Kidnapping of Ursula Herrmann

The kidnapping of Ursula Herrmann took place in 1981 in the Federal Republic of Germany. The 10-year-old girl disappeared on Tuesday, 15 September, 1981 between her cousin's house and her home, a ten-minute ride on her bicycle. Herrmann's disappearance triggered an immediate search which yielded nothing. After two days, cryptic calls were made to her home, consisting only of a radio jingle. After three days a ransom note arrived, apparently later than the kidnappers had intended, demanding DM 2 million, and explaining that the jingle was meant to elicit a yes-or-no response concerning payment of the ransom. On the next call, Ursula's mother affirmed that the ransom would be paid, but received no communication from the kidnappers. Instead, a letter arrived on Monday, September 21, with ransom payment instructions for an unstated location. The ransom sum was raised, but no further instructions arrived.

Two weeks after Ursula's disappearance, a grid search was undertaken in the forest where Ursula disappeared. After four days of searching, police found Ursula Herrmann's dead body in a box buried in the woods. The box was furnished with ventilation, food, lights, reading material, a radio and a toilet bucket, but the ventilation pipes that had been provided did not allow sufficient air exchange. The autopsy concluded that she had died of suffocation within hours of being placed in the box, and that she had probably been sedated.

The investigation identified Werner Mazurek, a neighbor of the Herrmanns, as a person of interest in the case. Investigation revealed that he had skills and motivation, but he had an alibi. However, a friend of Mazurek, Klaus Pfaffinger, stated to police that he had been hired by Mazurek to dig a hole in the forest but later recanted his claim. The case stalled, with no progress until 2007. With the thirty-year statute of limitations approaching, Mazurek was placed under surveillance and eventually arrested and charged, along with his wife. By this time, Pfaffinger was dead.

The 2008 trial introduced Pfaffinger's statements and forensic evidence that a tape recorder found at Mazurek's house could have been the device used to play the radio jingle in the calls to the Herrmanns. Mazurek was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment but his wife was acquitted. In 2015 a civil action was brought for damages by Ursula's brother Michael Herrmann. Michael had expressed reservations about Mazurek's conviction and used the proceeding to re-examine the case. In 2018 the court effectively affirmed the criminal trial verdict and awarded Herrmann partial damages.

Crime and police investigations

Ten-year-old student Ursula Herrmann, from Eching am Ammersee in Bavaria, was on her way home from her cousin's house in Schondorf am Ammersee on September 15, 1981 around 19:35, when she was kidnapped and placed in a prepared hiding place in the Weingarten forest. She was buried in the forest floor in a box measuring 72cm × 60cm × 139cm, which had lights, blankets, food, reading material, a radio tuned to Bayern 3 and a toilet bucket. A system of pipes was provided for ventilation, covered with leaves. However, with wet leaves and no forced air movement, it did not provide sufficient exchange of air, so that the girl suffocated between 30 minutes and five hours after she was placed in the box. Autopsy results indicated that she had not struggled or moved during her time in the box, and that she may have been drugged.[1][2][3][4]

The perpetrators made coded telephone calls to Ursula's family on September 17, playing the distinctive Bayern 3 radio jingle in an attempt to elicit a response concerning a ransom payment. However, the letter demanding the ransom, composed from cut-out letters, was not received until September 18, a day after the calls started. The note explained that the jingle should be answered with an affirmation that the ransom would be delivered. Denial, or an attempt to call the police, would result in the girl's death. Police had been called as soon as Ursula had disappeared, but the initial search had only found her bicycle. On September 21 another letter arrived with detailed instructions to hand over the money, but without stating a location for the delivery. After that, no further communications were received. Two weeks after Ursula's disappearance, the forest was searched by officers with metal rods, probing for disturbances, and after four days the box was found.[1][3]

The box was too large for one person to have transported to the site, weighing 60kg, and police assumed that more than one person was involved. Tips led to Werner Mazurek, a 31-year-old television repairman, who was a neighbor of the Herrmann family and known to be in debt. After a day without recalling his whereabouts, Mazurek eventually offered as his alibi that he had been playing Risk with his wife and two friends. Nevertheless, Mazurek was arrested in January 1982 and questioned for several days before being released. In February Mazurek acquaintance Klaus Pfaffinger stated during questioning that Mazurek had asked him to dig a hole in the forest, and that he had seen a box in the hole. However, Pfaffinger could not lead police to the burial location and recanted his admission. No further progress was made in the investigation, apart from the discovery of a wire in the forest, apparently used to provide an alert during the kidnapping.[1]

In 2005, DNA analysis was used to examine evidence found in the box, but no useful matches were found. By then, the thirty year statute of limitations for kidnapping with fatal consequences was approaching, and the prime suspects were re-examined. Pfaffinger had died, but Mazurek was placed under surveillance, and in October 2007 his house was searched and Mazurek provided a saliva sample. No match was obtained between evidence and Mazurek.[1][3]

During the search of Mazurek's house, police confiscated a tape recorder. Police developed a theory that the tape recorder had been used to play the Bayern 3 jingle in the calls to the Herrmanns. Mazurek and his wife were arrested on 28 May 2008 and charged with the crime.[1]

Trial

The trial began in February 2009. Police presented evidence of Mazurek's prior legal difficulties, including a 2004 fraud conviction, and of animal cruelty. It was established that Mazurek had the means to construct the box, that he had listened to police communications during the search, and that he was in debt. Surveillance evidence showed that Mazurek had discussed the statute of limitations with a friend. The Grundig Model TK 248 tape recorder was the subject of an elaborate forensic report. According to the report, the tape recorder had technical abnormalities which were identifiable in the jingle codes that appeared in the recorded phone calls to Herrmann family. Prosecutors also introduced Pfaffinger's abortive confession, with testimony that Pfaffinger had been deliberately misleading, and that he had accurately described the box and its burial site. Evidence was entirely circumstantial, and the tape recorder's distinctive noises when played were emphasized by the prosecution. Mazurek maintained that he had bought it at a flea market the week before the raid, but no corroboration from sellers could be found.[1][2]

The defense examined Pfaffinger's statement and revealed that Pfaffinger's confession had not been recorded contemporaneously: it had been written down by investigators weeks later, and had never been signed. Ursula's brother Michael took the extraordinary measure of making a written statement to the court, stating that the tape recorder analysis was "incomplete or one-sided."[1]

The Augsburg public prosecutor demanded a sentence of lifelong imprisonment. The criminal court, composed of three judges and two jurors, found Mazurek guilty, and on March 25, 2010, Mazurek was sentenced to life imprisonment for extortionist human robbery with fatal consequences. His wife was acquitted.[1]

Civil case

Ursula's brother, Michael Herrmann, brought a civil case before the district court of Augsburg against Mazurek in 2013, demanding €20,000 in compensation, because he had suffered sustained damage to his health through the criminal case.[4][5] Michael had become increasingly convinced that Mazurek had been wrongfully convicted on faulty evidence, and that a court action would be a means of re-examining the case.[1]

The case came to trial in 2016. Despite opposition from judges who were aware of Michael Herrmann's motives in the proceedings, the trial continued for two years. Evidence debunking the tape recorder analysis was introduced, along with forensic analysis of the ransom notes that concluded that the author of the note was an educated native German speaker who was pretending to be a foreigner, and that the writing could not have been produced by Mazurek.[1]

The case was concluded in May 2018, with a verdict that ordered Mazurek to pay Herrmann €7000. In doing so, the court effectively affirmed that Mazurek had kidnapped Ursula Herrmann.[1]

In May 2019, Michael Herrmann presented new evidence to the judicial authorities concerning the ransom note. Herrmann alleged that traces of pressure from mathematical sketches corresponding to class work at the upper secondary level could be discerned in the note.[2][6]

Media

The case was featured on the ZDF television series Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst in 1982, 1986, 2002 and 2020.

See also

References
  1. Rice, Xan (September 24, 2019). "The girl in the box: the mysterious crime that shocked Germany". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  2. Griffiths, Sian (September 30, 2018). "Murderer 'too stupid' to be guilty, says ancient history detective". The Times. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  3. Roth, Jenni (February 19, 2009). "Wird der Mordfall Ursula Herrmann endlich gelöst?". Welt. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  4. Sabinsky-Wolf, Holger (February 17, 2017). "Fall wird neu aufgerollt: Wer entführte Ursula Herrmann?". Augsburger Allgemeine. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  5. Sabinsky-Wolf, Holger (February 21, 2015). "Bruder von Ursula Herrmann verklagt den Verurteilten". Augsburger Allgemeine. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  6. Osel, Johann; Schnell, Lisa (March 19, 2019). "Neue Indizien im Fall Ursula Herrmann". Suddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
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