Apartment stormed

3-year-old disappears during family outing in the park

Major search operation in Cologne-Kalk: On Saturday morning, a three-year-old was freed from an apartment by police officers. The 70-year-old tenant was arrested! (symbolic image)

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/studio v-zwoelf)

German police in Cologne have been searching for a missing three-year-old girl with a large contingent since Friday. On Saturday morning, the child's parents were able to breathe a sigh of relief - their daughter had reappeared. She was found in the apartment of an elderly man (70). He was arrested. 

The man is to be questioned and his apartment will be forensically examined, a police spokesman announced on Saturday. How the girl got into the apartment in question after she disappeared on Friday evening is now being investigated, the police spokesman added. "The investigation must show whether any crimes were committed against the girl."

The police are also questioning witnesses and investigating the apartment, which is located near the park where the three-year-old disappeared the day before.

Girl was walking in the park with her aunt
The toddler had been out walking with her aunt in Bürgerpark on Friday evening, the police spokesman said. There, the woman lost sight of the girl from Kassel, who was visiting relatives in Cologne with her parents. "The child's family is completely unfamiliar with Cologne, so there are no contact addresses," the police statement said.

Police raided the home of an elderly man
According to the "Bild" newspaper, police stormed the apartment of the 70-year-old man, who lives near Bürgerpark, at around 9.30 a.m. on Saturday. They finally found the three-year-old in the apartment. About half an hour later, the man was taken out of the house in handcuffs to a police car, the paper continued.

According to Bild, the family had been on their way to the police station in the morning to pick up the three-year-old. A spokesperson for the authorities said that the girl appeared to be in good health.

Search with dogs and water police
The officers had also searched for the missing girl with dogs and the water police. The Bürgerpark was "very well filled" on Friday evening, the police said on Saturday morning.

The case was reminiscent of a missing child in the German state of Lower Saxony. Six-year-old Arian has been missing there since April 22. The police assume that the autistic boy left his home on his own. All search efforts have so far been unsuccessful.