"Burned Beyond Recognition"

"Berlin, Germany - A mother and her three children were found dead in a burned-out car near Berlin early Thursday in what appeared to be a case of murder-suicide, police said. Investigators found a petrol cannister in the vehicle, which was parked on an isolated road near Schoenefeld airport on the outskirts of Berlin, a police spokesman said.

"The woman's husband told police that his wife had left a message on the family's answering machine, indicating that she was going to take her own life.

"The husband, 48, reported his wife missing on Wednesday evening.

"Witnesses alerted the fire brigade to a burning car at around 2:30 am. When they arrived on they found the 48-year-old mother and her children aged six to 11 burned beyond recognition."

From Earth Times...

Bodies Found After Several Days

"BERLIN, Germany - A German couple killed their severely handicapped young son and then committed suicide because they could not accept their child's disability, investigators said yesterday.

"Police found the bodies of the four-year-old boy, his father, a 44-year-old engineer, and his 27-year-old mother in the bedroom of their apartment where they are thought to have been for several days.

"Officers also found a letter from the parents explaining they could not bear to see their cherished son with such a severe disability, police said.

"Neighbours alerted police in Derendorf, western Germany, after not seeing the family for some time.

"Prosecutors in Duesseldorf, who are leading the inquiry, said the couple had killed their son before taking their own lives."

From the Jamaica Observer...

Watery Grave

"Minden, Germany - A bypasser saw the roof of the small car floating in the river in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Minden on Friday. Divers from the Bundeswehr recovered the car, which held the bodies of a 58-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman.

"But the married couple did not die in the river, police said. The woman was found bound and gagged in the car trunk, while the man was in the driver’s seat. An autopsy showed that the woman had been suffocated.

"The evidence leads police to believe that the man killed his wife, put her in the trunk, and drove the car into the Weser River.

"The couple had been living separately since 2007. The man was from the Lower Saxony city of Raddestorf.

"A murder commission is investigating the case."

Source: TheLocal...

Three Dead, Three Injured In Berlin Murder/Suicide

"BERLIN - A MAN killed his partner and their eight-year-old son before committing suicide at Hornsen near Hildesheim in central Germany, local police said late on Wednesday.

"Two of the couple's other children aged 14 and 16 were wounded along with a 15-year-old friend. The couple's fourth child, a six-year-old girl, was unhurt, a police spokesman said.

"Neighbours gave the alert after hearing shots. First reports said the man used a large-calibre handgun.

"The police spokesman was unable to give any reasons for the tragedy."

From The Straits Times...

German Spree Killer Favored The Ladies

"Winnenden, Germany - A TEEN shooter went on a bloody rampage at a German high school today killing 15 people before shooting himself during a gunfight with cops.

"Cops said 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer had been cornered after hijacking a car and fleeing to an industrial estate where he executed two bystanders before a final shootout with the authorities.

"Police believe he then turned the gun himself.

"The tragic shootings began at 9:30 this morning at the Albertville Realschule in Winnenden near Stuttgart.

"Dressed in black combat gear the crazed teen is believed to have entered the school before unleashing a volley of gunfire at random mowing down nine students, three teachers and a passer-by before fleeing.

"The victims were mainly female. In the school, eight girls and a boy were shot dead.

"Many more were injured in the attack."

Source: The Sun...

Few Details In German Triple Murder/Suicide

"Hamburg, Germany - A family of four have been found slain in a ground-floor apartment in a German town in a crime which police said Friday had the hallmarks of a murder-suicide. Pathologists were studying the bodies of the husband, 38, wife, 33, daughter, 12, and son, 11.

"Prosecutors in nearby Kiel said nobody else had been involved in the deaths, which were discovered in the town of Bad Bramstedt, 50 kilometres north of Hamburg, late Thursday. They did not disclose which of the four was thought responsible."

Source: The Earth Times...

Du Liebst Mir Nicht

"Berlin - A family of three were found stabbed to death in the basement of a western German home Tuesday in what police said appeared to be a murder and suicide. The father, 51, had fatal stab wounds from the front, suggesting he had turned the knife on himself after stabbing his wife, 39, and daughter, 10, in both the back and the chest, said a prosecutor, Hans-Christian Gutjahr.

"Several knives were lying in the room of the home in a rural area east of the city of Essen. Police said there was no apparent motive for the man, a tiler, to kill his family. The man's step-daughter, 15, discovered the bloodbath when she arrived home from school."

Source: EarthTimes...