There are words full of sadness that could be read in the “Oberbayerisches Volksblatt” (OVB) at the weekend. They are words of bewilderment. And the farewell. Farewell to Hanna W., born October 23, 1998, died October 3, 2022. Murdered at the age of 23 after going to a disco. Her family’s obituary in the local newspaper is able to show the pain of the bereaved after the loss, but it does not make it tangible.
The death of the young student from Aschau im Chiemgau moved the entire region. A book of condolences is available in the town hall of her home town; Mayor Simon Frank says: “It literally pulls the rug out from under your feet. What remains is a mixture of sadness, anger and bewilderment.”
“We are very affected,” says Hans-Peter Butz. He is a criminal director in Rosenheim and headed the special commission (Soko) “Club”, which is supposed to solve the murder of the 23-year-old – but is still a mystery. Hanna W.’s murderer is still on the loose. The pressure on Butz’s team is increasing by the day.
For the Rosenheim Kripo, the case begins on the day of German unity. A passer-by found a woman’s body in the Prien river in the municipality of the same name on Lake Chiemsee around 2:30 p.m. It quickly becomes clear to the officers: It is Hanna W. On the same day, after the forensic medical examination, it is clear that she has been murdered. There are “clear traces” that indicate external violence and thus prove a homicide,” the police said. The Soko does not say how Hanna died and whether there had been a sexual offense beforehand – that is what the perpetrators know.
The investigators immediately begin to reconstruct the last hours of Hanna W.’s life. She studied medicine in Romania and was visiting her home country. On her last evening in Aschau, she visits the “Eiskeller” hip-hop club, not far from her parents’ house. People in the community with around 6,000 residents know each other and want to celebrate together. Hanna W. left the disco at around 2:30 a.m. on October 3, as evidenced by recordings from the surveillance camera. Hanna W. has her picture taken during the party. The police are using this photo in their search for clues. Because what happened after leaving the club until the body was found is completely unclear – until today.
But there are investigative approaches: Several hundred people celebrated with Hanna at the “Season Opening” party in the “Eiskeller”. Butz and his people want to interview as many of them as possible. Hanna may have already met her killer at the disco. An Internet upload portal has also been set up. Visitors to the club can upload their photos and videos of the evening there. 90 of them followed this call, the police said a week after the murder of the 23-year-old. Several hundred gigabytes have already been collected and are being viewed. Another 120 tips were received by the Soko by phone, they are being followed up. The police assure that the 60 investigators are working “at full speed” on the case. He has “top priority”.
Shortly after the body was found and in the days that followed, dozens of officers swarmed into Chiemgau to search the area around the discotheque for clues. Police divers repeatedly climb into the Prien, which flows along the “Eiskeller” only about 200 meters away. The body was found around ten kilometers downstream. And there is a small first success: the black handbag and the black leather jacket of the dead are found in the river and can be forensically examined. Hanna’s mobile phone, on the other hand, is said to have disappeared to this day, according to several media reports.
But even these finds do not lead to the culprit. Soko brings the colleagues from the operative case analysis on board, these specialists are popularly known as “profilers”. They should help to understand the murder case and to reconstruct the act – and in the best case give clues to the perpetrator. Alexander Horn, perhaps Germany’s best-known case analyst, is at the head of operational case analysis in Munich. Many hopes rest on him too. In 2011, for example, he helped to convict the serial killer Martin N., known as “Maskenmann”, almost 20 years after the first crime.
Case analyst Alexander Horn talks about the Martin N. case in the podcast “stern Crime – Trace Search”:
The police ask for your understanding that they cannot present a successful investigation in the Hanna case as quickly as the public hopes. “It is therefore of great importance that we carry out our investigations and investigations with the greatest accuracy, which will still take a long time due to the complexity of the case,” says Soko boss Butz in an initial interim report after the death of the 23-year-old the investigations. He and his employees continue to have many questions:
“We are aware of what this stroke of fate means for family, relatives and friends. But the population’s sense of security is also very badly affected,” Butz continues and he promises to use “all available means” to finally convict Hanna’s murderer.
The police also want to be present in Aschau in the next few days. Among other things, there is an information mobile on the town hall square. One stands there “for general questions and of course also for information in the case of all citizens available”, it says.
The “Eiskeller” canceled its planned party last weekend, “currently closed”. Another event is not planned until Halloween – life in Aschau has to go on, somehow.
The coming weekend will be dedicated to Hanna. Burial is planned for Friday in the parish cemetery. Instead of flowers, the bereaved ask for donations for the fire brigade and the mountain and water rescue service – “in the sense of Hanna”, the 23-year-old medical student. The family continues in their obituary:
Also read on the topic:
The Rosenheim Criminal Police Office receives information about the case around the clock on the telephone number (08031) 2000. The upload portal for video, sound or photo recordings can be found here.
Sources: Police Headquarters Oberbayern Süd (1), Police Headquarters Oberbayern Süd (2), Police Headquarters Oberbayern Süd (3), “Oberbayerisches Volksblatt”, Municipality of Aschau am Chiemsee on Facebook, “Eiskeller” on Instagram, DPA news agency
