Mariya Nakovska

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

Halle, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

Summary:

On February 6, 2014, 29-year-old Mariya Nakovska from Bulgaria went jogging on the Peißnitz in Halle, Germany. She was raped and then strangled. Her body was found around 1 PM the next day in the Mühlgraben, a tributary of the Saale River, and she had been thrown into the water. The case remains unsolved, with investigations officially ending in March 2018.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

On the evening of February 6, Mariya Nakovska left her dormitory at Campus Weinberg in Kurt-Mothes-Straße and began her regular jogging route around the Peißnitz recreational area. She wore a pink running shirt and a dark quilted jacket. She was jogging with headphones in her ears listening to music via a radio app on her phone, which she opened at 9:36 PM, likely when she started her run. An unknown attacker ambushed her. The assault occurred on a dark winter evening around 10 PM on an unnamed path between the Mühlgraben and the university sports field, where the attacker knocked her to the ground and pulled her jogging pants and underwear down to her knees. She was raped and then strangled. Her body was discovered around 1 PM on February 7 in the Mühlgraben.

Additional Details:

On February 12, 2014, following autopsy, police determined the case was a homicide and identified the victim. Mariya was a business and Russian studies student who was working on her bachelor's degree. She had lived in Halle in student housing for approximately eight years. After autopsy and thorough crime scene analysis, cell phone records of everyone logged into towers near the crime scene at the time, and DNA testing of over 3,000 men, the perpetrator remained unidentified. DNA traces were found on her phone and fingerprints on the back of it that could not be matched to Mariya, her friends, or known associates. Her pink headphones and phone were found in the bushes. Her apartment key with a distinctive purple Milka rabbit keychain and a Pimkie ribbon was missing. In September 2014, the German television program Aktenzeichen XY aired the case. During the televised appeal, seven tips came in at police headquarters and two more were sent to the producers, but after initial review, none contained the decisive lead. The 13-member task force 'Neuwerk' of the criminal police was dissolved on August 7, 2015. In March 2018, the state prosecutor ended the investigation, as all investigative leads had been exhausted. The investigation produced results from 4,650 person interviews and 135 witness examinations, 2,485 saliva samples, and insights from a criminal profiler. All evidence suggested Mariya was a random victim. Cell phone data from the crime scene showed several phones belonging to users no longer in Germany.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 27, 2026