Inga Maria Hauser

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

Larne, Northern Ireland

Summary:

Inga Maria Hauser was an 18-year-old German backpacker who was murdered in Northern Ireland in 1988 shortly after arriving by ferry from Scotland. She was found two weeks later in Ballypatrick Forest near Ballycastle, County Antrim. No one has ever been charged with her murder. An inquest into her death was announced in 2024, following a decades-long campaign by her family.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

Inga Maria Hauser was last seen alive on a ferry from Stranraer to Larne in Northern Ireland on April 6, 1988. The ferry docked in Larne at 9:40PM. She stepped off the ferry and disappeared into thin air, only to turn up dead two weeks later. In her last diary entry she recorded that she had travelled from Scotland, moving from Glasgow to Ayr and then on to Stranraer before making her way to Ireland. A review of her diary and camera revealed to police that she had not made a single entry or taken a single photo upon arriving in Northern Ireland. It was concluded that this was most likely because she was abducted and murdered very soon after leaving the ferry. On the 20th of April, a farmer was tending to his sheep in Ballypatrick Forest near the picturesque town of Ballycastle. As he walked into a remote clearing, he came across the lifeless body of Inga. She was partially nude and was face down on the grass. Inga had been sexually assaulted and then beaten to death. Her neck had been broken by a heavy blow, most likely with some kind of object.

Additional Details:

Two suspects were arrested in the meantime but released due to lack of evidence. The men, aged 58 and 61, were detained in the Loughguile area on Monday, 21 May [2018]. In 2020, the Public Prosecution Service said that two individuals would not be charged over the murder after a file was submitted by police. The PPS said there was no evidence to link Ms Hauser to the male suspect after she got off the ferry at Larne or to the location her body was found. DNA evidence did not match the suspect and there was a "lack of clarity" from expert evidence. Police have the genetic profile of a man linked to the case, but previous DNA screenings failed to produce a definitive match. A number of years ago, in one of the largest DNA screenings ever undertaken in the UK, 2,000 samples failed to produce a definitive match. In December of 2019, a memorial stone for Inga was erected in Ballypatrick Forest. A documentary, Murder in the Badlands, had been made about the case in 2022 by BBC Northern Ireland, which was later streamed on Netflix. The inquest into Inga Maria Hauser's death was announced in 2024, following a decades-long campaign by her family. A letter enquiring whether the individuals wanted to apply for Properly Interested Person (PIP) status had been drafted but had not yet been sent as there was some uncertainty over the addresses of the two people. Two people have come forward who may hold "relevant information" about the murder of German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser in Northern Ireland almost 40 years ago, the Coroner's Court has been told.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 29, 2026