Police scour woods for missing Berlin teen
March 9, 2019
A massive search for a 15-year-old girl, presumed murdered, failed to find her body in the eastern German state of Brandenburg on Saturday. It was the third day of searching.
The search will not continue on Sunday, police said.
Rebecca went missing from the Berlin house of her 27-year-old sister and 27-year-old brother-in-law in the early hours of February 18.
Police are questioning the brother-in-law on suspicion of killing the girl.
About 100 police from various states, as well as a team of sniffer dogs, have been combing a forest in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds the comparatively small city-state of Berlin.
The case has gripped local German media, with near-daily reports on the fate of the student. More than 1,000 tips have been handed to police as possible leads.
Car spotted near forest
Police have focused on the forest area between the small towns of Kummersdorf and Wolzig, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Berlin. The brother-in-law's car was recorded driving on the nearby A12 autobahn, police said.
Rebecca stayed at her sister's house on the night of February 17. The brother-in-law reportedly told police he arrived home from a work party at about 5:45 a.m. on the 18th. Rebecca should have turned up at school on the 18th at 09:50 but never showed up. The last indication she was alive was when she sent a WhatsApp message shortly before her disappearance.
The brother-in-law was arrested 11 days later.
Police are hoping to find Rebecca, but they have told media outlets they do not require a body to pursue prosecution. Police have been particularly forthcoming with information on this case, even releasing the suspect's photo despite him already being in custody.
Editor's note: Deutsche Welle follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.