Romulus Vereș ( Cluj, January 23, 1929 – Ștei, December 13, 1993) was a notorious serial killer from Romania, better known as "The Man with the Hammer". During the 1970s, he was charged with five murders and several

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...

s, but never imprisoned on grounds of insanity; he had schizophrenia, blaming the Devil for his actions. Instead, he was institutionalised in the Ștei psychiatric facility in 1976, following a three-year-long forensic investigation during which four thousand people were questioned. Urban myths brought the number of victims up to 200 women, but the actual number was much smaller. This confusion probably is explained by the lack of attention this case received, despite its magnitude, in the Communist press of the time.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Veres, Romulus 1929 births 1993 deaths 20th-century criminals Male serial killers People from Cluj-Napoca People with schizophrenia Romanian rapists Romanian serial killers Violence against women in Romania

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