Southern Germany
Couple killed in Altenstadt: Police arrest three suspects
After finding a dead couple in Altenstadt (Bavaria), the police blocked the access to the family home (archive image)
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / DPA
After the violent death of a married couple in Bavaria, the police quickly assumed that the perpetrators came from the victims’ social environment. Now she has arrested three suspects.
Three and a half weeks after the violent crime against a couple in Swabia, investigators arrested three suspects in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg on Tuesday. Two people were arrested in the early hours of the morning in Altenstadt, Bavaria, south of Ulm. It is a 32-year-old woman and her 37-year-old husband.
The third person arrested is a 32-year-old man from Albstadt (Baden-Württemberg). The three suspects are said to have committed the crime together, said the spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Memmingen, chief public prosecutor Thorsten Thamm. However, the investigators did not disclose exact details in order not to jeopardize the further investigation of the case.
Police are looking for suspects close to the couple
Relatives found the 70-year-old and the 55-year-old dead in their home in Altenstadt on April 22. From the beginning, the police assumed that the perpetrators were probably to be found in the circle of acquaintances of the victims. After a few days, it was ruled out that one or more burglars could have killed the man and woman. The Kripo had set up a special commission to solve the crime.
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In the social environment of the dead there were people “who could have possible motives for the act of violence,” the police reported at the end of April. On Tuesday, the officers added after the arrest: “Due to numerous physical and digital traces, which the investigators found and evaluated, the suspicion against the arrested persons had been substantiated in the past few days.” The criminal police assumes that a dispute over assets is the main motive for the act of violence.
Apartments in Albstadt and Altenstadt searched
The investigators were assisted by special police forces in the arrest. The suspects’ homes were then searched. The accused are now in custody in various prisons.
After the crime, the perpetrators are said to have tried to disguise what happened as a kind of suicide. It should look like one of the victims killed the other and then killed himself. The Kripo also ruled out such a so-called extended suicide quite quickly.
Sources: DPA, Press release from the Bavarian police.