Date: Friday, 21 November 2025
© dpa/Alex Talash
A baby is abandoned in front of a monastery. The following night, its mother's severed hands are found. The case baffles investigators – but a new lead emerges.
Status:today, 11:47 am
Nearly a week after the discovery of two severed women's hands on a motorway in the Sauerland region, police are still searching unsuccessfully for a 32-year-old woman. Her three-month-old baby was found unharmed in front of a monastery in Waldsolms, Hesse.
Police in Hagen are hoping for information from witnesses who saw a silver car near the monastery last Sunday. "The vehicle, with Bonn license plates, turned around in a small lane at around 6:30 p.m.," the police report stated.
The telephone number is 02331 - 9862066.
Witnesses are asked to contact the Hagen police at the following telephone number: 02331 - 9862066
Witnesses are also asked to report any suspicious observations in the area of the A45 motorway between the Olpe-Süd interchange and Freudenberg . The distance between where the severed hands were found and the monastery where the baby was abandoned in a stroller is approximately 90 kilometers.
The homicide squad of the Hagen police is asking for the public's help.
Hagen Police
Police have identified the woman whose hands were found on the A45 motorway early Monday morning. She is a 32-year-old woman who, along with her infant, is registered at an asylum seeker accommodation center in Bonn , police and prosecutors announced. The three-month-old child is currently in official care. It is unknown whether the woman is still alive.
According to a report in the German tabloid " Bild, " the baby was found on Sunday in front of the Coptic Orthodox monastery of Kröffelbach in Waldsolms. The town is located in Hesse, between Frankfurt am Main and Koblenz. Investigators and the public prosecutor's office later confirmed that the child was indeed found on Sunday in front of the monastery – reportedly unharmed, lying in a stroller, and placed there in such a way as to ensure it would be discovered. The baby was thus discovered approximately six hours before the report of its being found on the highway.
© dpa/Christian Lademann
A monk from the Coptic Orthodox monastery described to the news magazine "Stern" the circumstances under which the infant was found. According to him, the baby was lying in a stroller, next to which two pieces of paper were found. The monk reported that one piece of paper bore the mother's name, and the other the child's name.
One piece of paper had the child's name on it, the other had the mother's name on it.
Monk opposite the "Star"
The circumstances of how the three-month-old child came to be in front of the monastery are the subject of the current investigations, police and prosecutors further stated.
The extensive search for the 32-year-old woman has so far been unsuccessful , it was further stated. The motive for the crime also remains unclear. According to Bild, investigators have determined through fingerprint analysis that the woman is from Eritrea. Officers found no evidence of a violent crime in her room.
