Stepfather and mother in prison
Three child murders over the Easter weekend shake Baden-Württemberg – motives still unclear
The markings on the lawn at a school center in Ulm in Baden-Württemberg bear witness to a gruesome act: a father is said to have stabbed his seven-year-old daughter to death.
© Ralf Zwiebler / DPA
In Ulm, a 40-year-old confessed to having killed his partner’s little daughter with a knife. In Hockenheim, two girls were allegedly murdered by their mother. In both cases, the motives are still in the dark.
In Ulm and Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, three infanticides over the Easter weekend caused great horror. Both cases appear to be acts within families. In Ulm, according to initial police findings, a 40-year-old man killed his partner’s seven-year-old daughter with a knife. And in Hockenheim near Heidelberg, two brothers aged seven and nine were found dead in an apartment on Easter Sunday.
Both cases are still a mystery. In Ulm, the authorities announced in the evening that the man had called the police on Easter Monday and stated that he had killed the girl in the area of a school center in the Wiblingen district. He was then arrested by officers. The police later confirmed that the suspect was the partner of the child’s mother. More precise backgrounds are currently unclear, the criminal police are investigating further.
Mother informed the police about her crime
“From the police’s point of view, there was no danger to the population,” the statement said. The authority initially did not provide any further information, according to the information, the investigations should not be jeopardized.
When the dead brothers fell in Hockenheim, investigators arrested the 43-year-old mother at the scene on suspicion of a homicide. According to the public prosecutor, she informed the police herself. An arrest warrant has now been issued. Prosecutors have not yet commented on how the children were killed. An autopsy should provide insights on Tuesday, the spokeswoman said on request.
It is also unclear so far whether the suspected woman has already commented on what happened, who lived in the apartment and where the children’s father was at the time of the crime. According to the prosecutor, the victims are brothers.
Soon new knowledge in the case of the killed siblings
However, Tuesday could possibly bring new insights. The bodies of the siblings are then to be autopsied, as the investigators announced at the weekend. In addition, it was said that the Mannheim public prosecutor’s office and the department for capital crimes of the Mannheim Criminal Police Office are continuing to investigate. The Central Forensic Science Department of the Heidelberg Criminal Police Department and the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the University of Heidelberg are also involved.