Aargau police arrest asylum seeker over dismembered body found in Rhine at Stein

Remains found in the Rhine

Remains were first found on Sunday, 25 October, when three men on the riverbank at Stein, in northern Switzerland, spotted a bag containing a human leg in the water near an asylum centre. Police searched the area and recovered further bags with other body parts. The Institute of Forensic Medicine later identified the remains as those of a 33-year-old man from Burundi, who had been reported missing by acquaintances on 24 October. The body had been cut up and placed in garbage bags, some thrown into the Rhine and others left near the bank. Investigators said the victim had lived in the same asylum centre as the suspect.

Arrest at the asylum centre

Prosecutors said the arrested man, a 43-year-old from Bangladesh, shared a room with the victim at the centre in Stein. Police arrested him on the evening of Tuesday, 27 October, after a large search of the asylum centre and the area around the find site with specialists. Evidence seized in that search strengthened the suspicion against him, the Aargau prosecutor's office said. Residents were moved to other accommodation and the building was sealed late in the evening. On Friday, 30 October, prosecutors announced the arrest publicly and requested pre-trial detention from the court responsible for coercive measures. Criminal proceedings have been opened against him.

Motive and mental health

Investigators have not yet established the exact sequence of events or a motive. The prosecutor's office said that at this stage there were no indications of a homicide motivated by political or religious considerations. During the inquiry the suspect showed psychological disturbances, and whether and to what extent these are connected to the death is being examined further. The presumption of innocence applies to him. Whether the death took place inside the asylum building is also still an open question.

Account given to Blick

Blick reporter Karin Frautschi said she interviewed the suspect for about an hour outside the asylum centre, one day before his arrest. Blick reported that he spoke openly, in broken German and partly in English, and volunteered that his roommate had been missing. According to Blick, he said he last saw the victim in their shared room in the evening, and that police had searched the room and taken his phone. Blick described him as composed and concerned about his missing roommate, and said he seemed not to understand what was happening. These details come from Blick's own account and do not appear in the prosecutors' statements.