Just as with the schoolgirl Adelina from Bremen, who went missing for months in 2001. Mushroom pickers, walkers or hunters then found them by chance in nature. He remembers several missing persons cases where he and his colleagues assumed that there had been homicides, but searched in vain for the victims. Petermann was a murder investigator in Bremen for many years. DNA from the perpetrator can be secured on the body, the murder weapon can be determined and, if necessary, the course of the crime can be reconstructed,” he says. “Depending on the condition of the corpse, it can be clarified how and when the person died. Nevertheless: “For me as a criminologist, finding the body is a stroke of luck, because it opens up a whole new range of new possibilities for research and searches,” says profiler Axel Petermann. Animals tamper with the body, which makes the search for the identity of the victim, and the cause and time of death more difficult. Moreover, human remains lie there, sometimes for years, sometimes even decades. “Due to the weather – rain, sun, wind – traces are lost”, says Petzold. “Only a few murders happen in the forest,” he says.įor the criminologists, a corpse in the forest is a challenge. And if they are killed, then the victims were usually murdered somewhere else and later dropped in the forest. Due to the vast forests in the region, dead people are found on a regular basis.īut there are only a few homicides among them, says policeman Michael Petzold. Responsible for the case was the police headquarters of Middle Franconia. According to the lovers' plans, the husband of the 32-year-old was also supposed to die. Investigators soon arrested a suspect and later his mistress – and, according to the public prosecutor, prevented another murder.
On Tuesday, the trial of the murder of a 27-year-old whose body was found by a mushroom picker in a forest just over a year ago will begin in Nuremberg. But is this true? And what does such a find mean for criminologists? This creates the impression that someone regularly stumbles over a corpse in the woods.
Some of them, like the case of Peggy in Bavaria or the series of child murders by the “Masked Man” in northern Germany, make national headlines. In reality, some criminal cases also begin in this way. MUST READ: Why this autumn could be a bumper mushroom hunting season Cut to the next scene: flashing blue lights, barrier tape, detectives in protective suits searching for evidence. Suddenly he spots the hand of a corpse or human bones under some leaves. A mushroom picker or a walker is walking through the forest. Thriller fans know the scene only too well.