The bone parts found this week in a forest near Kipfenberg (Eichstätt district) come from Sonja Engelbrecht, a woman from Munich who has been missing since 1995 and apparently died. This was the result of a DNA comparison by Munich forensic medicine, as police spokesman Werner Kraus confirmed on Thursday. Among other things, part of a human lower jaw was discovered in the search operation, which still had teeth, which made identification easier. In addition, other objects were secured near the bones that pointed to Sonja Engelbrecht, including rings. “Ideally, there are also things that point to the perpetrator,” said Kraus. The Munich Homicide Commission is in charge of the corresponding investigations. The finds could now “offer new investigative approaches,” said the police spokesman.
The high school student Sonja Engelbrecht, who was living with her parents in Laim at the time, disappeared almost exactly 27 years ago, a few days after her 19th birthday, on the night of April 10th/11th, 1995. There were soon indications that she was involved in a homicide could have fallen victim. However, there has only been certainty about her death since last autumn. A DNA comparison matched her to a femur that a forest worker accidentally discovered in the summer of 2020 in the dense forest northwest of Kipfenberg. An animal had probably carried the bone there.
The first search operation in the vicinity of this site was canceled in November 2021 due to the weather. This week, special forces from all over Upper Bavaria got to work again; About 200 meters from where they first found them, they came across more pieces of bone in a small crevice in the rock. Even if a complete skeleton has not yet been found, the officials assume that Sonja Engelbrecht’s whole body was in the gap. Due to the long lying time, it is quite possible that animals would have tracked down and removed bones again and again.
The site of the most recent bone find is in a rather inaccessible part of the forest, which walkers normally do not come into, as Werner Kraus described. The boulders that lie there on a sloping terrain are also too small to attract climbers. Whether Sonja Engelbrecht’s body was brought there by local people or whether the location was previously scouted is now part of the investigation.
The question must also be clarified as to whether Sonja Engelbrecht, who was described as petite, was transported to the hiding place by one person or by several people. The forest is not far from the A9 motorway; it is almost exactly 100 kilometers from Schwabing, where the young woman was last seen alive. Her last companion, a school friend, had stated that she had broken up with her at Stiglmaierplatz around two in the morning.