Serial Killer Zoltán Ember Hungarian Evil #trucrime

Zoltan Ember

From 1991 to 2004 a depraved creature took the lives of 5 people, including his own brother. While his name makes him sound like an anime character. Zolton ember started with his abusive alcoholic stepfather- using a wrench to crush his skull. The rest he strangled with either his bare hands as in the case of his brother or his preferred method-tying them up so that as they struggled the rope tightened around their throats. Once the evil act was done, Zoltan ransacked their homes for cash and valuables. Keep in mind that most of this monsters victims were in their 80s and lived in the same small Hungarian village as him, essentially his neighbors, making Ember even more pathetic and evil.

Zoltan Ember

Zoltan Ember was was born in 1962 and grew up in the Hungarian village, Szentkirályszabadja. The area had 2 separate social infrastructures, the villagers and the Soviet military installation. Embers home life was less than ideal- his father was an abusive alcoholic and even after he passed away, the mistreatment continued.

Zoltan’s stepfather, Istvan Veghelyi, was more or less the same as his father without the blood ties. The resentment began to build against Istvan, and in time it would reach a breaking point. Zoltan dropped out of school early and began working as a butcher.

He did not spend long as a butcher and soon made a living by work odd jobs. His primary source of legitimate income was as labor at construction sites. But he had other means of making money, and by the time he was 25 he had been prosecuted for nearly a dozen offenses and had been locked up several times.

In 1987, after a release from prison Zoltan moved out of his parents house and in with a handful of women. A year later, he was living with a woman named Juli. Zoltan would demonstrate some of the evil he was capable, when during an argument he stabbed Juli in the back(Wikipedia has this as a previous gf named ludmilla but cites a Hungarian article that has Juli as the victim). Thankfully she survived the attack and he would once again be sent to prison, but he received only 3 years for causing life threatening bodily harm rather than attempted murder.

Once he got out of prison, Zoltan embraced crime and gave in to his vicious impulses. His first stop was his parents house to pay a visit on his stepfather on October 12 1991. Using a wrench he clubbed Istvan Veghelyi before robbing him. Zoltan would later say one of his reasons for taking what he did was that he had wanted to go to the villages harvest ball, but had no money after being in prison.

As police investigated the homicide, Zoltan became a person of interest. But despite being interrogated, investigators did not have enough evidence and so the crime went unsolved. And for a while it seemed like the monster was able to restrain his murderous impulses, but he continued to fund his gambling and drinking habits through relatively low level crime.

In December of 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed which led to a massive change in Hungary as military outposts were more or less deserted in some cases as soviet soldiers went home. This led to a little bit of friction between Hungary and its former ally as the Soviets demanded that Hungary compensate them for the military equipment they were leaving behind. All this might have had an impact on the investigation into the death of Istvan.

By the summer of 1999 Zoltan was getting desperate for money, but he saw an opportunity in the house that he owned with his 49 year old brother, Istvan. The pair started drinking, and at some point Zoltan floated the idea of selling the house. When Istvan refused to go along with it a fight ensued which ended with Zoltan strangling him.

The creature then loaded the body into a wheelbarrow which he used to cart it out of the village. Once he was a ways out and away from prying eyes, Zoltan buried it where it would be found months later. Once again police had little to work with as far as evidence, less than in the case of the stepfather due to the deterioration of the remains.

Having gotten away with 2 murders, Zoltan saw no problem with continuing, and he continued to have money problems. His solution was to target the elder residents of Szentkirályszabadja. This time, he planned these crimes more than he had before. He claims that as he watched movies, Zoltan developed an interest in the use to ropes. In his free time, the creature began practices various knots to prepare for his next attacks.

On the night July 7th 2002, he broke into the home of an 88 year old woman, named Károlyné Horváth. He clubbed the elderly woman then tied her up with a rope around her neck that was also looped around her wrists and legs. As Horváth struggled to free herself, it tightened until she could no longer breathe.

Just under a year later, he did the same thing as he had with Horváth, this time targeting an 83 year old man named Pál Jankó on June 22, 2003. Zoltan beat the old man before tying him up in the same way as his previous victim. With two elderly victims found in the same way, police were extremely aware that some of the deaths in the village over the past several years had not been random one off incidents. The community was also in terror, knowing that one of their neighbors was taking the lives of the most vulnerable of them.

After he had skated away scot free 3 times, Ember began to get arrogant. He was drunk when he broke into the home of an 82 year old woman Károlyné Pinter on March 7th 2004. Once again using a rope, he restrained the woman in the same way as he had before, then ransacked her home as she took her last breaths.

Perhaps because he was drunk or he had become so sure he could not be caught, this time he left behind evidence. Police would find DNA left behind at the crime scene. Whether he cut himself and bled or something else the Hungarian sources do not specify. But in any case, police were knew that their suspect lived in the small village and so they simply took samples from the 50 shadiest people in the area, with Zoltan Ember among them.

This time as the monster continued living life as usual completely unaware of what evidence he had left behind, police were quickly zeroing in the killer. And a few days later, the dna test results came in pointat Ember as their culprit. When they brought the 42 year old, he denied any involvement at first, but once confronted with the evidence, Zoltan became fairly candid about his crimes.

In his confession, the creature described what he had done. He would even tell investigators about the murder of his brother and stepfather. By 2007, he had had both his trial and appeal for the 5 homicides and been sent to prison with a life sentence. During the trials, he seemed unconcerned about the crimes and utterly unremorseful, grinning throughout portions and making bizarre statements to the press including to insinuate that he had more victims that were unknown to investigators.

I don't feel sorry for them. They didn't have time to beg for their lives. Did I enjoy the kill? No, but it didn't bother me either
- Zoltán Ember 2005

Despite his bravado during the trial Zoltan was not ready to spend a life to me behind bars. He soon began trying to own his own life. Once with a blade and once with poison. But on April 24, 2015 after 8 years of being locked up, he was successful- using a bedsheet to hang himself.

I do not care. I cut my veins, drank nicotine once. They saved me both times. It's a shame, I'd rather have it all over with. I don't think there is a continuation after death, the maggots eat you, and then you're fine.
-Ember

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