Bielefeld (dpa / lnw) - In the case of a 17-year-old woman from Bielefeld who has been missing since April, there is initial suspicion against family members. Several locations in Bielefeld and in Bedburg in the Rhein-Erft district were searched on Thursday, the police reported. Detectives would have secured extensive IT material. The homicide commission "Reise" expects information about the whereabouts of the girl as well as references to the events in Turkey and Iraq in the evaluation.
The relatives were released after their interrogations at the police headquarters in Bielefeld. The investigators initially did not want to say whether the suspects and those being interrogated were the parents of the young people.
There is still no sign of life from the missing person, said a spokeswoman. Among the numerous clues received, there is none that proves that she is still alive. The 17-year-old was with her parents from April 9th to 25th in Turkey for a dental operation and, according to the parents, then also in Iraq. According to the police spokeswoman, her daughter had fled to Iraq.
The wanted person was last seen on April 24, one day before the end of the trip. But it wasn't until May 9th that the parents filed a missing persons report. The missing person is a German from Iraq who is of the Yazidi faith.
The WDR quoted the head of the homicide commission, who spoke of a tension between the life and worldview of the young people on the one hand and the values and basic attitudes of the family on the other, which could have led to conflicts. It is striking that some witnesses are very cautious about investigators, WDR quoted Markus Mertens as saying. The parents could not have explained plausibly why they only submitted a missing persons report so late.
According to the police spokeswoman, a crime cannot be ruled out. Numerous clues are being followed up - but it has not yet been possible to say how valuable they are. Even those who last had contact with her via social networks – where the 17-year-old was very active – or by phone are checked carefully.
