An 81-year-old admits to 1994 killing of American tourist as trial opens in Germany

BERLIN (AP) — An 81-year-old man admitted to sexually assaulting and killing an American tourist in Germany more than 30 years ago at the opening of his trial on Tuesday, German news agency dpa reported.

The defendant, whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, admitted to killing 24-year-old Amy Lopez in 1994 in the western German city of Koblenz, the news agency reported.

Prosecutors accused him of “killing a person in a treacherous manner and for base motives in order to satisfy his sexual urges.”

The defense lawyer, Volker Klein, said during the session in the Koblenz district court that the defendant admitted fully to the crime. When the presiding judge, Rupert Stehlin, asked the defendant if that was true, the 81-year-old nodded and said “yes.”

The crime took place Sept. 26, 1994, when Amy Lopez was visiting Koblenz as a tourist.

The prosecution accuses the man, who was 49 years old at the time, of luring her under false pretenses into a secluded room of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress in Koblenz, where he then allegedly handcuffed her, sexually assaulted her and killed her with nine knife wounds to the chest area.

The suspect allegedly also strangled Lopez with a belt and struck her on the left side of her head with a rock when she tried to defend herself and shouted, dpa reported.

Shortly afterward, children playing nearby found Lopez’s body.

The cold case remained unsolved for decades until investigators analyzed old DNA traces using new methods, ultimately leading to a breakthrough. DNA found on the victim’s waistband and thigh were eventually linked to the man, dpa reported.

The man was arrested in late February at a nursing home in the Koblenz area and has been in pretrial detention since.

A total of eight trial days have been scheduled and a verdict is expected in September.

Defense attorney Volker Klein makes a statement at the regional court in Koblenz, Germany, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, during a recess in the murder trial of an 81-year-old man admitted to sexually abusing and killing an American tourist in Germany more than 30 years ago. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's air force lost contact on Tuesday with one of its long-distance surveillance drones after it went missing during a flight off the country's northwestern coast.

There was no immediate information as to what the mission of the uncrewed RQ-4B aircraft, also known as Global Hawk, was.

The Air Self-Defense Force said the drone disappeared from the radar and was last seen 50 kilometers (31 miles) off the coast of Tottori earlier in the afternoon.

The drone is one of three Global Hawks owned by the air force and deployed at its Misawa Air Base in the northern prefecture of Aomori.

The drones are considered valuable because they can conduct long-range missions and are able to fly at a height of about 60,000 feet (18.3 kilometers) and can fly continuously for up to 36 hours. They allow Japan to easily monitor areas on the Asian mainland, including North Korea and China.

Japan is trying to adapt to changing times and develop defense strategies that use drones, including those for combat, artificial intelligence and new methods of warfare. Under its five-year plan established in 2022, the country has doubled its defense spending to about 2% of its gross domestic product to build up its Self-Defense Forces’ offensive role to counter China’s growing assertiveness.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government is now preparing new security and defense strategies, expected to be unveiled later this year.

Beijing has criticized Japan’s defense buildup as “new militarism.”

A Global Hawk, long-distance surveillance drone of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, is shown to the media at its base in Misawa, Aomori prefecture, on Jan., 2023. (Kyodo News via AP)