Richard Müller ( murderer ) Richard Müller was a German dentist in the 1950s , who murdered his wife Gertrude . On February 18 1954 , Müller and his spouse were on their way to their house in Otterbach . According to Müller , they spotted a hedgehog on the road , and they decided to take the animal home to show to their sons . After Richard Müller had gotten out of the car , the vehicle exploded . His wife was burnt alive . Suspicions against him were first aroused when it turned out he had been carrying four full jerrycans of petrol in his car . Apart from that , he had also parked his car so close to the trees along the road that his wife could not have opened the car door on her side . Müller 's motive was , apparently , his affair with another woman . In 1955 he stood in court in Kaiserslautern . He pleaded innocence , but was found guilty . He was sentenced to a remarkable six years in prison ( Alfred Rouse , an Englishman who committed murder in a similar manner , was hanged ) . References J.H.H. Gaute and Robin Odell , The New Murderer 's Who 's Who , 1996 , Harrap Books , London International Pattern of Murder , 1977 , London Categories : German murderers 