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Crime

Second victim in Berlin pensioner murder

January 23, 2017

A man arrested last week on suspicion of murdering an elderly man and collecting his pension for 10 years may have also killed a second pensioner about 16 years ago. Police say he also had access to her pension payments.

https://p.dw.com/p/2WGSW
Berlin Welterbe Siedlungen der Berliner Moderne Wohnstadt Carl Legien
Image: picture-alliance/picture alliance/Karlheinz SchindlerGmbH

After finding the corpse of a 90-year-old Berlin man in his freezer two weeks ago, police said on Monday they fear the suspected perpetrator may have also murdered a second pensioner.

Police said that the suspect, a 55-year-old man, had access to the bank account and pension payments of 92-year-old Irma Kurowski, who had not been seen since 2000. The suspect lived in the same building as Kurowski in Berlin's trendy Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood.

Police said they now suspect the elderly woman was murdered. Her body was never found. Authorities are now once again seeking witnesses for any leads as to her last whereabouts.

The suspect was arrested last week after police found the body of an elderly man in a freezer in his own apartment. Investigators estimated that the man was killed and buried in the freezer around 10 years ago.

Video surveillance footage recorded in December and January showed the suspect accessing the victim's bank account. Police also found the man's personal items on the suspect.

dm/msh (AFP, dpa)