A year-old German woman is suspected of smothering five of her children as she was feeling 'emotionally overwhelmed', German police confirmed. She then attempted suicide by throwing herself under a train, before being rescued with serious but not life threatening injuries, said lead investigator Marcel Maierhofer. She is believed to have 'carried out the act while she was feeling emotionally overwhelmed, and that too is the motive,' said the investigator.
Local media reported that police who discovered the bodies 'left in tears'. Christiane K. A female forensic investigator enters the apartment building where five children were found dead in Solingen on Thursday. Funeral workers carry a body to a hearse under the protection of uniformed police officers wearing masks outside the apartment building. Teddy bears and candles are left out in tribute to the five children who died in what the state's interior minister called a 'family tragedy'.
Police believe that the three girls aged one, two and three, and two boys aged six and eight were sedated and then smothered to death either on Wednesday or Thursday. A sixth child, aged 11, survived. He had told schoolmates in a group chat that all his siblings were dead, said investigators. He was likely able to avoid the grim fate of his siblings because he was in school at the time of their killing, said Maierhofer. Police found the bodies in the suspect's apartment in the city of Solingen in North rhine-Westphalia state after they were alerted by the suspect's mother, who had herself learnt of her grandchildren's fate from her daughter.
The suspect is believed to be emotionally distressed after a separation from her third husband a year ago. A hand-print is seen in the window of the apartment building where forensic investigators continued working as darkness fell on Thursday. A policewoman stands in front of the apartment building in Solingen, Germany, on Thursday night. Police officers investigate the scene at the apartment complex in Solingen on Thursday evening.
Police said they were alerted by the children's grandmother in nearby Moenchengladbach, who had recently been in contact with the mother. The mother was not at the apartment when they arrived at the scene, they said. She is now in hospital but not yet in a fit state to speak to police. Asked about reports that medication was involved in the children's deaths, Weiand said: 'We are investigating in that direction. Emergency personnel outside the apartment block in Solingen where five children were found dead in Germany on Thursday.
