Germany Murder almost 32 years ago: Trace on waistband decisive
A mixture of new technical possibilities and old DNA traces brought the breakthrough: almost 32 years after the murder of the then 24-year-old American tourist Amy Lopez in the German city of Koblenz, a suspect is in custody.
25.02.2026, 17:28
SDA
The 81-year-old German was arrested in a retirement home in the Koblenz area, but has so far remained silent.
If he is actually convicted in the further investigation, it was ultimately a DNA trace from the inside of the victim's jeans that gave him away - more precisely from the waistband of the pants turned inside out. For many years, this trace and others could not be traced back to any individual.
Victim was traveling in Europe
Lopez was on a trip to Europe in September 1994, as senior public prosecutor Mario Mannweiler from the public prosecutor's office in Koblenz reported. On the day of the crime, she had taken a city bus to the Ehrenbreitstein district on the right bank of the Rhine in the morning and wanted to walk up a steep path to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress - where she met her murderer.
The 24-year-old was sexually abused, strangled, stabbed and hit on the head with a stone. The almost undressed body was found by children playing.
Investigators never let go of the case
In the years that followed, nothing happened in the investigation for a long time. At one point in the 1990s, a man was arrested but released from custody. However, the case never completely let go of the public prosecutor's office and the police, said Mannweiler.
The 81-year-old's DNA was entered into a police database back in 1999 after the man was targeted by investigators for the attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl in Koblenz. He was also sentenced to seven years in prison for the crime.
However, when modern procedures later helped to identify more evidence from the crime scene, this DNA sample from the now 81-year-old had already been deleted due to legal deadlines, as Mannweiler explained. It was only after the man voluntarily gave a DNA sample this year that it was possible to match it to the crime scene evidence.
Reassessment of the cold case
"The subsequent comparison with the secured molecular genetic crime scene trace led to the identification of the previously unknown person responsible for the traces," said Simone Roeder from the cold case investigation team at Koblenz police headquarters.
The fact that DNA samples were taken decades later, including those of the current suspect, had to do with the fact that a reassessment of the case brought other people into view than in earlier stages of the investigation. "On this basis, a voluntary DNA comparison sample was taken from a large number of people," said Roeder.
The suspect is said to have acted out of sexual motives. The 24-year-old US-American tourist was no longer clothed in the lower part of her body after the crime, said senior public prosecutor Mannweiler. "The panties were missing." It was assumed that the perpetrator had taken these with him.
Suspect in "age-appropriate condition"
According to the public prosecutor's office, the man had already made criminal appearances in earlier years, well after the 1999 rape conviction. Mannweiler spoke of acts from the 1960s, 70s and 80s, for example, without giving further details. He is said to be in an age-appropriate condition and mentally well oriented.
According to Mannweiler, the investigators believe that the crime fulfills the criteria of malice aforethought and gratification of sexual urges. However, he also emphasized: "Proof of the crime has not yet been conclusively established."
What is clear is that the Lopez case is one that still moves many people today. It has "burned itself into the memory of people here in the region and far beyond", said Chief Public Prosecutor Mannweiler. For the investigators, such an unsolved crime is "always like an open wound that never heals". And is never forgotten.
Amy Lopez's father was contacted by video conference soon after the arrest. Investigators did not say how he responded.
