The alleged poison attack at the Technical University of Darmstadt is said to have been carried out by a 32-year-old student. The woman went to the psychiatric ward.
After the poison attack on employees of the Technical University of Darmstadt (TUD) in August last year, a 32-year-old woman from Mainz has now been convicted as the suspected perpetrator. She was housed in a psychiatric hospital, as the public prosecutor’s office in Darmstadt and the police headquarters in southern Hesse announced on Thursday.
The specially founded murder commission “Licht” evaluated numerous traces that ultimately pointed to the 32-year-old. The public prosecutor’s office had issued a placement order “on suspicion of attempted murder committed in a state of incapacity”.
Food containing toxic substances
According to the current status of the investigations, there are “urgent reasons” that the woman, who is herself a student at the TUD and has been studying in the Materials Science department since 2017, has added harmful substances to various foods in building L2/01.
She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital because she could not be guilty due to a mental illness. So far, according to the announcement, she has not provided any information on the allegations.
On August 23, 2021, she is said to have caused seven employees of the TU Darmstadt to be hospitalized with poisoned drinks, one of them with life-threatening injuries. The investigators have not yet given any detailed information on the poison used. All that is known is that the substance, which was used in milk packs and water containers, among other things, was potentially deadly.
Suspect is said to have felt persecuted
The suspect came into the view of the investigators at an early stage, they now announced. Among other things, “digital forensic traces” would have shown that the 32-year-old was probably in the building in question on the night of August 23, 2021.
Some of the university employees affected were also mentioned in their written records. The investigations therefore indicate that the suspect felt pursued by them.
TUD President is “very relieved”
“The entire Presidium is very relieved that the crime could be cleared up,” said TUD President Tanja Brühl. “We were all shocked by the cases of poisoning, which put members of the university in serious danger to their health.”
End of further information