Germany: Missing 12-year-old girl found dead in woods
March 12, 2023
A body found near the small city of Siegen in western Germany on Sunday is that of a 12-year-old girl who had been reported missing, police said.
Officers discovered the body in a wooded area close to Freudenberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the youngster lived.
Freudenberg is a rural village about 80 kilometers (49 miles) east of Cologne.
Police said they could not provide exact details about the cause of death due to an ongoing investigation.
Flags were set to half-mast in the town of Freudenberg as a sign of mourning.
"We in Freudenberg are deeply shaken and our thoughts are with the relatives," mayor Nicole Reschke said.
Girl was missing since Saturday
The child was last seen while visiting a friend and had started walking home on Saturday around 5.30 p.m. local time (1630 GMT), according to local media.
The shortest way between the friend's house and the girl's home was through an area of woodland.
After she failed to arrive home, the parents alerted the police.
Fire, police officers and sniffer dogs began a large search of the area where the girl — identified by local media as Luise — likely walked on Saturday evening.
A helicopter with a thermal imaging camera also flew over the area during the night, local media reported.
More than 100 riot police from Cologne joined the search on Sunday morning.
A body was discovered on Sunday afternoon and the search was called off.
The criminal investigation department in Koblenz has taken over the investigation.
The town of Freudenberg lies right on North-Rhein Westphalia's border with the state of Rhineland-Pfalz, in which Koblenz is located. The girl's body was found in woodland in Rhineland-Pfalz.
mm/fb (AFP, dpa)