German police may have missed a vital tipoff in the search for a missing boy, about six months before he was found hiding in a convicted pedophile's cupboard. The year-old boy, who had been missing for two years, was discovered on Friday in the Recklinghausen home of a year-old man formerly convicted on child porn charges. However, police were informed the boy may have been in the man's house in July during a public appeal for information, Germany's top-selling daily Bild reported on Tuesday.
Recklinghausen police spokesman Andreas Wilming-Weber told Bild that Duisburg police asked for information from the public in July on the television program Aktenzeichen XY. The long-running show is used by police to canvass for tips on unsolved cases.
Now, the question is how this was processed," Wilming-Weber told the paper. Read more: Germany: Missing teenager found in suspected pedophile's closet. Wilming-Weber said that the Duisburg police were investigating whether police had properly followed up on this lead.
The Duisburg police admitted to Bild that a mistake had been made. Spokesman Stefan Hausch told the paper: "We have been made aware that there was a tipoff after the broadcast.
That was the reason we [requested help on the show, broadcast nationwide]. We cannot yet say why the tip was mishandled. An member investigation commission has reportedly been tasked with the case over the Christmas holidays. Read more: Germany plans to use fake child porn to snare pedophiles. The boy went missing from a youth welfare institution in and was not seen again until he was discovered, hidden in the cupboard of the man identified only as Lars H.
