Teens accused of killing girl, 15, behind supermarket
Two teenagers have been arrested, accused of suffocating a 15-year-old girl after her body was discovered in an overgrown lot behind a supermarket.
The boys, aged 13 and 14, and the victim reportedly went to school together in Lower Saxony, Germany.
The girl, named Anastasia, disappeared without a trace on the evening of Sunday, June 19.
Some 50 police officers took part in the search for the missing schoolgirl, with the help of sniffer dogs and a drone.
But the worst was confirmed when the drone found Anastasia's lifeless body in a thicket behind a supermarket in Fredenberg district – close to where she lived – on Tuesday afternoon.
An autopsy on her body found she had been suffocated.
It is not clear when Anastasia was killed, but the evidence reportedly suggests she died on Sunday.
Shortly after her body was found, cops arrested a 14-year-old suspect for murder.
A court order has since been issued to keep him in custody. He reportedly faces up to 10 years in prison.
Police also arrested a second suspect, but he cannot be convicted because he is 13 years old, which is under the age of criminal responsibility in local law.
However, he is under investigation and could still be admitted to a closed facility with a court order.
Both suspects and the victim are German-Russian and were known to each other, as they attended the same school in Salzgitter-Fredenberg and lived in the same district.
The Public Prosecutor's Office said the motive for the crime was "in the personal sphere" and that "a certain hostility" had developed between the suspects and the victim.
There is currently no evidence of any crime of a sexual nature.
Lord Mayor of Salzgitter Frank Klingebiel of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany said he condemned the "cruel and cold-blooded crime".
The investigation is ongoing.
- Australscope
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