Murder trial in Wuppertal - Husband's order: life imprisonment for attacking a stewardess
17 years after the murder of a stewardess in Velbert near Essen, an order killer must now serve life in prison for the crime. The Landgericht Wuppertal followed the prosecution's demand with its verdict on Friday. The prosecution had argued in the sensational Cold-Case murder trial that the 58-year-old acquaintance of the victim's husband had acted out of jealousy and greed.
The condemned man denies the crime. His defense lawyer has already announced an appeal.
The contract killer was arrested last year after further evaluation of DNA traces. Six DNA hits of the man were found on the body of the 47-year-old, approximately at the back and on the right and left arms of the victim, as a forensic expert of the Landeskriminalamt NRW testified in the trial.
The court came to the conclusion in the proceedings that the condemned man had killed the flight attendant in 2007 on behalf of her husband, who could not bear that his wife had separated from him. Three days after the murder, the husband shot himself in the hessian Bensheim.
The then minor son discovered the body of his mother when he came home from school. Many witnesses had painted a negative character image of a dominant father who "handled his son like a dog." His wife was reportedly blooming after the separation.
The condemned man is a recidivist violent offender from the hessian Wetterau district. He had served a sentence of eight years in prison for a series of eleven robberies at gas stations. In the time of the crime in 2007, he was reportedly in severe financial difficulties. His DNA traces on the body were explained by him as having discovered the woman lying on the ground and feeling for her pulse.
The case of the 2007 murdered Claudia K. had remained unsolved for a long time. The murder case was taken up again by investigators as a "Cold Case," and new DNA analysis methods allowed certain hairs found on the body to be attributed to the defendant. In addition, witnesses came forward.
The public prosecutor's office in North Rhine-Westphalia was instrumental in bringing the murder case to trial at the District Court Wuppertal. The evidence against the accused included DNA matches to the crime scene in Velbert, Germany. Ms. Claudia K., the victim, was a flight attendant from Wuppertal. The murder trial was highly publicized due to its sensational nature and the presence of a contract killer. The convicted man's criminal history included a past conviction in Hesse for a series of robberies. The judge in the trial found the defendant guilty of committing murder out of jealousy and greed. The mother of the victim's son was a key figure in the case, as it was her discovery of the body that ultimately led to the arrest of the accused. The appeals process in German criminality is now underway, as the defense lawyer for the convicted man has announced an intent to appeal the verdict.
