A murder trial has heard how blood stains found inside a family car allegedly show how a husband killed his wife and stuffed her body in a suitcase to throw in a river.

Forensic experts believe Russian-born Yekaterina Baumann, 32, was murdered at the family home before her remains were discarded in the River Weser, near Bremerhaven.

Her German husband Walter Baumann, 46, is on trial for her murder.

Forensic medicine expert Carolin Edler – from the Forensic Medicine Institute – told the district court in Hamburg on 23rd November they found blood in the boot of the family’s Golf VII Varient.

DNA tests reportedly showed the blood belonged to Yekaterina, the court heard.

Prosecutors believe Baumann strangled his wife at the family home after doping her with drugs before cutting up her body and putting it in a suitcase.

To hide its shocking secret, Baumann had the car thoroughly valeted for EUR 210 (GBP 180), but forensic experts still found traces of blood in the boot.

Yekaterina, 32, mysteriously vanished during her reported EUR 500,000 (GBP 420,000) divorce from Baumann.

Mum-of-one Yekaterina had been missing since Friday, 4th February 2022, when police began a search.

Her remains were recovered from the River Weser on Tuesday, 1st March.

The police said at the time that they had arrested her husband: “After Yekaterina Baumann was found, the combined evidence and clues led to an arrest warrant being issued against the young woman’s husband. This was announced today [Wednesday, 2nd March] by the Bremerhaven district court after an application by the Bremerhaven public prosecutor.”

A university friend of the suspected killer said earlier in the trial that he was a guest at their wedding 10 years ago when they married at the same location where her butchered corpse was found.

The man, who has been named only as Alexander, 43, reportedly said: “Yekaterina was the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”

The suspect’s university friend said that he had been a guest at the then-happy couple’s wedding, adding: “We celebrated where her body was found.”

Speaking about the killing, Alexander said that Walter Baumann had been “studying food technology and working in the port” when they met and that he was “actually a nice guy”.

But he also added that Walter Baumann was very much a mama’s boy and that he “kept calling her to tell her where we were” when they went to parties.

He said that Walter Baumann still lived with her at the time and that “he was her slave”.

Another acquaintance, named only as Sergei, 40, said that Walter Baumann had never been lucky with women and “wasn’t particularly well-groomed”.

He added that Walter Baumann had seduced Yekaterina when the pair were on holiday in Turkey.

He said that their marriage had been rock solid until the birth of their daughter in 2016.

He said: “He adored the child. From then on he wanted to decide everything.”

Sergei also said that Walter Baumann became increasingly controlling, and began monitoring his Russian bride’s every move.”

He said that there were “cameras everywhere in the house”, adding that it was “freaky”.

After all became too much, the beautiful Russian woman, who had been living in Germany for over 12 years, filed for divorce against her German husband. Alexander explained that Walter Baumann “was terrified of losing his daughter forever”.

The trial has seen many twists and turns, with the mother of the accused stunning the court by claiming that she had carried out the gruesome murder.

The court was astonished when Baumann’s tearful mother Ludmilla Baumann claimed that she had killed her daughter-in-law.

Prosecutors, however, were not convinced and believe she was trying to get her son off the hook by taking the blame herself.

But they do believe Baumann’s mother helped her son dispose of the body.

They told the court Baumann had called his mother several times after the killing and she had gone to his house several times after midnight.

The trial is ongoing. The next court date in the trial is 29th November.