Overview
- The university reported the missing skull to Cologne police, who have begun an investigation with no motive identified so far.
- Two other skulls were handed over to visiting First Nations representatives as planned, and Prorector Beatrix Busse issued an apology that was accepted.
- Staff discovered the theft during handover preparations when the genuine skull was found replaced by a plaster object taken from a secured preparation room.
- The storage area was not under video surveillance and was accessible to numerous employees with keys, highlighting security gaps at the anatomy center.
- The three skulls were acquired in 1955 and have been subject to provenance research since 2021, with media noting prior reporting on a black market for colonial-era human remains.