Justice
Life sentence for defendant in Cologne “carnival murder”
In the so-called carnival murder trial in Cologne, the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. photo
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
The investigators got on the trail of the defendant through a tip from a viewer after the ZDF program “Aktenzeichen XY…unsolved”, in which the “cold case” was presented.
In the trial surrounding the so-called Cologne carnival murder of a young woman, the regional court sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment on Friday. “We are convinced that you committed the murder 36 years ago,” said the presiding judge.
According to the verdict, the 57-year-old killed the victim in the old town on the night of Carnival Sunday in 1988. This was proven, among other things, by DNA traces that were found on the body. The defense had pleaded for acquittal. The defendant denied the crime in the trial.