15. 02. 10. - 11:00

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15. 02. 10. - 11:00

Headless hunt

 A massive police hunt is underway in Germany for a killer who fled with the head of his victim.
 
Detectives believe the deranged murderer of a mother-of-four – a refugee who came to Germany to escape the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq - has taken her head as a trophy.
 
The woman, who has not been identified, was found dead by her 17-year-old daughter in the corridor of the family apartment in Kerpen – hometown of F1 legend Michael Schumacher – last week.
 
"Believe me when I say that she and all the other children are traumatised beyond belief by what happened," said public prosecutor Alf Willwacher.
 
The daughter alerted her father. "Everything was covered in blood," he said. "I wanted to comfort my wife in my arms even though I saw she had no head and everything was hopeless."
 
Initially the husband of the 37-year-old victim was a suspect but his alibi was cast-iron: he was at work at a local garage when the killer struck on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Police said the woman fled Iraq in 1997 with her husband. A family friend told local media; "They wanted to live their lives in freedom and peace. And look what happens…."
 
Psychiatrists helping police build a profile of the killer say he resembles the villain of the classic Emlyn Williams play ‘Night Must Fall’ who keeps the head of his victim in a hatbox and receives sexual thrills each time he gazes upon it.
 
A 15-strong murder squad has had no luck at all in tracing the killer.
"We are shocked at the sheer brutality of the murder," said a spokesman. "We are employing specialists to try to get into the mind of such a killer."
 
The victim’s widower and their four children aged between seven and 17 are being cared for in a local hotel.
 
Tina Odegvic, a friend of the family, said she knew of no enemies of the couple.
 
"It was heartbreaking," she said. "I saw the boy, aged 11, just running backwards and forwards over the parking place near his home screaming; ‘My mummy is dead, my mummy is dead’…."
 

German Herald

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