# Paweł Tuchlin

Paweł Alojzy Tuchlin (28 April 1946 – 25 May 1987) was a Polish serial killer code-named Scorpion by the Citizens' Militia. He was sentenced to death and hanged for the murder of 9 women and a further 11 attempted murders, spanning from 1975 to 1983.

## Childhood and youth

Tuchlin was born to his father Bernard, an abusive alcoholic farmer and his mother Monika (née Weier). He was the eighth child out of eleven siblings. He was severely mistreated by both parents. He still wet the bed as a teenager and everyone in the village knew about it. Tuchlin said in court:
   "My illness was that I was soaking in my sleep during the night. And the only medicine available to me at home was "pyda", a weave of thongs. When morning came, my mother or father checked the bed. When it was wet, I got a dose of the "medicine". The next day, the scene was repeated; because my father was of the opinion that I was lying in my bed maliciously or out of laziness."
   "They disliked me, especially when Dad drank himself, which happened often. At the time, Paweł was no longer there, he was only "dujcok", "piss" and "skunk". For this reason, I did not get, for example, money for the cinema."
   "Then I grew up, from time to time there was some kind of fun in the living room, it went, but it all went with me. You wanted to dance, good, you go, ask a girl, and she knows you, it's her, I do not know, but I think it's a shame to dance with someone who is soaked, says: "Stinks, I do not want to dance with you", or something like that. Colleagues, friends, make yourself happy."
He ended his military service after a few months, when it turned out that he had impaired hearing.
Tuchlin fled to Gdańsk, got a job as a driver and got married. During this period he was sentenced for minor thefts. He served those sentences from 20 December 1976 to 28 June 1979. Some time later he divorced his wife and remarried a woman named Regina. His neighbours described him as a calm, stable, resourceful man who cared for his wife and two children, yet he was very introverted. At the time, he was having problems with his libido, as well as exhibitionism.

## Murders and sexual assaults

Tuchlin attacked his victims in Gdańsk, near Starogard Gdański, Skarszewy, Tczew, and also in the area of the then Elbląg and Bydgoszcz voivodeships. His youngest victim was 18 years old, and his oldest was 35.

### List of deaths

| Nmb. | Name | Age | Date of death | Place of murder |
| 1. | Irena H. | 18 | 9 November 1979 | Niestępowo |
| 2. | Anastazja E. | 30 | 1 February 1980 | Gdańsk |
| 3. | Alicja M. | 35 | 29 April 1980 | Skowarcz |
| 4. | Cecylia G. | 22 | 17 September 1980 | Lubiki |
| 5. | Izabela S. | 22 | 19 November 1980 | Malbork |
| 6. | Wanda K. | 30 | 12 December 1980 | Gdańsk |
| 7. | Halina G. | 19 | 14 November 1981 | Gdańsk |
| 8. | Bożena S. | 24 | 8 December 1982 | Skarszewy |
| 9. | Jolanta K. | 19 | 6 May 1983 | Narkowy |

## Investigation, arrest, psychiatric evaluation, trial and sentence

The police became aware of a possible serial killer as early as November 1979. On 18 November 1979, Tuchlin attacked 18-year-old Irena H. While doing so he lost the murder weapon, a hammer, in the Radunia river, next to the place of the assault. The word ZNTK, or [Railway] Rolling Stock Works, had been engraved in the metal. The militia received a list of all the people using the tools, but Tuchlin was not listed. They interrogated everyone who had been recorded to have picked up the hammer but they all had credible alibis. The store owner may have missed Tuchlin, failing to record his name. It is also possible that Tuchlin simply stole the hammer in the two weeks he worked at the company. The hammer was carefully wrapped up in a bandage; according to Tuchlin, the hammer caught him cold in the stomach while he wore it in his pants looking for victims.
On 6 January 1983, a special group was formed under the name "Scorpion", consisting of 11 people at the Provincial Headquarters.
Tuchlin was arrested on 31 May 1983, at the age of 37, on suspicion of theft of wood and parlor. During the search of his farm, among other things, the car registration number GDM 1418 was found in the trunk of the vehicle, along with the hammer on whose handle was the blood of the victims.
Tuchlin spent 6 months on psychiatric observation in Szczecin, where he was perceived as kind and helpful, he discovered his artistic talents, even winning a competition for making bread sculptures. The good material, mixed with saliva, could make the bread form and then congeal any form it was given. Tuchlin made three vaginal mock-ups in this way, even decorating them with natural bristles. He fell in love with a psychiatrist and began to write letters to her. So that she could not underestimate him, because only he knew what the words "real man" meant. He gave one of those sheaths as a gift to her. The doctor suffered a nervous breakdown.
During the course of the investigation, Tuchlin admitted to 10 murders and 11 attempted murders. As he claimed during the interrogation, he murdered to feel better. At the hearing, however, he recanted his testimony, claiming that he was forced to confess by the police. The regional court in Gdańsk sentenced Tuchlin to death for 9 murders and 11 attempted murders on 6 August 1985. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence and the State Council decided not to grant leniency. The sentence was carried out and Tuchlin was hanged at the detention centre at 12 Kurkowa Street on 25 May 1987. After his death, he was decapitated and immersed in a formalin jar, which later went missing. He was buried in the Łostowicki cemetery in Gdańsk, at one of the NN headquarters. According to Marek Maj, a defender of Tuchlin during the investigation, gravediggers urinated in the coffin before the lid was closed.