Germany - Peggy Knobloch, 9, murdered, Lichtenberg, 7 May 2001 *Arrest in 2018*

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Festnahme im Mordfall Peggy

In the Peggy case, a suspect was arrested this Tuesday. This was confirmed by the Bayreuth public prosecutor's office of the SZ. The suspect is the undertaker Manuel S., who had already been the focus of the investigators again this autumn and has now been arrested.

The 41-year-old had already confessed to having buried Peggy's body in a forest in Thuringia. Nevertheless, he was released again because there was no urgent suspicion. However, new findings by the investigators are said to have so heavily burdened the man that an arrest warrant has now been issued on suspicion of murder. The suspect will be brought before an investigating judge on Tuesday.


BBM
 
peggy-knobloch.jpg
 
Neue Ermittlungen im Fall Peggy - Polizei setzt auf alte Tonaufnahmen

New investigations in the Peggy case - police rely on old sound recordings.

While judges are revoking the arrest warrant against Manuel S., investigators are still targeting the suspect in the Peggy case. They are counting on a 15-year-old tape recording.


The tape recording is of poor quality. Again and again the voices of the two men, who talk agitatedly to each other, can hardly be heard. But the core of the conversation from July 2002 becomes clear: You can hear Ulvi K. telling his father that he and Manuel S. were there when Peggy Knobloch died a good year before.

In recent weeks, investigators from the Bayreuth Criminal Investigation Department have rung the bell at the doors of several citizens of Lichtenberg to play this recording for them. Mostly they are former neighbours of the Knobloch family or of Manuel S.. "They wanted to know whether I considered it credible what Ulvi K. told his father," one of the interviewees told this newspaper on Friday.

Manuel S. is the man about whom the Bayreuth Regional Court attested on Wednesday of this week that there was "no urgent suspicion of the murder of Peggy." At the same time, the judiciary considers it "very likely" that the 41-year-old helped to remove the girl's body.

The recording that is available to our newspaper lasts 50 minutes. Ulvi K. tells how he and Manuel S. followed the girl, how he suffocated Peggy in the surroundings of the Lichtenberg castle and how Manuel S.'s attempts at resuscitation failed. They then took the body away in his car. For the investigators the admission is obviously a strong indication. Namely that Ulvi K. and Manuel S. are bearing at least one responsibility for Peggy's death. Only: How credible is this statement of Ulvi ?

Jörg Meringer from Hof is Manuel S.'s lawyer. He has managed to have a magistrate set his client free on Christmas Eve and to revoke the arrest warrant for murder issued two weeks earlier. He knows the tape, he knows about the interviews in Lichtenberg. Meringer is convinced that "this action is pure propaganda against my client."

Fact is: Ulvi K. has told many versions about the alleged crime. The one on the tape was made on 24 July 2002, when Ulvis's father was in prison. The son had named him as the one who had allegedly taken Peggy's body away. Wolfgang Geier, who was head of the special commission at the time, made a jovial gesture to the father. He offered him to "talk to his son." What he didn't tell father and son: Geier had long since obtained permission from the responsible judge to record the alleged four-eye conversation.

Defense attorney Meringer considers it legally controversial as to whether the recording may still be used at all in the investigations today. But something else annoys him much more: "The police runs around in Lichtenberg and pretends that this is the only version Ulvi has ever told. Meringer refers to the first reconstruction of the crime on site on July 2, 2002, where Ulvi explained in detail how two of his acquaintances allegedly removed the body. As it turned out, the two of them were not even in Lichtenberg on that day. Or the second on-site appointment. July 30, 2002, six days after the interview in prison. On a video from that time you can see how Ulvi now incriminates his father again.

For Gudrun Rödel, Ulvi K.'s long-time caregiver from Münchberg, it is clear: "Ulvi was a mentally handicapped child who told a different story every day. I can't pick one out and rely on that one specifically." Gudrun Rödel is now thinking about filing a complaint with Interior Minister Herrmann.

Holger Knüppel evaluates the latest inquiries in his city more cautiously. In 2017, the mayor had been one of the signatories of a "call for help" from Lichtenberg citizens who accused the authorities of serious mistakes and sloppiness. They spoke of a "police and justice scandal" and one-sided investigations. Knüppel, to whom the officers also played the tape recently, said on request that he was in favour of "everything the investigators try to solve the case". This included "methods that may seem unconventional at first glance."

It remains to be seen how important the investigators actually think the 15-year-old conversation on the tape is. The responsible public prosecutor's office in Bayreuth would not like to comment on this and neither on the aim of the interviews in Lichtenberg. "We do not comment on ongoing investigations," a spokesman says.

Manuel S., who knew Ulvi K. from childhood and who now lives in the Fichtelgebirge, is listed in the tens of thousands of pages of files on the Peggy case as Spur 1305. He was quickly targeted by the investigators. First as a witness, then as an accused. The Criminal Investigation Department had suspected the then 24-year-old of having placed Peggy under a bridge, gagged her and weighted her down with stones. He is even said to have admitted this. On a Father's Day outing. In 2002, however, the case was dropped. It was believed that the witnesses had drunk too much alcohol, the statements did not seem valid enough. In addition, Ulvi exonerated his former friend.

Expert Hans-Ludwig Kröber, who was recently sued for 350,000 euros in damages by the Supporters' Circle for Ulvi, was told by him in October 2002: "That was a lie about Manuel," according to Frankenpost research. He [ Ulvi ] had only wanted to get his back on him because he [ Manuel ] hadn't paid any more attention to him.
In September last year, Manuel S. made a partial confession, but later revoked that he had taken over the lifeless Peggy from another man in a bus shelter in Lichtenberg and brought her to a forest in Thuringia. According to lawyer Meringer, this partial confession had only come about because his client had felt that he had been under pressure for hours during an interrogation without a lawyer. (*)

Nine-year-old Peggy disappeared on her way home from school in 2001. In July 2016, parts of her skeleton were found near Rodacherbrunn, about 20 kilometers from Lichtenberg. Ulvi K., who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in 2004, was acquitted ten years later in a retrial at the Bayreuth Regional Court.

BBM


* The courts found no indication of undue pressure:

The Regional Court evaluated the video recording of the interrogation and came to the conclusion that the officials had not exerted any undue pressure on the accused. There was no evidence that the police had used prohibited interrogation methods. Manuel S. had never been exhausted or overwhelmed. During the interrogation no one had denied Manuel S. the right to call in a defence lawyer. During the entire interrogation, the accused had been aware that he was being investigated on suspicion of murder.

Fall Peggy: Landgericht weist Beschwerde zurück
 
Ermittler prüfen Fall erneut: Ließ Christian B. auch Peggy verschwinden?

Investigators re-examine cases. Did Christian B. (43) also make Peggy disappear?

Lichtenberg/Halle - First Maddie (3), then Inga (5) and René (6) - now the investigators have their eyes on professional criminal Christian B. (43) in Germany's most mysterious criminal case.

►19 Years after the disappearance of Peggy Knobloch (†9) from Lichtenberg in Upper Franconia, Bavarian police officers are now asking themselves: Was the child molester from Würzburg a kidnapper travelling around Europe?

Although there is currently no evidence "that the suspect in the 'Maddie' case is also a possible perpetrator in the 'Peggy' case," Bayreuth's chief public prosecutor Martin Dippold told BILD. "He is now also under investigation in the case of Peggy."

Across Germany, the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office is currently interrogating police stations about missing children and possible parallels to B. He had recently come into the focus of the Wald investigation team in Saxony-Anhalt because he was nearby when Inga Gehricke disappeared from Wilhelmshof on May 2, 2015, he was hoarding child *advertiser censored* on his property only 90 kilometers away, and apparently also turned up in the radio cell analysis of the crime scene.

Peggy had disappeared without a trace on 7 May 2001 at about 13.15 hours on her way home from school. Not until July 2, 2016 parts of her skeleton were discovered in the Thuringian Forest. Currently, the investigators are targeting an undertaker who first confessed to the removal of the body, but then revoked it.

Christian B. first came under criminal investigation in 1992 in his birthplace of Würzburg (about 200 kilometres away from Lichtenberg) with a burglary, after which he sexually molested two children. In 1995 he left for the Algarve to escape a two-year prison sentence. The last time the police investigated him was in 1997 in Ansbach in central Franconia, and it wasn't until 2008 that he reappeared in the files of German prosecutors: He was arrested in Augsburg for possession of narcotics.

For Susanne Knobloch (47), the nightmare continues to this day. With the disappearance of her daughter Peggy, the geriatric nurse experienced the same drama as the British couple Kate and Garry McCann in Praia da Luz (Portugal)

"The Maddie case takes me back to that time, everything comes back up again," Susanne Knobloch told BILD about the latest findings of the BKA. For 15 years she lived in bitter uncertainty about what had happened to her child on that misty May day in 2001. To this day, Susanne Knobloch says: "I have had to live with not having any clarity about what happened to my child for 19 years. Because despite many suspects and two trials, the perpetrator has so far not been convicted.

On the other hand: Susanne Knobloch has repeatedly been suspected of having had something to do with the disappearance of her daughter, possibly even of having sold her into a Czech children's brothel. "Hand on your heart, it would finally be time to say what you did to her," a commissioner confronted her with his suspicions in 2001. In Lichtenberg she was accused of being a bad mother who did not care enough for her child. She had not mourned Peggy as one would expect in public. In 2007, an Internet blogger even mounted Peggy's face and that of her mother in a child *advertiser censored* photo. "I remained for everyone the Ossi witch who tarnished the reputation of the place," Susanne Knobloch recalls.


BBM


Lots of news in and between the lines of this report.

- Manuel S. recanted his confession and has been freed. He remains a POI and a suspect in the disappearance of Peggy.
- There is no real suspicion that Christian B, alleged abductor and murderer of Madeleine McCann, has anything to do with the disappearance of Peggy.
- German LE are checking all cases of missing children to see if there are possible connections with Christian B.

IMHO, Peggy's disappearance is not Germany's most mysterious criminal case by far. There are two suspects. One is Ulvi K who was convicted and later freed. The other is Manuel S who has confessed to transporting Peggy's body while she was possibly still alive. All it would take is one crucial piece of evidence to convict S. If he could have blamed the crime on Christian B. he would have done so long ago. Instead he pointed the finger at Ulvi K.
 
This will be my 2nd post here at the Websleuths forum so I will try to be quick and go directly to the point as much as I can.
First of all I didn't want to get side-tracked by posting on many missing children cases at the same time as I do intend to stay focused in one single case to avoid mixing facts and to be precise when analyzing evidences but I will make an exception here as I do want to comment on this particular thread.
Peggy Knobloch was a very beautiful little girl and (some) of her photos available on the internet does remind me of someone that I do know now (at present time) so this case is particular sad to me not only because of all of what happened to her but also because of all of the mistakes in the investigation including the DNA contamination that lead for a while to the suspicion of the neo-Nazi group to have involvement on the Peggy crime.
For me there is nothing worst in life to handle that direct abuse and (intentional) murderer of little children.
Assuming that all of what was stated on the news is "real" and not fabricated by police to wrap up the case I want to believe that Manuel S. did indeed paint his house on the time Peggy was "abducted" and that the paint particles found on her body do match that painting and the pollen does match the one from the floor of Manuel S. house, suggesting that Peggy was taken there. And I say that I do want to believe because if that is indeed truth then at least we have some closure for Peggy. At least we do know "who did it".
To be honest when I did end up reading the threads about Peggy and finished my "research" on this "case" I did end up wanting to beat that Manuel guy up until he died but goes without saying that wouldn't make me a lot better than him.
I do want to state that I did notice the inscriptions on Peggy grave - "Wer nicht an Engel glaubt, der ist die nie begegnet." (the ones that don't believe in angels are the ones that never meet one) - and at least for Peggy we can now know where she is and that she is not suffering anymore.
This is quite some sort of "consolation" at the end even when police fails and investigation fails, even when the criminals are still free at least the ones more close to Peggy can know that no-one is hurting her now. Problem is the criminals can still harm others and it's quite bad to think that next one might be someone close to us.
For what I've read about Peggy I'm quite convinced that Manuel S. is the real criminal alongside with the Ulvi guy. I don't see any "link" with Christian Brueckner at all.
I do hope that somehow someday truth can be found and that the ones that did commit this horrible crime can indeed pay for it but on the meanwhile let's hope as well that investigation doesn't get "distracted" by "noise" or stuff that is not related to the case itself just because it's on the news or just because someone have the need to link suspects among cases to serve their own goals (whatever those goals are).
Another thing that I HATE about the media is the fact that they keep calling Germany Madeleine, Spanish Madeleine, Italian Madeleine and whatever country Madeleine when they find about a missing children case.
No matter how much Madeleine Mccann is popular each child it's a single child, a special child in her/his own way and have their own identity and their own name - not to mention that cases most likely are not linked at all.
Peggy is Peggy and it's not a German Madeleine. Madeleine is Madeleine and it's not Peggy. Whatever the circumstances are I do have this habit of treating each case as unique even if somehow at the end a criminal or suspect ends up to have committed more crimes. I do hate some of what the media is doing/have done regarding Madeleine Mccann case and reviewing missing children cases is having to deal with that "pain" over and over again.
I will elaborate on this further on inside another specific thread as Christian B. was as well investigated on the case that I will be reviewing here at Websleuths but for now I will just say I'm quite positive that if we can account for the facts that were stated to be true the real criminals that did kill Peggy are already found and it might be just a question of time for them to pay for what they have done.
Until then we will be waiting to see what will unfold from all of this...

R.I.P. Precious Angel.
 
21 Jahre nach ihrem Verschwinden: Peggy Knobloch wird beigesetzt

Lichtenberg - On 6 April 2022, Peggy Knobloch would have turned 30. But instead of celebrating her birthday, her mother carried her mortal remains to the grave. The then nine-year-old girl disappeared 21 years ago, and her murderer has still not been found.

"Happy Birthday, Püppi", the mother is said to have uttered, according to information from Bild, as the mortal remains of Peggy Knobloch were lowered into the ground in a coffin. 6 April 2022, it would actually have been her 30th birthday.

In a letter from the family lawyer it says: "After 21 years, we said goodbye to our beloved Peggy on 6 April 2022 in the closest circle of family and friends and took her to her final resting place. Our special thanks go to the staff of SOKO III for their trustful cooperation and for keeping their promise and bringing Peggy home. We wish for peace to return and for us to be given the space to grieve."


BBM


Peggy Knobloch disappeared 21 years today.
Her murderer has not been found.

This case should not be under 'resolved cold cases'. Why was it ever put there?
 
Bumping up thread, as there is still no conviction in Peggy's case.

From January 2023:

Almost 22 years after the disappearance of the girl Peggy Knobloch, the mother is now demanding compensation. She has filed a civil lawsuit in the Hof regional court - against the man who initially admitted in 2018 that he had taken the girl's body into a forest in May 2001 and later retracted this confession.
 
Bumping up thread, as there is still no conviction in Peggy's case.

From January 2023:

Almost 22 years after the disappearance of the girl Peggy Knobloch, the mother is now demanding compensation. She has filed a civil lawsuit in the Hof regional court - against the man who initially admitted in 2018 that he had taken the girl's body into a forest in May 2001 and later retracted this confession.

From the link:

Her lawyer, Ramona Hoyer, told "BILD": "The defendant knew all those years where Peggy's mortal remains were, he could have given the plaintiff the certainty that her child had died." The mother therefore seeks compensation of 5,000 euros from Manuel S. for each year of trauma suffered.



Zivilprozess im Fall „Peggy“ startet im April - Mutter fordert Schmerzensgeld

The case of little Peggy, who disappeared 22 years ago, will be heard by the civil court in the spring. On 18 April 2024, the 2nd Civil Chamber will hear the claim for compensation for pain and suffering brought by the mother of the girl who was killed, the Regional Court in Hof [ Bavaria ] announced on Wednesday.

The lawsuit is directed against the man who initially admitted in 2018 that he had taken Peggy's body to a wooded area in May 2001, but later recanted this confession. According to the court, the woman is demanding at least 75,000 euros from him.

BBM
 

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