He has seen everything. The blue Opel Corsa that his daughter got from her mother, the broken side window that the two police officers inspected. He saw the officers searching the interior of the car, walking around the car and opening the trunk. And then he saw her, his daughter, 19 years old, motionless. She was dead, he understood that, then he collapsed.
He was shielded, a lawyer was given to him so that he was somehow able to cooperate with the police again. The first hours after a death are the most important. This is how the father’s lawyer tells it and also why his client raced like a madman last Saturday morning to the underground car park in Regensburg where his daughter was found.
His mother called him and they are divorced. She lived with their daughter in the nearby Cham district, he in Regensburg. The mother said that the police had found her car and that her daughter had not come home on Friday evening. Full of worry, he stormed off, but it was too late, his daughter was already dead.
A young woman’s corpse in a trunk, parked in the underground car park of a hardware store – the news caused horror not only in Regensburg. But so far there are still more questions than answers. The police are keeping a low profile with information so as not to complicate the investigation. But this much is clear: a passerby called the police on Saturday morning and pointed out a vehicle with a broken window. A routine investigation, perhaps theft, perhaps vandalism, the officers didn’t expect to find a body in the trunk.
A 55-year-old man is now in custody as a suspect. He was temporarily arrested on Saturday evening, and late on Sunday evening, shortly before the police had to let him go, a judge issued the arrest warrant. Almost at the last second. Securing evidence, examining the body, it all takes time, says a police spokesman, especially on a weekend. He also says the suspect and the victim knew each other. What relationship did the 19-year-old have with the man 36 years her senior? He doesn’t say. According to SZ research, the two were once a couple, and other media have also reported this. They are both said to have been undertakers by profession, at different jobs. She had just received her certificate.
According to the police, the autopsy has now been completed. The result? A violent death was confirmed. Was the young woman stabbed, strangled, killed? Did she fight back and were there signs of struggle? Was she drugged? The police spokesman doesn’t say any of that. However, the arrest warrant is issued for manslaughter and, unlike murder, does not assume base motives such as greed or jealousy.
According to information from the SZ, the victim was a member of the fitness studio, which can be reached from the underground car park and is open 24 hours a day, but she is said to have not trained there for a long time. A hardware store can also be reached from the underground car park. It is located in an industrial and commercial area in the north of Regensburg on the large four-lane Frankenstrasse. There is a furniture store opposite and there is a branch of a fast food chain next to the underground car park. There isn’t much going on in this area at night and in the evening, especially after the shops close. But the Donau shopping center is not far away, the motorway access to the A93 is just around the corner, and you can also get on the main road towards Cham quickly.
According to a media report, the 19-year-old was already dead when the car was parked in the underground car park. She was said to have been seen alive on Friday. SZ research confirms this. The police are now evaluating further traces found at the crime scene, as well as telephone calls and video recordings. There is no video surveillance in the underground car park itself, which is open 24 hours and free of charge, but there is on the surrounding streets.
The father’s lawyer says he has the impression that the 19-year-old was close with her parents and that it seemed like a trusting relationship. The father who was there when his dead daughter was found was offered psychological help.