Cold case in Thurgau Man shot and dumped in lake - perpetrator on trial
An undercover investigator brought about the turning point in the Barchetsee murder case: 15 years after the crime, a man was convicted. Now he is on trial again.
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- A 63-year-old man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder at Lake Barchet, while his alleged accomplice was acquitted.
- The guilty verdict was largely based on a confession to an undercover investigator and modern forensic methods.
- The case is now being retried.
Killed with several shots and then dumped in Lake Barchet in the canton of Thurgau: the killing of a 27-year-old Egyptian man in 2007 is still a matter of concern for the judiciary today.
In 2024, more than 16 years after the brutal murder on Lake Barchet, the Frauenfeld District Court sentenced a 63-year-old man to 15 years in prison for murder. His alleged accomplice, however, was acquitted.
The main perpetrator will now stand trial again on Thursday. He appealed against the verdict.
A cold case is solved
The case kept people guessing for years. After the crime, the investigation initially came to nothing - until the case was reopened years later as a "cold case". Modern investigative methods and the use of undercover investigators finally led to the arrest of two men in August 2022.
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The breakthrough came when the now convicted man described the crime in detail to an undercover investigator and incriminated his suspected accomplice. The evidence against him was so overwhelming that the court had no reasonable doubt that he was the perpetrator.
The motions of the prosecution and defense could not have been more different. The prosecution demanded life sentences for both men, while the defense asked for acquittals. The court ultimately opted for a middle course: 15 years in prison for the 63-year-old main defendant and acquittal for the second defendant.
Circumstantial evidence as a mosaic - but not enough for both
A guilty verdict based on circumstantial evidence must follow clear rules. According to the law, a verdict may only be reached if all the evidence fits together like a mosaic to form a clear picture - even if individual pieces are missing.
In the case of the 63-year-old, this picture was clear enough for a conviction. In the case of his alleged accomplice, however, too many questions remained unanswered. The court's doubts were too great to pronounce a conviction with complete certainty. The accomplice therefore remains at large. The verdict against him is now final.
Appeal could result in a harsher sentence
The Frauenfeld District Court justified the conviction on the grounds that he had revealed details to undercover investigators that only the perpetrator could have known. The investigators only had information from the media, but the 63-year-old knew exactly when and who had fired the shots. His account also matched the forensic findings.
One question remains: Was the 63-year-old man and alleged main perpetrator really alone? It seems unlikely that he attached the 30-kilo concrete slab to the body alone and then dumped it in the lake.
The 63-year-old challenged the verdict, whereupon the public prosecutor's office lodged a cross-appeal. This means that the High Court could impose an even higher sentence, as it is no longer bound by the previous verdict.
