FORT WAYNE, Indiana — An 18-year-old man has been arrested in Germany in connection with the death of a 14-year-old girl in Fort Wayne, the FBI's Indianapolis office and the Fort Wayne Police Department announced on Friday, October 23. The FBI said the man is a German citizen and is in German custody, arrested on suspicion of murder.
Fort Wayne police said officers responded to the scene where the girl was found, and worked with the FBI before identifying the suspect as a man living in Germany. Both agencies then collaborated with German law enforcement to locate him, the FBI said. Authorities have not released the girl's name because of her age, and the FBI has not released the suspect's name.
In Germany, Hamburg police arrested the man on Thursday, October 22, and searched his flat, Hamburg prosecutors said in a statement on Friday. Prosecutors said he is strongly suspected of murder and grievous bodily harm committed indirectly through another person, and also faces suspicion of attempted coercion. He was remanded in pre-trial custody, according to the newspaper Tagesspiegel, and has no previous convictions. The allegations have not been proven in court and the presumption of innocence applies.
German investigators say the suspect, who was 17 at the time, contacted the girl online, mainly through the chat platform Discord, in September and October, and allegedly pressured the psychologically vulnerable teenager to harm herself and record it, NDR reported. The girl died on October 2. The Hamburg investigation began after the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children passed findings to German authorities on October 15 and 16, according to prosecutors.
"Anyone who targets or exploits a child should understand this: there is no safe haven from justice," Timothy J. O'Malley, the FBI Indianapolis special agent in charge, said in a statement on Friday. The FBI urged parents and caregivers to take online threats to children's safety seriously and to report suspected criminal activity. The investigation is continuing in both countries.
Source: FBI Indianapolis statement, Oct. 23, 2026, via WISH-TV Indianapolis
If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 in the United States to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, free and available 24 hours a day. Parents who believe a child is being targeted online can report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline.