Known murder case in the Gießen district: Julia's murderer is dead

Created: 03/31/2022 11:53 am

20 years ago a man kills a girl (8).

Now he is dead.

(Iconic image) © Stephan Goerlich/Imago

20 years ago, the murder of eight-year-old Julia made headlines throughout Germany.

Now her killer is dead.

Biebertal – The murderer of eight-year-old Julia Hose is dead. Thorsten Volk died on March 20th in the Wetzlar hospital.

This was confirmed by senior public prosecutor Manuel Jung when asked.

Jung is spokesman for the Wetzlar public prosecutor's office, which conducted the investigation into the death.

The prosecutor did not provide any information on the cause of death.

The "Julia case" made headlines nationwide more than 20 years ago.

The eight-year-old girl initially disappeared without a trace in Rodheim-Bieber in the summer of 2001.

Her body was found just under a week later under a burning pile of wood in the Wetterau.

The perpetrator lived near the playground from which Julia disappeared on the afternoon of June 29, 2001.

Her parents were busy moving to their new home within sight of his house, as reported by giessener-allgemeine.de.

Gießen district: Julia's killer gave an interview while looking for the eight-year-old

After the couple reported their daughter missing, a huge search operation began with up to 1,100 helpers.

First with police officers, firefighters, search dog squadrons and other helpers in the immediate vicinity, then in an ever larger radius.

The emergency services went from house to house, asking for observations, searching basements, sheds, garages, old quarries and tunnels in the hope that the child could somehow get in there and maybe be injured.

It soon became clear that Julia's disappearance had to be a crime.

The police and especially her parents hoped that she could "only" have been kidnapped.

At this point, Julia was already dead in the basement of Thorsten Volk's house.

The day after the child's disappearance, he gave a short interview to a reporter from a private television station.

She had met him sweeping the streets on Saturday and asked his opinion on the case.

“I also have a little daughter.

It's only five months old now, but that makes you think somewhere.

It's scary somewhere,' he said into the microphone.

Gießen district: speed cameras brought investigators on the trail of Julia's murderer

On July 4, firefighters discovered a small, charred body under a burning pile of wood in the forest near Ilbenstadt in Wetterau.

The DNA test left no doubt: it was Julia Hose.

In the search for the perpetrator, the investigators evaluated images from the speed cameras around the location.

They came across a photo of a car registered in the Gießen district, which had been flashed near neighboring Kaichen around the time of the fire.

The driver was clearly visible.

When police officers questioned Volk about the radar photo, he gave what appeared to be a valid reason.

In the course of further investigations, however, doubts arose, as did the alibi that his wife at the time had given him for the time of Julia's disappearance.

ARD takes up the Julia case as part of its ARD Crime Time series in a three-part documentary.

You can see them in the media library here.

Gießen district: Julia's murderer remained in prison until the end

On August 6, detectives wanted to confront Volk with their new findings and search his house.

But that didn't happen because on the same day there was a deflagration in the basement of the building, in which he suffered severe burn injuries.

This left Volk disfigured for the rest of his life.

He had wanted to destroy evidence and used gasoline.

The trial* began on November 6, 2002 before the district court in Giessen.

The 33-year-old at the time of the crime denied all allegations against him.

Due to the overwhelming burden of evidence, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on May 20, 2003.

Volk was in prison in Butzbach until the end.

(bf)