# Vienna's Imperial Streets Concealed One of Austria's Most Disturbing Serial Killers

In Vienna, Austria, between 1990 and 1991, a man the press would nickname 'Jack the Strangler' moved through the city's red-light district and wooded outskirts, suspected in the murders of multiple women while the public celebrated him as a reformed literary genius.

A City with a Hidden Criminal Landscape

Vienna is best known for its Habsburgs, its coffee houses, and its concert halls. But the same city harboured one of Austria's most unsettling true crime stories — a case that exposed the dangers of myth-making around convicted killers. For visitors drawn to the darker chapters of history, Vienna's streets, parks, and outer neighbourhoods carry a weight that no museum exhibit can fully replicate.

Viator's Vienna crime tours category lists walking experiences focused on the city's criminal and dark historical past. You can browse currently available options at Viator's Vienna Crime Tours page, where operators and schedules are updated regularly. Always contact the operator directly to confirm availability, duration, and pricing before booking.

Who Was Jack Unterweger?

Jack Unterweger had already been convicted of murdering an 18-year-old woman before his infamous 1990–1991 killing spree. He served 15 years in prison, during which he reinvented himself as a published author and poet — celebrated by Austrian intellectuals and journalists who campaigned for his release. He was paroled, and the killings resumed almost immediately.

After his release, Unterweger is believed to have killed at least eight women across Austria and the Czech Republic. His victims — many of them sex workers — were typically strangled with their own clothing and left in wooded areas near urban centres. In Vienna specifically, the neighbourhood of Penzing and areas linked to the city's red-light district became associated with the investigation.

The Vienna Crimes

The Austrian newspaper *Kurier* reported on 22 May 1991 that investigators were linking Unterweger to the disappearances and deaths of prostitutes in Vienna's red-light areas. The press dubbed him 'Jack the Strangler.' One of the Vienna-linked cases involved Sabine Moizzi, 25 years old, whose body was found strangled in Scots Woods in or around May 1991.

Unterweger was questioned by police in Graz on 17 January 1992 and released. Less than a month later, on 13 February 1992, an arrest warrant was issued. His movements between Vienna and Graz during this period, and the alibis he offered — including claiming he was with his 18-year-old girlfriend in Vienna on the night of a Graz-area murder — became central to the eventual prosecution.

He was ultimately convicted of multiple murders and died in custody in 1994.

Walking Vienna with the Case in Mind

Even without a formal guided tour confirmed for this specific itinerary, Vienna rewards the true crime traveller who comes prepared. The Penzing district, the city's outer woodlands, and the neighbourhoods tied to the early 1990s investigation are accessible by public transport and on foot. The contrast between Vienna's grand Ringstrasse architecture and the quieter, darker outer districts is striking — and historically significant to understanding how Unterweger operated largely unseen.

The Habsburg history of the city also provides a long backdrop of institutional power, criminal punishment, and social hypocrisy that resonates with the Unterweger case. A man celebrated by the literary establishment was simultaneously, according to prosecutors, killing vulnerable women in the city's margins.

Planning Your Visit

Vienna's public transport network makes it straightforward to reach most districts associated with the case. For guided crime-focused walking tours currently operating in Vienna, check Viator's Vienna Crime Tours listings for up-to-date options, pricing, and availability. Tour durations and prices vary by operator — contact the operator directly for current details.

The city is walkable in the centre, and the outer districts are best reached by U-Bahn or tram. Vienna's tourist infrastructure is well developed, meaning accommodation, transport, and food options are plentiful regardless of which part of the city you focus on.

A City That Rarely Advertises Its Darkness

Vienna does not lean into its criminal history the way some cities do. That restraint is itself part of what makes the Unterweger case so compelling as a destination for true crime travellers — the darkness is there, layered beneath the concert programmes and the coffee house menus. It takes a deliberate traveller to find it.