Poison attack at Darmstadt University – suspected perpetrator caught

Toxic substances in water containers and milk cartons at a Darmstadt university puzzled investigators for months. Now a 32-year-old student has been arrested – and handed over to psychiatric treatment.

More than seven months after a poison attack at the Technical University of Darmstadt that injured seven, the investigators caught a suspect. The police and public prosecutor’s office in Darmstadt announced on Thursday that the 32-year-old from Mainz was suspected of attempted murder. Since she is said to have committed the crime while incapacitated, she was placed in a psychiatric hospital.

The suspect has been enrolled as a materials science student since the winter semester of 2017. The woman has not yet commented on this. According to her own account, she had appeared suspicious to the investigators early on. But it was only after more than 1,000 witnesses were questioned that the suspicion was confirmed. The public prosecutor suspects that the motive for the attack was that the woman felt persecuted by employees of the TU. In the case, the police had set up their own murder commission (“Light”).

In the act in August 2021, seven people suffered symptoms of poisoning. In a building at the TU Darmstadt, the emergency services had found toxic substances in milk cartons and water containers. A 30-year-old was temporarily in mortal danger.