Study colleague tearfully maintains his innocence: "I had no reason to stab her like a beast".

The first day of the trial for a 42-year-old man accused of murdering a 19-year-old student in Innsbruck in 2005 concluded on Monday afternoon at the Regional Court. The defendant, who was a former classmate of the victim, tearfully maintained his innocence before the jury. His defense attorney argued that there were no solid pieces of evidence linking him to the crime. Conversely, the public prosecutor emphasized that DNA traces belonging to the accused had been found at the scene with high probability. The accused arrived voluntarily at the court’s large jury chamber on Monday morning under heavy media interest. He currently lives in Australia and works as a manager in the sporting goods sector in Lower Austria. Prosecutors filed charges against him in May, reopening this cold case after years of dormancy. The indictment alleges that he killed the woman, also from Lower Austria, in the early hours of June 23, 2005, with two forceful stab wounds to her chest and back. A pensioner discovered the blood-soaked body near a telephone booth in Innsbruck’s Rapoldi Park. The victim had previously attended a student party, just as the accused had. She was two days away from turning twenty. The murder weapon, described as a kitchen knife approximately 16 centimeters long, has never been recovered. Public Prosecutor Adelheid Steiner detailed the forensic evidence during her opening statement. She stated that the defendant’s DNA was identified on a cigarette butt found near the body. Furthermore, she claimed that signals of the defendant’s DNA were present in a blood trail left by the victim at the scene. Steiner noted that DNA was also found under the victim’s fingernails, suggesting she was grabbed and attacked with considerable force. Additional traces of the man’s DNA were located on the victim’s bicycle. Both individuals were significantly intoxicated on the night of the killing. The victim, who had recently passed an exam, had a blood alcohol level of 2.1 percent. The accused allegedly told investigators that the victim rode away from their shared student housing apartment on her bicycle. However, Steiner pointed out that two witnesses saw a woman matching the victim’s description walking unsteadily. The prosecutor stated that the victim and the accused were alone during the final hour of her life, though the motive remains unknown. Defense attorney Mathias Kapferer vigorously disputed the prosecution’s interpretation. He argued that the DNA evidence was one-sidedly interpreted. Since the pair had spent the evening together drinking and smoking, there were many ways the DNA could have transferred to the cigarette, the bicycle, or the clothing. Kapferer explained that four people walked home together, engaging in roughhousing, which meant the trace on the bicycle did not prove presence at the crime scene. Regarding the cigarette, the lawyer suggested his client might have touched the victim’s pack while taking a smoke, leaving behind biological material. The investigation into the death of Daniela Kammerer remained unsolved for nearly two decades. The case was even temporarily closed. Investigators initially secured the cigarette butt in 2005, placing it in an evidence bag. Forensic experts analyzed the saliva and mucous membrane cells left on the filter. For years, the DNA profile sat unused in police databases. Twelve years ago, detectives believed they had made a breakthrough when DNA on the victim’s clothes and bike handles matched the current defendant. However, the evidence was deemed insufficient for a formal charge. The suspect, who had moved to Australia, was released from prison after seven weeks, and the case was dropped. The case was reopened only after the cigarette butt’s DNA was compared against relevant parties in 2022. This recent match led to the new arrest and trial. Reinhard Schmid, a police official with 43 years of service, discussed the evolution of DNA analysis in Austria. He noted that the method was first tested in the 1990s during investigations into serial killer Jack Unterweger. A hair found in Unterweger’s car linked him to a murdered woman in Prague, leading to contradictions in his testimony and eventually his conviction. That case prompted the creation of an operational DNA database in Austria in 1997. Forensic labs in Innsbruck processed these traces over time. Today, four such laboratories exist in the country. The national database contains 305,000 DNA profiles and is connected online to a European network holding 20 million profiles. Schmid stated that more than half of the suspects in the database lack Austrian citizenship, and roughly 90 percent are male. Approximately 55,000 profiles remain unidentified open traces. Modern technology allows for a comparison of a secured DNA profile in just two or three minutes. The trial continues at the Innsbruck Regional Court, with the jury tasked with weighing the conflicting interpretations of the biological evidence presented by both sides.