Germany Germany - Ingolstadt/Bavaria, Boy, 5-6,110 cm tall, 15kg, brown hair and blood type O, spent time outside Germany, found in Danube River, May'22

[Susikatze]

Kinderleiche in der Donau: Hinweise aus ganz Deutschland

Child's body in the river Donau: tips from all over Germany

After three quarters of a year, the murder of a little boy remains unsolved. The body was discovered in the Donau River in the Ingolstadt area. The child has not been reported missing anywhere. The police are looking for a needle in a haystack.

Nine months after the discovery of a child's body in the Donau, the Ingolstadt Criminal Investigation Department continues to process several tips from the public. Most recently, the investigators, together with the Federal Criminal Police Office, had published the reconstructed picture of the dead boy on information screens all over Germany and asked for tips.

There had also been quite a number of tips from all over Germany after the action, said police spokesman Andreas Aichele. "But there wasn't one that would have helped us in leaps and bounds right away." Instead, he said, there were small investigative leads that were being followed up. "We are currently working with many files and interrogations."

The body of the preschool-aged boy was found on 19 May 2022 by a canoeist at a barrage near Vohburg on the Donau (Pfaffenhofen district). The identity and the cause of death are still unclear - despite a large-scale search for clues. It is suspected that the child was murdered, because the dead boy had been wrapped and dumped in the river with a stone. The body lay in the water for a long time.

In autumn, a specialised forensic pathologist had reconstructed the face of the unknown boy. The case was presented in detail in the ZDF programme "Aktenzeichen XY... unsolved". According to the investigation, the child was between three and seven years old, 110 centimetres tall, weighed about 15 kilos and had blue eyes and dark blond to brown hair.

The police spokesman stressed that the case is still being worked on intensively. "We are still digging up the haystack properly - looking for the pin." So far, however, there are no indications that witnesses have directly recognised the boy. Rather, tips had been received about children who had not been seen for a long time.

The criminal investigation department assumes that the dead child comes from another area. "We are relatively sure that the child does not come directly from the region," said Aichele. In Bavaria, he said, early detection and school enrolment examinations are also compulsory, and the boy should have been at these. "The child would not fall through the cracks there."

Currently, the Ingolstadt Criminal Investigation Department's investigation team is searching Europe-wide for the perpetrator. One theory is that the wrapped child's body could have been thrown into the river from a bridge on the busy A9 motorway. However, there are no concrete traces of this, for example injuries on the corpse. "We can't prove it," the police spokesperson says about the thesis.

BBM


Young children in Germany get two thorough examinations to monitor their mental and physical development and to establish if they are ready for school. The first one, called U-9, is done when a child is around 5 years of age, the second one, SchoolStart Examination (or S1 or SEU) takes place in the months before the child starts school for the first time in the autumn.
The examinations are compulsory in all the Länder of Germany.

Of course the system only works if the child is registered, and not living off the radar.

The examinations start at birth and are monthly or every few months until the child is done with the vaccinations at 2, from when on theyre yearly until the child starts school at 6 or 7. But i dont see how they would id anyone. If a child does not show up for the next exam,noone questions.

I think the boy was between 4 and 5 years old. 110 cm and 15 kg fits that

 

[ZaZara]

The examinations start at birth and are monthly or every few months until the child is done with the vaccinations at 2, from when on theyre yearly until the child starts school at 6 or 7. But i dont see how they would id anyone. If a child does not show up for the next exam,noone questions.

I think the boy was between 4 and 5 years old. 110 cm and 15 kg fits that

If he was registered at birth (or later) in Germany, at least the system would 'ping' at certain moments in time. Given his presumed age, he would miss the U-9 examination, the School Start examination and the schoolstart itself.
LE would have to compare the lists of who qualifies and who turned up / did not turn up. That would probably not be as easy as it sounds, but sometimes bureaucratic systems work surprisingly swift.

IMO they should try genetic genealogy immediately in this case to learn more about his background.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Does Germany ever use genetic genealogy for any cases?

 

[ZaZara]

Does Germany ever use genetic genealogy for any cases?

Not that I can find. Genetic tests are available in Germany for personal use, but a few years ago, Ancestry.com won a Big Borther Award (2019)

"because it entices people with an interest in family research to send in their saliva samples. Ancestry sells the genetic data to commercial pharmaceutical research, enables covert paternity tests and creates the data basis for police genetic screening."

According to the BKA website, DNA is used to identify perpetrators.

The aim of DNA analysis is the identification of a person who left evidence.
Through this, crimes can be solved, suspects identified and convicted, innocent people exonerated, potential victims protected from repeat offenders and links between crimes established.

In the DNA analysis database all DNA profiles and the gender are stored. The individual evidence samples used for the examination are destroyed after the analysis is conducted. This means that in the future, no further information or other examinations can be made based on the data recorded in the DNA analysis database.

DNA-Analysis

Nothing about genetic genealogy and the use of commercial databases as far as I can see.

 

[ZaZara]

Toter Junge in der Donau: Das ist ein Jahr nach dem Horror-Fund der aktuelle Stand

Großmehring - Almost a year ago, a canoeist discovered a child's body in the river Donau. Who the boy was and what was behind the crime is still not clear. However, the police are not giving up.

After the discovery of the boy's body in the river Donau in Upper Bavaria, however, there are still no clues as to the perpetrator. The identity of the child is also still unclear despite all efforts.

"We are currently working on missing persons cases all over the world and at the same time have set up wanted signs along the section of the Danube cycle path where the boy presumably got into the water," Andreas Aichele, press spokesman of the Ingolstadt police headquarters, explained the current situation.

Accordingly, the officers are still working on the case at full steam. "This is not a cold case for us - quite the opposite," said Aichele.

A canoeist had discovered the body on 19 May 2022 near Großmehring near Ingolstadt and brought it ashore. The boy, whose cause of death is unclear, had been wrapped in plastic and sunk in the river with the help of a cobblestone. It is suspected that the child was murdered.

The police assume that the body was thrown into the water between the Ingolstadt and Vohburg barrages and lay there for several weeks. The Ingolstadt Criminal Investigation Department used sniffer dogs, sonar equipment and divers and conducted an intensive search in the region to solve the case. The officers investigated more than 100 missing persons cases.

The Federal Criminal Police Office supported the investigation in the past months and searched for further information on the boy using information screens and social media.

However, even more than 60 tips that came in after the case was published in the well-known ZDF television programme "Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst" did not bring the hoped-for breakthrough.

In the meantime, the police have ruled out the possibility that the boy, whose face was reconstructed by forensic experts in autumn, was a child who had lived in Bavaria in a traditional family environment "with probability bordering on certainty".

"However, we do not know whether the child has lived here temporarily without being officially registered," Aichele continued about the boy. With a height of 1.10 metres, the child weighed only 15 kilograms, according to the police.

Nevertheless, the investigators did not find signs of neglect or chronic malnutrition.


BBM

 

[Susikatze]

Toter Junge in der Donau: Das ist ein Jahr nach dem Horror-Fund der aktuelle Stand

Großmehring - Almost a year ago, a canoeist discovered a child's body in the river Donau. Who the boy was and what was behind the crime is still not clear. However, the police are not giving up.

After the discovery of the boy's body in the river Donau in Upper Bavaria, however, there are still no clues as to the perpetrator. The identity of the child is also still unclear despite all efforts.

"We are currently working on missing persons cases all over the world and at the same time have set up wanted signs along the section of the Danube cycle path where the boy presumably got into the water," Andreas Aichele, press spokesman of the Ingolstadt police headquarters, explained the current situation.

Accordingly, the officers are still working on the case at full steam. "This is not a cold case for us - quite the opposite," said Aichele.

A canoeist had discovered the body on 19 May 2022 near Großmehring near Ingolstadt and brought it ashore. The boy, whose cause of death is unclear, had been wrapped in plastic and sunk in the river with the help of a cobblestone. It is suspected that the child was murdered.

The police assume that the body was thrown into the water between the Ingolstadt and Vohburg barrages and lay there for several weeks. The Ingolstadt Criminal Investigation Department used sniffer dogs, sonar equipment and divers and conducted an intensive search in the region to solve the case. The officers investigated more than 100 missing persons cases.

The Federal Criminal Police Office supported the investigation in the past months and searched for further information on the boy using information screens and social media.

However, even more than 60 tips that came in after the case was published in the well-known ZDF television programme "Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst" did not bring the hoped-for breakthrough.

In the meantime, the police have ruled out the possibility that the boy, whose face was reconstructed by forensic experts in autumn, was a child who had lived in Bavaria in a traditional family environment "with probability bordering on certainty".

"However, we do not know whether the child has lived here temporarily without being officially registered," Aichele continued about the boy. With a height of 1.10 metres, the child weighed only 15 kilograms, according to the police.

Nevertheless, the investigators did not find signs of neglect or chronic malnutrition.


BBM

15 kg at 110 cm is totally normal. Not "only".

 

[ZaZara]

15 kg at 110 cm is totally normal. Not "only".

BMI for a length of 110 cm and a weight of 15 kilo is too low.
At 110 cm, 17 kilo would be 'normal'.

 

[ZaZara]

https://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/...wird-von-niemandem-vermisst_id_201199452.html

No one seems to miss the dead boy found in the river Donau

The police continue to investigate the mystery surrounding a child's corpse found in the Donau River. After more than a year of searching, it is still not clear who the dead boy is. The head of the Ingolstadt homicide squad does not want to give up.

In mid-May last year, a rower spotted the body of a child in the Danube, but so far ithe remains could not be matched with any child. Even after forensic experts reconstructed the child's face, no one has come forward to date.

"The unusual point of this case is that the boy has not been reported missing by anyone for over a year and no one has yet come forward to say: 'My child has disappeared'," Silke Poller, head of Commissariat 1 of the Ingolstadt CID, told "der Spiegel". "We all know the famous cases of missing children: Rebecca, Maddie, Peggy. In all cases, there are parents behind these children who are desperate."

The problem: "As long as you don't know the victim, the search for the perpetrator is more difficult. The number of unknown child and infant corpses in Germany is in the low double digits."

Giving up is not an option. The investigator wants to continue "until all the leads have been exhausted and we can no longer generate any new investigative leads." There is no time limit. "You know, the colleagues have already said that this will be the case of their police lives. No matter how long it takes them."


BBM

 

[Susikatze]

BMI for a length of 110 cm and a weight of 15 kilo is too low.
At 110 cm, 17 kilo would be 'normal'.

2 kilos on and off do not matter for children, neither does the BMI. He is within range for a child his height.

Shame he has not been IDd yet. I hate the overly cautious and backwards DNA "protection" laws in Germany. They allow the perpetrator to enjoy freedom and go on happily with their lives.

 

[Susikatze]

There was a recent case in Austria where a man (after a DV history) killed his young son during a visitation day and threw him in the danube. After that, he tried to kill his ex wife and then committed suicide by drowning himself. Nobody was UID, though, as the case was widely known and followed by LE.

I wonder whether the UID boy here was a victim of abuse by a parent or caregiver.

 

[ZaZara]

Interpol has issued a Black Notice for the boy found in the River Donau.

International appeal to identify dead child in Germany


INTERPOL Black Notice published after body discovered in the Danube

LYON, France – German police and INTERPOL are seeking the public’s help in identifying a deceased boy and to determine the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
The child’s remains were discovered on 19 May 2022 in the River Danube near Grossmehring in Bavaria, Germany, weighed down with a flagstone slab and wrapped in foil. It is not known how long the body was in the water.
The boy is thought to be aged between five and six. He was approximately 110 cm tall and 15kg, with brown hair and blood type 0.
The results of investigations indicate that he likely spent time outside of Germany.
To widen the investigation’s reach, and at the request of German authorities, INTERPOL has circulated a Black Notice to the Organization’s 195 member countries.
Black Notices are international alerts used to gather information and intelligence on unidentified bodies.
As part of the public appeal to identify the boy, key details of the Black Notice are now being shared, including facial reconstruction images and physical characteristics.

“Through this Black Notice, INTERPOL is calling upon the global law enforcement community to cross-check databases and consult open or unsolved cases,” said Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL Secretary General.

“Someone, somewhere knows something about this boy, making it equally important to release certain details publicly. Whether he was the victim of trafficking, abduction or violence, we are committed to mobilizing all of INTERPOL’s policing capabilities to identify him and help investigators shed light on his death.”

Members of the public, particularly those who remember a missing child whose characteristics and disappearance indicate a potential link to this case, are invited to contact the national police team in Germany should they have any information.

Since 2021, INTERPOL has been providing investigators with the I-Familia database, a global tool which helps identify unknown bodies through international family DNA kinship matching. For biological relatives who believe the boy could be a member of their family, national police once contacted can liaise with INTERPOL for international DNA comparison.

The case falls under the framework of the Identify Me programme and the public release of information contained in Black Notices to help unlock ‘cold cases’. Identify Me was first launched in May of this year in connection with on-going efforts to identify 22 suspected female murder victims, with more than 500 messages and tips received from the public.


BBM

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Important to note that he has *brown* hair according to the latest Notice.

ETA: (Earlier was given as "dark blonde.")

I wonder how they determined he probably spent some time outside of Germany.

 

[ZaZara]

Important to note that he has *brown* hair according to the latest Notice.

ETA: (Earlier was given as "dark blonde.")

I wonder how they determined he probably spent some time outside of Germany.

BBM

IMO possibly through isotope analysis of teeth, hair and bones.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

BBM

IMO possibly through isotope analysis of teeth, hair and bones.

I was thinking that, too, but why not release the results/locations where he might have lived? I know it's not that accurate, though.

 

[musicaljoke]

I was thinking that, too, but why not release the results/locations where he might have lived? I know it's not that accurate, though.

Perhaps the locations are not given because it might cause some people to think that those are the only places where he may have loved. I am hoping that the familial DNA work that is being done will lead right to his parents.

 

[ZaZara]

I was thinking that, too, but why not release the results/locations where he might have lived? I know it's not that accurate, though.

Perhaps the locations are not given because it might cause some people to think that those are the only places where he may have loved. I am hoping that the familial DNA work that is being done will lead right to his parents.

It could be a combination of both IMO. They may not be able to say with certainty where he would have lived, but they do know that it wasn't in Germany or the surrounding area. And they want as many people as possible to come forward either with tips or if they have a missing family member themselves so their DNA can be added to the I-Familia database.

The I-Familia database is a good instrument, but it is very bureaucratic compared to GEDMatch for instance. With I-Familia a missing persons report has to move through the system before it lands there. If there is no report or the report ends up in a drawer .... nothing. But the data, once they are in, are very detailed.
With the 123 Ancestry GEDMatch websites, you can simply upload your own data and see what pops up. Privacy rulings aside, these websites are not very popular in Europe.

 

[LucyOso]

It looks like they are assuming it is caregiver or family who placed him in the river. As far as I can see, they didn't released cause of death. I wonder if this was a natural death-like untreated illness, accident, or if it was violence?

It is very possible people do not know he is missing because the pandemic isolated so many people. Family might not know he was born or caregivers could have explained he passed away years before/was adopted out, etc.

He could also be part of the Ukrainian Refuge Crisis.He could have lost his parents or parents sent him with another "trusted person" to care for him. i.e. 4,000 orphans crossed into Poland in 2022. Many children crossed borders without parents and were assigned temporary guardians. Language barriers, trauma induced behaviors, and age could make this child a prime victim of violence.

NEW YORK/GENEVA/KYIV, 30 March 2022 – Two million children have now been forced to flee Ukraine, as the war rages on.

Two million refugee children flee war in Ukraine in search of safety across borders

With an additional 2.5 million children displaced within country, 60 per cent of children now forced from their homes as attacks on urban areas continue

www.unicef.org

Ukrainian refugee crisis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Perhaps family, foster family, a neighbor, a "charity organization" brought him to the area and grew tired of the responsibility or it was misadventure. There might be no-one looking because his parents are deceased or he was a refuge. Being young, he would have limited information to provide while living.

Ukrainian orphans find shelter in Poland – DW – 05/01/2022 Example

 

[ZaZara]

It looks like they are assuming it is caregiver or family who placed him in the river. As far as I can see, they didn't released cause of death. I wonder if this was a natural death-like untreated illness, accident, or if it was violence?

It is very possible people do not know he is missing because the pandemic isolated so many people. Family might not know he was born or caregivers could have explained he passed away years before/was adopted out, etc.

He could also be part of the Ukrainian Refuge Crisis.He could have lost his parents or parents sent him with another "trusted person" to care for him. i.e. 4,000 orphans crossed into Poland in 2022. Many children crossed borders without parents and were assigned temporary guardians. Language barriers, trauma induced behaviors, and age could make this child a prime victim of violence.

NEW YORK/GENEVA/KYIV, 30 March 2022 – Two million children have now been forced to flee Ukraine, as the war rages on.

Two million refugee children flee war in Ukraine in search of safety across borders

With an additional 2.5 million children displaced within country, 60 per cent of children now forced from their homes as attacks on urban areas continue

www.unicef.org

Ukrainian refugee crisis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Perhaps family, foster family, a neighbor, a "charity organization" brought him to the area and grew tired of the responsibility or it was misadventure. There might be no-one looking because his parents are deceased or he was a refuge. Being young, he would have limited information to provide while living.

Ukrainian orphans find shelter in Poland – DW – 05/01/2022 Example

IMO the boy could be from Ukraine, but the time frame that would make him a refugee is very short. He was found in May 2022, and the invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022. Three months to the max. They don't know for how long his remains had been in the water, (or they do know and do not tell!) but it would have been a while, not a matter of days.
Also, refugees from Ukraine were registered, this allows them to live and work legally and to travel.

I wonder if isotope analysis would show that he had lived only one or two months in Germany? Likely spent time outside of Germany is a pretty vague description. The way I read it is that he did live in Germany at least for a while, but also outside the area. But no indication if that was 50 -50% or 80-20% or 30 -70% of his short life. Could it mean that he did not live in Germany at all?

 

[RichardKimble]

The mother of missing Ben Needham is asking brit police to investigate.

Missing Ben Needham's mother seeks answers after boy's body found in river

The boy's body was wrapped in foil and weighed down with a flagstone in the German river.

www.express.co.uk

 

[ZaZara]

The mother of missing Ben Needham is asking brit police to investigate.

Missing Ben Needham's mother seeks answers after boy's body found in river

The boy's body was wrapped in foil and weighed down with a flagstone in the German river.

www.express.co.uk

If the family has uploaded Ben's DNA to I-Familia, the system would ping if there was a match.

There isn't. How could there be? The time gap is 25 years!

Ben, aged 21 months, went missing on Kos in 1991 - and while the boy found in Bavaria in 2022 is thought to be between five and six, Ms Needham, 51, still thinks UK officers need to contact German counterparts.