crime
Killed five-year-old: investigators continue search for motive
Candles and flowers are not far from where the injured girl was found. Despite resuscitation, she died. photo
© Paul Zinken/dpa
Grave lights, a few stuffed animals and flowers have been set up in memory of little Anissa. Her death has caused sadness and horror. A 19-year-old is suspected.
After the violent death of five-year-old Anissa, the police continue to investigate possible motives and the exact course of events. For this purpose, further traces are to be evaluated today and witnesses questioned, the prosecutor said. A 19-year-old suspect is in custody. He was a friend of the girl’s family – and babysitter for the four children. An arrest warrant was issued against the young man on suspicion of manslaughter late Wednesday afternoon, according to a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office.
So far he has said nothing about the allegations, the spokesman said. Since the motive is still unclear, the accusation is initially manslaughter, the spokesman said. “He was arrested because he was the one who left with the girl and came back without her.” According to the current situation, a sexual motive does not play a role, the authority said. This was also confirmed by the autopsy of the body. A murder commission is now trying to clarify the background and the crime.
19-year-old also took care of the siblings
The missing girl was found Tuesday afternoon in the Bürgerpark in Berlin’s Pankow district – with at least one knife wound in her body and lifeless. Helpers were still trying to revive Anissa. She was then flown to a hospital in a helicopter. There she died.
Meanwhile, the police on the edge of the park arrested the 19-year-old as a suspect. According to initial findings by the police and public prosecutor’s office, which are based on statements by the family and witnesses, the young man took care of the girl who was later killed and her three younger siblings on Tuesday afternoon at the Paule-Park playground in a green area in bourgeois Pankow.
At around 2:30 p.m., the 19-year-old left there with the five-year-old. As a reason, he said the child had to go to the toilet. He asked other people to take care of the three other children. A little later the man came back without the girl and said he had lost her.
Search for the murder weapon
Other people from the playground alerted the police around 3 p.m. and reported the girl missing. The police launched a major search operation involving more than 100 officers and a helicopter. The area was combed until passers-by finally found the girl around 5.40 p.m. about 700 meters away in the nearby Bürgerpark. The babysitter was arrested shortly thereafter.
Forensic technicians from the State Criminal Police Office began searching for clues in the specially illuminated park on Tuesday evening. This continued on Wednesday, dozens of police officers scoured the park. The murder weapon was sought and was believed to be a knife. The investigating authorities did not initially reveal whether the search was successful.