German couple admit killing Ukrainian refugees to kidnap their newborn girl after several miscarriages and failed fertility treatments

A court in southwestern Germany on Tuesday heard a couple's confession to the killing of a 27-year-old Ukrainian and her 51-year-old mother because they wanted to take the younger woman's baby.

The two defendants planned to kidnap the newborn girl and pass her off as their own after suffering a number of miscarriages and failed fertility treatments, the court heard.

What we know about the case

The Mannheim District Court was told that Ukrainian refugees were living in refugee accommodation in the southwestern German town of Wiesloch when the young mother came into contact with the couple.

The couple had intentionally targeted refugees from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, having joined a group on the Telegram messaging app to offer help with translation.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the background to the crime was an unfulfilled desire to have a daughter between them.

The indictment says the 43-year-old and the 44-year-old had long wanted a daughter together. The pair already had four children in total, including a son they had together.

When the Ukrainian woman's child was born in February 2024, prosecutors said the couple decided to kill both her and her mother.

The suspects did not appear in person at the initial opening.

"I regret everything I have done," the man said in a statement that was read out by lawyers. "We really wanted to have a daughter together, that was my wife's most fervent wish."

His wife added, "I made a big mistake."

How the crime allegedly unfolded

At the beginning of March, the court was told the couple went to a restaurant with the two women and secretly gave them sedative medication.

The prosecutor's office said the 51-year-old then felt unwell and the couple pretended to want to take her to the hospital.

Instead, they drove the older woman, who was suffering from impaired consciousness, to a lake where the man killed her by hitting her several times on the head before throwing her body into the lake.

The couple was said to have told the young woman that her mother had suffered a heart attack and to have then driven to a dam in Hockenheim with the young woman and the baby.

There, the man allegedly killed the new mother, who was also suffering from a loss of consciousness due to the medication, again by hitting her on the head. They then set fire to the body and took the baby home.

The younger victim's remains were found shortly afterward while her mother's body was discovered by police divers two weeks later.

The baby was found unharmed with the couple and the couple were taken into custody. They are accused of joint murder in two cases and the abduction of a minor.

The court has scheduled nine days of hearings until the end of February.