The 12-year-old girl from Freudenberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, who was found dead near a cycle path in Rhineland-Palatinate on Sunday, has been the victim of a crime. This is reported by the Koblenz police.

"We are deeply shaken in Freudenberg and our thoughts are with the relatives. I have ordered mourning flags to be displayed for today," said Mayor Nicole Reschke. The girl's school is opening, and psychologists are offering talks to classmates, according to the SPD politician. On Sunday evening there was a funeral service in the city.

The child's body was found on Sunday afternoon near a former train station in Rhineland-Palatinate, right on the state border. The investigators initially gave no information on the cause of death "for reasons of investigation tactics", as it was said. The investigations are being conducted by the Koblenz Criminal Investigation Department.

The child was last seen on Saturday around 5:30 p.m. in Freudenberg, when it was walking home after visiting a friend. When it did not come home, the search began in the evening with strong forces from the police and fire brigade.

Police officers then discovered a female body on Sunday afternoon, according to the Siegen police, in a piece of forest above Freudenberg-Hohenhain, which belongs to the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. It later turned out that the site was located in Rhineland-Palatinate, which belongs to the district of Altenkirchen. It was initially unclear whether the body would be autopsied to determine the cause of death.