Beatrix Hemmerle was stabbed to death in her apartment more than thirty years ago. The perpetrator is still unknown today. Now the police want to try to identify him and have written to a hundred men for a genetic test.
The people who were friends, acquaintances or colleagues of the victim, among others, should contact them to make an appointment to give a saliva sample. This was announced by a police spokesman. It was the first part of the test of a total of 450 men who were identified in the course of the investigation into Hemmerle's murder.
The reason for the DNA examination is that the police have reopened the hitherto unresolved case since 2017: In doing so, they came across genetic traces on an piece of evidence that are said to have come from the perpetrator. Shortly after the fact, this remained undiscovered because the DNA analysis had not yet been carried out, the police said.
Hemmerle was killed in August 1989 at the age of 32. Her twelve-year-old son, who was awakened by screams and fighting noises, found his mother dying.
Beatrix Hemmerle was stabbed to death by an unknown person in her apartment in 1989
Photo:Police headquarters in Trier
"We assume that the perpetrator comes from Hemmerle's environment, either from the personal or from the spatial environment," said the police spokesman. According to the investigation, the perpetrator had planned a sexual act when he entered the apartment through an open balcony door.
The man has not yet been caught. The first batch of tests should be done after two weeks, said the spokesman.
The ZDF show "Aktenzeichen XY ... unsolved" will deal with the case again this Wednesday evening.
Icon: The mirrorcop / dpa