Phantom of Heilbronn

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Commemorative marker near the site of Officer Kiesewetter's murder

The Phantom of Heilbronn, often alternatively referred to as the "Woman Without a Face", was a hypothesized unknown female serial killer whose existence was inferred from DNA evidence found at numerous crime scenes in Austria, France and Germany from 1993 to 2009. The six murders among these included that of a female police officer, Michéle Kiesewetter, in Heilbronn, Germany on 25 April 2007.

The only connection between the crimes was DNA, which had been recovered from 40 (latest in March 2009) crime scenes, of numerous different types of crimes ranging from murders to burglaries. In late March 2009, investigators concluded that the "Phantom" criminal did not exist, and the DNA recovered at the crime scenes had already been present on the cotton swabs used for collecting DNA samples.[citation needed]

The events were fictionalized in the 6th season episode, "Dead Reckoning," of CSI: NY.[citation needed]

Investigation

An analysis of the mitochondrial DNA in Austria showed that it is often found among people in Eastern Europe and neighbouring Russia. In Germany, the analysis of DNA may not be used in criminal proceedings to determine personal attributes of a suspect other than sex.

The investigations were concentrated in a special task force "parking lot" at the Heilbronn police department. In January 2009, the reward for clues regarding the whereabouts of the person was increased to €300,000.[1]

The existence of the Phantom had been doubted earlier, but in March 2009, the case took a new turn. Investigators discovered the DNA sequence on the burned body of a male asylum-seeker in France - an anomaly, since the sequence was of a female. They subsequently came to the conclusion that the mysterious criminal did not exist and that the laboratory results were due to contamination of the cotton buds used for DNA probing. Although sterile, the swabs are not certified for human DNA collection.[2]

The cotton swabs used by many state police departments were found to have been contaminated before shipping. It was found that the contaminated swabs all came from the same factory, which employs several Eastern European women who fit the type the DNA was assumed to match. Bavaria, although a region central to the crimes, obtained their swabs from a different factory. They had no reports of crimes committed by the Phantom.[3]

On November 4th, 2011 a burned-out campervan in Eisenach, Germany, was investigated by police after the death of two members of a Neo-nazi terror cell who committed suicide when police approached their vehicle which they used to get away after a bank robbery some hours earlier. There, the service weapon and handcuffs of the policewoman, who was killed in Heilbronn, was found. The two Neo-nazis have since been made responsible for the killing of Michéle Kiesewetter and a series of murders of 8 Turkish and one Greek immigrant between 2000 and 2006, the so called Döner murders. In their flat in Zwickau, which was also set on fire, police found another 15 shotguns.

Associated crimes

On 25 April 2007, a 22-year-old female police officer Michéle Kiesewetter was fatally shot in Heilbronn. Her 24-year-old male colleague suffered life-threatening injuries and fell into a coma. He has since woken up, but has no recollection of the event. The weapons and handcuffs of the officers were stolen.

The DNA attributed to the "Phantom" was found at the scene, as well as purportedly at the sites of the following crimes:

  • on a cup after the killing of a 62-year-old woman on 25–26 May 1993 in Idar-Oberstein, Germany (the DNA was analysed in 2001)
  • on a kitchen drawer after the killing of a 61-year-old man on 21 March 2001 in Freiburg, Germany
  • on a syringe containing heroin in October 2001 in a wooded area near Gerolstein, Germany
  • on the leftovers of a cookie in a trailer that was forcefully opened on the night of 24 October 2001 in Budenheim, Germany
  • on a toy pistol after the 2004 robbery of Vietnamese gemstone traders in Arbois, France
  • on a projectile after a fight between two brothers on May 6, 2005 in Worms, Germany
  • on a stone after a burglary on 3 October 2006 in Saarbrücken, Germany (the DNA was analysed only 2006)[clarification needed]
  • after a March 2007 burglary at an optometrist’s store in Gallneukirchen, Upper Austria
  • after 20 burglaries and thefts of cars and motorbikes between 2003 and 2007 in Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Saarland, Germany; Tyrol, Austria; and Upper Austria
  • on a car used to transport the bodies of three Georgians killed on 30 January 2008 in Heppenheim, Germany (the DNA was analysed on 10 March 2008)
  • after a burglary on the night of 22 March 2008 in a disused public swimming pool in Niederstetten, Germany
  • after four cases of home invasion in Quierschied (twice), Tholey and Riol, Germany in March and April 2008;
  • after an apartment break-in in Oberstenfeld-Gronau during the night of 9 April 2008
  • after the robbery of a woman on 9 May 2008 in a club house in Saarhölzbach
  • in the car of an auxiliary nurse who was found dead at the end of October 2008 near Weinsberg, Germany

Literature

References

  1. ^ "„Phantom von Heilbronn" hat es nie gegeben" (in German). News von Morgen. 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
  2. ^ Himmelreich, Claudia (2009-03-27). "Germany's Phantom Serial Killer: A DNA Blunder". TIME. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
  3. ^ Yeoman, Fran (2009-03-27). "The Phantom of Heilbronn, the tainted DNA and an eight-year goose chase". The Times. Retrieved 2009-03-28.

External links

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