2023-08-06 00:05:00
The lifeless body of the Mexican student María Fernanda Sánchez Castañeda, who had been missing for two weeks in Berlin, was found this Saturday in a canal in the German capital.
The police first reported the discovery of a body that matched the characteristics of the 24 year old student. The body was floating in the waters of a canal on the edge of the Adlershof neighborhood in southern Berlin.
Shortly after, the Sánchez Castañeda family confirmed that it was their daughter, who disappeared on july 22. “We appreciate the support and solidarity. We ask for respect for our daughter’s memory, for our mourning and for our privacy,” she said in a statement.
Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said in Twitter: “We will promptly follow up on the investigation of what happened. Our condolences”.
Sánchez Castañeda was in Berlin studying for a master’s degree. The Mexican government had requested a yellow search card from Interpol and support from the German authorities after the disappearance.
The family and colleagues and friends of María Fernanda Sánchez had organized searches for the young woman in BerlinEPA
In their report, the Berlin police indicated that “no third party blame can be assumed”, but added that this is an ongoing investigation.
A few days after the disappearance of the young woman, the German authorities indicated in a statement that there were “indications” that Sánchez Castañeda was going through “an exceptional psychological situation”.
However, his family claimed that she was well and “very happy” about her immediate plans.
“Maffy”, as the young woman was known, he was about to complete a master’s degree in Berlin. Before her disappearance, she had arranged to meet up with her classmates with whom she was working on a project. But before his disappearance, on Saturday, July 22, he canceled his attendance at the meeting.
Her parents, who called her on weekendsthey couldn’t locate it. Two days later they reported that she was missing.
“On Sunday, when we scored, He did not answer us, not even to the messages, and that set off red alarms for us. We wanted to look for her by other means and when we couldn’t, we asked them to open her door and she wasn’t there,” her father, Francisco Javier Sánchez, explained to the Mexican station Tv Azteca.
Police entered his apartment on Büchnerweg and found his cell phone, laptop and other personal belongings. Her parents moved to Berlin to participate in the search. The Latino community in the German capital and local groups joined the localization efforts.
Carolina Castañeda and Francisco Javier Sánchez, the parents of the young woman, participated in search work in BerlinEPA
Despite the fact that the police indicated that María Fernanda Sánchez was going through “an exceptional psychological situation”, her father considers that the young woman was not experiencing a particularly problematic situation.
“For us, as we see it, it is that he has lived in Berlin for more or less 5 months and coming to live alone is not easy for a person. He told us that he missed his family, the country, the food, the life he had there a lot. [en México]”, Francisco Javier Sánchez told the press.
“We have been in conversations with her schoolmates, her friends, and they tell us that she I was very happy all the time, very positive. I was making plans to travel to Spain in a short time ”, he added.
The search tasks had been concentrated in wooded areas of BerlinEPA
This Saturday, a passerby noticed that there was “a body floating in the Teltow canal near the Altglienicker bridge and alerted the police and fire brigade,” the Berlin police reported.
“According to current information, no third-party fault can be assumed. Criminal police investigations are ongoing,” he added.