Police have discovered the body of Lisa Ta—a Vietnamese girl who had been missing since November 3—inside an unoccupied house, and have taken a suspect into custody.
At midday on November 8, police officers in the state of Brandenburg, northeastern Germany, received a call from a resident in the Altglietzen area of the town of Bad Freienwalde, reporting that an intruder had entered their vacant property.
Upon arrival, officers discovered the body of the young girl, along with a man who had sustained severe injuries, according to a statement from the Berlin Police Department. The neighborhood, home to approximately 400 residents, is located about 50 kilometers from Berlin.
Michael Petzold, a spokesperson for the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed that the body found was that of Lisa Ta, a 13-year-old Vietnamese girl who had been missing since November 3. The man found in the house has been arrested and transported to a hospital for emergency medical treatment.
German authorities at the unoccupied house in Altglietzen, where the body of Lisa Ta was discovered, on November 8. Photo: DPA
The suspect shot himself, sustaining injuries that have left him in critical condition. Officials believe he may have kidnapped and murdered Lisa. Mr. Petzold did not provide specific details regarding the suspect’s injuries or the cause of Lisa’s death.
The homicide unit of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office, in coordination with the Brandenburg Police, gathered evidence at the scene on the evening of November 8 and is continuing the investigation.
Lisa left her home on Golliner Straße to head to school at approximately 7:15 a.m. on November 3. Before leaving, she took a photo and sent it to a classmate, arranging to meet at a bus stop to catch the 7:30 a.m. bus from Barnimplatz to her school on Sella-Hasse-Straße.
A missing person notice for Lisa Ta issued by the German police. Photo: German Criminal Police
However, Lisa’s phone lost signal about three minutes after she left home. Surveillance cameras on the street near her house were out of order, so no footage could be retrieved.
Ruling out the possibility that Lisa had left of her own accord, her family and the police initiated a search, canvassing every home in the vicinity and deploying helicopters and police dogs to assist in the operation.
A resident of the Altglietzen area reported that on the day Lisa went missing, a car with Berlin license plates had been parked in front of the house for several hours with its hazard lights on. Other neighbors mentioned hearing cries for help in the days leading up to the incident, though no one had alerted the police.
Police have cordoned off the crime scene. Photo: DPA
According to Mr. Petzold, after receiving reports of Lisa’s disappearance, the police mobilized over 100 officers for the search. However, there were no leads suggesting she might have been in Bad Freienwalde, a town near the Polish border. The search operation was focused exclusively on Berlin’s Marzahn-Hellersdorf district and the adjacent area in the state of Brandenburg.
Many details of the case remain to be clarified, including the circumstances and time of death, as well as the identity and motive of the suspect. If the suspect has died, many questions may remain unanswered, and the legal proceedings would be discontinued.