Around 24 years after a man's body was found in a sand pit on the Lower Rhine, investigators identified and arrested a suspect.
The alleged perpetrator from the Aachen area has been in custody since Wednesday, said the Krefeld police.
In December 1996, a dead body was discovered in a sand pit near Rheurdt-Schaephuysen.
The man was a 43-year-old from Würselen at the time, as the investigators were only able to clarify at the beginning of September through information after the ZDF program "Aktenzeichen XY ... unsolved".
Identity of the victim clarified according to evidence
According to the police, the victim suddenly disappeared, but was never reported missing.
Relatives said they assumed that he had gone abroad because of financial problems and had broken off contact.
Only the publication of new reconstructed digital images of the deceased last year put the investigators on the right track.
A reference to the missing man from the Aachen area was shown.
Ultimately, a DNA comparison with his relatives confirmed the identity of the deceased beyond any doubt.
According to the investigators, he was killed in his home and deposited in the sand pit.
Icon: The mirror
bbr / AFP