A father is said to have dumped his dead three-year-old daughter in a canal in the Rhineland. The 40-year-old is in custody for dangerous bodily harm and deprivation of liberty resulting in death, as the Duisburg police and public prosecutor announced on Sunday. As a punishment, he is said to have locked the child in a cellar in Dinslaken, where he choked on vomit.
According to the statement, the man reported to the police in Dinslaken on Friday. He stated that his daughter had died and that he had sunk her with weights in the Rhine-Herne Canal near Oberhausen. A murder squad is currently investigating the background, interviewing witnesses and evaluating the evidence.
According to initial findings, the German is said to have locked his daughter in the basement of an apartment building for a few days – possibly as an educational measure. He is said to have provided her with food and drink and also checked on her again and again. But on October 1st he is said to have found the girl dead in the basement. On the same day, he is said to have thrown the body into the canal in the evening or night.
He also named the exact storage location at the level of the Kaisergarten. On Saturday night, divers from the Oberhausen fire department looked for the body and found the dead girl.
The autopsy revealed on Saturday that the child died from vomited chyme. The forensic pathologists did not find any injuries on the child that could have led to death. According to the statement, the father has not yet commented further to the investigators.
According to the statement, the homicide squad is now looking for witnesses who can help solve the crime. The investigators are particularly looking for people who observed the child being dumped on Sunday (October 1st). The exact storage location is between a typical canal bridge and the pedestrian bridge by the Frankfurt artist Tobias Rehberger called “Slinky Springs to Fame”.
