A jilted man who cut the throat of his blonde, blue-eyed nurse ex-lover because she broke up with him has gone on trial in Germany.
Dennis Holstein, 26, from the Greven-Reckenfeld area in the city of Munster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, faces years behind bars for manslaughter and then attempting to cover up a murder after he knifed his ex-girlfriend to death.
The young geriatric nurse identified as Pia Stelzer, 25, was reportedly coming back home from a fair when Holstein slit her throat and then stabbed her in the stomach before he hid her body in a bush on Saturday, 27th August 2022.
Pia was declared missing days before her corpse was found at around 4am about 13 kilometres away from her flat (eight miles) on Tuesday morning, 30th August, 2022.
Police confirmed that the pair had lived in the same building after Holstein who worked in the automobile industry moved from the town of Bramsche, in Lower Saxony, about four years ago.
Pia had reportedly bought an apartment in the building in 2021, and had lived there with her boyfriend who she broke up with some time later after repeated arguments.
Following her breakup, she began a romantic relationship with Holstein that lasted for a month before she ditched him and left him devastated.
The two had remained in contact, as he reportedly got a voice message from her on the evening before her disappearance where she said “she’d be coming back from the fair in a minute on the train.”
A friend of Pia’s told German media: “Dennis really wanted to pick her up, and he drove off with the car.”
But after they engaged in an argument in Holstein’s car around 2am, he reportedly beat her before slitting her throat and stabbing her in the stomach.
A taxi driver passing by reportedly witnessed the scene and wanted to help the poor woman, but left after he was threatened by the offender.
He then attempted to hide her dead corpse in a bush in Greven’s neighbouring town of Saerbeck.
When questioned by police Holstein reportedly admitted to the murder and led the officers to the place where he had disposed of Pia’s body.
The autopsy revealed strangulation marks and cuts on the victim’s neck and stomach.
At court, he tried to defend himself by saying: “I was always the quiet one who stayed away from any argument.”
Chief Public Prosecutor Martin Botzenhardt, 51, said: “In the spring of 2022, a closer friendship developed between them, including intimate contacts.
“In the period that followed, the accused apparently fell in love with the woman, who, however, told him in July that she did not share the same feelings.”
The final verdict is expected at the end of March.
