In 1981, a 35-year-old man was arrested for killing on a bakmeyer, a bubbly seven-year-old,

who went missing on the way to a friend's house.

Though the killer confessed, he went to trial and what happened at his trial made international

news and led to 40 years of debate.

I'm Charlie and welcome to Crime Lines.

Welcome back to Crime Lines.

This is normally my week off, seeing as Monday was the fifth Monday of the month.

I usually don't release on those weeks, it just gives me a little bit of a built-in break

throughout the year.

But then, Lena recommended this case to me and it's absolutely fascinating, but it is

on the shorter side, so it was perfect for just a general release bonus episode.

I'm also obviously terrible about taking time off.

I want to thank Lena for suggesting this one because I've never heard of it and it

really captured my interest.

Fortunately, it made international news, so I had plenty of English language sources

to use.

This case took place in the German city of Lubeck, which is a port city on the Baltic

Sea.

They're talking the early 1980s, so at the time, Lubeck was in West Germany right on the

border with East Germany.

Mariana Bachmeier grew up near Hanover with her parents until they split up, in part due

to her father's alcoholism.

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