An American man was convicted of murder and other charges Monday for brutally attacking and killing a Naperville woman and injuring her friend near Germany’s famed Neuschwanstein castle last summer. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The Kempten state court in Germany also convicted the 31-year-old of attempted murder and rape with fatal consequences, the German news agency dpa reported. Presiding judge Christoph Schwiebacher determined that the defendant bears particularly severe guilt, meaning he likely won’t be eligible for release after 15 years as is usually the case in Germany.
Defendants in the German legal system do not formally enter pleas to charges, but the suspect admitted to the charges when his trial opened on Feb. 19.
In line with German privacy laws, German authorities did not identify the perpetrator and the victims.
However, family and friends at the time said that the victims were 21-year-old Naperville resident Eva Liu, who died, and her friend Kelsey Chang, 22, of Bloomington, who survived. The longtime friends attended Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora and were recent graduates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, traveling in Europe before starting new jobs.
Their attacker was identified by The News-Herald newspaper in Southgate, Michigan, as Troy Bohling, of Lincoln Park, Michigan. Just prior to the attack, he had been sending photos he took from the castle to an online friend in Thailand, according to the News-Herald report.
The attack took place on June 14 near the Marienbruecke, a bridge over a gorge that offers a view of the castle, one of Germany’s most famous tourist attractions.
Prosecutors have said the suspect met the two women by chance on a hiking path and lured them off the trail. They said he apparently first forced Liu to the ground and tried to undress her.
When Chang tried to help her, a scuffle ensued and the suspect allegedly pushed her down a steep slope. She fell about 50 meters (165 feet) and sustained a head injury, bruises and grazes, but survived.
The suspect then allegedly strangled the younger woman until she was unconscious and raped her, prosecutors have said, before pushing her down the slope as well. She died later in a hospital.
Bohling was taken into custody the following day and has held by German authorities pending his subsequent indictment and the case going to court.
The Naperville Sun contributed to this report.
