Kidnappers kill girl as father was set to pay ransom
THE body of a 17-year-old girl has been found – four days after she was kidnapped and held for a £700,000 ransom. Anneli- Marie R, whose surname has not been released, was snatched off the street on Thursday as she walked her dog in t he German city of Meissen.
A police news blackout on reporting about the abduction was lifted on Monday after negotiations with the kidnappers broke down.
Her parents begged for her safe return and pledged to pay the kidnappers whatever t hey wanted.
The last sound Anneli’s father, a wealthy businessman, heard from his daughter was her scream in the background as he spoke with one of her abductors by telephone.
Anneli was kidnapped at 7.30pm last Thursday, and at 7.57pm a kidnapper rang her father on her mobile phone with the million euro ransom demand.
Police said they do not believe she was chosen randomly, and that at least one of her kidnappers knew her by sight and had studied her Facebook page.
On Monday night, her body was discovered in an abandoned farmyard in the village of Klipphausen, not far from her home.
Two men have been arrested – one in Dresden, the other in a town in Bavaria. Both were seized in raids before dawn on Tuesday.
Jobless cook Markus B, 39, and metalworker Norbert K, 61, have been charged with her murder.
One of t he suspects has apparently admitted he bundled Anneli i nto his car as she wheeled her bicycle and walked her dog.
Her bike was later found in a ditch and the dog turned up alive on Monday afternoon in a field.
‘Anneli, we miss you, we are with you,’ her parents said in a statement.
The parents had said in a letter to the abductors: ‘The kidnappers should know that we will fulfil their demands in order to be able to take our child in our arms again soon.’
Both her parents are in the care of police psychologists.
In accordance with strict German privacy laws, the full name of the victim and her alleged killers have not been revealed.
‘All the prayers and hopes went unanswered and she is indeed dead,’ said Dresden police president Dieter Kroll.
On Friday, the kidnappers contacted the family again and told them to transfer the ransom to an online bank account.
They did not contact the family again and police believe that Anneli was killed the same day.
Police believe the kidnappers panicked and killed Anneli because they did not wear masks when she was taken.