- The demise of two Ukrainian females leads to a murder accusation against a married duo.
In the instance of two slain Ukrainian females in North Baden, the Mannheim District Attorney's Office has levied accusations against a couple for homicide. The woman and her spouse are alleged to have executed the 27-year-old and her 51-year-old mother in March, planning to present the then five-week-old baby of the younger woman as their very own. They are also implicated in child abduction.
The intention behind this heinous act, as per the District Attorney's Office, was that the 44-year-old woman and her 43-year-old husband from Sandhausen near Heidelberg had been yearning for a daughter for quite some time. At the latest by March 2023, the two Germans reportedly began plotting to kidnap a freshly-born girl and pass her off as their very own.
The wife allegedly sought connection with Ukrainian refugees and joined a Telegram group to aid them. Through this, she came across the 27-year-old, who was seeking help with translation for her approaching delivery. The mother, grandmother, and baby were residing in a refugee shelter in the Rhein-Neckar district at the time of the crime.
The couple is said to have decided upon killing the mother and grandmother to present the baby as their very own, at the latest following the baby's birth in February. The supposed perpetrators are said to have surreptitiously given the two women sedative medication during a restaurant visit on March 6.
They claimed they were taking the grandmother to the hospital, but instead took the 27-year-old and the baby home. They then drove the grandmother to a fishing lake near Bad Schönborn (Karlsruhe district), where the man is said to have struck the woman repeatedly on the head with an unidentified object and drowned her in the lake. She succumbed to her head injuries.
The couple then picked up the 27-year-old and her baby, telling her that her mother had suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital. They drove to Hockenheim near the Rhine dam, where the man is said to have brutally murdered the young woman. The couple then set the body on fire and drove off with the infant.
A passerby spotted the 27-year-old's body on the riverbank on March 7. On March 13, the couple was arrested, finding the baby in good health. On March 19, police divers discovered the grandmother's body in the lake. The couple remains in custody and has not yet responded to the accusations.
The approximately seven-month-old baby initially resided with a foster family for several months. In early summer, the 21-year-old sister of the victims assumed guardianship of the girl. At the end of June, she returned to the Ukraine with the baby. The adoption process has commenced, but is expected to take several months to finalize.
The investigation into the double homicide in North Baden is being led by the prosecutor's office in Mannheim. The couple accused of the homicides and child abduction have strong ties to Sandhausen near Heidelberg.
