Drunken vigilantes have been arrested for torturing and then cutting up the body of an elderly punk in order to get him to confess what he knew about the disappearance of an 11-year-old German boy.

Pascal Zimmer was five years old when he vanished from his home in Saarbruecken in the western German state of Saarland, near the border with France, in September 2001.

Twelve people went on trial over allegations they abused the five-year-old in the back room of a pub and then suffocated him with a pillow before burying the body in a sandpit over the border in France. Despite initial confessions, they later retracted them and were never convicted.

But now more than two decades later, the tragedy has reportedly resulted in another death after Nikolaus Peter Lessel, 60, was reported missing on Friday, 19th November.

His body was found after a 41-year-old man named Pascal G., whose full surname was not reported due to strict local privacy laws, turned himself in to police and said that the missing man had been killed by his female friend who had stuck a paper knife in his neck.

The police went to the address and discovered the man’s torso at her flat in the town of Nalbach, also in Saarland. The man and the woman have reportedly admitted to dismembering his body with a saw and then burying his arms, legs and head in a wooded area in a hillside location around two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the crime scene, leaving the torso in the apartment.

The three had apparently been drinking, and the victim, who dressed in the style of a punk, apparently told the other two that his brother had been behind the killing of Pascal Zimmer.

They claim they were trying to get the name of the brother and more details out of him when he died, and police have confirmed they are looking into allegations that the victim was tortured.

The police arrested Pascal G. immediately and swiftly arrested Iris B., 50, who is alleged to have stabbed the victim.

Investigators believe the victim and the suspects had only known each other for a few days. They believe Pascal invited Nikolaus over to his apartment on Friday, where the incident is alleged to have occurred.

With the help of a sniffer dog, cops were able to recover the victim’s remains from the wooded area.

As on Monday, 22nd November, the police had not been able to confirm claims by local media outlet SR.de that Iris plunged a paper knife into the victim’s throat and smothered him with a pillow while Pascal sat on his chest. As of the same date, the autopsy had not yet been carried out.

According to a man who lives on the same street as the suspects and who preferred to remain anonymous, Iris has a drink problem and he often saw her drunk and disorientated.

The victim identified as a punk and lived in a group home where he dressed in the genre.

The investigation is ongoing and police have confirmed when questioned by SR.de that they are treating the murder in connection with the disappearance of Pascal Zimmer.