32 years after American woman found murdered in Germany, DNA leads to an arrest: “Such cases are never forgotten”

German police said Wednesday they had arrested an 81-year-old suspect this week in the sexual assault and murder of an American woman more than 30 years ago.

The body of 24-year-old tourist Amy Lopez was found in 1994 near the historic Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, located on the Rhine river in the western city of Koblenz. She was a student from Texas, local news program Tagesschau reported.

Children discovered her corpse, which was partially nude and bore severe head wounds, according to local authorities.

“The victim was strangled, struck on the head with a stone, and stabbed multiple times, ultimately resulting in his death,” the Koblenz Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

Police had puzzled over the case ever since Lopez’s body was found but Chief Public Prosecutor Manfred Mannweiler said advances in DNA technology had allowed police to reopen the investigation and arrest the suspect in a retirement home.

“Methods have improved since the crime,” Mannweiler said. “What is possible today would have been less so in 1994.”

More evidence was collected after investigators re-examined Lopez’s clothing and about 1,600 samples were analyzed, the prosecutor’s office said. In 2024, 30 years after Lopez was found, police offered a 2,500 euro reward for information leading to an arrest after a male DNA trace was discovered.

More tips also came in after the case was featured last year on “Aktenzeichen XY,” a true crime program, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Mannweiler said the arrested man’s DNA had been on file since he had been convicted in 1999 of attempting to rape a 16-year-old girl in Koblenz and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The genetic data had later been deleted, but police obtained a new saliva sample from the suspect which was later matched to a DNA trace found inside Lopez’s jeans, the prosecutor said.

“There was a nagging fear gnawing at everyone that the case might never be solved,” Mannweiler said. “There’s relief that we might solve it now.”

Police had informed Lopez’s father of the arrest on Monday, Mannweiler added.

“This case should make it clear to everyone that law enforcement authorities do not rest as long as a serious crime remains unsolved. Such cases are not forgotten,” Mannweiler said. “Not even after 32 years.”

Senior detective Friederike Manheller-Sander of Koblenz police said officers took up the case after forming a unit last August to look at cold cases.

“Behind every case there is a person whose life was taken too soon,” she said. “Our commitment is to do everything possible to find answers.”

The suspect is being held in pretrial detention at a correctional facility in Rhineland-Palatinate on suspicion of a premeditated murder, the prosecutor’s office said.