DNA leads to suspect in 35-year-old criminal case

In an attempted murder case in Cologne that has been unsolved for more than 35 years, an old DNA sample has proven to be the key to the arrest of a prime suspect. This was announced by the police and the public prosecutor's office on Wednesday. The man to whom the DNA sample belongs was arrested the day before. He is accused of an attempted robbery and murder in the Cologne district of Ehrenfeld, which occurred more than three decades ago, in May 1987.

The corresponding DNA was found in a more recent examination of the alleged murder weapon from back then, explained the head of the responsible Cologne investigation group "Cold Cases", Markus Weber. It was a trophy from the victim's apartment, who had suffered life-threatening head injuries at the time. The DNA was then compared – with a hit.

For decades, the case had been considered unsolved. According to the investigators, the victim, a 50-year-old man at the time, was out and about in several Cologne restaurants on a May evening in 1987. In one of them he met a young man and moved on with him. Later, the young man was only seen alone – on the way home.

The 50-year-old was found in his apartment the next morning with serious injuries. However, the police did not get hold of the alleged perpetrator, also because the victim was never able to describe exactly what happened. There was an identikit, and around 25 people were checked. But everything fizzled out. In 2013, the victim died, who never fully recovered from the effects of the attack until the end of his life.

Nine years later, however, the investigators believe they have found the suspect, the young man of yore. The starting point was the "Cold Cases" unit at the State Criminal Police Office, in which retired investigators go through old cases. Through this, the attempted murder landed again on the table of the Cologne "Cold Cases" group led by the experienced murder investigator Weber. The investigative team systematically examines unsolved homicides from the years 1970 to 2015.

The suspect, now 56 years old, was "certainly surprised" when he was arrested, Weber said. He said he couldn't remember and had nothing to do with it. However, the description from back then fits. In addition, there was once an indication that the man had been addressed as "Jimmy" in a restaurant. This nickname can also be assigned to the suspect.

The public prosecutor's office assumes a financial motive for the crime. Cash is said to have disappeared from the apartment. According to the authorities, the suspect's DNA, which has now made the comparison possible, has been dormant in the database since the late 1980s. At the time it was charged for another crime. This offense has since been "deleted". However, there are no deletion periods for the DNA data.