Prague, Nov 15 (CTK) – Prague police have cleared up a murder committed 33 years ago thanks to a palm imprint, but the perpetrator, who has confessed to the crime, cannot be punished as the case falls under the statute of limitations, police spokesman Jan Danek said in a press release on Wednesday.
The man, now 56, choked to death another man, Danek said.
The murderer at first tried to tell the detectives he had nothing to do with the crime.
“However, after a moment his testimony became confused and then he made the confession,” Danek said.
“He said he had been afraid to go to Prague during the whole time for fear that he might be caught,” he added.
After he confessed, one could see a visible relief in the man, Danek said.
The murder occurred in November 1984. The detectives have found out that it was committed by a youth, then 23, from central Bohemia, who came for a date with a girl to Prague.
As he missed the return train, he accepted an invitation to be in the flat of a man, 46, who addressed him at the Main Railway Station. They had a row in the flat and the youth choked the man to death with a belt.
He left a single palm imprint on the scene of the crime. When checking dactyloscopic traces from the crimes that have never been solved, the man was identified by South Moravian police experts.
In the meantime, the man committed some further crime, due to which his imprints were in the police database.
In the 1980s, an investigating team worked on the case, having questioned over 1,000 people and sketched his identikit.
However, since no trace led to the perpetrator, the case was listed as an “unsolved death” in 1989.
