Iris Stalzer, who accused her adopted daughter of stabbing her at home in Herdecke, western Germany, has alleged she was tortured by the teenager for hours before the attack
The newly elected mayor of a German town who was found with stab wounds at home was allegedly tortured in the basement for hours before the brutal attack.
Iris Stalzer, 57, was elected as the mayor of Herdecke in western Germany on September 28 and is due to take office on November 1. On Tuesday, emergency services were alerted by her daughter, who reported that Ms Stalzer had been seriously wounded outside her house in an attempted robbery.
However, when police arrived, they found the victim sitting in a chair with multiple stab wounds and determined that the attack appeared to have happened indoors. She was flown to hospital by helicopter in a serious condition, but is now out of danger. During a police interview, the mayor pointed to her 17-year-old daughter as the suspect, police investigator Jens Rautenberg said.
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In a new update on the case, German newspaper Bild reported that the SPD politician told police that she was tormented for hours by her adopted daughter in the basement of the house. Quoting local authorities, the publication added that the victim had been stabbed by two knives and that attempts had been made to remove blood-stained evidence from the scene.
According to Bild, large blood stains had apparently been removed before the emergency call – but these were spotted by the forensic investigators. Both the teen girl and the mayor’s 15-year-old son were detained. Die Zeit reported that the daughter was handed over to the youth welfare office.
Prosecutor Bernd Haldorn said he considers it a case of bodily harm. The attack on Ms Stalzer, which followed violence against other local politicians in Germany in recent years, drew swift condemnation from Chancellor Friedrich Merz and others.
“We have received news of a terrible deed in Herdecke,” Chancellor Merz wrote on social media following the attack. “It must be swiftly investigated. We fear for the life of the mayor-designate and hope for her full recovery.”
Ms Stalzer – an employment lawyer – is part of the centre-left Social Democrats and beat a centre-right Christian Democrat candidate to secure the position as mayor. But investigators quickly determined that there was no sign of a political motive.
Herdecke is a town of about 23,000 people in western Germany’s Ruhr region, between Hagen and Dortmund. After the incident, there was a large police presence, with a helicopter landing nearby to take Ms Stalzer to hospital.