It is remarkable: the suspicion against a possible murderer is not substantiated, and a DNA comparison does not allow any conclusions to be drawn as to who was the perpetrator. The public knows nothing about this possible perpetrator up to this point. And yet the police headquarters in Middle Franconia published a comparatively long press release under the headline: “Murder of Claudia Obermeier in 1990 – Promising tip was not confirmed – High volume of tips is being processed.”
Of course, the police want to maintain awareness in order to reach possible witnesses and whistleblowers. But, and this is also a reading of the press release, which is quite long and detailed for a suspicion that has not been substantiated: The police probably did not think they were as close to solving the murder of the woman as they were these days 22-year-old Claudia Obermeier in August 1990.
In the course of so-called cold case investigations, police officers came across a new lead some time ago: A comparison with DNA secured at the site where Obermeier’s body was found near Röthenbach an der Pegnitz (Nürnberger Land district) showed a match with the genetic material found in a man in 2012 A previously unsolved burglary was secured at a shell construction site in the Mögeldorf district of Nuremberg.
The police suspect that the burglar from Nuremberg is Obermeier’s murderer. Because his DNA is not stored in any database, she addressed the public with an article on the ZDF program “Aktenzeichen XY… Unklart”. And received more than 100 tips. Including the name of a man who, like Obermeier, was at the flower festival in Röthenbach an der Pegnitz before her death – and, according to witnesses, was supposed to have been in connection with the break-in, in which high-quality tools were stolen. However: “A DNA comparison carried out in the meantime did not confirm the suspicion expressed,” the police said.
Claudia Obermeier was killed on the night of August 25, 1990. A passerby found her body the next morning in a wooded area along the road. She was last seen alive nearby – on the way home from an allotment colony in Röthenbach, where she ran the Floraheim restaurant with her husband, towards Renzendorf, about three kilometers away. Obermeier’s husband was tried as a defendant in the case in 1997 and 1998, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The police now assume that Obermeier’s murderer killed the young woman to cover up a sexual crime. Since the latest suspicion has not been confirmed, the focus of further investigations will now be on processing the remaining clues, according to the police. Several people and some craft businesses have already reported to the officials and some have provided information that is interesting for the investigators.