Unexpected twist in a Leipzig cold case
Almost eight years after a gruesome rape in Leipzig's Rosental valley, a burglary has set the investigation in motion. On August 31, 2017, a 69-year-old jogger was attacked in the park, brutally raped and critically injured. Despite intensive investigations, the perpetrator remained undetected - until now.
On February 9, 2025, a burglary at a DIY store in Leipzig-Seehausen triggered an alarm. A man was found on site - with stolen items and hidden between pallets. He gave a saliva sample for identification purposes. This led to a DNA match in an old rape file.
The 33-year-old German is now suspected of having committed a total of five sexual offences - including three offences in Rosental within a few days in August 2017. In addition to the rape, he is alleged to have sexually harassed a woman and assaulted a pensioner. Two further assaults in Leipzig in 2016 and 2017 are also attributed to him.
Missed opportunities and false leads
A special "Rosental" commission investigated until 2019, but was unable to identify the perpetrator. Contradictory descriptions of the perpetrator and a fruitless dragnet let him slip through the net. It was only the cold case commission, which was restarted in 2024, that was able to revive the case - indirectly through the DIY store burglary.
