According to conflicting reports Ewen began to consume alcohol excessively either at the age of twelveVom Voyeur zum Serien-Mörder, Saarbrücker Zeitung (May 22, 1999) or eighteen, animated by one of his sisters' boyfriends, whom he admired for his rather wasteful lifestyle. As a youth he was arrested for theft, fraud, and battery, and starting in 1982 he was caught numerous times while driving under the influence of alcohol, which resulted in a three-month prison term when he was 26. Since 1990 he was arrested for acts of voyeurism and exhibitionism, and in February 1991 he was fined after masturbating in front of women at a tennis club. Six months later Ewen, whilst drunk, twice broke into a home for mentally disabled women and sexually molested them in their beds. One hour after the second such incident he raped a woman in her home.Tag der Abrechnung, Focus (21/1999)
