The Bergkamener cold case verdict is finally handed down, 37 years following the act of violence.
In a significant development, a 57-year-old man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the murder of pensioner Josef Milata, which occurred nearly 40 years ago in Bergkamen, Germany. The verdict was delivered by the Dortmund Regional Court on August 8, 2025.
The murder of Josef Milata had remained a cold case for many years until it was reopened by the Dortmund Public Prosecutor's Office two years ago. The victim, who was in his early 60s at the time of the crime, was found stabbed and strangled in his apartment.
The case, which has been covered extensively in "Local Time from Dortmund" on both television and radio, took a dramatic turn when DNA traces corresponding to a second perpetrator were found at the crime scene. However, no publicly available information identifies a second suspect, indicating either an unsolved aspect of the case or limited documentation in accessible sources.
The defendant, who was 18 years old at the time of the crime, was sentenced under juvenile law. He maintains his innocence, claiming he was in the victim's apartment but did not commit the murder. The court, however, deemed his account unbelievable.
The sequence of events could not be fully reconstructed, but the court presented two possible scenarios. The DNA of the convicted man was secured at the crime scene at the time of the murder.
Bernd, the foster son of the victim, was present at the verdict on Friday at the Dortmund Regional Court. The reporting on this case will be updated on the website until August 8, 2027.
Additional reporting on the topic can be found in "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 motive for the murder, according to Nesrin Öcal, spokesperson for the Dortmund Regional Court, was greed.
This article was written by Catherine Jaspard. For further investigation into this cold case, one might consider checking local German police archives, news reports from that period, or contacting investigative journalism outlets that specialize in cold cases.
The recent sentencing of a 57-year-old man for the murder of Josef Milata, a cold case that remained unsolved for decades, has sparked renewed interest in general-news and crime-and-justice topics. Despite the conviction of one perpetrator, the identity of a second suspect remains unknown, adding a layer of intrigue to this gripping politics story.
