He is thought to have murdered at least 23 young women and one man, and attempted to pickle their bodies in large metal drums that he kept on his property.

He is of good character, he is not in debt, he was not insolvent, he always fulfills his obligations, his lifestyle is solid, can be offered for credit."

When the town police questioned him about the drums, he told them that he filled them with gasoline in order to prepare for rationing in the oncoming war.

In search of material for redecoration, the two men went to the chamber next to Kiss's workshop, where Takács said there had been a large quantity of reeds.

"Nagy informed the military that they should arrest Kiss immediately, if he was still alive; there was also a possibility that he was a prisoner of war.

Nagy also arrested Jakubec and asked the postal service to hold any possible letters to Kiss, in case he had an accomplice who could warn him.

[3] The room was filled with bookcases and had a desk, which held a number of letters, Kiss' correspondence with 74 women, and a photo album.

[6] He had placed ads in the marriage columns of several newspapers and had selected mainly women who had no relatives living nearby and knew no one who would quickly notice their disappearance.

[3] However, Nagy arrived at the hospital too late; Kiss had fled and left the corpse of another soldier in his bed.

[7] On several later occasions, speculation arose that Kiss had perhaps faked his death by exchanging identities with a dead soldier named Mackaree during the war.

Various rumors circulated as to his actual fate, including that he had been imprisoned for burglary in Romania or he had died of yellow fever in Turkey.

[7] That year, homicide detective Henry Oswald was certain he had observed Kiss emerging from the New York City Subway at Times Square, Manhattan.