The search for the missing Arian (6) remains unsuccessful. About a month after the autistic boy disappeared, there is still no trace. All news for searching in the ticker.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 7:13 a.m.: Six-year-old Arian from Bremervörde-Elm in Lower Saxony remains missing. There was no new evidence of the autistic boy, a police spokesman said on Wednesday. He did not provide any information about new searches. According to current plans, an investigative group of five officers will work for two months and gradually work through the existing information. Arian has been missing since April 22nd. Emergency services and helpers searched for the boy day and night for around a week. At times up to 1200 people were involved.
Villages, meadows and forests were combed. The Oste River was traveled several times by boat, and drones and helicopters repeatedly flew over the rural region. Then the police, in consultation with the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, decided to stop the search. In mid-May, police searched for Arian again for two days.
Police have several hypotheses about what might have happened to Arian. According to previous information from investigators, it is most likely that Arian had an accident without anyone else’s involvement. The fact that the emergency services found small footprints on the Oste, which probably came from Arian, speaks against a criminal case.
Tuesday, May 21st, 1:54 p.m.: Four weeks after the disappearance of six-year-old Arian from Bremervörde-Elm in Lower Saxony, investigators are continuing to investigate the case. A police spokesman said this. On April 29, a week after the search began, the police set up an investigation team. The police are currently planning for the group to operate for two months. It consists of five officials. The duration of the operation can be adjusted. The spokesman initially did not provide any information about new searches.
Arian has been missing since April 22nd. Emergency services and helpers searched day and night for the autistic boy for around a week. At times up to 1200 people were involved. They combed through villages, meadows and forests. The Oste River, which flows past Elm, has been sailed several times by boat. Drones and helicopters repeatedly flew over the rural region. Then the police, in consultation with the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, decided to stop the search. In mid-May, police searched for Arian again for two days. Elm is located between Bremerhaven and Hamburg.
The new search has led to the police receiving more information again, said the police spokesman. Tips were received from various parts of Germany and also from abroad, for example from Austria. The spokesman said that his colleagues had a “mountain of clues.” The investigators worked through these little by little.
The last time emergency services went down the Oste River on boats was last Thursday, and several search dogs were also used. A helicopter flew down the river. There were also divers available that the police could have used. No searches were planned for Friday or the weekend.
The police have put forward several hypotheses as to what happened to Arian. The most likely hypothesis, according to investigators, is that Arian had an accident without any outside involvement. According to the spokesman, what speaks against a criminal case is that the emergency services found small footprints on the Oste. These probably come from Arian. However, it is not possible to identify them with certainty.
Friday, May 17th, 12:15 p.m.: Even after another search in Lower Saxony, the missing Arian remains missing. A search for the six-year-old boy was carried out until late Thursday afternoon, but the search was “unsuccessful,” a police spokesman said on Friday. There were no new clues and the questioning of people in several towns near Arian’s home village of Bremervörde-Elm remained fruitless.
No search operations are planned for Friday or the weekend, but the investigative group is continuing to work: “We’re staying tuned, we’re going to carry on,” emphasized the spokesman.
On Thursday, emergency services drove down the Oste River on boats, and several search dogs were also on duty. A helicopter flew down the river. There were also divers available that the police could have used. Near the Oste, a tributary of the Elbe, investigators found footprints that the little autistic person probably left behind.
Arian has been missing since April 22nd and hundreds of emergency services and helpers have been looking for him for about a week. Search operations began again on Wednesday. The “Arian investigative group”, which consists of five officers, is working on the case of the missing boy.
3:50 p.m.: The police will stop the renewed search in Lower Saxony for the missing Arian on Friday. The results of the action should first be evaluated, said a police spokesman. On Thursday, emergency services sailed the Oste River on four boats. Several search dogs were used. A helicopter flew down the river. There were also divers available that the police could have used. Near the Oste, a tributary of the Elbe, investigators found footprints that the six-year-old autistic boy probably left behind.
On Wednesday, police officers spoke to residents in several towns near Arian’s home village of Bremervörde-Elm. According to the spokesman, around every second household was found. The police did not receive any important information. Arian has been missing since April 22nd. The “Arian investigative group,” which consists of five officers, continues to work on the missing person case.
Thursday, May 16th, 3:01 p.m.: On the second day of the new search for the missing six-year-old Arian from Lower Saxony, emergency services are driving down the Oste River again on Thursday. Investigators found footprints near the tributary of the Elbe that the child probably left behind. As a dpa reporter observed, police officers drove on the river with a sniffer dog. Arian, an autistic person, has been missing since April 22nd. Hundreds of emergency services and helpers searched for him for around a week. After a break, search operations began again on Wednesday.
11.34 a.m.: The search for the missing Arian from Bremervörde-Elm in Lower Saxony continued on Wednesday. In the town of Gräpel, which is next to Elm, several police officers were walking around. Police cars could also be seen in the village. As a dpa reporter reported, officers are knocking on doors to talk to residents.
10:30 a.m.: Six-year-old Arian has been missing for more than three weeks. Hundreds of emergency services searched intensively for the boy for a week. Today the search continues. An expert in missing person cases explains what could have happened – and what he would have done differently in the Arian case.
Wednesday, May 15th, 9:51 a.m.: The police will continue to search for six-year-old Arian in northern Lower Saxony today. Teams of investigators, with the support of riot police, will question residents in the communities of Estorf, Hude, Brobergen and Kranenburg, as the police announced on Tuesday. “The aim of this measure is to obtain possible information that has not yet been received by the police.” The investigators are hoping for new insights from residents who were recently on vacation and on video footage from surveillance cameras.
On Thursday, the investigative group says it plans to search the Oste River again, particularly between Arian’s home town of Bremervörde and Kranenburg. Sonar boats will be on the move, and divers and special sniffer dogs will also be used.
The autistic boy has been missing since April 22nd. The police assume that he left his home on his own. For a week, hundreds of emergency personnel and volunteers searched for Arian day and night on land, from the air and in the water. Search dogs, a mounted unit, helicopters, drones, a Tornado aircraft, amphibious vehicles, boats and divers were deployed.
11:48 a.m.: The missing person case involving six-year-old Arian raises numerous questions that investigators have still not been able to clarify. They assume that the boy left the house alone, but to this day they have no trace.
You can read more about the course of events and what theories are circulating around the case here.
Monday, May 13th, 8:10 a.m.: Around three weeks after the disappearance of six-year-old Arian, investigators in northern Lower Saxony want to intensify the search for the autistic child again. “We now don’t understand why the boy isn’t found somewhere,” police spokesman Heiner van der Werp told the German Press Agency on Monday. On the sunny long weekend, many people were out and about along the Oste River.
Another search operation on the river is planned this week. “We will also use technical equipment,” said the spokesman. As a second measure, the residents of the towns near Arian’s home in Bremervörde-Elm will be asked again whether they have made any observations. “It will be a kind of door cleaning,” said van der Werp.
The uncertainty is very stressful for the relatives and everyone involved, said the police spokesman. An accident still seems most likely because Arian left his home alone on the evening of April 22nd. Footage from a private surveillance camera shows the six-year-old running towards the forest. But investigations are underway in all directions, the spokesman said: “We have never ruled out the possibility that he was kidnapped.”
Wednesday, May 8th, 11:08 a.m.: The fate of six-year-old Arian from Bremervörde in northern Lower Saxony remains unclear. As the police announced on Wednesday, the fire brigade and police searched the Oste River from Bremervörde to the Oste estuary into the Elbe on Tuesday. The background was that a woman from southern Germany had seen an object in the water in the live stream of a webcam that shows the Oste at the height of the Osten-Hemmoor transporter bridge. “The woman reacted well,” said the police spokesman. “She contacted the police directly.”
Firefighters then searched the water near the Osten-Hemmoor transporter bridge in the Cuxhaven district. The police also deployed a drone, a special search dog and a police helicopter. The helicopter flew the Oste from Bremervörde to the mouth of the Oste in the Elbe. “It was a search based on the occasion,” explained the police spokesman, who spoke of an unusual tip. But: “We did not find the boy. We do not know what it was,” he said, referring to the object the woman had seen.
The autistic boy has been missing since April 22nd. “We are still investigating in all directions,” said the police spokesman on Wednesday. “It seems most likely that it is an accident,” he said. The boy may have fallen into the Oste River. But there are still many question marks.
Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 7:19 a.m.: A week ago, the police stopped the active search for the missing Arian from Bremervörde in northern Lower Saxony, and there is still no trace of the six-year-old. “It’s a very tough investigation at the moment,” said a police spokesman. “That’s still the big question mark: What really happened?”
The autistic boy was reported missing on April 22nd. Police believe he left home on his own. For a week, hundreds of emergency responders and volunteers searched day and night for Arian – at times using dogs, horses, helicopters, drones, a Tornado plane, amphibious vehicles, boats and diving equipment. At the end of April, the police stopped the active search and a group of five investigators is continuing to work on the case.
“We have not gained any information since then,” admitted the police spokesman. “We are still receiving tips, but they have become significantly fewer.” Some would thank the investigators for their efforts, others would report on their experiences with autistic children and give tips for further searches. A pianist reported on social networks that he had seen the boy. The police also followed up on this tip and searched the area again with dogs, said the spokesman.
The police say they are investigating in all directions. There is therefore no evidence of a crime. Among other things, it is suspected that the child may have fallen into the Oste River. On Sunday, the crew of a police helicopter kept an eye out for the boy during a routine flight to the mouth of the Elbe. But she also discovered no clue to the whereabouts of the six-year-old, said the police spokesman. “We are as smart as ever.”
The spokesman promised that the investigative team would stay on the case. The investigation will continue for at least two months. A colleague from the investigation team is in contact with Arian’s family. “The contact is still very close, even if the family is no longer under police care,” said the police spokesman.
Monday, May 6, 2024, 8:03 a.m.: The police are still in the dark in their search for the missing six-year-old Arian from Bremervörde in northern Lower Saxony. There are no new clues, a police spokesman said on Sunday. Previous clues are being worked through piece by piece, a police spokesman had previously said. The autistic boy was reported missing on April 22. The police assume that he left his home on his own – the authority immediately initiated search measures with hundreds of emergency personnel.
For a week, the emergency services and local volunteers searched day and night for Arian – at times with dogs, horses, helicopters, drones, a tornado plane, amphibious vehicle, boats and diving equipment. The police stopped the active search on Tuesday, and a group of five investigators has continued to work on the case since then.
The police say they are investigating in all directions. There is therefore no evidence of a crime. Among other things, it is suspected that the child may have fallen into the Oste River.
According to a report in the “Bild-Zeitung”, the crew of a police helicopter flew from the boy’s home to the mouth of the Elbe on Sunday morning. A police spokesman told the newspaper that it was a routine flight – the regular water surveillance flight. On the return flight, the helicopter flew the route again, “because it was on the way there anyway. But it is not a targeted search for clues or traces.” According to the report, the flight did not provide any new information.
Read more about the search on the next page.