It is one of Bavaria's most spectacular crime stories - and is now a "cold case": But in the case of the murdered Peggy there is movement again.
Lichtenberg – In 2001, the then nine-year-old girl Peggy disappeared after school in Lichtenberg, district of Hof, without a trace.
Despite large-scale searches, the girl remained missing for a long time as far away as the Czech Republic and Turkey.
Her body was not found until 15 years later.
And despite arrests and alleged confessions, the perpetrator was never caught.
Now the girl's mother has filed a lawsuit – is the case moving again?
Case Peggy wrote Bavarian criminal history - thanks to numerous trials and tribulations
The Peggy case is one of the most spectacular crime stories in Bavaria.
After she disappeared in May 2001, a mentally handicapped man from Upper Franconia was arrested in 2004.
In a retrial he was released ten years later.
15 years after Peggy's disappearance, her body was finally discovered by a mushroom picker in a forest in the border area between Thuringia and Bavaria.
However, this brought anything but light into the darkness.
+
In 2001, the then nine-year-old girl Peggy disappeared from Upper Franconia - 15 years later a mushroom picker found her body in a forest between Bavaria and Thuringia.
© picture alliance / Daniel Karmann/dpa |
Daniel Karman
A DNA trace linked the case to the actions of the right-wing extremist terrorist cell NSU.
Wrongly - because it turned out that the DNA of the NSU terrorist Uwe Böhnhardt got to the crime scene through a contaminated folding rule.
And finally, in 2018, a man admitted to dumping the girl's body into the woods in 2001.
However, he later withdrew the confession.
The police and public prosecutor's office then put the supposed final point in October 2020 - since then the case has been a "cold case".
Peggy was buried in 2022 – then it became quiet about the murder.
(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)
Peggy's mother files a lawsuit - against the allegedly confessed man
Now things seem to be moving again.
Because 22 years later, in January 2023, Peggy's mother filed a civil lawsuit in the Hof district court.
She demands compensation from the man who made his confession in 2018 and withdrew it again.
In the room is therefore a claim for pain and suffering in the amount of 75,000 euros.
The man's defense attorney confirmed receipt of the lawsuit and announced that he would respond with "factual arguments".
According to dpa, it is therefore possible that the spectacular crime story will move again - and Peggy's murderer may still be caught 22 years later.
(fhz)
You can always read all the news from all over Bavaria with us.
News and stories from Bavaria can now also be found on our brand new Facebook page Merkur Bayern.
List of rubrics: © AFP PHOTO / JENS-ULRICH KOCH
