More than six years after 15-year-old Rebecca disappeared from Berlin-Neukölln, a police operation continues in Brandenburg's Oder-Spree district. Following the search of a private property, police are now focusing on questioning residents. Investigators suspect the girl's brother-in-law is responsible for her death, which he denies.
Rebecca, then 15 years old, disappeared on the morning of February 18, 2019, in Berlin's Neukölln district, specifically in the Britz neighborhood. She had spent the night at her sister's and brother-in-law's house. Family and police believe the now 33-year-old brother-in-law killed the teenager, though he denies it.
Since Monday, police have been searching in Tauche, a town in the Oder-Spree district southeast of Berlin, for new leads. On Monday, more than 100 officers, including Federal Criminal Police Office personnel, searched a private property belonging to the brother-in-law's grandparents in Lindenberg. There are indications he may have brought the body and the girl's belongings there temporarily. The operation used an excavator, drone, video equipment, ground-penetrating radar, and sniffer dogs to secure evidence and traces of the crime. Investigators did not initially comment on whether relevant finds were made.
Following the property search, the focus is now on questioning residents, a Berlin police spokesman said. The Berlin State Criminal Police Office's homicide squad has been investigating since the disappearance. On the night leading to February 18, 2019, the brother-in-law was at a party and returned only early in the morning. Rebecca's sister went to work, and when the mother called to wake the girl for school, no one answered. The brother-in-law hung up on a call and then said Rebecca had already left. She never arrived at school or returned home.
The same day and the following days, the family car was recorded on the highway toward Poland; only the brother-in-law had access to it, but he provided no plausible explanation. Earlier leads, such as bone finds in October 2020, January 2021, and five years ago in Kummersdorf, turned out to be false alarms – they were animal bones.