Suspect in German cold case partially withdraws confession

Manuel S., a suspect in the murder of 9-year-old Peggy K. in 2001, has partially recanted his statement to police, according to German media reports late Wednesday. The 41-year-old is the second suspect in the case to accuse the police of coercing a confession.

One of Germany's longest-running cold cases, the disappearance of Peggy on her way home from school has long baffled police. Until her body was found in a forest 20 kilometers (12 miles) from her hometown in Bavaria in 2016, not a trace of physical evidence tied to the girl was found.

In September, Manuel S. admitted to police that he had taken the girl's body from another man and agreed to bury it in the woods in the neighboring state of Thuringia. He was arrested on Tuesdayover her killing.

But now, according to broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the suspect has said he did not bury the body, and only confessed to having done so under enormous pressure from police.

"He wanted to somehow get out of the situation and therefore simply said what they wanted to hear from him," his lawyer Jörg Meringer told BR.

Meringer also cast doubt on the traces of soil and paint that authorities have said tie Manuel S. to the victim's body.

"These are things that could point to anyone, and not directly to my client. On May 7, 2001, many people in Germany were probably planting or renovating their houses."

This is the second time police in Bavaria have been accused of forcing a confession from a suspect. A mentally handicapped man convicted of the crime in 2004 had his verdict overturned when a court found that there was no evidence linking him to the crime and that his admittance of guilt had been made under duress.

Editor's note: Deutsche Welle follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

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