Murder of Michèle Kiesewetter

Commemorative marker near the site of Officer Kiesewetter's murder

Michèle Kiesewetter (10 October 1984 – 25 April 2007) was a German police officer who was killed by neo-Nazi terrorists.

Born in Oberweißbach, Kiesewetter was killed on April 25, 2007. Alongside her partner, they were on patrol in their police car in Heilbronn, when at approximately 2:00 p.m. they stopped in a corner of a large parking lot in Heilbronn to have a lunch break. Shortly after, both officers were ambushed and shot in the head by two gunmen, approaching from behind the vehicle. Kiesewetter, sitting in the driver's seat, was fatally injured. Her partner, sitting in the passenger's seat, was badly injured, but survived the attack. When the police and the ambulance arrived on the scene, both officers were lying on the ground, next to their car, and their handguns and handcuffs were stolen. The gunmen have also been implicated with the murders of nine other people, most with Turkish roots, between 2000 and 2006, the so-called NSU murders.

Aftermath

Following Kiesewetter's death, the investigation focused on the so-called Phantom of Heilbronn. The investigations were concentrated in a special task force "parking lot" at the Heilbronn police department. In January 2009, the reward for clues regarding the whereabouts of the person was increased to €300,000.

Kiesewetter's service pistol, a Heckler & Koch P2000, was later retrieved, along with that of her colleague, when Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, two German neo-Nazis, committed suicide in Eisenach, Germany, on 4 November 2011, revealing the connection to the "Bosphorus murders". Forensic experts also found traces of DNA on evidence recovered from among the remains of the neo-Nazi trio's flat at Zwickau that further strengthen the link.

See also

• List of unsolved murders
• National Socialist Underground