German Police is looking to question a 20-year-old Iraqi refugee in connection to the death of Susanna Maria Feldman, a 14-year-old Jewish girl from Mainz. According to Stefan Müller, police chief for Hesse in western Germany, the suspect, Ali Bashar, left Germany in a hurry a few days ago with his parents and five siblings. The family came to Germany as part of a wave of Mid-East refugees in October 2015 through Turkey and Greece. They lived in a refugee shelter in the Erbenheim district of the city of Wiesbaden, where the girl’s body was found on Wednesday.
Bashar, who was known to police for his role in a robbery at knifepoint, went back to Iraq through Istanbul, Turkey, on June 2, according to police, which has a second suspect in custody, a Turk, 35, who came to Germany in May 2017. He was arrested in Wiesbaden Wednesday evening.
Officials told a press conference in Wiesbaden on Thursday that the victim had been reported missing by her mother on May 23, after she had gone out with friends and never returned. Police did not believe an investigation was needed at the time, seeing as Susana spent much time away from home. Her body was found by police Wednesday near the railway tracks in Wiesbaden. She had been raped and strangled to death.
A 13-year-old refugee boy told Police in Wiesbaden on Sunday about a girl who had been raped and murdered, and named Bashar as the perpetrator.
Mainz’s Jewish community reacted with shock to the news of Susanna’s murder, and local rabbi Aharon Ran Vernikovsky said told the Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper: “I am as dismayed, saddened and stunned as one can possibly be over Susanna’s death.” He added that Mainz’s entire Jewish community was in mourning over the death of its young member.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany issued a statement saying they heard the news of the violent crime against 14-Year-old Susanna from Mainz “with deep concern. A young life has been plucked in a cruel way. Our deep sympathy is with her relatives and friends. Susanna was a member of the Jewish community of Mainz. At present many details are still unclear. We expect law enforcement authorities to provide rapid and comprehensive information as well as tough consequences for the perpetrators. However, we mustn’t engage in premature conclusions or speculation.”
