BERLIN: A man, said to be an Afghan refugee, has been arrested in Germany on raping and murdering a 19-year-old daughter of a senior European Union official.
The horrific incident occurred in October, however it came to light on last Friday after arrest of the suspect.
Medical student Maria Ladenburger was found dead in the university city of Freiburg, where she volunteered at a refugee hostel in her spare time, reported the Mirror.
Maria’s body was found in the River Dreisam on October 16. Police later discovered she had been raped before her body was dumped in the water.
Her father is Dr Clemens Ladenburger, a lawyer who works alongside the legal director of the European Commission.
Detectives are understood to have linked the suspect to the attack after finding a strand of distinctive, partially-dyed blonde hair near the scene.
CCTV footage reportedly showed the teenager, who police say had a ‘very conspicuous hairstyle, an undercut hairstyle’ on a local tram.
Public prosecutor Dieter Inhofer said the suspect had recently been given a home by a family in Freiburg.
David Müller, head of the police’s Special Commission, said at a press conference: “Through interviews and a web-based survey, we were able to reconstruct Maria’s final hours.
The 19-year-old student had been at a party. By 2.37am, she left the party. Maria then cycled home, as usual.
“The young woman had been the victim of a sexual offence and a violent crime.”
On October 26 Mr Ladenburger and his wife Frederika placed a memorial notice for Maria in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.
It read: “Maria was for 19 years a singular ray of sunshine for our family, and that she will remain.”
