Serial Killer Mystery Solved

[Are_grits_groceries]

Hundreds of detectives in Germany spent two years trying to track down a mysterious female serial killer whose DNA was collected at 39 different crime scenes. When no progress was made in the cases, police offered a 300,000 euro reward for information leading to 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’.

http://www.neatorama.com/

Heh!!

[DS1]

1. So much for "sterile"

[AlCzervik]

3. no kidding, i hope they also don't package surgical instruments.

[snappyturtle]

2. I wonder how many innocent people have suffered because of

'errors' like this one?

[leftofthedial]

4. Well,

In the war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad. These are their stories.

A team of crack serial homicide investigators walks into a bar...

[Schema Thing]

5. Color me skeptical

[TheWraith]

6. What a nefarious cover story for her serial murders! nt

[drm604]

7. Here's a link to what appears to be the original story.

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2009/03/26/phantom-killer-a-myth/police-track-DNA-of-cotton-bud-maker-for-two-years.html

I was definitely skeptical about the link in the OP. Here's a link to the original story. Anyone know anything about bild.de? Are they a legitimate news source?

[Smith_3]

8. Bild. Well they are kind of a legitimate source. They are a little bit like Fox News.

They are biased as hell in the political field, focus mainly on sensation reporting (blood, sex and crime and the royal families etc.) but I think normally they don't pull entire stories out of their asses. You might get a distorted view of the story but generally the story has a true part as far as I know.

edit: They are certainly not quality journalism, but unfortunately they are the most sold newspaper of Germany.