Police hunting for a Berlin schoolgirl who vanished six years ago have said they will renew their search at the home of her brother-in-law’s grandparents.
Rebecca Reusch, 15, from the German capital, disappeared in February 2019 while visiting her sister and brother-in-law at their home in the Britz suburb of the city.
She was reported missing after she spent the night at their house. Her sister went out early the next day and Ms Reusch never made it to school.
An ongoing investigation has not yet been able to track her down, with authorities also never having found a body.
But there are now hopes of a breakthrough, the Mirror reports, with officers set to search a home they said on Monday belongs to her brother-in-law’s grandparents.
He has long been a suspect in the case, having been arrested twice in March 2019 before he was released due to a lack of evidence.
The German public prosecutor’s office has since claimed the now 33-year-old may in fact have killed Ms Reusch, on the morning of February 18, 2019.
It is thought he then may have taken her body and belongings ‘at least temporarily’ to his grandparents’ home.
Rebecca Reusch (pictured), 15, from the German capital, disappeared in February 2019 while visiting her sister and brother-in-law at their home in the Britz suburb of the city
On the day the schoolgirl disappeared, her brother-in-law’s car was seen on the A12 motorway, driving towards Frankfurt.
The central German city is more than 300 miles away from his home in Britz.
Police are now set to raid his grandparents’ home in the Tauche area of the Brandenburg state, which surrounds Berlin.
Tauche, a municipality which contains some 12 different settlements, is only around 40 miles away from Ms Reusch’s brother-in-law’s home.
Detectives are using a drone, a kind of digger called an excavator and a radar detector, which can locate objects underground.
A cadaver dog, trained to locate decomposing bodies, is also assisting the roughly 115 officers on-site in their investigation, according to German media.
Neighbours have also been interviewed.
The public has been urged not to interfere with the investigation, after online sleuths threatened to disturb its work with their own enquiries.