A German man has admitted raping and fatally stabbing an Irish student in Munich 12 years ago, after being identified by DNA evidence.
Sinéad O'Neill (20) of Templeogue, Dublin, was found half-submerged in a river on August 20th, 1991. She had been assaulted and stabbed eight times. She died in hospital a day later.
The case remained unsolved until police in Bremerhaven on the north German coast last week arrested a 38-year-old unemployed man identified only as René L.
Last month, after being charged with grievous bodily harm following a pub brawl, he was forced under German law to give a saliva sample for a DNA purposes. When fed into the federal DNA database, it matched DNA material found on Ms O'Neill's underwear.
Ms O'Neill arrived in Munich in June 1991 and found a job at the Chinese Tower restaurant and beer garden. Deputy manager Ms Sabine Baeblar (31) remembers her as a "hard-working and calm" person who was never late for her shifts and worked hard for money for her studies.
Last week special commandoes stormed René L's Bremerhaven apartment and brought him to Munich where he remains in custody. Prosecutors have contacted Ms O'Neill's family in Dublin.
René L told police he knew Ms O'Neill "in passing" and that he followed her after she left an Irish pub at 1 a.m. and went home alone on the underground train. She then made her way through an isolated wooded area to the nearby campsite where she was staying.
He approached her but when she pushed him away, he said he "went crazy and knocked her down". He threw her rucksack in the nearby River Isar, raped her and then stabbed her eight times. He dumped her and the knife in the river. She was found at 7.30 a.m. by a passer-by and taken to hospital, but died the next day.
René L is also wanted in Bremen on a 1996 rape charge. He will go on trial next year and could receive a maximum life sentence.