A 14-year-old boy suspected of stabbing a 6-year-old boy to death was arrested on Tuesday (September 26th) in northeastern Germany, police said. The boy was found seriously injured in a thicket on September 14 after his parents reported him missing, not seeing him return from the sports field in the small town of Pragsdorf.
The child died in hospital. Investigators found near the crime scene a knife bearing traces of DNA from the victim and "with a very high probability" those of the suspect, police said in a statement. The teenager had already aroused suspicion before the DNA analysis by making contradictory statements while he is the last to have seen the child alive, the same source added.
Several child murders
The young person must now be brought before a judge. For now, police say they do not know the motives for the crime. This case comes after several child murders that shocked public opinion in Germany. Last March, two preteens aged 12 and 13 confessed to the stabbing of one of their 12-year-old classmates in the west of the country. They were not criminally responsible because they were under 14, the minimum age in Germany to be convicted.
In September, the court charged an 11-year-old boy suspected of killing a 10-year-old girl at a children's home in Bavaria. That same month, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for killing a boy of the same age who was found dead by firearm on school grounds in Bavaria.