Interpol widens probe into unidentified dead boy found in Danube, wrapped in foil

LYON - International police organisation Interpol appealed for help from the public on Tuesday in the case of a dead boy found in the Danube river, that has mystified German police.

The boy, estimated to be five or six years old, was found in May 2022 in Bavaria, weighed down with a flagstone slab and wrapped in foil, Interpol said in a statement.

German police, unable to identify the body or the circumstances of his death, asked Interpol to issue a “Black Notice”, an international alert to gather information on unidentified bodies.

Interpol said it was not known how long the body had been in the water when it was found on May 19, 2022, near Grossmehring, a Bavarian municipality of 7,500 inhabitants.

He was approximately 110cm tall, weighed 15kg, and had brown hair and blood type O.

The police think the boy spent time outside Germany, which is why Interpol’s 195 member countries may be able to shed light on his death and “whether he was (a) victim of trafficking, abduction or violence”, said Mr Juergen Stock, the organisation’s secretary-general.

“Someone, somewhere knows something about this boy,” he said, in the statement.

Members of the public, “particularly those who remember a missing child whose characteristics and disappearance indicate a potential link to the case”, are invited to contact the German police, Interpol said.

It said the “I-Familia” tool, which it started operating in 2021 to identify unknown bodies through international family DNA kinship matching, could become useful in the case.

The investigation falls under the “Identify Me” programme framework, launched earlier in 2023 and aimed at cold cases.

Identify Me, created to help identify 22 suspected female murder victims, has received more than 500 messages and tips from the public, Interpol said. AFP