Who killed Heike Kötting? The Dortmund police addressed this question to the public last week. Even more than 30 years after the murder of the 28-year-old from the Scharnhorst district, there was no trace of the perpetrator. On Monday there was an attack on the street: the police arrested a 60-year-old man from Dortmund. He is strongly suspected of having murdered the young woman. As the Dortmund public prosecutor announced on Wednesday, he has been in custody ever since.
Nevertheless, the case will be discussed on Wednesday evening on the ZDF program “Aktenzeichen XY”. “Based on the evidence and the injuries, we assume that there could be another perpetrator,” says Gregor Schmidt, First Chief Inspector and head of the “Cold Case” investigation group at Dortmund police headquarters. He will be in the studio this evening and will talk to presenter Rudi Cerne about the case.
Prosecutor Gülkiz Yazir is also hoping for new clues during the live broadcast: “We assume that the perpetrators got into the house through a cellar shaft. Based on the current status of the investigation, the involvement of other people cannot be ruled out.”
Heike Kötting fell victim to a burglar on February 25, 1991. The next day, her parents, who lived nearby, found her body in a small room that she was using as a sewing room. She was stabbed, but the officers did not find a murder weapon. The perpetrator gained access via a cellar shaft behind the house. After the crime, the victim’s red small car also disappeared.
Three days later, the vehicle was found at a motorway service station in France. No traces were later found in the house or on the car. The Dortmund public prosecutor’s office has offered a reward of 5,000 euros for crucial information about the perpetrator.
Watch the video above: In February 2007, flight attendant Claudia Knapp was found dead by her son in their apartment in Velbert, North Rhine-Westphalia. The search for the perpetrator comes to nothing. 16 years later, the investigators can apparently clarify the cold case.
Sources: Police North Rhine-Westphalia
