Despite intensive investigations, the case of Rebecca, who disappeared in 2019, has still not been solved. However, following a new appeal for witnesses by the Berlin-Mitte police, a woman has come forward who claims to have seen the suspect's car - a pink Renault Twingo. This was reported by "Bild", which spoke to the woman.
The 69-year-old says: "I have seen the renewed appeal for witnesses. The matter has been bothering me for so long, I finally want to get it off my chest."
"Baseball cap pulled low over her face"
On February 18, the day Rebecca disappeared, she saw the Renault Twingo in question. She had noticed the "raspberry red" vehicle on the highway because of its excessive speed.
"I thought to myself, what a bimbo speeding in such a small car," she told the newspaper. Based on the color of the car, she assumed that there must be a woman at the wheel.
Curious, she finally speeds up, overtakes the vehicle and looks inside: "There was a man sitting there, tense, with a baseball cap pulled down low over his face."
She noticed "something big" in the back seat that was "covered in a dark blanket" and flapping slightly. She is certain that this must have been the suspect.
The witness claims to have seen this Renault Twingo on the day Rebecca disappeared.
---/Polizei Berlin/dpa (Archivbild)
But why is the woman only coming forward now? "I've been struggling with it for a long time, I was ill for a long time after corona," the woman told Bild. But then she saw the renewed appeal for witnesses and wanted to help solve the case, "because the exit also matches the search location".
"According to Bild, the police had long assumed that the Twingo had left the highway earlier, but this did not tally with the witness's statements.
Both the husband and the sister of the witness confirm that Martina R. had told them about the encounter on the highway at the time.
According to the report, the witness spoke directly to the police when they were searching a property in the Brandenburg village of Tauche. Her sister says: "That didn't leave her in peace all those years. Otherwise she wouldn't have gone there again now".
15-year-old Rebecca disappeared without a trace in February 2019. After spending the night with her sister and brother-in-law in the Berlin district of Britz, she failed to turn up at school.
Shortly after the crime, her now 33-year-old brother-in-law came to the attention of investigators. The man was also briefly remanded in custody, but was released again due to a lack of evidence. The presumption of innocence applies.
Around three weeks ago, police officers searched two properties in the east of Brandenburg. These were apparently the former and current homes of Rebecca's brother-in-law's grandparents in the Oder-Spree district. A wooded area was also searched.
According to the police and the public prosecutor's office, there are indications that the suspect took Rebecca's body and her belongings to his grandparents' property, at least temporarily.