Bathtub murder at Tegernsee: Manfred G. free again – heat report brings new insights
Created: 08/13/2022, 06:49 am
By: Angela Walser
Manfred G. is free again after 13 years in prison.
In this house in Rottach-Egern, 87-year-old Lieselotte K. died in her bathtub.
© Unfried/Merkur.de
Manfred G., convicted caretaker in the bathtub murder, is free again after 13 years in prison.
The Munich I district court lifted his arrest warrant on Friday and ordered a new trial.
A date has not yet been mentioned.
The 62-year-old had always denied the murder.
Rottach-Egern - "Great, great, great - I'm really happy about that." Peter Janssen, former mayor of the city of Tegernsee, rejoiced when he heard the news on the phone about the release and the successful retrial.
Janssen had campaigned for this when the process stalled in 2020.
Bathtub murder: Manfred G. is free again after 13 years in prison.
© Eberhard Unfried
"He shouldn't have been convicted," said Janssen, "I was convinced that the retrial would work," he added.
Shortly thereafter he was overwhelmed by a feeling of happiness.
Tears came to him, "it moves me deeply," said Janssen.
Manfred G. would not have been able to get to know his second child properly.
It was born while he was behind bars.
Bathtub murder in Rottach-Egern: Manfred G. back with his family
Lawyer Regina Rick picked up Manfred G. from the Landsberg am Lech prison on Friday and brought him home to the Tegernsee valley (Miesbach district).
"He was composed, he was fine, his eyes shone," reported the successful lawyer.
The 62-year-old was really looking forward to his family.
When Rick then said goodbye, she was hugged by his wife.
In this house in Rottach-Egern, 87-year-old Lieselotte K. died in the bathtub.
© Eberhard Unfried
"Thank you for bringing my husband back," said the caretaker's wife.
She was also touched, the lawyer reported.
In 2019, she had filed an application for a retrial.
Manfred G. had already been in prison for ten years.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly drowning 87-year-old Lieselotte K. in 2008.
He had always denied the crime.
Bathtub murder at Tegernsee: Heat report brings new insights
A year and a half of waiting followed: It was not until December 2020 that the Munich I Regional Court made a decision and rejected the application for reopening as inadmissible.
This decision was corrected in September 2021 by the Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) following an appeal by the lawyer.
Then on Friday the reversal: The new expert opinions, in conjunction with the evidence collected earlier, could lead to a more favorable decision for the accused, the court decided.
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This is a heat assessment that comes at a time of death well away from the time window the trial court had assumed.
For the first time, the expert was able to calculate the approximate water temperature in the bathtub at the time when Lieselotte K.'s body was found by a member of the nursing service.
On this basis, a new time of death could be calculated, at which G. is said to have been no longer in the apartment.
Another report reproduced a computer-assisted simulation of what happened.
It showed an understandable fall of the 87-year-old into the water-filled tub.
This knowledge was only possible due to the technical development of the past few years.
In 2012, the then medical examiner still doubted that the two extensive head injuries could have been caused by a fall.
The court assumed that Manfred G. drowned the woman to cover up the head injuries.
By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Tegernsee newsletter.
