Péter Cs., also known as “Archie147,” uploaded photos of unsuspicious women to a porn site and then fantasized about how he would kill them. Qubit and Lakmusz identified the man, who remains under investigation even though the police captured him last February.

The Motherless case began with a 2024 Reddit post in which a user wrote that they had visited a porn site called Motherless for a thesis on the effects of pornography on the psyche.

“I stumbled upon an extremely disturbing site that included Hungarian users, where several users derive pleasure from photographing strangers and then editing the photos to make it look as if their throats had been slit,”

the user wrote in the post.

According to press reports at the time, a number of secretly taken photos of Hungarian women were circulating in the community uncovered on the Motherless porn site, with the caption “Hunt her down” beneath the photos. In addition, users of the porn site uploaded photos with the same caption that they had taken from the women’s dating or social media profiles, and often included the women’s personal information in the images as well. It was also common for the photos to be edited afterward, for example, by digitally cutting the women’s throats.

Although it is likely that several Hungarian users were members of this community, the profile named Archie147 was a particularly active uploader: according to a report by Kékfény from last July, he posted 3,900 images on Motherless.

The Reddit post that sparked the controversy caused widespread outrage; many people voiced their opinions on social media, and several news articles were published about the case. As a result, Archie147’s Motherless profile became unavailable on August 17, 2024.

After half a year of silence, the next significant development in the case occurred when the 39-year-old man behind the username Archie147 was captured at his home in Berlin on February 6, 2025, by Hungarian and German police. Proceedings were initiated against him for misuse of personal data—specifically, the unauthorized processing of data or processing for purposes other than those for which it was collected—in connection with the images uploaded to Motherless, and he was questioned as a suspect.

The authorities have not revealed the suspect’s identity, but during our investigation we were able to identify the man behind the username Archie147, located his social media accounts, and found evidence that he had previously posted photos on his Instagram page of some of the women who became victims of the Motherless case.

In this article, we’ll explain how we tracked down the suspect, what has happened to him since his capture based on his social media activity, and what kind of penalty he can expect. We’ll also reveal that the images of the victims we identified remained available on Motherless for a long time and can still be found on other porn sites to this day.

On Archie’s Trail

Archie147 was captured on February 6, 2025, in Berlin by cyber investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation, in collaboration with the Berlin State Police. The police did not reveal his real name, stating only that the suspect is a 39-year-old man living in Berlin. The police also released a video of the capture. In the footage, although his face is blurred, the suspect himself appears, and we can also see his Berlin apartment and his personal belongings. There are also photographs on the wall featuring Archie147.

In an episode of Duna TV’s program called Kékfény aired last July, another important detail was mentioned: the report, which also featured a statement from the police, revealed that the suspect’s name is Péter Cs., who has been living in Berlin for ten years.

Based on the name Péter Cs. and the blurred images seen in the police footage, we were able to identify Archie147.

Based on the known characteristics, we searched thematic Facebook groups for members named Péter whose last names begin with “Cs” and who are in the same age group as the suspect. While browsing the results, we found one person who met all the criteria.

While browsing through the man's profile photos, we found a picture that matches the part of the video posted by the police where the photos displayed on the suspect's wall were shown blurred. This is the photo in question:

Based on the name, we also found Péter Cs.’s Instagram profile. Since we began our investigation in March, he has set his profile to private and then back to public several times; his account is currently private. Based on the posts found there, we were able to match two more of the photos on the wall, since he uploaded both of them to his Instagram page. In one, he’s holding a sign that says “Berlin,” and in the other, he’s eating a pretzel:

We also found a photo on his Instagram page where he's wearing the same T-shirt he had on when he was captured:

Although Péter Cs.’s Facebook page didn’t contain much information beyond a few profile pictures, he has more than a thousand followers on Instagram, and he has posted more than 6,000 photos on that platform, primarily from his travels.

In addition to travel photos, his Instagram page frequently featured photos of various women prior to 2023. Among them are ex-girlfriends, friends, and acquaintances.

Based on the images featuring women, we were able to establish a direct link between Péter Cs.’s social media activity and the victims of the Motherless case.

The victims

According to a police statement, the bio on Archie147’s Motherless profile—which has since been deleted—stated that he knew most of the women appearing in the images. Using the Pimeyes facial recognition program, we found images of eight of the women featured on Péter Cs.’s Instagram page on Motherless or other porn sites.

Among them were images in which the women—as a result of digital editing—appeared with their throats slit. In several cases, it was also evident that the images were uploaded under the username Archie147 between 2021 and 2023.

In March and April of this year, several images of the women we identified were still available on Motherless. Then, in May, the site became inaccessible for a few days, and in June, it changed its domain name, moving from motherless.com to motherless.xxx—which, like the previous site, is registered in the Czech Republic. We were unable to find the photos we had identified on the new site, but several of them are still available on other porn sites.

Most of the photos on Péter Cs.’s Instagram profile are of a former girlfriend with whom he had been in a relationship much earlier. Years after their joint Instagram posts, photos of the woman began appearing on several porn sites—including Motherless, as well as erotic.pics, freepornjp, and imagefap, all of which share adult content. The photos are generally casual in nature; Péter Cs. may have taken them himself. Among them is a photo that can also be found on the man’s Instagram page. An entire folder featuring the woman was uploaded to the site erotic.pics; the Motherless logo appears multiple times among the images, and the username of the uploader is Archie147, as reported in the news and the police statement.

We also found a post on Motherless about Péter Cs.’s ex-girlfriend. In 2023, an image was posted depicting her with her throat slit, with the caption “Beheading my slut ex-girlfriend.” Since Archie147’s profile has been removed, the uploader’s username isn’t visible here, but this is an edited version of an image that Péter Cs. originally posted on his own Instagram page.

Three out of the eight women we identified are Hungarians based on their names and social media activity; Péter Cs. was friend with them, as his Instagram photos show.

The other five women we identified may also have been friends, acquaintances, or romantic partners of the suspect. We found a photo of one girl, who appeared to be quite young, on both Motherless and erotic.pics; the latter was also uploaded by a user named Archie147 in 2021. We also found a photo on Motherless of another girl whom Péter Cs. posted about on his Instagram page, in which she is depicted with her throat slit.

During the Duna TV broadcast, a victim was interviewed anonymously: the Hungarian woman, who lives in Berlin, knew Péter Cs. personally, and said he initially seemed to be a humorous and open person. The woman told Kékfény that the Motherless case had taken a heavy emotional toll on her, so much so that during the first week she could only sleep with the help of sleeping pills. She described Péter Cs.’s actions and the comments posted under the photos on Motherless as violence against women, driven by sexism, male chauvinism, and misogyny.

According to Enikő Szabó, an activist with the Women for Women Together Against Violence Association (NANE), the victims had to face not only the reality of the crimes committed against them but also the shortcomings of the legal and social support systems for victims. After the Motherless case made headlines,

“many women reached out to us asking what they could do and who they could turn to. This was a difficult situation from a support worker’s perspective as well, because there was absolutely no clarity regarding who they could turn to, what rights they were entitled to, and exactly what they could expect,”

said Szabó.

In her view, women’s rights and civil society organizations are right to demand that violence committed in the online space become part of public discourse and, in terms of legal classification, be treated no differently from violence against women that occurs in the physical world. She added that, within an acceptable regulatory framework, “it would be important to be able to quickly remove these images. This runs into a lot of problems, resulting in long-term and recurring harm.”

Who is Péter Cs.?

The suspect’s occupation is unknown, but it is certain that he has long been involved in photography and social media, at least as a hobby. Our own research also revealed that Péter Cs. participated in a March 15 commemoration in 2024, at which several Hungarian communities in Berlin were represented. We identified a photo of the suspect taken at the ceremony using the facial recognition program Pimeyes. In addition, Péter Cs. gave an interview to a local Hungarian blog in 2022. The article referred to him as a visitor, which reinforces the travel blogger image that he has deliberately cultivated on his social media platforms.

Until recently, Péter Cs. continued to actively post on his public Instagram page to his more than 1,000 followers, even after his capture.

A week before the police operation in February 2025, on January 31, he posted photos of Weesenstein in Saxony, Germany, but he likely did not take them at that time, as the vegetation is more typical of the warmer seasons. The next post was published two months after his capture, on April 12, when he shared a series of photos from the town of Königslutter am Elm, also in Saxony. In some of the photos in the series, the trees also do not look typical for the season; however, the post proves that

Péter Cs. had access to his phone.

Two months after his capture, he began actively posting again, sharing photos taken in various countries, such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Serbia. Between April 12, 2025, and July 10, 2026, he posted 97 travel photos on his Instagram page: 40 from domestic trips within Germany and 57 from abroad.

All of this proves that he had access to his phone, although the fact that several of his more recent photos feature a cat that did not appear in earlier photos—and based on the wording of the posts, the cat was adopted by Péter Cs. early this year—suggests that he was actually traveling. On January 22, he wrote the following alongside the photos of the cat: “First steps with you, love at first sight is real.”

It’s also common that female micro-influencers—who also regularly share content related to their travels—leave positive comments under Péter Cs.'s Instagram posts. The comments, for example, mention how beautiful the place is that Péter Cs. is currently posting about, or how cute his cat is. At the same time, the suspect has not posted any photos with other people since 2023.

We tried to contact Péter Cs. through his social media profiles and by email, but he had not responded to our questions by the time this article was published.

What sentence can he expect?

According to a police statement, proceedings have been initiated against the suspect in the Motherless case for misuse of personal data committed through unauthorized processing or processing for purposes other than those intended. Under the Hungarian Criminal Code, this offense is committed by anyone who “fails to fulfill their obligation to inform the data subject by violating the statutory provisions on the protection or processing of personal data, thereby significantly harming the interests of another person.” The standard penalty is imprisonment for up to one year, which may be increased to two years if the misuse of personal data involves special categories of data—that is, the disclosure of sensitive information such as a person’s sexual orientation or religion.

The Criminal Code only prescribes penalties; what is permitted and prohibited with regard to personal data is regulated by the Act on the Protection of Personal Data and, at the EU level, by the GDPR. Criminal law expert Pál Bátki summarized the rules by stating that everyone has the right to prevent others from disclosing data about them (such as their name, image, or phone number).

“A glaring example of this is when women appear online with their throats slit,”

he added. As a more ordinary example, he mentioned cases where someone posts ads in another person’s name or sells other people’s data in a database for money.

According to Pál Bátki, criminal penalties are imposed only in the more extreme cases where the misuse of personal data is committed for financial gain or causes significant harm to a person’s interests. Regarding Péter Cs.’s case, he said:

“If the person sees a picture of themselves with their throat slit on the internet, and this causes them anxiety or distress, that can already constitute significant harm. In other words, the act must have a serious impact on someone’s life.”

Hungarian and German authorities are conducting parallel investigations, so we contacted both authorities. Beyond the press release issued regarding the capture, the press office of the Hungarian National Police Headquarters did not provide further information, citing the interests of the ongoing proceedings. A spokesperson for the Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office stated that the investigation is ongoing and that Hungarian and German authorities are cooperating.

When we contacted the Berlin police, they referred us to the public prosecutor’s office. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office revealed that the investigation was launched due to an alleged violation of the German Copyright Act (KunstUrhG). According to media lawyer Eva Vonau, Germany has one of Europe’s strictest regulations on recordings made of others, even if the recording was made lawfully. The distribution or public display of the image of an identifiable person is restricted by Section 22 of the KunstUrhG, which stipulates that images of a person may only be distributed or publicly displayed with the consent of the person concerned.

The German public prosecutor’s office added that they are currently awaiting information on the status of the investigation in Hungary. They must examine the extent to which the Hungarian investigation overlaps with the Berlin one and whether there are any legal grounds that would prevent them from continuing their proceedings, since, under the “ne bis in idem” principle, a criminal offense may be prosecuted only once.

According to Pál Bátki, the country in which the case will ultimately be tried depends largely on where criminal proceedings will be most effective—that is, which police force can most easily gather evidence and interview witnesses and victims. The final decision—which also takes into account the nationalities of the perpetrator and the victims—is typically made by the authorities after consultation.

In the wake of the Motherless case, the offense of “online aggression” was introduced into the Hungarian Criminal Code, but it has not yet been applied against Péter Cs. According to the prosecutor’s office, this is because the new offense applies only to crimes committed after it takes effect—that is, after January 1, 2025.

The new section states that

“any person who, in public, uses or publishes via an electronic communications network any expression, depiction, or image or sound recording that expresses the intent or desire to cause the violent death of an identifiable person or persons, or to commit a criminal act with particular cruelty, shall be punishable by imprisonment for up to one year for a misdemeanor, provided that no more serious criminal offense has been committed.”

The new offense does not provide for a more severe penalty than the misuse of personal data, of which Péter Cs. is suspected. Furthermore, online harassment is punishable only upon private complaint, which means that while an investigation may be initiated by law enforcement, the case can only result in a conviction if a private complaint is filed by a victim.

According to Pál Bátki, one of the main differences between a personal data breach and online aggression is that, in the former, the victim must become aware of the breach—since only then can it cause any harm—whereas in the case of the newly introduced offense, this is not necessary. Regarding the elements of online aggression, he emphasized that, in addition to the fact that this provision can also be applied to deepfakes, it helps clarify the legal framework by precisely defining what constitutes a punishable act and what the problem with it is—which is exactly what the new law does.

Although there are efforts by policymakers to criminalize online violence, Enikő Szabó believes that governments should adopt a systemic and cross-sectoral approach to victim support.

“It would be very important to develop a reporting channel that would allow those affected to receive information about abuse in the online space and to be fully informed about their rights, possible legal remedies, and the support available to them. It would be best to develop this in a coordinated manner, involving those affected, experts with firsthand experience, and women’s rights organizations,”

said the NANE activist.

The police investigator who spoke on the Kékfény program and was involved in the investigation of the Motherless case, said that investigators initially considered the possibility that the act might constitute harassment or preparation for murder, but ultimately classified Archie147’s case under the legal category of misuse of personal data. According to the report, Péter Cs. confessed everything during his first interrogation; as of the time of the report, he was definitely attending therapy, and German police were regularly checking his apartment. According to the police investigator, the suspect stated during the interrogation that although he had no intention of physically harming the women in the images, he used the Motherless platform to act out these types of “desires.”

Péter Cs.’s case has been dragging on for nearly a year and a half since his capture in February 2025, despite the fact that, in addition to numerous pieces of evidence, the authorities are in principle in possession of a confession. Pál Bátki had the following to say about the possible reasons for the slow proceedings:

“Unfortunately, looking beyond this specific case, we must recognize that the Hungarian police are more overloaded than anything I have seen in my 18-year career. A police investigation proceeds much like emergency medical care—the patient dies before anyone even gets a chance to examine them. Previously, I had about 30 ongoing cases in the investigative phase; now I have 70. That’s how overburdened the Hungarian police are. If a laptop is seized in a case, it takes at least a year for a computer forensics expert to examine it and write a proper report for the investigator or the judge.”

Motherless: Full of illegal content

According to the site’s description, Motherless is “a morally free file-hosting site where all legal content remains available forever.” Although the Archie147 user account was deleted in response to media coverage (it is unclear whether the site or the user himself took this action), the images of the eight women we identified were still available on Motherless in March 2026.

During our investigation, on May 9, the site was taken offline. Site owners stated that this was done in order to:

“Identify content that does not comply with our policies and fix the security vulnerabilities that allowed some uploaders to abuse the system.”

The site was taken down for a maximum of six days, as it was accessible again on May 15.

We sent questions to the operators of Motherless regarding the site’s operations, content moderation, the case of Péter Cs., and how is it possible that the images we identified remained online for more than a year even after the scandal broke out, but we had not received a response by the time this article was published.

In March, CNN found more than 20,000 “sleep” themed videos on Motherless, which are pornographic videos in which one of the participants is unconscious. The paper compared the situation to the Giselle Pelicot case, noting that users were raping drugged women and uploading footage of the incidents to Motherless. One Motherless user claimed to run a business that sells and ships “sleep-inducing liquids” anywhere in the world for 150 euros.

In addition, according to research conducted by the Dutch website NOS in May, the “incest” tag was the most popular category on Motherless that time, following “teen” and “amateur”; videos tagged with “incest” were viewed a total of 60 million times. The most-viewed video of the week, which reached 4.2 million views, fell into the “incest” and “rape” categories, along with the tags “school girl” and “sister.”

Although Motherless referred to the May shutdown as a voluntary review, a later CNN article revealed that the site—registered in the Czech Republic but hosted on a Dutch server—may have been temporarily taken down at the request of Dutch prosecutors. After the hiatus used to review the content, the “motherless.com” domain remained active for only a short time; soon after, in June, the site moved to the “motherless.xxx” domain. The new site was also registered in the Czech Republic, from the same IP address as motherless.com, and the server is once again located in the Netherlands.