Heike Kötting murder case
Dortmund police reopen cold case from 1991 – and arrest a suspect
Heike Kötting died in February 1991. The Dortmund police hope to finally be able to clear up the case by calling “Aktenzeichen XY”.
© Police North Rhine-Westphalia
For a long time, the police were in the dark in the case of the murdered Heike Kötting from Dortmund. The 28-year-old was found dead in February 1991. Now the police have caught a suspect. The case is the topic of the program “Aktenzeichen XY” on Wednesday evening.
Who killed Heike Kötting? This question was aimed at Dortmund police made it public last week. Even more than 30 years after the murder of the 28-year-old from the Scharnhorst district, there was no trace of the perpetrator. On Monday there was an attack on the street: the police arrested a 60-year-old man from Dortmund. He is strongly suspected of having murdered the young woman. As the Dortmund public prosecutor announced on Wednesday, he has been in custody ever since.
Heike Kötting case in “Case number XY”
Nevertheless, the case will be discussed on Wednesday evening on the ZDF program “Aktenzeichen XY”. “Based on the evidence and the injuries, we assume that there could be another perpetrator,” says Gregor Schmidt, First Chief Inspector and head of the “Cold Case” investigation group at Dortmund police headquarters. He will be in the studio this evening and will talk to presenter Rudi Cerne about the case.
Prosecutor Gülkiz Yazir is also hoping for new clues during the live broadcast: “We assume that the perpetrators got into the house through a cellar shaft. Based on the current status of the investigation, the involvement of other people cannot be ruled out.”
Heike Kötting fell victim to a burglar on February 25, 1991. The next day, her parents, who lived nearby, found her body in a small room that she was using as a sewing room. She was stabbed, but the officers did not find a murder weapon. The perpetrator gained access via a cellar shaft behind the house. After the crime, the victim’s red small car also disappeared.
Heike Kötting’s car was found at a motorway service station in France after the crime
© Police North Rhine-Westphalia
Three days later, the vehicle was found at a motorway service station in France. No traces were later found in the house or on the car. The Dortmund public prosecutor’s office has offered a reward of 5,000 euros for crucial information about the perpetrator.
Watch the video above: In February 2007, flight attendant Claudia Knapp was found dead by her son in their apartment in Velbert, North Rhine-Westphalia. The search for the perpetrator comes to nothing. 16 years later, the investigators can apparently clarify the cold case.
Sources: North Rhine-Westphalia Police