Lisa Ta left her family’s home on Golliner Strasse in the eastern Berlin district of Marzahn at around 7:20 a.m. that day, according to police. She was due to set off from Barnimplatz for her school on Sella-Hasse-Strasse 10 minutes later but never arrived.
Police and the Berlin prosecutor’s office announced on Friday that the 5th homicide squad of the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) had taken over, saying in a joint statement that investigators currently assume Lisa did not leave home voluntarily. The LKA’s missing persons unit had been handling the case until then, Berliner Zeitung reported.
“There is an initial suspicion of a criminal offense,” a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told the German Press Agency (dpa), declining to give further details.
Police launched a large-scale search on Friday, deploying sniffer dogs as a helicopter flew over the area’s prefabricated apartment blocks and green spaces, the agency reported. Officers were back on site on Saturday morning as the search resumed, prosecutor’s office spokesperson Michael Petzold said.
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Lisa Ta in a photo released by Berlin police for their missing-person appeal. Photo courtesy of Berlin police |
Berlin daily Daily Mirror noted that the LKA division housing the city’s eight homicide squads investigates not only suspected killings but also suspected kidnappings and abductions for ransom.
Police describe Lisa as about 160-165 cm tall and slim, with long dark hair. She was last seen wearing a black quilted jacket with a hood, blue flared jeans and white-beige DC sneakers, and carrying a black backpack with no brand logo.
Police, who released her photos on the day she disappeared, are asking anyone who saw her after 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday, knows where she is or has been in contact with her since to come forward. Tips can be given to the homicide squad at +49 30 4664-911555 or at any police station.
Lisa’s mother, Nguyen Hoai Xoan, asked friends and the Vietnamese community in Berlin and across Germany on Thursday to print missing-person notices and put them up on their doors or at the entrances to apartment buildings, TamdaMediaa Vietnamese-language news site in Europe, reported.
“For now, the police have no new information either. The family is truly on tenterhooks and only hopes everyone will lend a hand so she can be found soon,” she said.