crime
German highway man dead in Mallorca: It was probably murder
Head of the homicide squad Angel Ruiz speaks to the media in the case of the German who died on Mallorca’s airport highway just over a year ago. photo
© Patrick Schirmer/dpa
A night of partying at Ballermann ends in death for a German tourist. An accident – people thought for over a year. Now it turns out in Mallorca: the 20-year-old was probably murdered.
Until now, it was thought that the young tourist from northern Hesse, who had a lot of alcohol in his blood, got lost while looking for his hotel on October 8, 2022, or that he recklessly got onto the road and lay down there. At around 10:30 p.m. he was run over by a car on the MA-19 towards Palma, not far from Playa de Palma.
The driver said at the time that she saw the man lying on the road but was unable to brake in time or avoid the scantily clad body. She immediately stopped and called the police. Authorities are now convinced that the victim was unconscious on the road after being pushed out of the moving car by the two suspects. The case was therefore taken over some time ago by the Spanish National Police’s homicide squad.
What really happened?
The police’s reconstruction of the tragic night revealed the following: After a night of partying with a friend, the young tourist got into the van under still unknown circumstances with the two men who wanted to rob him. This probably happened on the so-called Ballermann. According to official findings, the holidaymaker resisted at some point, but since he was very drunk and alone, he had no chance.
According to official information, one of the two suspects was caught on Monday in Málaga in southern Spain, the other a day later in Palma. The two Spaniards are 36 and 44 years old. A third man was arrested in Palma, but has since been released. It was said that he occasionally drove the company’s van that was allegedly used for the crime for work, but had nothing to do with the crime.
The police spoke of a “complex” investigation. The eyewitness was able to describe the white van, but he could not see the vehicle’s license plate. That’s why around 100,000 delivery vans were the subject of the investigation. The police emphasized that they were in constant contact with the victim’s family in Germany the entire time in order to keep them up to date.