Murder without a body - Missing pregnant women - Accused should be in jail for life
A missing pregnant woman from Nuernberg was murdered despite the lack of a body, according to the Prosecutor's Office. The former partner and his business partner are suspected of having killed her in December 2022. They are now facing charges of murder from the Prosecutor's Office, who believe they should spend the rest of their lives in prison. The Prosecutor, Alexandra Hussennether, stated before the Regional Court, "We are aware that we still don't have a body." However, there is no other explanation for the sudden disappearance of the 39-year-old woman, who was in her eighth month of pregnancy and excited about the child and her new relationship with her partner. Voluntary disappearance or other suspects are not considered.
Motives: Cover-up and enrichment
The driving motives of the 51-year-old man from Bosnia-Herzegovina and the 49-year-old German were, according to the Prosecutor's Office, to conceal other crimes and gain access to the assets of the leading bank employees. With their money, the former partner - who was already convicted of economic crimes and unemployed at the time - financed real estate deals that ran through his German business partner. In this way, they were able to finance their livelihoods and expensive cars.
However, after the separation in March 2022, the woman reportedly denied the ex-partner access to her accounts. "She felt increasingly exploited," Hussennether said. The two defendants are then believed to have attempted to obtain her money through a fraud scheme. However, the woman exposed them. The trial was supposed to take place in December, but the woman disappeared shortly beforehand.
Spurs on the Tape
According to the Prosecutor's assessment, the two defendants followed the woman on the day in December 2022, after she had taken her foster child to the kindergarten. In a house that the 39-year-old wanted to sell, they allegedly overpowered her. Later, investigators found duct tape with DNA traces, pulled-out hairs, and an earring that could be clearly identified as belonging to the victim.
With a car, the defendants are believed to have taken the pregnant woman to a warehouse, where they forced her to write a letter to the justice system withdrawing her complaints. Afterward, they allegedly killed her and her unborn child - either in the warehouse or in a wooded area along the A8 autobahn in Upper Bavaria. "The defendants hid the bodies at an unknown location," Hussennether said.
False leads to foreign countries
After the murder, the defendants are believed to have created a false trail to give the impression that the 39-year-old had fled to a foreign country. The 49-year-old man reportedly took her phone to Italy, wrote farewell messages to her relatives, and hid the phone on a truck.
However, it was these farewell messages that triggered the murder investigation, as Hussennether pointed out. The recipients were all surprised by the wording and content, which did not suit the victim. Moreover, the parents and the brother did not receive any farewell messages - possibly because the sender could not write in Romanian. The woman had come to Germany from Romania when she was 19 years old.
Extensive investigations
Investigators then collected puzzle pieces for the puzzle, hundreds of tips in several European countries followed, and they consulted numerous experts. At the end of the extensive evidence gathering, Hussennether had no doubts about the guilt of the two accused: They had allegedly obtained Prepaid-phones and cars without navigation systems to leave no digital traces. However, the investigators allegedly found many other traces: for example, a fingerprint on the gas cap and in the victim's car, fuel receipts for the getaway cars, or paper in the ex-lover's car, on which the victim's handwritten withdrawal request for the withdrawal of the complaint was printed.
According to the prosecution, the attorneys for the civil party are scheduled to plead today. The pleadings of the four defense attorneys are expected for Wednesday.
- The suspected murder of the Bavarian woman took place in December 2022, in a house located in Upper Bavaria, as revealed by the Nuremberg Public Prosecutor's Office.
- During their investigation, the authorities discovered duct tape with DNA traces, pulled-out hairs, and an earring that matched the victim, suggesting a violent crime occurred.
- The two suspects, one from Bosnia-Herzegovina and the other from Germany, faced charges of murder in a German court, following their alleged involvement in the case.
- The defense attorneys for both suspects are set to present their pleas in the coming days, as part of the trial in a German regional court.
- Despite the lack of a body, the Public Prosecutor's Office believed the defendants hid the bodies at an undisclosed location, due to the extensive evidence gathered during the automatic and thorough investigation.
