32 years after the murder of a 13-year-old on a horse farm – man convicted again

Almost 33 years after the murder of a thirteen-year-old girl at a riding stable in Wiesenfeld, Bavaria, the Würzburg regional court sentenced the defendant again in the new edition of a cold case trial.

A court spokeswoman said on Monday that the now 49-year-old man was given a youth sentence of six years and three months for murder.

The man had already been convicted in a first trial in 2024, but the Federal Court of Justice ordered a new trial due to legal errors. In the first trial, the defendant received a youth sentence of six and a half years.

By convicting him of murder, the court followed the prosecutor's request. She had pleaded for a youth sentence of six and a half years, the same sentence as in the first case. The defense, like the defendant himself, had pleaded for acquittal.

The then 17-year-old had lured the girl onto the threshing floor

13-year-old Sabine was killed in December 1993. The case could not be solved for a long time and was considered a cold case. It was only through new investigative methods that it got back on track.

The 17-year-old at the time of the crime is said to have lured the girl, who helped look after the horses at the riding stable, onto the stable floor in order to sexually assault her. When she fought back and called for help, he is said to have killed her. After the crime, he threw the body into a manure pit, where it was discovered two days later.