KOBLENZ: German police said on Wednesday they had arrested an 81-year-old suspect this week in the sexual assault and murder of a US woman more than 30 years ago.

The body of 24-year-old tourist Amy Lopez was found in 1994 near the historic Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, located on the Rhine river in the western city of Koblenz.

Children discovered her corpse, which was partially nude and bore severe head wounds, stab injuries and injuries consistent with strangling.

Police had puzzled over the case ever since but Koblenz chief prosecutor Manfred Mannweiler said advances in DNA technology had allowed police to reopen the investigation and arrest the suspect in a retirement home.

“Methods have improved since the crime,” he said. “What is possible today would have been less so in 1994.” He said the arrested man’s DNA had been on file since he had been convicted in 1999 of attempting to rape a 16-year-old girl in Koblenz and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

“There was a nagging fear gnawing at everyone that the case might never be solved,” Mannweiler said. “There’s relief that we might solve it now.”

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2026