Amy Lopez was an American tourist who in September 1994 was enjoying a vacation in Germany and who a group of children found dead near a castle. The case was immersed in mystery for more than thirty years. Now it seems to be revealed. In the last hours They arrested the main suspect: They found him in a nursing home.
The man is 81 years old and they point to him as the murderer of Amy Lopez in Koblenz, in western Germany.
The events occurred on September 26, 1994, when the youth group found the body of the 24-year-old girl under the path that went up to Ehrenbreitstein Castle.
«The victim was largely undressed and had serious head injuries, several knife injuries to the torso showing signs of strangulation,» the prosecutor’s office recalled in a statement. Investigators maintain she was sexually assaulted, strangled, stabbed and hit in the head.
Until now it had not been possible to resolve what had become a hopeless case («Cold case», in the jargon), although for years the German authorities had appealed to the public for clues.
However, thanks to technological advances in DNA analysis matteran 81-year-old German man was arrested this week in a nursing home near Koblenz.
The suspect has a criminal record and has already served several sentences. Specifically, in 1999 he was convicted of a sexual crime against a 16-year-old teenager. But the history goes back to the 1960s and 1970s.
It is presumed that in the case of the tourist acted for sexual motivationaccording to the researchers. They indicated that it was possible to corroborate that the traces of DNA found on the victim’s body coincide with the genetic fingerprint of the suspect.
The suspect’s genetic data had already been incorporated into the systems after the case of the 16-year-old girl. But a link to the American tourist’s crime could not be established and the information was erased from the records. Finally, this year the man voluntarily provided a new sample, which under new analysis systems did allow him to be linked to the case of Amy Lopez.
The key time window for the Amy Lopez crime
«This sexual murder of American tourist Amy Lopez occurred a long time ago, but the case has remained etched in the memories of people in the region and beyond,» Koblenz chief prosecutor Mario Mannweiler said at the press conference.
A case like this is «like an open wound that never heals,» he stressed.
Amy Lopez had arrived in Germany as part of a trip to Europe that her father had given her after her graduation. He never arrived at the student hostel where he was going to stay in Cobenza.
The deadline for the mystery, key to knowing who killed her, is between 9 and 10:15 in the morning of September 26, 1994. The local police offer a reward of 10 thousand euros for anyone who provides information that clears up the crime.
According to the authorities, the tourist tried to climb the Ehrenbreitstein fortress along a stone path. «She was last seen there at 8:50 am. At 10:15 am, her body was found in an isolated room in the fortress, the so-called General Aster Room,» they stated from that force.
The attacker took the young woman’s belongings: brown-framed glasses, a silver bracelet, a silver Timex digital watch with a damaged strap, white Nike «Cross Trainer Low» sneakers, presumably size 39 with pink details, and a white fanny pack with traveler’s checks and dollar bills.
In those initial days of the investigation, they were looking for a lone attackerbetween 18 and 35 years old, without personal ties to the victim, but with a history of violent or sexual crimes. They even pointed out that the young man Lopez was last seen with had short blonde hair, although they were unable to conclude whether that person was the perpetrator of the crime or a witness.
In any case, the murderer «probably had strong regional ties to the crime scene, whether through work, residence or family. It is possible that he moved later,» according to the search profile that is still in force in the local police.
Thirty-two years later, the crime begins to be revealed, with a key discovery in a nursing home. According to Mannweiler, the detainee has not yet commented on the events. There was no confession or denial, but despite his age he is mentally and physically healthy, so it is expected that he can be tried.
With information from EFE
