What started as a routine excursion for Peter Breidenbach, a 58-year-old convicted rapist, turned into a manhunt after he managed to elude guards on Wednesday.

Breidenbach had been taken to Cologne to visit the city's famous cathedral on a routine excursion outside of his preventative detention facility in Aachen. He and his escorts stopped at a brewery near the cathedral, where Breidenbach asked to use the restroom. That was the last his escorts saw of him.

After a rape conviction in 1991, Breidenbach was sentenced to nine years in prison. At the end of his sentence, courts ruled he was dangerous enough to warrant further preventative detention.

A press release from Cologne police officials said Breidenbach is diabetic and requires insulin injections. The police encouraged citizens to call police if they encounter Breidenbach and not to approach him.

mz/sms (AP, dpa)