German police nab suspected serial killer who targeted older women

A 31-year-old Serbian man suspected of having killed several older women in the Schwäbisch Hall area of Germany has been taken into custody, police said on Wednesday.

Special forces were used to apprehend the man, who put up no resistance.

"A special unit has been investigating virtually around the clock in recent weeks in close coordination with the Schwäbisch Hall public prosecutor's office," said a spokesman for the police in Aalen, the nearest big town.

"Through the investigation, numerous pieces of the puzzle could be brought together."

Last week, an 89-year-old woman in Michelbach an der Bilz, just outside Schwäbisch Hall, was discovered dead in her apartment.

That prompted police to re-examine the death of a 77-year-old woman in December last year. The woman's body had been found in her apartment in Schwäbisch Hall, near Stuttgart, and police assume both were killed.

The death of a 94-year-old woman, whose body was found in Schwäbisch Hall in October 2020 close to the apartment of the dead 77-year-old, was also unexplained until recently.

The police now think it was a homicide having previously closed the case in September 2021 due to a lack of evidence.

Investigators have identified parallels in the three cases. The victims were all older women from the same area and had been killed on Wednesdays.

Investigators say the Serbian, who is so far only officially a suspect in the deaths of the 77-year-old and 89-year-old, is also suspected of robbing an 83-year-old man at gunpoint.

A resulting sketch from the robbery helped the police in their search for the culprit.

Until Tuesday, police had still called the investigations "routine."

According to the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper, a block of flats in the Tullauer Höhe district of Schwäbisch Hall - where two of the potential crime scenes were located - was searched on Tuesday.

The newspaper said around a dozen plain-clothes police officers diverted passers-by away from the building and looked for clues in a garbage container.

The Stuttgarter Zeitung also quoted witnesses saying they had seen a man in handcuffs. Police say 75 officers have now been assigned to the investigation.