Berlin, November 10th, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – The man suspected of killing thirteen-year-old Lisa Ta has been identified. According to the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office, he is a 22-year-old German citizen from Berlin with no criminal record. He remains in intensive care.
The authorities also announced that forensic examinations have established beyond doubt that the body found on Sunday is Lisa’s. An autopsy on Monday did not provisionally reveal a clear cause of death, and further tests have been ordered. So far, investigators have found no evidence that the girl and the suspect knew each other. There are also no indications of accomplices.
Prosecutors disclosed that the man was not unknown to them. Since January 2025, they had been investigating him on suspicion of acquiring and possessing child sexual abuse material. The case grew out of an analysis of payments to a dark web platform. On March 10th, 2025, during an international week of action against such material, investigators searched his apartment under a court order and seized data storage devices. More than 900 illegal files are said to be on them, which he is suspected of having obtained in 2023.
Second Case
On April 28th, 2026, Berlin prosecutors took over a second case on the same suspicion from their colleagues in Passau, Bavaria. A large number of further suspected files had reportedly been found on one of his mobile phones while he was staying in Bavaria. In addition, a theft case against him, handled by the Berlin Local Prosecutor’s Office, was provisionally dropped on August 12th, 2026. Prosecutors said the allegations behind the second case and the theft case had come to light in proceedings run by Passau prosecutors.
On Monday, investigators searched the suspect’s home in Marzahn-Hellersdorf and secured potential evidence. Police also continued their work at the scene in Bad Freienwalde. A homicide division is analyzing the evidence on behalf of the prosecution.
Officers had found the man on Sunday in an empty house in a district of Bad Freienwalde, near the Polish border. He had life-threatening gunshot wounds and was lying next to the girl’s body.
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Reportedly, he tried to shoot himself when police arrived to check the building. Brandenburg police had been told around noon that unauthorized people had entered the house. “That was ultimately pure coincidence”, prosecution spokesman Michael Petzold said. “No lead had pointed there.” According to dpa, Lisa had already been dead for some time when she was found.
In Berlin-Marzahn, neighbors left candles and flowers outside her home on Golliner Strasse. At her school, a crisis team and school psychologists are supporting classmates, and the school community plans to create a place for remembrance.
Lisa had been missing since the morning of Tuesday, November 3rd. She left home shortly after 7 a.m. to go to school but never arrived. Police published a search notice with her photo that evening. On Friday, hundreds of officers launched a large-scale search that continued until Sunday.
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