If the police fail to solve a crime as serious as a murder, it does not disappear into the files forever. But after a certain period of time it will be resubmitted. For good reason: murder has no statute of limitations and such cold cases often date back decades. Accordingly, the investigative methods previously used date back to another century and have now long been outdated by modern technical possibilities, especially in DNA analysis. Of course, the new investigation does not always lead to success, but sometimes it does. Then previously unknown traces emerge and new approaches emerge – as happened in the case of Claudia Obermeier, who was murdered in 1990.
The police headquarters in Middle Franconia do not yet want to say what kind of lead this is. The public will find out next Wednesday in the ZDF program “Aktenzeichen XY … Unsolved”. Press spokesman Marc Siegl only says this: The lead is “promising”. And it resulted from the said routine investigation on resubmission.
Claudia Obermeier’s murder took place 33 years ago. On August 28, 1990, a still unknown perpetrator strangled the then 22-year-old on her way home from Röthenbach an der Pegnitz to Renzenhof. Who it was? Still a mystery to this day.
What is known, however, is the following: Claudia Obermeier and her husband, who was four years older than her and with whom she had a child, ran the Flora-Heim, a restaurant in an allotment garden association in Röthenbach an der Pegnitz (Nürnberger Land district). On the evening of their deaths, police spokesman Siegl describes it, both of them were at the flower festival – a local folk festival – and then returned to the restaurant they rented and ran. There they got into an argument and he hit her. The window of a glass door was also broken, as a photo from the police shows. After the argument, the two parted ways: he went home and she stayed in the restaurant until around two o’clock.
The body of the then 22-year-old was found in a forest between Röthenbach an der Pegnitz and Renzenhof.
(Photo: Middle Franconia Police)
Then Claudia Obermeier ordered a taxi to go to a friend. She never got in. Instead, she walked almost three kilometers home to the Renzenhof district of Röthenbach, which is located in a forested area just outside the small town. The taxi driver met her on the way, but she didn’t want to get in. The next morning, around eight o’clock, a passerby found Obermeier’s body about 20 meters off the road in the forest.
Years after the crime, an arrest warrant was issued against Obermeier’s husband in the case. He had to stand trial for the crime in 1997, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The case has since given rise to speculation in relevant internet forums. With a few exceptions, media reports cannot be found. However, on the occasion of the new police investigations, the reported Pegnitz newspaper in 2020, Obermeier was lying in a bush without his pants or underwear. However, no traces of rape were found. The police have not yet commented on these circumstances when asked. She wants to raise awareness with leaflets in Röthenbach an der Pegnitz on Friday and publish more information next week. She has offered a reward of 10,000 euros for information that leads to solving the crime.