Enlarge image
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
More than 35 years after an unsolved attempted murder case in Cologne, an old DNA sample has turned out to be the key to the arrest of a prime suspect.
This was announced by the police and the public prosecutor's office.
The man to whom the DNA sample belongs was arrested the day before.
He is accused of an attempted robbery and murder in the Cologne district of Ehrenfeld, which occurred more than three decades ago, in May 1987.
The corresponding DNA was found in a more recent examination of the alleged murder weapon from back then, explained the head of the Cologne investigation group "Cold Cases", Markus Weber.
It was a trophy from the victim's apartment, who had suffered life-threatening head injuries at the time.
The DNA was compared - with a hit.
Victim died in 2013
For decades, the case had been considered unsolved.
According to the investigators, the victim, a 50-year-old man at the time, was out and about in several Cologne restaurants on a May evening in 1987.
He met a young man in one of the restaurants and moved on with him.
Later, the young man was only seen alone – on the way home.
The 50-year-old was found in his apartment the next morning with serious injuries.
However, the police were never able to identify the alleged perpetrator, also because the victim could not describe exactly what happened.
In 2013, the victim died, who never fully recovered from the effects of the attack until the end of his life.
Nine years later, investigators now believe they have found the young man of yore.
The suspect, now 56 years old, was "certainly surprised" when he was arrested, said investigator Weber.
The public prosecutor's office assumes a financial motive for the crime.
According to investigators, the suspect's DNA, which made the comparison possible, had been dormant in the database since the late 1980s.
At the time it was charged for another crime.
This offense has since been "deleted".
However, there are no deletion periods for the DNA data.
atb/dpa