crime
Poison attack at Darmstadt University: Investigations completed
The L2/01 building on the Lichtwiese campus of the Technical University of Darmstadt. Almost a year ago, there were seven people with symptoms of poisoning after a suspected poison attack. photo
© Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa
The poison attack at the TU Darmstadt caused widespread horror at the time. Investigators suspected early on who might be responsible. But the accused remains silent to this day.
Almost a year after the poison attack at the Technical University in Darmstadt, the investigation against a 32-year-old from Mainz has been completed. “The murder commission has finished its work,” said the spokesman for the Darmstadt public prosecutor, Robert Hartmann, at the request of the German Press Agency. The crime on August 23 last year in a university building caused horror: seven people were injured, one of whom was in mortal danger.
According to Hartmann, the murder commission with up to 50 officers questioned a number of witnesses in the three-digit range. The investigators made a breakthrough in March. The 32-year-old student was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder while incapacitated and admitted to a psychiatric clinic.
When the first people showed signs of poisoning on August 23, 2021, a large number of emergency services were deployed on the Lichtwiese campus. Specialists discovered a toxic substance in milk cartons and water containers.
Suspicious early on
The investigators had appeared suspicious of the woman early on. This suspicion is said to have been confirmed by witness statements. The murder commission finally secured traces that should prove that the woman was in building L2/01 the night before the crime. Employees of the university should also be mentioned in her notes. The suspected motive for the arrest was that she felt persecuted by university staff.
“Since the accused did not provide any information, we had to reconstruct the course of events,” said Hartmann. The investigators assume that the chemicals presumably used came from the crime scene in the broadest sense and that the food there was contaminated with it. There are no indications of possible accomplices.
The public prosecutor’s office did not want to say how things will continue. “We have made a final decision,” said Hartmann. However, they do not want to disclose their content at the moment, as the accused must first be informed of it before it can be published.