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Phantom killer

Police followed false lead for two years

For years, police had been hunting an sinister serial killer - but now it seems the DNA came from the maker of cotton buds used to collect evidence.

Police in Germany hunted a sinister phantom killer for two years after finding the same DNA at 39 different crime scenes - only to discover that the source was a woman who made the cotton buds used to collect the sample! The case was one of the most puzzling in recent times. Hundreds of detectives in six specialist committees were set to work hunting the ominous female serial killer.But there was no progress, despite investigators finding her DNA at so many crime scenes.The police were stumped.

They eventually offered a 300,000 euro reward to find the killer.It's no surprise the money was never claimed, however, because the so-called ‘phantom killer’ was a complete myth!Detectives had apparently been tracking the DNA of a factory worker who packaged cotton buds used by the police to collect samples, according to ‘Stern.de’.Police linked the 'killer' to seven murders.

The most notorious case was in April 2007 in Heilbronn where a 22-year-old policewoman was shot dead and her colleague (25) seriously injured. On the back seat of the police car, detectives found what they thought was DNA from the mysterious killer.As part of the investigation, 800 previously convicted women were questioned - but there was no match to the sample.

Her DNA was found over and over again: in bottles, tank lids, on bullets – and once even on a biscuit!

Traces were found in southern Germany, Austria and France. Thousands of saliva tests were taken but there was still no answer.In April 2008, detectives ran out of ideas, so an internal inquiry was launched.And yesterday Bernd Meiners, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Saarbrucken, revealed: “There are considerable doubts about the existence of the ‘phantom killer’.

The DNA has instead been linked to investigation materials.”An employee at the cotton bud manufacturer has apparently been pretty careless!

According to reports, the maker of the buds is a company in Hamburg, with branches in Baden-Wurttemberg and the Saarland as well as Austria and France.The company has been supplying the police investigators with cotton buds since 2001.