An 81-year-old man admitted to the 1994 murder of American tourist Amy Lopez in Germany.
An 81-year-old man admitted to sexually assaulting and killing 24-year-old American tourist Amy Lopez in 1994 during the opening of his trial in Koblenz, Germany. The defendant, whose name was withheld due to privacy rules, confessed to the crime after prosecutors accused him of killing Lopez in a treacherous manner to satisfy his sexual urges. The crime occurred on September 26, 1994, when Lopez was visiting the city. The prosecution states the man lured her into a secluded room of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, where he allegedly handcuffed her, sexually assaulted her, and killed her with nine knife wounds to the chest. He allegedly also strangled her with a belt and struck her with a rock as she defended herself. The case remained unsolved for decades until new DNA analysis of traces found on Lopez's waistband and thigh linked the suspect to the crime. The man was arrested in February and is currently in pretrial detention. A verdict is expected in September.