Their track was lost in 1995 at night on Stiglmaierplatz: now Sonja Engelbrecht's bones have been found

After 26 years there is a sad certainty: Sonja Engelbrecht is dead. Her thighbone was found in a wooded area.

The police are looking for more remains.

Munich - It is a picturesque piece of forest in the Altmühltal, northwest of Kipfenberg (Eichstätt district), popular with hikers - but now the forest is also a scene of horror.

Here, in the shade of the trees, a forest worker found a human bone.

As the police now found out, it comes from Sonja Engelbrecht from Munich, who has been missing since 1995.

One of the most mysterious criminal cases in Germany is about to be solved.

Around 100 police officers are currently searching the area.

The forces of the Munich and Ingolstadt police * and the support command have been in action since Tuesday morning (23 November).

With high pressure they search the forest called Bärneichet.

The investigators hope for further clues to finally solve the mystery of the disappearance of the young woman 26 years ago.

Missing Sonja Engelbrecht: Bone discovery from 2020 brought new knowledge

The search action was triggered over a year ago.

"The bone was found in the summer of 2020," says police spokesman Werner Kraus.

The first DNA comparisons had not resulted in a hit, so the forest was only searched superficially in the immediate vicinity of the site.

“There was initially no evidence of a homicide,” explains Kraus.

But things are different now.

Since the possibilities of typing DNA material are constantly improving, a new examination has now brought the surprising result: The bone comes from the woman from Munich, who has been missing for 26 years.

“It had been there for several years,” reports Kraus.

The cause of Sonja Engelbrecht's death has not yet been clarified

How Sonja died is still unclear.

The police assume a violent crime.

As early as the 1990s, the Munich * investigators suspected a sexual offense as the background to Sonja's disappearance.

With the bones found, the police have come a long way closer to a solution to the case.

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Policemen are standing by the forest where Sonja Engelbrecht's remains were found.

© Friedrich / dpa

Review: It is the night of April 11, 1995 around 2:30 a.m.

Sonja Engelbrecht stands alone on Stiglmaierplatz.

Before that, the 19-year-old was celebrating with friends in Schwabing *.

Then she accompanied a friend to the tram stop and wanted to call her sister from the phone booth: She should have picked her up by car.

The friend got on the tram and all trace of Sonja was lost.

The nurse's phone never rang.

Since then, Sonja has been missing.

Sonja Engelbrecht's parents looked for her with the help of "Aktenzeichen XY ... unsolved"

Her parents Ingrid and Harry Engelbrecht were desperately looking for the college student who was investigating the homicide - the case was also Them on the television program "Aktenzeichen XY ... unsolved" * - but all to no avail. All sorts of theories about her whereabouts were put forward on a website that was apparently created in consultation with Sonja's parents. Was she kidnapped? Has a secret admirer done something to her? Cruel thoughts with no solution.

Even now after the bones were found, much remains unclear in the Sonja Engelbrecht case.

Only one thing is now certain: the woman from Munich is dead. Udo Nagel, then head of the Munich homicide squad, says: "I am terribly sorry for the family because all of their hopes of seeing Sonja alive again have been dashed." The police want him Keep searching the forest in the coming days - always from sunrise to sunset.

"The search goes at least until Friday," says spokesman Werner Kraus.

From the end of the week, snow should fall, which makes the search difficult.

List of rubric lists: © Friedrich / dpa