German police find kidnapped Romani girl, arrest suspects

Vladimír Danyluk, director of the Ústí nad Labem Regional Police, told the press today that German police officers have found the Romani infant whom they believe was kidnapped from the village of Trmice in the Ústí region last week and arrested three women and a man suspected of the kidnapping. All four suspects are Germans and have no ties of any kind to the family of the kidnapped infant. Danyluk said police are currently determining whether the infant they found is in fact the lost child. The online news server of the German daily Bild reports that German police officers found the child in the western state of Rheinland-Pfalz yesterday. The little girl was kidnapped last Wednesday, at which point she was only 18 days old.

The search for the child lasted five days. “Yesterday (on Monday) our colleagues succeeded in safely retrieving a child who is the same age as the kidnapped little girl,” Danyluk told the Czech Press Agency this morning, adding that the child is fine. Czech Police do not want to publicize too many details about the case as the investigation is reportedly still ongoing. “At around 20:45 our colleagues in Germany arrested four perpetrators, after which the little girl was brought to safety. She is healthy, on German territory, and they are still working to confirm her identity,” he said.

“An enormous weight has been lifted from our hearts, it’s hard to describe what we have been through,” the grandfather of the kidnapped little girl told the press today. He reportedly does not have much information about the police investigation himself. Several carloads of the girl’s extended family set out to look for her themselves in Germany after the kidnapping but had no luck.

Police do not want to speculate about the motive for the kidnapping. They are working with three possible versions, including the version that the kidnapping took place within the framework of the community or that someone simply wanted a child. “We are working on all three versions, the investigation will continue to pursue all of them,” Pavel Záhumenský, the head of the investigating team, told the press. He refuted speculation that the kidnapping could have been revenge for the business activity of the child’s father, who has recently begun serving a prison sentence in the Czech Republic.

Danyluk told the press this afternoon that the four suspects were remanded into custody and are waiting to be charged. After being asked more than once, he said he is sure the child found is the one police were looking for.

Danyluk confirmed that four people are in custody, three women and one man, and that they are all German. The German daily Bild has reported online that the German Police found the child in the western state of Rheinland-Pfalz. She is now in the care of physicians. Bild reported that the family is traveling to Germany to identify the little girl.

The criminal investigation authorities in Dresden, who are responsible for the case in Germany, issued a press release today stating that German detectives discovered the child on Monday evening in good condition and that “there is a high probability” she is the little girl they were looking for. Reportedly they were led to her by the alleged kidnappers’ getaway car. Bild reports that as the kidnappers were fleeing the Czech Republic, the stolen Czech license plate that had been affixed to the car fell off, revealing its original German license plate. Police officers then determined the vehicle was the property of a German car rental agency. The information obtained from the agency by detectives led to their apprehending the kidnappers within a short space of time.

The kidnappers’ trail led to Germany from the very beginning, as CCTV cameras filmed the car with the stolen Czech license plates traveling on the highway toward Dresden just after the crime was committed. Police officers considered the kidnappers’ travel route to be a deceptive maneuver, but it meant the case was widely reported in the German media when the information was released. Most German dailies reported on the case, including online. Bild, which is Germany’s highest-circulation daily, wrote about the case every day in rather extensive detail.

The child was kidnapped last Wednesday afternoon straight from the pram in which her mother was pushing her along the street. Eyewitnesses said the kidnapper was a dark-haired white male who spoke Czech with a German accent.

A timeline of the search for the kidnapped infant and the media response:

4 July

Police officers start looking for the Romani infant kidnapped from Ústí nad Labem. The 18-day-old girl was removed from her pram in full view of her mother by an unidentified man who ran with the child to a waiting vehicle and drove off in the direction of the German border.

Czech Police initiate collaboration on the case with their German colleagues. Most German dailies and their websites report on the kidnapping in detail.

The Czech media publishes many speculations about the background of the crime. For example, it was speculated that the father of the child might be indebted abroad and that the kidnapping could be a form of revenge.

7 July

The Polish internet portal Nowiny24 reports that the car and the kidnappers might be in Poland heading for the border with Belarus. Police say the search for the infant has been announced to the entire Schengen area.

The press reports that the girl’s family is offering to pay ransom and has started their own search for her.

10 July

Czech Police report that German police officers found a little girl on Monday whom they believe to be the kidnapping victim. The child is in good health.