Sabine Rosenbohm (murdered in 1985)
Richard Simmons, a former soldier of the British Army of the Rhine, may have been illegally imprisoned for five years. The trial for the murder of the then 18-year-old student Sabine Rosenbohm (photo) committed in 1985 is scheduled to be reopened on January 9, 2002 before the Muenster district court. New methods in the genetic analysis of semen traces had shown that, contrary to previous assumptions, it was not the now 41-year-old defendant who had intercourse with the later victim. The Bielefeld District Court had sentenced the man in 1986 to a total custodial sentence of 15 years for attempted rape and murder in concomitance with rape. The partial sentence of three and a half years for attempted rape remains final. The trial for murder and rape will be reopened. If Richard Simmons will be acquitted, he could be released immediately, since he has already served eight and a half years.
