The Hamburg Police warned the population to be wary of strangers approaching them in homeless shelters and waiting rooms, and that driving with a personal driver was dangerous.
One theory sought the perpetrator's motive of being a hereditary stalker who had murdered a complete family to gain possession of the heritage.
The searches took place in station waiting rooms, restaurants and bunkers, which served as an asylum for bombed people.
[3] The case of the Hamburg rubble murderer had certain parallels to the serial killer Rudolf Pleil, who killed out of greed and sexual motives at least 10 women.
Pleil was brought to the scene near the Berliner Tor, however, his alibi was credible enough to discount any connection to the case.
In 2016, the novel Trümmerkind by Mechthild Borrmann was published, which ties in with the rubble murders and contains a fictitious story of the victims as a family.