe Berlinger, who also made Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.
Executive producer of the show Christian Beetz said: “The true-crime genre is important than ever in our documentary industry, so we will release a bigger slate of true-crime documentaries and series.
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“We will invest in the future more in its development and storytelling. I am very excited to work in these field with our showrunner and CCO Georg Tschurtschenthaler and with the EP Joe Berlinger.”
In 2019, a German crime drama called Darkroom – Tödliche Tropfen, also reported on the case.