It was harvest time in the small town of Hörbolz on Lake Constance. Already in the morning the villagers mown their fields, picked apples and prepared the harvest festival. Sophia Eicher (The suspect’s name and those of the victims have been changed.) and her seven-year-old daughter, who had the same name as her, came to the door of the farmhouse. Little Sophia had to go to school. But she was afraid. Because she was afraid of the path that led through the forest on the outskirts of town. Her mother kissed her goodbye and then she ran off.
Sophia Eicher watched her daughter until the petite figure with short blonde hair disappeared behind the massive tree trunks. That’s what she later told the police.
Sophia didn’t come home for lunch. When the neighborhood children said that Sophia hadn’t been to school at all, the mother ran and looked for her daughter everywhere.
Calling her name, she ran through the forest.
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