Schoolboy admits strangling classmate to death in German forest
Suspect tells investigators 16 year-old victim spurned his affections
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Your support makes all the difference.A 14 year-old schoolboy has confessed to strangling a fellow pupil with his bare hands in a German forest.
The suspect said an argument started because he wanted to have a relationship with the 16 year-old victim but his affection was “not reciprocated”, according to the state prosecutor.
He moved the body into a wooded area near the grounds of their high school in the town of Wenden in Sauerland, a rural northern part of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Police launched a major search after the victim was reported missing by his mother on Tuesday afternoon.
His body was discovered the next day at around 7.50pm. No attempt had been made to conceal the corpse with leaves or branches, said investigators.
The 14-year-old, who had the stature of an older boy, was originally treated as a witness. He said he had an argument with the victim before they went their separate ways.
Fellow students noticed that his clothes were dirty but he told them he simply fell over, according to reports on local media.
The suspect continued to deny involvement after the body was found but confessed after being brought before a judge on Thursday.
“It seems that there was an argument that annoyed or frustrated him,” said public prosecutor Rainer Hoppmann.
“He described the incident meticulously.”
Mr Hoppmann said the suspect came from an “orderly family home” and confirmed both boys were German in response to speculation on social media.
He remains in custody and faces up to 10 years in prison.
The pupils’ school said in a statement: “The school mourns the loss of a member of its community and is thinking about these difficult hours with the affected family.”
Tributes were also paid by the 16 year-old boy’s football club, SV Rothemühle, which cancelled its matches scheduled for this weekend.
“Our sadness and compassion cannot be expressed in words,” the club wrote on its Facebook page. “We were shown in the most terrible way, what really matters in life.
“We wish the family, his longtime fellow players and all relatives all the best and all the strength to handle the incomprehensible.”