Chub
“Breaks the heart” – Valeriia was the victim of a crime
More than 400 police officers were deployed in the search for the Ukrainian girl. Photo
© Robert Michael/dpa
Little Valeriia fled the war in Ukraine to Germany with her mother. But here she became the victim of a crime. After more than a week of anxious searching, there is sad certainty.
Just last weekend, Valeriia’s father had made a video from the Ukraine appealed to possible kidnappers: “Find the courage to give us parents back our beloved child.” But his hope, expressed in the “Bild am Sonntag” newspaper, of soon being able to hold the girl in his arms again, was suddenly dashed.
Valeriia is dead. Her body was found on Tuesday at around 2:30 p.m. deep in the undergrowth in an impassable forest near Döbeln. After the body was dissected, investigators are assuming that a crime had been committed and are investigating manslaughter and murder. The search for the perpetrator is currently focusing on the girl’s social environment, explained senior public prosecutor Ingrid Burghart on Wednesday.
Days-long search with drones and helicopters
On Monday of last week, Valeriia set off for school in the morning. But she did not show up for class. Because the school neglected to call her mother, her disappearance was not noticed until the afternoon when she did not come home. Then an intensive search was carried out for days: by drone and helicopter, with special dogs and divers; hundreds of police officers combed the city, images and videos from cameras were analyzed by so-called super-recognizers. Known sex offenders in the region were checked and television programs were searched for clues about the girl. The police also contacted colleagues abroad – the girl and her mother fled the war in Ukraine in 2022, her father was fighting on the front lines there. For a long time, no hot leads were found, and an accident was also considered possible.
Police also concerned
But since today there is a sad certainty. And it is something that even the hardened police officers are feeling. “For nine days, we all had one goal: to bring the search for Valeriia to a successful conclusion,” said Police Chief Carsten Kaempf. The deep shock and dismay felt by the police cannot be expressed in words. “The loss of a child is heartbreaking.” Everything is being done to solve this crime and find the perpetrator or perpetrators, he assured. “That is our absolute focus.”
The public prosecutor’s office assumes that the location where the body was found is also the crime scene. According to the information, it is a forest between Hermsdorf and Mahlitzsch – about four kilometers on foot from where the girl lives. There are no signs of sexual abuse of the child, they said. No information was given on the exact cause of death because of the ongoing investigation.
According to the police, a witness had reported hearing cries for help on the outskirts of the city early on. However, this could not be narrowed down at first, explained the head of the criminal investigation department, Mandy Kürschner. The distance between where the witness heard the scream and where the child’s body was found was around 2 kilometers. The search initially focused on the immediate vicinity of the apartment, the school route and the school. Just this Tuesday, more than 400 police officers combed through fields and forests in the southern part of the city and found the body there.
“We are all very saddened and shocked by the death of little Valeriia,” said Mayor Sven Liebhauser (CDU). “Döbeln is shaken.” Many citizens are not in the mood to celebrate now. The town in the district of Central Saxony, which has around 24,000 inhabitants, has therefore decided to cancel its town festival planned for the weekend. Instead, Liebhauser called on people to come together on Friday evening to remember the girl with candles in their hands on the Obermarkt. There will also be a memorial service on Sunday. A donation account has also been set up to support the family.
School psychologists in action
At Valeriia’s school, teachers and students are also grappling with the news that a child from their ranks was violently taken from her life. Several school psychologists have been on site again since today for a crisis response, said the spokesman for the State Office for Schools and Education, Clemens Arndt. The authority is also investigating misconduct at the school because the girl’s absence from class was not reported to her mother.
In Germany, thousands of children aged up to 13 are reported missing every year. Most of them can be found again. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, the clearance rate in the past six years was 99.8 percent. The search for six-year-old Arian from Bremervörde-Elm in Lower Saxony recently caused a stir nationwide. He has been missing since April 22nd.