Overview
- The trial began on Monday, October 19, 2026, at the Memmingen regional court with judges scheduling an initial ten days of hearings and a potential verdict in mid‑November.
- Prosecutors allege the 45‑year‑old defendant broke into the couple’s single‑family home in mid‑February and killed the 68‑year‑old woman and 72‑year‑old man by bludgeoning them with a plasterer’s axe, which investigators say is a common tradesman's tool.
- The indictment says the woman suffered about 12 blows to the head and the man about 21, and frames the killings as revenge linked to the suspect’s split from the victims’ daughter and alleged racist insults by the older man.
- The defendant, who was formerly partnered with the victims’ daughter, denies the charges and has largely stayed silent in court while his lawyers have offered written explanations for evidence such as a store receipt for an axe and the disposal of clothing.
- More than 40 witnesses and five expert witnesses are expected to testify, and the proceedings will focus on forensic evidence, motive, and whether the items and movements investigators tied to the suspect place him at the scene; the defendant remains presumed innocent until proven guilty.