Being part of the wealthy Oetker dynasty, he was kidnapped by Dieter Zlof, in the parking lot of his university near Munich on 14 December 1976. After his family had paid a ransom of 21 million Deutschmark, he was set free some weeks later, but he has suffered from the injuries of his imprisonment to date. In 1978, Zlof was caught and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but only a part of the ransom has been found.