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Starting today, the Barchetsee homicide will be heard in the Frauenfeld district court. Two men are charged with murder.
What happened? In December 2007, the body of a 27-year-old man was found next to a jetty in Lake Barchetsee in the canton of Thurgau. The man was shot, then wrapped in plastic film and sunk into the lake with a concrete block weighing around 30 kilograms. More than 16 years later, two men are now on trial accused of murder.
Why did it take so long for the process to start? The responsible criminal police officers from the Thurgau cantonal police investigated unsuccessfully for years. Although the dead man’s wife was the focus of the investigation, there was a lack of evidence. The case was considered a so-called “cold case” for years. Until it was reopened in 2018: DNA traces on the car could be evaluated using a new method. In 2022, the case appeared on the ZDF program “Akteneichen XY … unsolved”, whereupon new clues came to light.
Who are the two defendants? Two men, now 63 and 59 years old, are in court. They are said to have lured the victim to the edge of a forest near Frauenfeld under a pretext and murdered him with four shots. Shortly after the case was published on “Case number XY … unsolved” and the new information, the 63-year-old suspect was arrested. He has been in the Frauenfeld cantonal prison for one and a half years.
Why isn’t the wife in court? The wife died of natural causes in 2012. The Thurgau public prosecutor’s office is convinced in its indictment that the two accused men planned the murder together with the wife. There were problems in the marriage and the murder victim hit and threatened his wife. The three of them then came up with a plan to eliminate the 27-year-old.
What did the two defendants say on the first day of the trial? Because of the extensive identity checks, the questioning of the defendants began late. The now 63-year-old man said that he knew the dead man and that he was a guest in his restaurant from time to time. His wife worked for him as an accountant. He had nothing to do with the man’s death. The second defendant remained silent and exercised his right to refuse to testify. He did this from the beginning.
Legend:
Lake Barchet is located in the canton of Thurgau, just a few meters from the cantonal border with Zurich, between the villages of Neunforn (TG) and Truttikon (ZH).
Keystone/Gian Ehrenzeller
What are the prosecutor’s demands? As it became known on the first morning of the trial, the public prosecutor is demanding a life sentence for murder for both defendants. The defense’s arguments are still pending. The two defense attorneys say that their respective clients had nothing to do with the crime and were not the perpetrators.
How long does the negotiation take? The trial against the two defendants began last week with the questioning of the undercover investigators, and the public hearing at the Frauenfeld district court has been running since Monday morning. The verdict is expected on March 4th. Due to the great interest, the hearing will take place under police protection and extensive security precautions. It will be broadcast in a hotel room for visitors and the media. Everyone had to hand over their cell phones and tape off the microphones and cameras on their laptops.