Liebknecht was still in hiding, but it was less easy to hide in Berlin than it had been a month earlier, for the old criminal police were at work again. The experiment with soldier-policemen had resulted so disastrously that every Berliner who had anything to lose welcomed the return of these men who had been so denounced and hated in other days. The search lasted but two days. On January 15th Liebknecht's apartment was searched, and great amounts of propagandist pamphlets and correspondence showing him to be in constant touch with the Russian Soviet Government were found. On the evening of the next day policemen and soldiers surrounded the house of a distant relative of Liebknecht's wife in the western part of the city and Liebknecht was found. He denied his identity at first, but finally admitted that he was the man wanted.
He was taken to the Eden Hotel in Charlottenburg, which had been occupied in part by the staff of the government troops. Rosa Luxemburg, found hiding in another house, was brought to the hotel at the same time. After the two had been questioned, preparations were made to take them to the city prison in Moabit.
Despite all precautions, news of the arrests had transpired, and the hotel was surrounded by a vast crowd, mainly made up of better class citizens, since the district where the hotel is situated is one of the best residential districts of Greater Berlin. The feeling of these people against the two persons who were in so great measure responsible for the terrors of the week just past naturally ran high. The appearance of the soldiers guarding the two was the signal for a wild rush. The Luxemburg woman was struck repeatedly and Liebknecht received a blow on the head which caused a bloody wound.
Neither the man nor woman ever reached prison. Soldiers brought to the morgue late that night the body of "an unidentified man," alleged to have been shot while running away from his guards. One bullet had struck him between the shoulders and another in the middle of the back of the neck. The woman disappeared utterly.
On the following day (January 16th) it became known that both Liebknecht and Luxemburg had been killed. Exactly who fired the fatal shots was never clearly established, but an investigation did establish that the officers in charge of the men guarding the two prisoners were guilty of a negligence which was undoubtedly deliberate, and intended to make the killings possible.