DIJON: A teenager nicknamed “The Girl in the River Main” after her body was found floating in Germany a quarter-century ago bearing signs of abuse has finally been identified, leading to her father’s arrest, Interpol said on Monday.

The girl was named as Diana S, aged 16, the organisation said, adding that she had been “violently assaulted”.

The victim’s father, a 67-year-old German national, was placed in pre-trial detention on suspicion of murder last Tuesday. The case is the latest to be solved by the international police organisation’s cold cases campaign “Identify Me”, launched in 2023 and tasked with identifying women who were found dead across Europe in recent decades, murdered or in suspicious circumstances.

The teenager was found by passersby on July 31, 2001, in the River Main in Frankfurt. Her body was wrapped in a brown leopard print bedspread and weighed down with a parasol stand, according to a “black notice” alert issued by Interpol in 2024 to revive the investigation.

“The girl had sustained multiple injuries, pointing to prolonged and severe maltreatment,” the alert said.

“These include fractures to both upper arms that had healed in the wrong position,” Interpol said. The girl’s left ear was deformed, and she had numerous burn scars, some of which were consistent with cigarette burns.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2026