Justice served after nearly 4 decades in the Bergkamener cold case homicide trial.
In a groundbreaking development, the Regional Court of Dortmund delivered a verdict on a decades-old murder case on August 8, 2025. The victim, 67-year-old pensioner Josef Milata, was brutally murdered in his apartment in Bergkamen in 1986.
New clues were discovered in Dortmund cold cases two years ago, leading the Public Prosecutor's Office to reopen the case and file charges. The DNA of the 57-year-old man, who was convicted of the crime, was secured at the crime scene.
The accused, who was 18 years old at the time of the crime, denied the crime until the end. He claimed to be in the victim's apartment at the time but did not kill him. The court, however, found his denial unbelievable.
At the time of the murder, the victim's foster son found him dead in the kitchen. A reporter on site provided additional information for this report.
The court assumes that there was a second perpetrator, as corresponding DNA traces were secured at the crime scene. However, the search results do not provide detailed information on the second perpetrator.
The conviction was according to juvenile law, as the accused was a minor at the time of the crime. The verdict was broadcast on television in "Local time from Dortmund" and on the radio on the website 2.
Bernd, who does not want to give his full name, was present at the verdict on Friday at the Regional Court of Dortmund and had not expected the case to be solved. He shared his thoughts, "It's a relief to finally have some closure after all these years."
A video report titled "Final sprint in the Cold Case of Josef Milata | video" is also available, providing further insights into the case. There are additional reports available on this topic, including "New clues in Dortmund cold cases | audio" and "Cold case investigators in Dortmund: New clues on old murder cases | more with audio and video".
The course of events could not be fully reconstructed, but there are two possible scenarios. The search results do not provide detailed information on the second perpetrator identified in the cold case murder of Josef Milata in Dortmund. If you have access to more detailed news or legal documents about the case, those might contain the information you seek.
The local news and general-news programs covered the recent verdict in the 1986 cold case murder of Josef Milata in Dortmund, Germany, and discussed the conviction of an 18-year-old perpetrator under juvenile law. Crime-and-justice news outlets also reported on the other DNA traces found at the crime scene, suggesting a second unidentified perpetrator. Listeners and viewers can find more detailed information about this case in various news reports, such as "Final sprint in the Cold Case of Josef Milata | video," "New clues in Dortmund cold cases | audio," and "Cold case investigators in Dortmund: New clues on old murder cases | more with audio and video."
