Actually, the investigators in Freudenberg had already stopped the search for the murder weapon. "We had assumed that we would have no chance of finding the knife," says a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Siegen. About 30 officials had searched on Tuesday with metal detectors in the remote forest, where the twelve-year-old Luise is said to have been killed, for the knife. Without success. But two days later, on Thursday, investigators received new evidence. For the late afternoon, a short search is planned, says the spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Siegen. Dogs should also be used. The knife could be in a place that had not been searched before or not yet in detail.
Sarah Obertreis
Editor in the section "Society & Style".
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The whereabouts of the murder weapon is still one of the gaps in the Luise case, which causes a sensation because of the alleged perpetrators aged twelve and thirteen. Luise's classmates are said to have killed the girl on Saturday with numerous knife wounds. The twelve-year-old was initially considered missing. It was not until early Sunday afternoon that her body was found. On Monday, the two suspects confessed to the killing. Nothing is yet known about a possible motive. The responsible chief prosecutor has only stated that it moves beyond "what one would find out in a criminally responsible offender".
They are said to have been "best friends"
According to the "Bild" newspaper, the 13-year-old suspect and the victim were "best friends" and had known each other for a long time. They lived about three kilometers apart and, according to "Bild", drove together daily by bus to the local Esther Bejarano comprehensive school. In front of the low-rise building of the school, the flags hang at half-mast, the website is inactive. Where otherwise news about lessons and sporting events are announced, the school management has set a text in white font on a turquoise background. "We lost our student, classmate and friend Luise at the weekend," it says. "Much too soon, she was forcibly snatched from our midst and from her family."
On Thursday, the teachers of the comprehensive school returned to the regular timetable. The spokesman for the responsible district government explains that this probably also applies to the seventh grade, in which the victim and the two suspects went. In the three days before, regular lessons had been largely suspended in order to give the students the opportunity to process the situation together and in discussions with school psychologists, teachers and supervisors. "There are still a number of school psychologists on site, which are also used," says the spokesman for the district government Arnsberg. "But it is just as important that a gradual return to a normal process can take place, because that also gives a certain security."
The twelve-year-old is also remembered in other places in the 18,000-inhabitant village. The Evangelical Church Freudenberg has laid out a book of condolence for Luise. In the upcoming Sunday service, the congregation plans to give "a special space to our bewilderment at Luise's death." Already on Sunday evening there had been a prayer service for the girl and her family.
Meanwhile, the Siegen police are observing the debate about the case in the social networks. There, threats and hate messages against the twelve and 13-year-old suspects are increasingly spreading. "We have a monitoring and are constantly checking whether criminally relevant is posted," said a spokesman. The two girls are currently separated from their families in the care of the district youth welfare office. Because they are not criminally responsible, they will not have to answer in court.