Who killed Sabine? DNA from the accused on the victim

Würzburg (dpa) – Sabine is 13 years old and regularly looks after horses on a farm in her village in Franconia. Shortly before Christmas 1993, she does not come home. Numerous people are looking for the schoolgirl. Two days after her disappearance, the girl is discovered in a locked manure pit – sexually abused and killed. But all investigations come to nothing for years. More than 30 years later, no perpetrator has been convicted – but the Würzburg public prosecutor's office believes that after new investigations into the evidence secured at the time, they have now found the culprit.

But the suspected murderer – only 17 years old at the time – wants nothing to do with the violent crime. At the start of the trial in the Würzburg district court, the German repeatedly shakes his head and initially refuses to say anything about the accusations. The police had already had their eye on the man earlier, but could not prove anything concrete.

Presiding judge Thomas Schuster appealed calmly but firmly to the now 47-year-old: “There are clues that make it very, very, very unlikely that you had nothing to do with the matter.” Sabine's family would certainly be more interested in knowing what happened than him ending up in prison. “You are the only one who can shed light on this matter.”

Acquittal as well as conviction possible

Because the crime took place so long ago, all crimes except murder are already statute-barred. As Schuster explains, there are three scenarios for how the trial, which is scheduled to last around 60 days, could end: Either nothing can be proven against the defendant and he is acquitted. Or his involvement in the crime could be proven, but not murder – in which case the trial would be discontinued due to the statute of limitations. However, if the 47-year-old is proven to have committed murder, there will also be a verdict, announces the presiding judge of the Grand Criminal Division.

By the end of the year alone, 81 witnesses and 4 experts have been summoned, and trial dates have been set until mid-2025. However, according to Schuster, the goal is to “finish this year.”

According to the prosecution, it was murder

Sabine died in December 1993 at the horse farm in Wiesenfeld, a district of Karlstadt in the Main-Spessart district. According to senior public prosecutor Thorsten Seebach, the accused killed the girl he knew to satisfy his sexual urges, including by strangling her. The then 17-year-old is said to have bathed and changed at home and finally thrown the victim into the manure pit late in the evening of December 15. “The accused disposed of Sabine's remaining clothing, denim jackets and shoes in a second manure pit at the horse farm,” says Seebach.

For defense attorney Hans-Jochen Schrepfer, the case is not nearly as clear-cut as the prosecution has described it – he expects a tough trial. “This is a classic circumstantial evidence trial that we are facing.” He does not see that murder can be proven, and gathering evidence will be difficult.

DNA of the accused on the victim’s clothing

However, a policewoman reported to the court that there was a “conspicuous amount of evidence” that suggested the defendant was involved in the crime. During the recent investigation, the 47-year-old's genetic material was found on the victim's clothing, including traces of sperm on Sabine's panties. “The DNA match was clear. There is no other unknown DNA. We can rule out the possibility that a second perpetrator was involved.”

Since the police started investigating the case more intensively, 240 witnesses have been interviewed, the officer said. According to them, the accused looked for alibis after the crime and lied. Many of those interviewed also stated that the man had changed after Sabine's death.

The parents of the deceased were also summoned to court on the first day of the trial. They reported that the day after Sabine's disappearance, the accused and another boy rang their doorbell to find out whether the schoolgirl had been found. “That seemed strange to me,” said the girl's mother. Sabine's father also said that he suspected something might happen shortly after his daughter's disappearance. “She was always home on time.” They never ran away like other young people. “We won't see our Sabine alive again,” he said to his family on the evening of December 15.

Process behind closed doors

Because the defendant was a juvenile at the time of the crime, the trial is being held behind closed doors – even though the man is now an adult. Only five press representatives are allowed to attend. The maximum youth sentence for murder for juveniles is ten years.