A teenager disappears while walking her dog in Sauerland. Two days later, the dog reappears. Finally – after ten days – her burning corpse is discovered.
Dortmund/Hamm (dpa/lnw) – The case of the missing secondary school student from Iserlohn has turned out to be a brutal crime: After the discovery of the still burning corpse of the 17-year-old, the police in Dortmund arrested her ex-boyfriend. A judge sent the electronics technician into custody on suspicion of manslaughter. Various indications, which cannot yet be discussed, led the investigators to the 26-year-old, said senior public prosecutor Carsten Dombert on Saturday.
Dombert revealed on Sunday when asked by dpa: “We found traces in a barn in Dortmund that belonged to relatives of the accused. It is likely to be blood. A soil sample is now being analyzed by the State Criminal Police Office.” Vehicles that were available to the Dortmunder would now be examined in detail.
The couple are said to have split about a week before the 17-year-old’s disappearance. Her parents reported her missing on June 14. The girl had been walking her dog in the woods and hadn’t come home. She didn’t come to her school graduation either.
Two days later, the 26-year-old brought the girl’s dog, including the collar and leash, to the parents: He looked for her again in the forest and discovered the dog, he claimed, which fueled the investigators’ suspicions.
When she disappeared, the 17-year-old was dressed all in black. The police launched a search operation with a public manhunt and photos of the girl. Sniffer dogs and a helicopter were also used.
Her ex-boyfriend, the craftsman, had already been questioned as a witness after the teenager’s disappearance. He was then quite surprised by his arrest, said Dombert.
According to reports in the “Bild” newspaper, the craftsman is said to have expressed concern on social networks shortly before: “Nothing new yet, I hope she’s fine.”
The autopsy of the corpse showed that the young woman did not die of the flames, but several days earlier from “massive violence against the neck,” as Dombert said. The body was discovered on Friday in a nature reserve near Hamm. Investigators arrested the 26-year-old on the same day.
A cyclist found the burning body around 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning. “We assume that she had been dead for several days and that the body was only cremated there to remove traces,” it said on Friday. Both the suspect and the victim are German.
Between Iserlohn-Letmathe in Sauerland, where the young person lived and disappeared, and where her body was found, it is around 48 kilometers via Autobahn 1. On the way you pass Dortmund. The question of where the girl was in the ten days between her disappearance and her body being found is now occupying the homicide squad.