German police confirm death of 9-year-old Ukrainian girl: murder suspected

German police have officially confirmed that a body found in a forest is that of a 9-year-old girl from Ukraine who had been missing for a week.

Source: European Pravda, citing Bild

Details: Police confirmed at a press conference in Chemnitz that a body found yesterday in a forest near Döbeln in Saxony was that of a missing 9-year-old Ukrainian girl named Valeriia. A search for her had been underway since 3 June after she disappeared on her way to school.

"Valeriia was the victim of a crime. This is a murder investigation," said police chief Carsten Kaempf. 

The police said that the victim was found far from the footpath, in a remote scrubland area. Investigators believe that this was where she was murdered. 

The body has been examined at the Leipzig Institute of Forensic Medicine. 

"The examination and autopsy found no signs that the girl was a victim of sexual assault," said Ingrid Burkhard, Senior Public Prosecutor of Chemnitz. 

Law enforcement officers involved in the search have interviewed about 400 people in the area in recent days and checked the whereabouts of known sex offenders. So far, no suspects have been identified. 

"Our investigation is currently focused on the family’s immediate circle of acquaintances," the prosecutor said. 

It was reported that Valeriia came from Dnipro Oblast and had been living in Germany with her mother since 2022. Her parents are divorced, and her father serves in Ukraine's defence forces.

Valeriia was reported missing by her mother after she did not return home at the usual time. Police have launched an investigation against the school, which was late reporting Valeriia's absence.

Background:

• On 11 June, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman was injured in the German city of Frankfurt am Main after an Afghan man attacked her with a knife.
• In March, a young Ukrainian woman and her mother were murdered in Germany in what is believed to have been an attempt to kidnap the woman's baby.

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