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The September 1997 murder of a 61-year-old woman, whose body was left on a playground in Hanover after she had been beaten about the head with a stone, had baffled police for several years.
But last year specialists achieved a breakthrough when they discovered small traces of DNA material on the victim's bicycle.
A check of the BKA federal police department's DNA databank confirmed it matched the profile of a suspect with a previous record of violence and sexual offences.
However, the man has been held at a high-security unit at Goettingen's closed mental health hospital since the middle of 1997.
Officials at the unit have confirmed that it is absolutely secure. Director Gunter Heinz said he was "100 per cent certain" the suspect could not have left and returned.
Klinge said there could be no doubt about the accuracy of the DNA sample which had been tested by several institutes. Neither was there any reason to believe the evidence had somehow appeared on the bicycle after the crime.
But he added: "The alibi appears to be absolutely reliable, and we have no knowledge the man has an identical twin brother."
DPA
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