A German couple were charged on Tuesday with the murder of a Ukrainian woman and the kidnapping of her newborn daughter, who they allegedly planned to pass off as their own.
The 44-year-old German woman and her 43-year-old husband were accused of killing the 27-year-old Ukrainian refugee in March, as well as her 51-year-old mother.
The couple’s motive for the double murder was a “long-unfulfilled wish to have a daughter,” Mannheim prosecutors said in a statement.
The pair “had been planning to kidnap a newborn female infant and pass her off as their own child,” the prosecutors said.
To that end, the 44-year-old woman is said to have joined a group chat on the Telegram messaging app intended to organize support for Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion.
Through the group, the couple came in contact with the young Ukrainian woman, who was seeking help with translation ahead of the birth of her child earlier this year.
During a shared meal with the Ukrainian woman and her mother, 51, at a restaurant in March, the German couple are alleged to have slipped sedatives to the victims.
When the older woman became unwell, the couple offered to take her to the hospital and drive the 27-year-old refugee and her baby home.
The German man took the 51-year-old woman to a fishing lake, where he hit her “at least four times on the head with an unknown object” before dumping her body in the water, prosecutors allege.
The couple subsequently informed the 27-year-old Ukrainian that her mother had suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital.
They picked the new mother up and drove her and her infant daughter to an area close to the Rhine river in Hockenheim, according to prosecutors.
The German man killed the 27-year-old, who was still dazed by the drugs, with “at least three” blows to the head.
The couple then set fire to the body and drove home with the newborn, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors previously said that a passerby found the body of the 27-year-old woman on March 7 and police divers found the body of her mother in the lake 12 days later.
On March 13, 2024, the German couple was arrested. The next day, an unharmed 5-week-old girl was taken into custody and taken to hospital as a precaution, prosecutors said, adding that a DNA test confirmed the baby was the daughter of the deceased 27-year-old.
The baby was place in the care of a welfare office.
The couple are being held pending trial. They are accused of murder in two instances, one in conjunction with the abduction of a minor.
According to the United Nations, nearly 6.5 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded globally as of February 2024.