Police find no evidence of foul play in child's body
At the end of April, Arian, a six-year-old boy, disappears from his parents' house. On a Monday, a child's body is found near his residence. An initial investigation reveals that the child was not a victim of a crime.
The police have shared the first results of the autopsy conducted on a child's body found on a meadow. Following the autopsy performed in Hamburg, the police can exclude the cause of death being a result of criminal acts. "No indications of criminal activities were found," the police in Rotenburg an der Wümme announced in conjunction with the Stade Prosecutor's Office.
There are no signs of a crime. The investigators had already ruled out this assumption based on the initial examination of the body at the scene. The police did not disclose what caused the child's death, citing the victim's personal privacy rights.
The investigators suspect that the deceased child might be Arian, the missing boy from Bremervörde. However, a confirmation of this is still pending. The result of a corresponding DNA comparison to establish identity is not yet available. "The police assume with high probability that the deceased child is the missing Arian from Elm," the statement reads.
The investigators have not yet determined the time of death. Clues to this are expected to come from further investigations.
The body was found on a Monday by a farmer while mowing a meadow in Behrste-Estorf (Landkreis Stade) - only a few kilometers away from Arian's residence. The police had announced that it was "highly likely" that it was Arian.
An extensive search was initiated for the autistic boy both on the ground and from the air. Hundreds of emergency response personnel scoured the field and forest areas in the vicinity of Elm. At the end of April, a specialized investigation team took over the case from the police.
- The cause of the child's death, unfortunately, remains undisclosed by the police to uphold the victim's personal privacy rights, but the public prosecutor's office in Stade, alongside the police in Rotenburg an der Wümme, have stated that there were no indications of criminal activities being the cause of death.
- Despite the initial findings suggesting that Arian, the six-year-old boy who vanished from his parents' house in Bremervörde, might not be the missing child found near his residence, the investigators suspect that he is the deceased child, pending the results of a DNA comparison.
- International support has been sought by the Lower Saxony police in the search for missing persons, particularly in the case of Arian, given that his disappearance occurred in April.
