Exactly 35 years to the day, investigators may be able to clarify a previously unsolved murder case.
Petra Nohl was strangled behind a beer stand at carnival.
Cologne - Sometimes investigators lack a little bit of luck to solve a crime years later.
In other cases, however, television can also help in the fight against crime.
Not infrequently, investigators were able to solve crimes with the help of the ZDF program Aktenzeichen XY, now another cold case may join this success story.
Exactly 35 years to the day after the crime, investigators arrested a 56-year-old man from Cologne on suspicion of murder on Tuesday, February 14, 2022.
Carnival murder apparently solved: after 35 years - suspect arrested in the Petra Nohl case
The police said he was accused of strangling a 24-year-old woman in Cologne's old town on the night of Carnival Sunday in February 1988.
Investigators tracked down the man from a witness during the search program Aktenzeichen XY in December 2022.
The act on the young woman was the subject of a short film on the TV show.
As the TV show explained, the then 24-year-old single mother of a young daughter was a victim of the crime at carnival.
Petra Nohl first celebrated with friends, around 4 a.m. in the morning the young woman wanted to move on to a disco.
The act takes place behind a beer stand that had already been there for the parade on Carnival Sunday.
Even before the TV show was broadcast, the case had been reopened after more than 34 years in cooperation with the "Special Organizational Structure Cold Cases" unit of the NRW State Criminal Police Office.
An employee had analyzed the case again and suggested, among other things, a DNA analysis.
The arrest warrant was issued by the District Court of Cologne.
Aktenzeichen XY has enjoyed great popularity for decades.
Recently, the TV show announced a drastic step, discontinuing a previously very popular service.
