Again and again people disappear in Saxony. The police receive reports of missing persons every day. The matter is often cleared up quickly - but some cases remain a mystery even years later.
Dresden (dpa / sn) - Hundreds of people are currently missing in Saxony. According to the Ministry of the Interior in Dresden, 479 cases are currently unsolved. Corresponding manhunts usually lasted 30 years. The police received reports of missing persons every day, in the Leipzig directorate alone there were 2,500 to 3,000 per year, said a spokeswoman. The spectrum ranges from the young runaway to a missing child or lost elderly to the victim of a crime. However: "Most cases dissolve relatively quickly because the missing person is suddenly back or the people are found quickly due to various circumstances."
All age groups are affected without exception - from children to young people who run away to the elderly. Children are considered missing when they have left their usual living environment and their whereabouts are unknown. In all cases, the information is checked according to contact persons and living environment, but also hospitals and other possible whereabouts. "If there is a risk to life and limb, the search measures will be expanded accordingly," said the ministry spokeswoman. Helicopters could be deployed or larger areas searched. "With children, danger to life and limb is always assumed."
In June 2013, for example, a then 87-year-old disappeared with her walker in Chemnitz, "she has never been seen since". She was repeatedly searched for, and there were also tips from witnesses. The missing person case of a then 49-year-old dates from October 1993 - there are now unknown deaths to be checked by means of DNA comparison with a close relative.
The missing person case of a 19-year-old from January 2022 in Leipzig quickly became a criminal case due to inconsistencies. Turns out he was killed. A then 20-year-old was arrested and sentenced to juvenile detention for murder. A 23-year-old from the trade fair city has disappeared since September 2019 despite all efforts. She had left her shared flat to attend an event in Halle an der Saale with a friend. A bus driver last saw her - on the way to the Günthersdorf shopping park.
One of the oldest and at the same time unusual cases is that of father and son in the Zwickau area. In mid-May 1994 the man was looking for his disabled son. While the missing person was found safe and sound the next day, there is no trace of his father.
In 1997, a 34-year-old from Zwickau, France, failed to return from a boat trip. He has not appeared so far - and has meanwhile been officially declared dead. Relatives could apply to the court after more than ten years, for example to regulate civil claims such as inheritance, said the ministry spokeswoman. This has no effect on the search for missing persons.
Since May 1992, a 33-year-old woman has been missing from the Görlitz police headquarters. Her husband was suspected of having killed her and buried her in the garden. In a circumstantial trial in February 2001, the man was then acquitted by the Görlitz district court - for lack of evidence. His wife was never found and was pronounced dead in 2004. "The process continues as a missing persons matter."
