German police arrested a 30-year-old U.S. man in the killing and attempted sexual assault of an American tourist last week near Neuschwanstein Castle, a popular tourist attraction in Bavaria.
A 21-year-old woman died in the hospital after the Füssen mountain rescue service retrieved her with a helicopter, police said. Her 22-year-old friend, whom police said the suspect choked when she intervened in the attack, survived the fall. The man and both women are U.S. citizens, the Associated Press reported. Their identities were not released by officials.
This week, family members and a church leader identified the victims as recent graduates of the University of Illinois. Eva Liu, 21, died in the incident, according to the Rev. Mark Zhang of Living Water Evangelical Church in Naperville, Ill. The family attended the church and Liu’s parents told him that she had been killed, the AP reported. Kelsey Chang, 22, of Normal, Ill., survived the attack and was reportedly on a flight back to the United States on Tuesday. The suspect is from Michigan, according to the AP and ABC 7 Chicago.
According to police, the three tourists met on a hiking trail east of the Marienbrücke bridge in the German Alps, and the man lured the two women to a trail out of public view. Police suspect he attempted a sexual attack on the 21-year-old, and he choked and pushed the 22-year-old when she tried to intervene.
At Neuschwanstein, there was a rescue of multiple people from a helicopter and one was taken out in handcuffs, seemingly after they fell from a cliff and climbed over railings. pic.twitter.com/yVGqqSRlwX
— Eric Abneri (@thefrownyface) June 14, 2023
The man was arrested near the scene shortly after authorities launched a search upon receiving a complaint around 2:40 p.m. June 14. The suspect appeared in Kempten District Court the following day and was taken to a correctional facility, police say.
Another visitor, Eric Abneri, who captured video of the arrest, told the Associated Press that the man appeared to have scratches on his face. Abneri and his friends also saw the rescue.
“I’m honestly absolutely stunned someone is still alive from this,” Abneri told the AP. “It is like falling from the top of an absolute cliff.”
Bavarian king Ludwig II ordered the construction of the Neuschwanstein Castle in the 19th century. It is one of the most visited castles in Europe.
