Crime – Würzburg – Court on “Cold Case”: Decision not before October – Bavaria

Karlstadt/Bamberg (dpa/lby) – at the beginning of May, the Würzburg district court did not admit a murder charge for a crime almost three decades ago – now the higher regional court (OLG) in Bamberg has to deal with the matter. The background is a complaint by the public prosecutor against the Würzburg decision. “The defense attorney and the co-plaintiff were given a deadline to comment on the application by the public prosecutor’s office until mid-July,” said an OLG spokesman. In view of the scope of the procedure and the upcoming holiday period, a decision can be expected in October at the earliest. First, the “Main-Echo” reported about it.

Last December, the Würzburg public prosecutor charged a 17-year-old man with murder at the time of the crime. He is said to have killed a girl named Sabine shortly before Christmas 1993 in Karlstadt (Main-Spessart district).

The court had declared about two months ago, based on the results of the investigation, that the suspect might have been involved in the crime. Nevertheless, the evidence did not allow for a reliable reconstruction of a course of events that could prove a murder charge. An indictment for other criminal offenses – such as manslaughter – is no longer possible due to the statute of limitations.

The suspect from the Main-Spessart district had already been arrested in January 2021 after renewed searches on suspicion of murder. The man was released a few weeks later. However, the investigation proceeded. The man was previously the focus of investigators. The public prosecutor’s office has not given any information on his possible motive since then.

The victim was last seen on a farm in the Wiesenfeld district. The girl’s jacket and clothes were later found in a cesspool there – but not the 13-year-old. When the heavy concrete cover of an isolated manure pit was lifted, investigators discovered the body. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the student died violently.

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