Was it double murder?
Police find dead mother after dead daughter
A police diver searches for the body of a woman who is believed to have been killed in a body of water. photo
© René Priebe/dpa
At the beginning of March, the body of a 27-year-old was discovered on the banks of the Rhine near Hockenheim. Last week, investigators found her baby – alive. The search for the dead woman’s mother has continued since then – until now.
It reads like the script of a horror film: two suspects, first the 51-year-old grandmother and then the 27-year-old murdered her mother – the investigators later found the young woman’s baby, who was just a few weeks old, safe and sound with the suspected murderers. Mannheim police and prosecutors said they had found a body in a fishing lake near Bad Schönborn in the Karlsruhe district.
A DNA test quickly confirms that it is the 51-year-old. According to current knowledge, she was also killed – just like the 27-year-old who was previously found.
“This is not a normal case for us either, not an everyday case and it gives even us goosebumps,” said police spokesman Stefan Wilhelm. A 60-member special commission searched intensively for the 51-year-old woman for almost two weeks. At the beginning of March, her daughter’s body was discovered on the banks of the Rhine near Hockenheim – around 20 kilometers from Bad Schönborn. Only after relatives from Ukraine reported the young woman missing were investigators able to identify the body. According to the police, the refugees lived in accommodation in the Rhein-Neckar district.
Two suspects in custody
Most recently, the police used helicopters and divers to search for the 51-year-old in lakes – the investigators concentrated on the area near Bad Schönborn. “The divers had almost no visibility in the lakes there and had to inch their way forward,” said Wilhelm. Ultimately, there was no certainty for the divers that the body would not be there. That’s why they searched the entire lake again. “And that’s when we finally found the 51-year-old’s body.”
The two suspects – 43 and 44 years old – were arrested in the middle of last week. They are in custody. According to the statement, based on current knowledge, they come from the personal environment of those killed. There is therefore an urgent suspicion of “communal treacherous murder to cover up a crime” in two cases. According to their own statements, the investigators assume that the two killed the baby’s grandmother on the evening of March 6th and the baby’s mother a few hours later.
According to investigators, the suspects had the baby with them. The girl, who is just a few weeks old, is therefore unharmed. It is now in the care of the youth welfare office.
The “Bild” newspaper reported at the weekend that those arrested were a married couple. Neither the police nor the public prosecutor’s office have yet wanted to comment on the report. According to the “Bild” newspaper, the two had told neighbors and work colleagues in recent months about the supposedly imminent birth of their own daughter. They are said to have killed the woman in order to pass the baby off as theirs.
No information yet on the crime or weapon
The police spokesman did not want to comment on the biological father of the now six-week-old baby.
A passer-by discovered the dead 27-year-old near the banks of the Rhine at a so-called NATO ramp. After an autopsy it was clear that the young mother died from external violence. The spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office initially did not provide any information about the possible course of the crime or a possible weapon. Investigators also noticed a mysterious fireplace near where the body was found. According to their own statements, the police assume that the fire is connected to the killing of the young woman.
Police spokesman Wilhelm said: “Of course we are happy to be able to solve such a cruel act after such a short time and to be able to arrest two suspects.”