An American man has been sentenced to life in prison by a German court after being found guilty of the murder and rape of one woman, and the attempted murder of another near Germany's iconic Neuschwanstein Castle. According to reports from the Chicago Tribune, the violent assaults occurred last summer when the perpetrator lured the two victims off a hiking trail and into a ravine.
On Monday, the Kempten state court heard that the 31-year-old man bore "particularly severe guilt", a determination by presiding judge Christoph Schwiebacher that makes the convict unlikely to be eligible for release after the German system's typical 15-year mark. The defendant, whose identity remains protected under the country's privacy laws, had admitted to the crimes at the opening of his trial on Feb. 19, stated the U.S. News & World Report.
The victims, identified by family and friends as 21-year-old Eva Liu, who succumbed to her injuries, and 22-year-old Kelsey Chang, who survived, were both recent graduates of the University of Illinois. On June 14, they met their attacker by chance on a path that offers picturesque views of the historic castle. Prosecutors detailed how the assailant first attacked the younger woman, attempting to undress her, and when her friend intervened, she was pushed down a steep slope, surviving the fall with severe injuries.
Following the scuffle, prosecutors allege that the man strangled Liu until she was unconscious and raped her, before also pushing her into the ravine, leading to her death later in a hospital. The two women, entwined by fate and friendship, found themselves at the mercy of a man whose actions shook the foundations of trust that bind strangers in public spaces.
