Freed from apartment

Man claims to have mistaken girl (3) for grandchild

A girl (3) was missing in Cologne for more than twelve hours on Friday night before police found her in the apartment of a 70-year-old man. According to the public prosecutor's office, the man now stated that he had mistaken the child for one of his grandchildren and had therefore taken her to his home.

"The accused told the police that he noticed the girl outside his apartment door on the evening of May 10 and mistook her for one of his grandchildren, which is why he took the child into his apartment," he said. Whether this information was "plausible" or not was still the subject of the ongoing investigation.

Missing from a park during a visit to Cologne
The three-year-old from Kassel, who had been visiting relatives in Cologne with her parents, disappeared from a park in the Kalk district of Cologne on Friday evening. She had been out with her aunt when she lost sight of her niece, the investigators reported. The park was "very crowded" at the time.

Child found in apartment after more than 12 hours
The police then searched for the girl with a large contingent. As part of the search operation, calls were also made to local residents to question them and obtain information. The child was finally found in the 70-year-old's apartment in a block of flats not far from the park - more than twelve hours after her disappearance. The man offered no resistance during his arrest, the public prosecutor's office explained at the weekend.

Suspect at large again since Sunday
According to the investigators, there were no concrete indications of a physical assault, even after a medical examination of the child. The 70-year-old man, who had been provisionally arrested, was released on Sunday. How the girl had got into the apartment and how long she had been there remained unclear at first.

According to the findings, there was no family relationship, said the spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office. Witnesses are still being questioned in the case.