SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Police admit blunder led them to link neo-Nazi killer to child murder

German police admitted Wednesday they had falsely linked two high-profile crimes - an unsolved child murder and a neo-Nazi cell's killing spree - because investigators accidentally contaminated DNA evidence.

Police admit blunder led them to link neo-Nazi killer to child murder
A memorial stone for Peggy Knobloch. Photo: DPA

Police last October reported that genetic material found near the skeleton of nine-year-old schoolgirl Peggy Knobloch, who went missing in 2001, matched that of the late neo-Nazi gunman Uwe Boehnhardt.

This seemed to connect the child's death to the 2000-2007 racist murder spree on the National Socialist Underground, far-right militants who shot dead nine men with migrant roots and a policewoman.

But it has now been established that the DNA found near the girl's corpse was in fact inadvertently transferred there through “police equipment” from Boehnhardt's corpse, said prosecutor Daniel Goetz.

Boehnhardt and his accomplice Uwe Mundlos had died five years ago in an apparent murder-suicide following a botched bank robbery.

It remained unclear which piece of police equipment had been used in both cases, Goetz said, but media reports have pointed at a measuring stick police use on crime scenes.

Something like that “should not have happened,” admitted Uwe Ebner, who leads a special inquiry into the child murder.

Knobloch vanished on her way home from school in 2001 near her home, in a high-profile case that captivated the nation.

Hundreds of police and soldiers scoured the area for weeks, but her remains were only found in July last year, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from her home, by a mushroom picker.

After her death, a man with a learning disability spent more than 10 years in jail for her murder before he was exonerated and released, as police resumed the search for her murderer.

BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

SHOW COMMENTS