Can an unsolved violent crime against a young person be solved after 45 years? The criminal police in Upper Palatinate are asking possible witnesses to come forward. On Thursday, officials in Schwandorf hung posters commemorating the case. On June 16, 1978, children playing there found the mutilated body of 15-year-old Christa Mirthes in a well shaft.
To this day the perpetrator is unknown. But: According to the police, using new technology they were able to secure a previously undiscovered trace of DNA when examining the evidence from that time. The officials do not rule out that this could have come from the perpetrator.
At the beginning of the year, a group of investigators took on the case again. Numerous witnesses were heard again. The police finally want to find out who killed the girl. The posters read: “Who did this to me?” over a black and white photo of the victim. The investigators assume that the perpetrator had a connection to Schwandorf and local knowledge.
The posters are mainly hung where older people go: retirement homes, pharmacies, opticians, authorities. Because Christa Mirthes would be 60 years old today – and the contemporary witnesses and the perpetrator have also become correspondingly older.
If the perpetrator is still alive, he could still be charged and brought to trial even after such a long time – provided the crime is still classified as murder. Because murder doesn’t expire. The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office has offered a reward of 10,000 euros for crucial information.