German gets life for killing retiree, cashing his pension

BERLIN – A German man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing an 80-year-old man in Berlin and cashing his benefit checks for a decade.

Berlin’s regional court sentenced the 56-year-old defendant Wednesday to life in prison, meaning he will spend at least 15 years behind bars. Prosecutors say the defendant, who wasn’t named, killed the retiree in late 2006 or early 2007, stored the corpse in a freezer and kept the victim’s monthly pension of about 2,000 euros ($2,478).

In a separate case, a couple in central Germany were convicted and given life sentences Wednesday for killing an 81-year-old woman in the town of Dieburg.

The 38-year-old female defendant and her 28-year-old male partner had met in a psychiatric clinic in 2017 and shared an interest in serial killers.