Shocking twist in attack leaving Herdecke mayor Iris Stalzer fighting for life as police investigate her teenage children
Shocking twist in attack leaving Herdecke mayor Iris Stalzer fighting for life as police investigate her teenage children
Police reportedly found signs blood had been cleaned up and the knife was hidden before emergency services were called.
A German mayor was stabbed, burned and left for dead in what police are now calling a brutal case of domestic violence involving her adopted children.
The attack took place in Herdecke, a town about an hour’s drive from Düsseldorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, where 57-year-old Iris Stalzer, a lawyer who had only recently been elected mayor on September 28, was found critically injured.
Stalzer’s 17-year-old adopted daughter called emergency services just after midday on October 7, claiming her mother had been attacked by several unknown men and was seriously injured and barely responsive.
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First responders found the mayor bleeding heavily in a chair in her living room, police confirmed.
The adopted daughter told police she had found her mother in this state after unlocking the front door, according to information obtained by German newspaper BILD.
She was rushed to a nearby hospital in a life-threatening condition.
Police near Iris Stalzer’s home in Herdecke following the attack. The newly elected mayor was a respected figure in local politics. Credit: DPA/Instagram
Doctors at a hospital in Bochum found evidence of 13 stab wounds to Stalzer’s upper body, as well as several haematomas and skull fractures.
However, once able to speak, Stalzer told police she was tortured for hours in the basement of her home by her adopted daughter.
Stalzer said she attacked her with two knives and tried to set her hair and clothes on fire using a deodorant spray and a lighter.
It is still unclear how she got from the cellar to the armchair in the living room.
Forensics teams discovered what appeared to be attempts to clean up blood before the emergency call was made.
Investigators reportedly found a knife and bloodstained clothing in a backpack owned by Stalzer’s 15-year-old adopted son, though the bloodstained clothing is believed to belong to his 17-year-old adopted sister.
Authorities took the son in for questioning as part of the investigation.
Large bloodstains were reportedly cleaned up at the Herdecke home before emergency services were called, according to investigators.
Iris Stalzer pictured in her formal legal robes during her time as a practicing lawyer, before entering public office. Credit: Instagram
Police took Stalzer’s 15-year-old adopted son in for questioning as part of the investigation. No formal charges have been laid against him. Credit: DPA
Experts later made the stains visible again, suggesting the mother may have been bleeding and fighting for her life in while attempts were made to hide the evidence, BILD cited investigators.
Despite the severity of Stalzer’s injuries, prosecutors are not pursuing attempted murder charges against her daughter, but rather grievous bodily harm.
Because the adopted daughter called emergency services, police are treating it as a “withdrawal from the act” under German law. which removes grounds for a warrant.
She is not currently in custody.
Police said the motive remains unclear.
Both adopted children are now under the care of child protection services.