Cold case cleared up: US soldier in court because of murder of a student!

Cold case cleared up: US soldier in court because of murder of a student!

Almost five decades after a cruel crime that kept all of Germany in suspense, the legal clarification is closely moving closer. A former US soldier is the focus of the investigation into the murder of 18-year-old student Cornelia Hümpfer. Her tragic fate occurred on April 20, 1978 in Kolitzheim, where she was killed with 14 knife stings. A case that remained in the dark for many years and could only be revived by modern DNA technologies, as [Radiogong] (https://www.radiogong.com/aktuelles/news/schweinfurt-stahrsanwaldell-leben-leben-fuer-mord-vor- years).

The accused, now 70 years old, has been charged with the Schweinfurt district court since January 2023. The public prosecutor calls for a lifelong prison sentence and indicates stressful DNA traces found on the victim's clothing. These evidence are considered crucial in the event that received new swing by resuming investigations in 2009. At that time, the victim's stockings were sent to secure evidence, which means that the defendant's DNA was successfully identified after decades.

a fateful secret

The relationship between the accused and Cornelia Hümpfer is often described as an affair. According to reports, the young student, her family and the defendant's wife threatened to tell about her pregnancy, which may be seen as a motive for the murder. The accused himself has been married several times since then, and one of his ex-women is said to have elicited him in the 1990s that he was involved in the murder, which further underlines the severity of the allegations, how [Infranken] (https://www.infranken.de/lk/schweinfurt/blaulicht/cold-cornelia-huempfer-1978-soldat-dna-mittlungen-Schweinfurt-Process- 5717748) reported.

The case is an example of how Cold Case programs can help solve mysterious crimes worldwide. The latest developments in DNA analysis make it possible to achieve valuable results even in older and supposedly unsuitable traces. This has led not only in this specific case, but also in other violent crimes, as the National Institute of Justice emphasized.

The way to justice

The process has already started and comprises a total of six days of negotiations. The co -lawsuit that the victim's family represents is agreed with the position of the public prosecutor, while the accused vehemently denies all allegations and has not yet commented on the allegations. Today's negotiation will apply meaningfulness when assessing the case. The more details come to light, the more it becomes clear how difficult it is to achieve justice for victims of Cold Cases.

It remains to be seen how the process continues and whether a final clarification of the case is within reach. One thing is certain: the murder of Cornelia Hümpfer throws a long shadow, and the search for answers never completely stopped despite the decades.