Press
A ten-year-old girl who went missing in East Westphalia is found alive several hours later in Fritzlar, Hesse, around 80 kilometers away. The police arrest one person. Many questions remain unanswered.
Brakel – A suspect has been arrested in connection with a ten-year-old girl from Brakel in East Westphalia who was missing for several hours.
The child did not come home after school, was reported missing shortly afterwards and was “found alive” again in the evening, the police in the Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia initially reported without further details. The girl was found in Fritzlar in Hesse, around 80 kilometers away, Bielefeld police and the Paderborn public prosecutor’s office added a little later. “The child is doing well considering the circumstances.”
The day after the incident, however, many questions remained unanswered. The police and public prosecutor’s office refrained from making public statements. “In order to protect the personal rights of the child and his family, no further information will be provided at this time about the exact circumstances of the disappearance,” the investigators stressed. This also applies to the suspect, his age and gender, explained a police spokesperson in response to a dpa query.
The joint press release with the public prosecutor’s office stated that an “urgent suspect” had been temporarily arrested. But this is meant as a gender-neutral formulation. The police spokesman said it cannot be made public at the moment whether it was a man or a woman. Regarding a report from “Bild” that a man had kidnapped the child, he referred to the family’s personal rights and the ongoing investigations – therefore there will be no statement from the investigating authorities.
The suspected person was not arrested in Fritzlar, where the girl was found, but in Rhineland-Palatinate, a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office said in response to a dpa request. He did not name the exact location. At the same time, the investigators appealed: “Out of consideration for the child and his family, the police and the public prosecutor’s office ask you not to participate in speculation about the crime.”
The police and fire department had started a search operation, in which a sniffer dog was also deployed. The police had published a photo of the missing girl on the NRW police wanted portal. The authorities appealed to anyone who had shared the photo to delete it. dpa
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