At an inhospitable spot on Hamburg’s Ernst-August Canal, an angler pulls a bag containing a woman’s shoe and human bones out of the water. The body was identified two weeks later. The case dates back to 2013, and one man is already in custody.
Almost ten years after the disappearance of a woman in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, the police have apparently cleared up the criminal case. A 43-year-old Turk was arrested on arrival at Hamburg Airport, the police said. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the suspect is accused of a homicide. The body parts discovered by an angler in mid-January are the remains of a woman who has been missing since 2013.
The 29-year-old Bulgarian disappeared from Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg in 2013. The officers then arrested a former lover of the woman on suspicion of manslaughter, investigators found a sharp gun on the then 34-year-old. But the police were unsuccessful in the search for the woman’s body in a nature reserve at the time, and the man had to be released because there was no strong suspicion that he had committed a crime.
About two weeks ago, an angler discovered a bag with human remains in the Ernst August Canal in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg. First, the angler had fished a woman’s shoe with bones out of the water. The angler then carried a bag of other human remains to the surface of the water. After he got a glimpse of it, the bag sank back down. Divers then searched the water after the angler alerted police.
Three bridges cross the site. The next houses are more than 100 meters away and not in sight, reported a dpa photographer. Overall, it is a quiet place that does not invite you to go for a walk. At first it was unclear whether the body parts could only be assigned to a human body.
Extensive forensic examinations enabled the remains of the 29-year-old missing person to be identified. Now the woman’s former lover is again considered an urgent suspect, and the public prosecutor’s office has issued an arrest warrant for the man.
