Process start in Wuppertal: No traces of an unknown

When Christiane K. is shown into the courtroom early on Monday afternoon, she wears an FFP2 mask, but it does not cover the rest of her face.

The photographers and cameramen can take pictures of her for one or two minutes until the presiding judge Jochen Kötter opens the main hearing.

When K. sits down, she takes off the mask.

The accused is a petite woman with shoulder-length blond hair and girlishly flawless features.

The public prosecutor's office in Wuppertal accuses the twenty-eight-year-old of having committed a terrible crime.

On September 3, she is said to have maliciously murdered five of her six children in her apartment in Solingen-Hasseldelle.

Prosecutor Heribert Kaune-Gebhardt does not name a possible motive in the short version of the indictment, which he presented on Monday.

Pure burger

Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.

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In the interrogations during the investigation, Christiane K. insisted that she did not kill her children.

An unknown man, masked with a surgical mask, tied and gagged her in order to then kill the children.

But the investigators found no traces or starting points that could indicate such an event.

On the other hand, they encountered a variety of indications that weighed heavily on the young mother.

Is she really following the action?

When her eleven-year-old son Marcel, the eldest, was at school that morning, the defendant was supposed to give her five other children high doses of a cocktail of the drugs Vomex, Vomacur “as part of a normal breakfast situation” between 7:20 am and 11:30 am and stirred Nurofen juice into the drinks, the prosecutor argues. As intended by her, the children quickly faded away. Christiane K. is said to have set up a mobile fan heater in the bathroom, left water in the tub and laid out toys. First, according to the prosecution, K. took Melina, who was not even a year old, out of her bed and put her in the tub, presumably to suffocate her with a pillow. Then she put the dead baby back and brought Leonie (2), then Sophie (3),then Timo (6) and finally Luca (8) in the same way. Forensic doctors found various injuries such as hemorrhages on the small corpses, which indicate that the children were trying to fight back in agony. But because of the drug cocktail administered, the petite K. was able to "overcome the slight resistance", says Kaune-Gebhardt. K. sounds outwardly motionless as the indictment is read out. Only when the prosecutor has finished does she wipe tears from her eyes. On the first day of the trial, K. does not want to testify either about the allegations or about her person. She herself does not tell the court, it is her lawyers who then start a skirmish on applications. The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?Forensic doctors found various injuries such as hemorrhages on the small corpses, which indicate that the children were trying to fight back in agony. But because of the drug cocktail administered, the petite K. was able to "overcome the slight resistance", says Kaune-Gebhardt. K. sounds outwardly motionless as the indictment is read out. Only when the prosecutor has finished does she wipe tears from her eyes. On the first day of the trial, K. does not want to testify either about the allegations or about her person. She herself does not tell the court, it is her lawyers who then start a skirmish on applications. The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?Forensic doctors found various injuries such as hemorrhages on the small corpses, which indicate that the children were trying to fight back in agony. But because of the drug cocktail administered, the petite K. was able to "overcome the slight resistance", says Kaune-Gebhardt. K. sounds outwardly motionless as the indictment is read out. Only when the prosecutor has finished does she wipe tears from her eyes. On the first day of the trial, K. does not want to testify either about the allegations or about her person. She herself does not tell the court, it is her lawyers who then start a skirmish on applications. The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?which suggest that the children tried to fight back in agony. But because of the drug cocktail administered, the petite K. was able to "overcome the slight resistance", says Kaune-Gebhardt. K. sounds outwardly motionless as the indictment is read out. Only when the prosecutor has finished does she wipe tears from her eyes. On the first day of the trial, K. does not want to testify either about the allegations or about her person. She herself does not tell the court, it is her lawyers who then start a skirmish on applications. The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?which suggest that the children tried to fight back in agony. But because of the drug cocktail administered, the petite K. was able to "overcome the slight resistance", says Kaune-Gebhardt. K. sounds outwardly motionless as the indictment is read out. Only when the prosecutor has finished does she wipe tears from her eyes. On the first day of the trial, K. does not want to testify either about the allegations or about her person. She herself does not tell the court, it is her lawyers who then start a skirmish on applications. The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?is presented by Kaune-Gebhardt. K. sounds outwardly motionless as the indictment is read out. Only when the prosecutor has finished does she wipe tears from her eyes. On the first day of the trial, K. does not want to testify either about the allegations or about her person. She herself does not tell the court, it is her lawyers who then start a skirmish on applications. The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?is presented by Kaune-Gebhardt. K. sounds outwardly motionless as the indictment is read out. Only when the prosecutor has finished does she wipe tears from her eyes. On the first day of the trial, K. does not want to testify either about the allegations or about her person. She herself does not tell the court, it is her lawyers who then start a skirmish on applications. The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?The young woman sits in the dock with her cross crossed. But does it really follow the action?

When Melina, Leonie, Sophie, Timo and Luca were dead, K. is said to have called Marcel's school. There is a death in her family, please send the boy to her. She told the boy that his siblings had been in a taxi that had been rammed by a truck. Nobody survived. Then K. drove with her eldest to Düsseldorf Central Station. There she put Marcel on a train to Mönchengladbach to see grandma. Shortly afterwards she threw herself in front of an approaching S-Bahn. She survived seriously injured.

Did Christiane K. originally plan - as criminologists say - "extended suicide"?

Did something happen shortly before the monstrous act that turned the world completely upside down for Christiane K., who, despite the great challenges, should never have neglected her children?

Chat logs evaluated by the investigators indicate this.

Marked by violent experiences and disappointments

A year before the crime, Christiane K's husband Pascal - he is the father of four of the children - moved to live with his new partner in a neighboring apartment building in Hasseldelle.

The unemployed former soldier, Christiane K. and her blended family had lived on Hartz IV and 1400 euros in child benefit.

At the beginning of August 2020, Pascal K. changed his relationship status on Facebook and posted a photo of himself and his new girlfriend. In a Whatsapp chat, he is said to have made it clear to his wife that, contrary to what she had hoped, he would not return, that he wanted a new life. The two chatted again on the morning of the crime, while Christiane K. is said to have told her husband that he would never see his children again.

The court will also deal with the extended history of the crime. Christiane K.'s life was marked by violent experiences and disappointments. As a girl, she was sexually abused by an acquaintance of her grandparents. Her father is also said to have offended her - at least that is what K. claims in a criminal complaint that she filed with the Mönchengladbach public prosecutor's office while in custody. It is certain that the man had to answer in court in 2013 for hoarding thousands of child pornographic files - Christiane K's mother then separated from him. All three fathers of their children abandoned Christiane K. She had her first child Marcel when she was 16. Luca was born three years later. He comes from a short relationship; even this man did not care about his child.When K. married Pascal K. eight years ago, she finally seemed to have some stability and order in her life.

So far, the jury has set eleven trial days. Whether Christiane K. wants to break her silence at the next appointment remains open on Monday.