In a German woodland, body parts of a surgeon who vanished six months ago have been found.
On New Year’s Eve, 52-year-old Steffen Braun was last observed alive.
Three days later, the orthopaedic surgeon’s superiors at the Maria Hilf hospital in Daun, Rhineland-Palatinate State, reported him missing.
The burnt-out Ford Fiesta that belonged to Mr. Braun was discovered by police on a road approximately 28 miles from his house in Gerolstein, but the surgeon was nowhere to be located.
A dog walker has now discovered his remains in a wooded area less than four miles from his home.
The rest of his body was recovered after being ‘scattered’ around the undergrowth following a police search, reports local media.
A spokesperson forTrier Police said, in a statement obtained by the agency Newsflash,: ‘Late Tuesday afternoon, 13th June, a walker in a wooded area near Rockeskyll found part of a human body and informed the police.
‘The immediate search of the adjacent forest led the officers to the site where the entire body was found, which was in the vicinity of the search area designated by the police.’
Public prosecutor Eric Samel said Mr Braun’s death ‘was a deliberate and brutal homicide.’
Detectives suspect that the murder weapon ma have been thrown away along the A1 motorway between Wittlich and Gerolstein.
Detectives believe that Mr Braun’s killer was well known to him but have not yet idenified a suspect, local media reports.
The police statement continued: ‘According to the investigations so far, the crime may have occurred on Friday, 30th December, or Saturday, 31st December, 2022.’
Prosecutors have offered a £4,300 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Braun’s killer.