On Tuesday a week ago, 16-year-old Julia W.'s place at the Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium in Stuttgart remained empty.

An investigative team from the Aalen criminal police department has been looking for the girl since the following Wednesday.

The investigators are searching with dog teams and a missing persons call, detectives questioned teachers, parents and classmates - so far without success.

Because there are few witnesses, the police have not yet been able to create a movement profile of the missing persons.

Rudiger Soldt

Political correspondent in Baden-Württemberg.

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As early as the evening of January 24, the parents had reported to the police and reported that their daughter had not been to school and had not returned to her parents' house in Grunbach in the afternoon either.

The Württemberg village is located in the Remstal and is a district of Remshalden, a rural region in the north-east of Stuttgart that is characterized by wine and fruit growing.

Geradstetten, where Boris Palmer grew up, is another part of Remshalden.

The S-Bahn only takes 15 minutes from the Grunbach stop to the Sommerrain stop, from where the Catholic private high school can be reached on foot within five minutes.

The investigators do not yet know whether Julia W. drove on to Stuttgart or Bad Cannstatt.

"Something is wrong here"

What is certain is that she arrived in Kirchheim/Teck at 9.17 a.m. because she was filmed there by a platform camera: She was wearing a black backpack and a dark jacket trimmed with fur.

“As a rule,” said a spokesman for the responsible police headquarters in Aalen, “a missing person report is based on a family dispute, a fight with friends, a mental illness, a school problem or a previously expressed intention to commit suicide.

It was different here.

So it was clear to us: This case is extraordinary, something is wrong.”

If children or young people are reported missing, the police can start the search immediately after the report, because a child's welfare can always be endangered.

For this reason, the police began an intensive search for missing persons and clues on January 25th.

It is still unclear why the girl took the train to Kirchheim and who she wanted to meet there.

Both of their cell phones were apparently switched off, and no movement profile could be created using the cell phone data.

No fresh clothes packed

One assumption is: Julia W. could have met a person from near Kirchheim two days before she disappeared at a men's handball game in Geradstetten.

"Just coincidence?

Or did the 16-year-old watch the game as a spectator and maybe meet someone from Lenningen there?” asks the “Waiblinger Kreiszeitung”.

Lenningen is on the railway line to Kirchheim/Teck.

The police have no information on this.

They first searched the area around Kirchheim with dog squadrons and helicopters;

since Tuesday she has been focusing more on the Remstal, i.e. the region where Julia's parents live.

There is no evidence that the student, as the police call it, consciously wanted to leave “her circle of life” – she had not packed a toothbrush or fresh clothes.

So far, for example, nothing is known about an appointment via a messenger service such as Whatsapp.

"She deliberately did not go to school and went to Kirchheim," says the police spokesman.

What she wanted there had to be determined.

A man who could have seen them on the train or at the station plays a key role for the investigators.

The video cameras in Kirchheim filmed a man talking on his mobile phone next to Julia at the train door.

He wore a black hooded jacket and jogging pants with white patches on the thighs.

Despite the call for witnesses, the man has not yet contacted the police.

He might be able to tell the police something about the mysterious destination of Julia's short trip.