Gina H. questioned for six hours in Rostock trial over murder of eight-year-old Fabian

Gina H., 30, answered questions from the court for nearly six hours at Rostock Regional Court on 10 September 2026 regarding the killing of eight-year-old Fabian. Prosecutors accuse her of luring the child from his mother's apartment in Güstrow on 10 October 2025 and driving him to a pond near Klein Upahl, about 13 to 15 kilometres away. There, she allegedly inflicted six stab wounds, poured lighter fluid over his body, and set it on fire. Prosecutors allege she viewed the boy as an obstacle to reviving her four-year relationship with his father, Matthias R., which ended in August 2025. Gina H. denies the charges.

Presiding Judge Holger Schütt opened the questioning by addressing the 95-page statement the defendant had read to the court in late August 2026 after months of silence since the trial opened in late April.

The point is not to tear you apart.

Discrepancies in movements and voice notes

Judge Schütt confronted the defendant with discrepancies between her previous statements and recorded evidence from 10 October 2025. Surveillance footage showed her using a wallet at a grocery store after she claimed not to have had it with her during earlier errands. Schütt also questioned her presence in the forest near Klein Upahl on the morning of the disappearance, as well as driving along paths passing the pond where the body was located.

The court examined voice messages sent on the day Fabian vanished, in which Gina H. told an acquaintance that the child had stayed home due to stomach pains. When the judge noted that phone records showed she had not yet spoken with the father at that time, she changed her account, asserting that she had learned about the illness online. Christine Habetha, the lawyer representing Fabian's mother, remarked that the defendant had talked herself into trouble during the session. Defense counsel Andreas Ohm maintained that contradictions in her testimony did not establish proof of guilt.

Online searches and search location

The court scrutinized Gina H.'s internet searches from 11 October 2025, one day after Fabian disappeared. Records show she searched whether wild boars eat dead humans. Gina H. testified that she looked up the topic to verify a claim made during a conversation with an acquaintance, Christian D., who suggested animals could feed on corpses.

Schütt also pressed the defendant on why she had suggested searching an agricultural field in Klein Upahl, where Fabian's remains were eventually discovered. Gina H. stated that she had watched a video with Christian D. recorded by Raffaela J., a friend of Fabian's mother, and noted that extensive volunteer efforts were already underway elsewhere.

People were searching everywhere for him.

Relationship history and proceedings

Questioning extended to the defendant's domestic life with Matthias R. Gina H. described persistent relationship conflict, explaining that the couple slept in separate bedrooms for a year and a half because of severe sleep disturbances. She testified that physical intimacy had become infrequent during that period, occurring only sporadically.

Sometimes once a month. Sometimes also two, three months not at all. That is already very rare.

Gina H. also testified that she had never entered the apartment where Fabian lived with his mother, asserting that she waited in her vehicle on the street when collecting him. The murder trial is scheduled to resume on 15 September 2026 at the Rostock Regional Court.