OLPE, Germany - A 44-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of killing three of her babies after their bodies were discovered in the family freezer by her grown children looking for pizza, police said Monday.
Police confirmed the grisly find Sunday night in the town of Wenden, near Olpe, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia after the woman turned herself in, officials said.
The three infants are believed to have been born alive, but authorities were awaiting autopsy results to determine how they died, said Johannes Daheim, a spokesman for prosecutors investigating the case.
The woman, her 47-year-old husband and three adult children — two sons, aged 18 and 22, and a 24-year-old daughter — have lived in the town in a single-family home since 1984.
The children discovered the frozen babies on Saturday afternoon while their parents were away for the weekend, investigator Martin Feldmann said.
The 18-year-old and his sister had been looking for a frozen pizza and came across a lot of expired food so decided to clean out the freezer.
The teenager then found three identical packets on the bottom of the freezer and opened one and saw the head and arm of an infant that was wrapped in a hand towel, police said.
The children confronted their parents when they returned home Sunday, and the couple and their daughter then went to police together to tell authorities, said Herbert Fingerhut, head of the police investigation, at a news conference.
The corpulent woman apparently concealed the three pregnancies, believed to have been in the 1980s, not only from neighbors but also her own family, Fingerhut said.
"It sounds unbelievable, but there are examples showing such things are possible," he said.
The news of the discovery took other residents aback.
"I've been mayor for 14 years, and this is definitely the worst day I've seen," said Peter Brueser. "We will need a long time here to work through this."
It was the latest in a string of similar cases in Germany.
In the worst case, a woman was convicted of manslaughter in 2006 and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison for killing eight of her newborn babies and burying them in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home near the German-Polish border.
More recently, police in February were called to a home in northern Germany where a dead infant was discovered in the cellar.
In January, a 28-year-old German woman was charged with manslaughter after the remains of three babies were discovered in her house and the home of a relative. That woman has denied killing the babies.
I've heard people say they have one in the oven, but seesh. On a more serious note, I wonder how close together the corpses are in age. Triplets mayhaps?
In the worst case, a woman was convicted of manslaughter in 2006 and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison for killing eight of her newborn babies and burying them in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home near the German-Polish border.
I'd think hard about forced sterilization in a case like this.
In the worst case, a woman was convicted of manslaughter in 2006 and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison for killing eight of her newborn babies and burying them in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home near the German-Polish border.
I'd think hard about forced sterilization in a case like this.
Hey, at least she's not spreading her malfunctioning genes.
"The 4th Earl of Hereford led the fight on the bridge, but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay's pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panic."'
So those babies were about the same age as the other kids and have been there for 20 some years? Well at least she turned herself in. I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't. Hell why did she leave them in the freezer for all that time?
Brotherhood of the Monkey @( !.! )@ To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. ~Steve Prefontaine Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
I'm slightly surprised they waited for her to get back before reporting it to the police, had it been me I'd have been on the phone as soon as I'd finished throwing up.
Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:Before I thought Germany was cool. Now you guys look like the Florida of Europe. What's the deal?
There was a game played on a popular radio show here in California for years. It was called "Germany or Florida." A super odd and macabre new story would be read, and the hosts would have to guess if it occurred in Germany or Florida.
Teebs wrote:I'm slightly surprised they waited for her to get back before reporting it to the police, had it been me I'd have been on the phone as soon as I'd finished throwing up.
You would have reported your parents? Honestly, I would have done the same. I would be disgusted and all but I would wait to confront them.
Brotherhood of the Monkey @( !.! )@ To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. ~Steve Prefontaine Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
Dooey Jo wrote:
What else has happened there recently? That psycho dad thing was in Austria.
Austrians=South Germans.
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Dooey Jo wrote:
What else has happened there recently? That psycho dad thing was in Austria.
Austrians=South Germans.
I wouldn't say that out loud. In either Southern Germany or Austria. You might get killed
Great Dolphin Conspiracy - Chatter box
"Implications: we have been intercepted deliberately by a means unknown, for a purpose unknown, and transferred to a place unknown by a form of intelligence unknown. Apart from the unknown, everything is obvious." ZORAC GALE Force Euro Wimp Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
