13-YEAR-OLD BOY IS SUSPECT IN ANA’S RAPE AND MURDER
Teenager suspected of beating well-loved girl to death with a brick
A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has emerged as a suspect in the brutal murder of tragic teen Anastasia Kriegel, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal. The young boy, understood to be in first year in secondary school, is also suspected of
raping the girl before beating her to death with a brick.
Seasoned murder detectives were ‘shocked’ by the level of violence inflicted on 14-year-old Anastasia – known as Ana – who had been adopted by her parents as a two-year-old from Russia. She was well known and loved in her school and local community.
TD Catherine Murphy, a close friend of the Kriegel family, has spoken of the devastation caused by the young girl’s death.
Blood-stained timber and bricks were recovered from the scene of the murder, a disused farmhouse in Lucan, Co. Dublin, which was
regularly used as a drinking spot for teenagers. Gardaí are awaiting forensic tests which could link the 13-year-old to the suspected sex attack on Ana. They are also seeking DNA evidence from her clothes and the scene of her gruesome killing.
However, while senior sources have told the Mail that forensic tests ‘are expected to, hopefully, lead to significant developments’, no arrests are ‘anticipated’ before Monday.
A senior source added: ‘This young 13-year-old boy is a suspect. But it is still a wide open investigation. Nothing is definitive... he is a suspect. But it is all a very live investigation.’
Gardaí believe Ana, who is from Leixlip, was murdered shortly after she went missing on Monday evening.
The abandoned farmhouse is
‘It is still a very live investigation’
just a short distance from her home. Investigating detectives are closely examining her online communications and her phone has been recovered from the murder scene and is being forensically examined.
Her body was found on Thursday after an extensive search by gardaí and other agencies in west Dublin and north Kildare since she was reported missing on Monday night.
Ana was last seen alive at around 5.30pm in St Catherine’s Park after leaving her home to meet friends. Floral tributes have been left at the derelict farmhouse, on the Clonee Road just outside Lucan, but the scene was still sealed off yesterday as the forensic examination continued.
Local Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy described Ana as an active child who enjoyed swimming and dancing.
Her family grew concerned when she did not answer text messages as it was ‘out of character’, Ms Murphy, a close friend of the family, said.
‘They knew very early on there was something to worry about and went to the Garda station within hours of her leaving the house,’ she added.
Ms Murphy said the family was very anxious that anyone who may have any information should contact the gardaí. Ana was a first-year student in Confey College in Leixlip and was involved in a dance school there as well.
Her phone was last ‘pinged’ – or recorded – as being in St Catherine’s Park, where she was last seen with a few friends.
The 200-acre site, which was searched by gardaí for three days, stretches from Lucan in Dublin to Leixlip in Co. Kildare and the nearby Clonee area.
The farmhouse where her body was discovered has been set on fire on a number of occasions. The remnants of drink and drug use and graffiti are evident. Several windows are also smashed. Gardaí
‘She did not answer text messages’
held a press conference on Thursday after finding the body.
Superintendent John Gordon said that Ana may not have been alone before she went missing, and that would form part of the investigation.
When asked how the family were dealing with this news, Supt Gordon said they were ‘extremely distressed’ and they were asking for privacy at this time.
‘They have another child in that house and so they need to be very careful around that,’ he said.
The superintendent added: ‘We are appealing to anybody who was here in St Catherine’s Park from 5pm onwards or thereabouts or on the Clonee Road on Monday, May 14, to contact the Garda incident room in Lucan Garda station. We are particularly interested in people who may have been on the Clonee Road, who may have had dash-cam footage or may have just witnessed Ana in the park, or indeed any information they have in relation to this.’
Dash-cams are small digital cameras some motorists have on the dashboards of their cars.
Some cyclists wear similar cameras on their helmets.
Local councillor Bernard Caldwell, for the Celbridge-Leixlip area, said that everyone is shocked by what happened to the teenager. He extended his sympathies to her classmates and the teachers at Confey College. He described Ana as ‘intelligent’ and ‘pretty’ and said she had been ‘well-liked by everyone’.
Dance LA in Confey, a dance and music theatre school, cancelled all classes on hearing the news.
Her instructors had taken to Facebook in recent days to appeal for information on her whereabouts. Just last month Ana took part in a school fashion show in the Springfield hotel in Leixlip.
The show was held to raise money for the school’s fund.
She posed, alongside classmates and teachers, in a full-length gold patterned dress and long earrings.