The mayor-elect of the Ruhr valley town of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer, is out of life-threatening danger and has named her adopted daughter as her attacker, police and prosecutors said at a press conference in nearby Hagen on Wednesday.
, found in her home with multiple stab wounds.
What police found during their investigation
Police said that Stalzer had been able to answer questions late on Tuesday from her hospital bed.
Investigators said little about the possible motive or reason for the family argument, noting that the suspects were minors and that the case had only garnered so much attention because of Stalzer’s position in local politics and the possibility of a political motive to the attack.
But they did explain to reporters more about their investigation and evidence-finding on Tuesday.
Stalzer was found seated in a chair in the living room after the emergency call.
But police soon found, while searching the entire premises, signs of a struggle in the cellar along with Stalzer’s discarded clothes she was wearing at the time, and two knives thought to be the weapons used to attack her.
Prosecutor: Children with youth authorities, no grounds for arrest at present
A homicide commission was set up in Hagen on Tuesday to investigate the case.
But senior public prosecutor Bernd Haldorn told reporters on Wednesday that according to the prosecution’s current information, the case is likely to be treated as the German equivalent of aggravated assault or grievous bodily harm.
Haldorn said that the conditions for the pretrial detention of the 17-year-old daughter had not been met. These include if a person is considered to be a flight risk, and the possibility of repeating the offense.
He added the fact that the daughter made the emergency call along with her 15-year-old brother spoke against pursuing charges of attempted murder.
The prosecutor expected police to release her as they had the 15-year-old adoptive son.
The children are to be transferred to youth services for the time being, Haldorn said.
Stalzer had only recently been elected mayor. , she won with 52.2% of the vote against center-right Christian Democrat (CDU) candidate Fabian Conrad Haas. The CDU had previously held the mayoral office in Herdecke for a long time.
Prior to the attack, her inauguration ceremony had been planned for November 4, according to city authorities.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
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