Murder of Rudolph Moshammer

Rudolph Moshammer (27 September 1940 – 14 January 2005) was a German fashion designer known for extravagant clothing design and a prominent presence in Germany's celebrity circuit. Born in Munich, he trained in the retail trade and began designing fashion in the 1960s. His boutique "Carnaval de Venise," on Munich's Maximilianstraße, produced garments from furs, cashmere, and silk for a wealthy clientele that reportedly included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, actor Richard Chamberlain, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, José Carreras, Siegfried and Roy, and media personality Thomas Gottschalk. He ran the boutique with his mother, Else Moshammer, until her death in 1993.

Moshammer was widely recognized for carrying his Yorkshire Terrier, Daisy, in public and for a strong public commitment to helping homeless people, for which he received the "Martin's Coat 2000" award from a Munich radio station. In 2002 he sold a shirt purportedly worn by Napoleon I at the Battle of Waterloo for more than €62,000, donating the proceeds to a Munich homeless charity. He had also begun work on a house for homeless people in Munich prior to his death.

On the morning of 14 January 2005, at approximately 9:00 am, Moshammer's chauffeur found him dead in his mansion in Grünwald, a suburb south of Munich. According to initial reports from public prosecutors, Moshammer had been strangled with an electric cable, which was found near his body. His dog, Daisy, was found unharmed in the living room and was described as the likely sole "eyewitness" to the killing.

On 16 January 2005, Munich police held a press conference reporting that a 25-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker, identified as Herisch Ali Abdullah, had been tracked down through a DNA database and had admitted to murdering Moshammer. It was alleged that Moshammer had refused to pay €2,000 to the man, who was in financial difficulties, in exchange for sexual favors. Abdullah was subsequently sentenced to a minimum of 15 years to life in prison for the murder.

Following his death, Moshammer was remembered as one of Germany's most successful fashion designers after Karl Lagerfeld, Jil Sander, and Wolfgang Joop, and for his charitable commitment to the homeless. Care of his dog Daisy, who had lifelong living privileges reportedly specified in his will, ultimately passed to his chauffeur, Andreas Kaplan. Daisy died in 2006 at the age of thirteen.