Update: Three men from Lithuania aged 18, 20 and 24 have been arrested in Germany at the end of February. The two men who can be seen on the surveillance camera pictures are among them. They are under arrest for robbing and killing Ulf and for other crimes.
Update: Before the end of June 2012, three further suspects have been arrested in Lithuania. They are awaiting extradition to Germany.
We are trying to find the people who killed our relative, Ulf Möller. On the evening of the 9th of January 2012, Ulf fell victim to a brutal robbery-murder in Eastern Germany. The people who attacked him apparently were from Eastern Europe, possibly from Poland or Lithuania. When they used Ulf’s bank cards to withdraw money, surveillance cameras captured clear pictures of one of them.
Ulf died at age 39. He had worked as a computer specialist in Munich. A few days later, he would have departed for an extended trip to Asia that would have lasted up to a whole year. He wanted to backpack travel through Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and possibly through other countries. For the past two and a half months, he had prepared everything thoroughly for the trip that he was looking forward to so much. He had given up his apartment in Munich and had sold, given away or discarded most of his furniture and other belongings. On the 9th of January, he left Munich with a rented small moving van to take the remaining items to his parents’ house near Hamburg, but he never arrived.
That day at 21:24, he called his mother for a last time. He had left the autobahn A9 near Coswig (Anhalt) to get fuel. He called from a gas station in Cobbelsdorf, a bit off the autobahn, saying he should arrive around 0:30. Briefly after this phone call, his murderers must have gotten hold of him, either at the gas station or on the way back to the autobahn. He was apparently forced to reveal the PINs for the debit and credit cards he was carrying. He was beaten brutally, then left dead or dying in the van in the forest. The body was not found until the 15th of January 2012, the day Ulf had been intending to fly to Asia.
Already on the 9th of January, a bit after 23:00, the probable murderers began to withdraw cash using Ulf's debit and credit cards, first at banks in Coswig and Wittenberg, later in Potsdam (to the northeast). Bank security cameras showed two men. Around 4:15 (10th of January), they bought cigarettes, beer and around 100 liters of diesel at a Potsdam gas station. They probably filled the diesel fuel into cans and carried it to two vehicles they had parked nearby: according to reports, an older white Ford Transit and a red passenger car. The two men continued to the northeast, buying 75 packages of coffee at a Lidl store in Prenzlau near the border to Poland at 8:22, and 15 pairs of apparently randomly picked sports shoes and four pairs of children's shoes at a Deichmann store around 9:36.
The cashiers told the police that the men had talked to each other in an East European language. Apparently there are clues pointing to Poland or Lithuania, although it is not certain that the murderers are from one of these countries.
The two men are described as slim, both about 1.75 m to 1.80 m tall, between 20 and 30 years old. One of them was wearing a dark jacket with a fur-like hood. The surveillance cameras took clear pictures of his face. The other killer was wearing a noticeable light blue quilted Nike-brand jacket.
We are grateful for any help in finding the murderers. Clues can be reported to the German police (Polizeidirektion Sachsen-Anhalt Ost, who are leading the investigation) by calling +49 340 6000 293, by sending e-mail to lfz.pd-ost@polizei.sachsen-anhalt.de, or by visiting any German police station. If you prefer, you can email us directly at mail.ulfm@googlemail.com.
The attached security-camera pictures show the criminals. The pictures can also be found here:
http://www.sachsen-anhalt.de/index.php?id=53291
http://www.polizei.bayern.de/muenchen/news/presse/aktuell/index.html/151187
Please help us circulate this appeal. An up-to-date version is at http://ulf-m.blogspot.com/
