A murder that made criminal history

Near the Stadionschen Castle in the old town of Bönnigheim, I discovered an unusual monument in the form of a gravestone. This monument is dedicated to Johann Heinrich Rieber, mayor of Bönnigheim, who was treacherously shot there on October 21, 1835, and succumbed to his serious injuries two days later. The murder case went down in 19th-century criminal history as it is considered the only known German criminal case to have been solved in America, in the city of Washington, D.C., and that only after 37 years. In addition, an investigator used forensic ballistics for the first time to identify the murder weapon. But how did this crime come about and what was the motive? Schultheiß Rieber was a popular and charitable man who stopped at the Waldhorn inn on October 21, 1835, after attending a funeral. He then made his way to his apartment in the Kavaliersbau building next to the castle. Just a few meters from his front door, he was shot 10 times in the back. Although the town doctor arrived quickly, the mayor died of his serious injuries two days later. Despite intensive investigations by the district judge and a reward being offered, the murder could not be solved at the time. There were neither witnesses nor a motive for why the childless, unmarried mayor had been murdered. It was not until 1872 that the murder case in Washington D.C. was solved with the help of Friedrich Rupp, who had emigrated from Bönnigheim. He happened to tell his acquaintances about the unsolved murder of the mayor. Suddenly, one of his acquaintances interrupted him and said that he knew the murderer. At first, Friedrich Rupp thought it was a bad joke, but the man insisted that he actually knew who had murdered the mayor. It was Gottlob Rüb, a former comrade in the army, who had confessed to him that he had murdered the mayor. Rupp reported this information to the Heilbronn public prosecutor’s office, which reopened the case. After sufficient evidence had been found for the murderer, the investigation was closed in August 1872 “by declaration of rest”. But who was Gottlob Rüb and what was his motive? Gottlob Rüb was a gamekeeper’s assistant in Stetten am Heuchelberg who led an unstable lifestyle and was in debt. At the age of 30, he wanted to be transferred to the forest ranger hut in Bönnigheim. But he did not get this position because Schultheiß Rieber had given him a bad reference. He then lay in wait for him and shot him in cold blood. After the murder, he emigrated to America and fought in a German company in the Mexican-American War. He was the first soldier to lose his life in March 1847 during the siege of the Mexican port city of Veracruz under the legendary American general Robert E. Lee. Thus ends the story of the murderer Rüb. His cruel, treacherous crime is still remembered today by the gravestone in the courtyard of the Kavaliersbau, which went down in criminal history and continues to move people to this day.