In 1979 the body of a 15-year-old was found in Aschaffenburg. Only now does the trial of a suspect begin - investigators had reopened the case.
- In 1979, a 15-year-old was killed in Aschaffenburg.
- Investigators recently tracked down a suspect (57).
- The man - a former neighbor - is on trial.
Update from February 7, 8:56 p.m .: The district court in Aschaffenburg surprisingly lifted the arrest warrant against a 57-year-old on Friday, who is said to have murdered a 15-year-old 40 years ago. There is no longer any urgent suspicion.
The court has serious doubts about a dental report that identified a bite mark on the girl's body. In the past few weeks, the expert opinion of a dental expert had been painstakingly reproduced in the process. Contradictions arose.
The expert had assigned the bite mark to the defendant's teeth almost without a doubt. However, the genetic abnormalities in the man's teeth that she listed would have turned out to be partially absent. The court found that a tooth, the absence of which she had portrayed as a genetic anomaly, was only pulled later.
The negotiation continues. The chamber wants to deal with whether the man can be excluded as a perpetrator.
15-year-old killed: Former neighbor after 40 years in court - defender goes on the offensive
Update of February 7: The evidence process against the 57-year-old could turn around. That reports Merkur.de.
Update of January 9, 5:05 p.m .: The defendant's defense has filed a motion for bias. A spokesman for the court said the court had called the witnesses in an order that did not allow lay judges who were not familiar with the trial files.
Murder of Christiane J .: Former neighbor has to answer to the court
First report from January 9th:
Aschaffenburg - She was on her way to her shorthand evening course . But the 15-year-old office worker Christiane J. never arrived there. Her shorthand course alone indicates how long ago that evening was. Because in times of computers and smartphones the shorthand is hardly used anymore. But after more than four decades, the murder case is now being tried in court.
The alleged murderer of the girl - the then 17-year-old neighbor - has been on trial since Wednesday . He thought the young woman was pretty and sometimes put a slip of paper for her - like all the boys in the clique in which he was more of an outsider. He is now 57 years old. Protected from view with a red briefcase, he entered the courtroom in Aschaffenburg on Wednesday. The process takes place in camera. Because the accused was 17 years old at the time of the crime, juvenile justice is still applicable to the trial today. Maximum sentence: ten years in prison.
New DNA technology for cold case investigators
The trial is based on one of the most spectacular successes of so-called cold case investigators in recent years. In 2017, an investigation team was founded in Aschaffenburg to look at old, unsolved crimes again. Only two years ago, the Aschaffenburg investigators landed a big coup in a cold case. With the help of new DNA technology , they convicted a rapist. The district court sentenced him to life imprisonment for attempted murder. Such investigative groups are established at many police stations. In Bavaria alone, hundreds of homicides are unsolved.
The criminalists who specialized in old cases also looked at the case of Christiane J. who had been killed. According to court spokesman Ingo Krist, a bite wound has become one of the key indications . New methods in dental technology may have led to the bite being attributed to the accused. "It's an evidence process," said Krist.
Christiane J. murdered: suspect is on trial after 40 years
The young man had admitted that he had already been in the palace park with another girl shortly before the 15-year-old died - he choked Christiane J. briefly, but then ran away. It was initially unclear whether this incident would put him among the possible suspects in the first place.
In the end, it will probably be decisive whether the public prosecutor can provide such a complete chain of evidence that the court has no doubt as to the guilt of the accused. This denies the deed . He says he can hardly remember December day in 1979 - probably because it was a normal day for him, with no special occurrences.
Murder in Aschaffenburg: Public prosecutor's office details the events of December 18
The prosecutor's office, on the other hand, lists in detail what happened on December 18. The young woman had gone home from her shorthand course, not as usual with a friend. The perpetrator met her - whether it is intentionally or accidentally unclear - and brought her to the castle park. The girl was "defenseless". The next day the body was found - pants and underpants removed, the clothing on the upper body pushed up over the breasts. According to the indictment, the man not only strangled the woman, but also threw it over a parapet 15 meters deep from the palace grounds to the banks of the Main. There he hit the already dead victim with a piece of wood. He wanted to be very sure that she was actually dead.
The public prosecutor's office did not determine whether there was rape. However, she assumes that the satisfaction of the sex drive was an essential feature for the killing of the girl. In addition to treachery and concealment of crime, one of three murder signs. These must be met if a conviction is to result. Because only if the crime was considered murder could the perpetrator be punished. Other capital offenses expire - murder never.
Michael Donhauser
After the murder of the Kassel government president Walter Lübcke, there are new allegations: The alleged murderer is said to have stabbed an Iraqi in 2016.
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