Violent death of a 17-year-old: He had already been interrogated as a witness, and now he was arrested. The investigators rely on various indicators.

After finding the burned body of a 17-year-old, the police in Dortmund arrested the young man’s 26-year-old ex-boyfriend. A spokesman for the public prosecutor said various clues that could not yet be discussed led the investigators to him.

The couple are said to have split a week before the 17-year-old’s disappearance. Her parents reported her missing on June 14. The 26-year-old had already been questioned as a witness after the teenager’s disappearance.

Strong suspicion of manslaughter

He was surprised by his arrest. The public prosecutor’s office has applied for an arrest warrant against him on suspicion of manslaughter. He was due to appear before a magistrate on Saturday.

The autopsy of the corpse had shown that the young woman did not die from the flames, but from “massive violence against the neck”. Her body was discovered in a nature reserve near Hamm. The 17-year-old came from the Märkische district and had lived there with her parents.

According to the police, a cyclist discovered the burning body around 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning. “We assume that she had been dead for several days and that the body was only burned there to remove traces,” it said on Friday.