German police find woman alive 'dead' for 31 years

Petra Pazsitka lived under a false identity and was discovered after an investigation into a case of theft in Germany


German police claimed to have found a woman who disappeared in 1984, and that after a hunt for his alleged killer, was presumed dead. She was found alive and well, living in Düsseldorf, Germany.


Petra Pazsitka, then 24, was pronounced dead five years after it disappeared from the student residence where he lived at the time that he was studying computer science. At the time, a man convicted of murdering a teenager eventually confessed to killing Petra.



Petra Pazsitka until then 24, he was pronounced dead five years after disappearing


However, during an investigation into a case of theft, the police ended up running into a woman of 55 who had no documents. She told officers he lived under a false identity and, after being questioned, eventually revealing his real name.

"It was what I wanted"

In the 1980s, the Petra's disappearance came to prominence in the press of the country and became the subject of a German criminal program called Aktenzeichen XY.


A spokesman Brauschweig police in northern Germany, said Petra does not want to resume contact with the family. "She said little about his past and why it disappeared. He just said that this was what he wanted," said the spokesman Joachim Grande.

He also said that the mother and brother of Petra "were absolutely shocked" to discover that she was alive. The family expressed interest in getting in contact her, but according to the German press, it does not intend to do that.