A 20-year-old American woman is in custody following the fatal stabbing of a 64-year-old man at the Kaiserslautern train station on Saturday. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
Updated July 3, 2024, 9:50 a.m. Central European Time
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A 20-year-old American woman is in custody following the fatal stabbing of a 64-year-old man at the Kaiserslautern main train station over the weekend, police said Tuesday.
Military officials with the 86th Airlift Wing said Wednesday that the woman is not affiliated with the Defense Department. Kaiserslautern and the surrounding areas are home to the U.S. military’s largest overseas community.
Video footage from Saturday afternoon shows the man and woman riding the escalator one after the other from the entrance hall down to the platform, according to German law enforcement authorities.
At the end of the escalator, the footage shows the man touching the woman’s buttocks, which led to a verbal exchange, said Udo Gehring, Kaiserslautern’s public prosecutor, in a statement Monday.
The video then shows the young woman unfolding a knife and pointing it at the man, Gehring said.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the suspect and the victim did not know each other prior to the incident, Gehring said.
Witnesses called emergency services shortly before 3:30 p.m. Despite prompt medical attention, the man succumbed to his injuries later that afternoon in a local hospital.
West Palatinate and Kaiserslautern federal police temporarily halted train services Saturday as they searched for the suspect. That afternoon, the 20-year-old woman turned herself in at the Landstuhl police station.
The Kaiserslautern public prosecutor has ordered an autopsy and issued an arrest warrant for the woman on charges of manslaughter. She has exercised her right to remain silent.
The woman, who has not been named under Germany’s strict privacy laws, is considered by prosecutors as a flight risk and being kept in custody.
Anyone with information about the incident may contact Kaiserslautern police at 0631 369-2620.
