BERLIN — An American man was convicted Monday of murder and other charges for brutally attacking two American women near Germany’s famed Neuschwanstein Castle last summer and pushing them into a ravine, fatally wounding one of them. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The Kempten state court also convicted the 31-year-old man of attempted murder and rape with fatal consequences, the German news agency reported. Judge Christoph Schwiebacher found that the suspect’s guilt is particularly serious, meaning that he is unlikely to be eligible for release after 15 years, as is usually the case in Germany.
Defendants in the German legal system do not enter formal pleas to the charges, but the suspect admitted the charge when his trial opened on February 19.
In accordance with German privacy laws, German authorities have not identified either the perpetrator or the victims. However, family and friends said at the time that the victims were 21-year-old Eva Liu, who died, and her friend Kelsey Chang, 22, who survived. Both were recent graduates of the University of Illinois.
The attack took place on June 14 near the Marienbruecke, a bridge over a gorge overlooking the castle, one of Germany’s best-known tourist attractions.
Prosecutors say the suspect happened to meet the two women on a hiking trail and lured them off the trail. They said he apparently first forced the younger woman to the ground and tried to undress her.
When the elderly woman tried to help her, a scuffle ensued and the suspect allegedly pushed her down a steep slope. She fell about 50 meters (165 feet) and suffered head injuries, bruises and abrasions, but survived.
The suspect then allegedly strangled the younger woman until she was unconscious and raped her, prosecutors say, before also pushing her down the slope. She later died in a hospital.