German police arrest ‘cannibal’ after murder victim remains found in Berlin forest

Trees are pictured in an area where walkers found parts of bones stripped completely of flesh that were identified as human 

Credit: AFP

German prosecutors said Friday there is evidence of "cannibalism" in the killing of a 44-year-old man whose remains were found on the northern edge of Berlin earlier this month.

A 41-year-old man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder with sexual motives at his home close to the site where the victim’s bones were found.

"The suspect had an interest in cannibalism," Berlin prosecutors’ office spokesman Martin Steltner told The Associated Press. "He searched online for the topic."

Mr Steltner said it was unclear whether the victim had also had an interest in cannibalism. The two men, both Germans, had been in touch with each other online, he said. Neither of their names was released, for privacy reasons.

In 2006, a German court convicted Armin Meiwes of murder and disturbing the peace for killing a man he had met online and eating him. Meiwes is currently serving a life sentence.

In 2015, a German police officer was convicted of murder for killing a man he met in an internet chat forum devoted to cannibalism. Prosecutors said the victim had fantasized about being eaten, but there was no evidence the suspect actually did so.