Petra Pazsitka was 24 when she vanished (Image: Red Tape Crime Files/Youtube)
A woman who was presumed to have been murdered suddenly resurfaced more than three decades after she disappeared without a trace.
Petra Pazsitka, from Braunschweig in northern Germany, was 24 when she was last spotted on July 26, 1984.
On that day, the computer science student attended a dental appointment before boarding a bus at around 3pm to visit her parents in the nearby city of Wolfsburg.
However, she never arrived, and Petra’s case subsequently featured on ‘Aktenzeichen XY’ – the German equivalent of ‘Crimewatch’ – which recreated the young woman’s final movements prior to her disappearance.
Yet no one came forward following the broadcast with any information regarding her whereabouts, reports the Daily Star.
She was found 31 years later (Image: Red Tape Crime Files/Youtube)
The following year, a 19-year-old carpenter’s apprentice named Günter K admitted to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in the same vicinity where Petra was last seen. Two years later, he ‘confessed’ to also killing the university student.
However, her body was never found, and in 1989 she was officially declared dead and the case was closed.
Then, in September 2015, police in Düsseldorf were called to investigate a burglary at the home of a 55-year-old woman.
Officers soon discovered the victim’s original identification documents at the property, prompting her to confess that she had been living under a false identity for over 30 years and was, in fact, Petra Pazsitka.
A police spokesperson said at the time: “She said only a little about the background of her disappearance and why she left back then. She said that she had prepared for it and that she wanted it.”
Petra was just 24 when she vanished (Image: Red Tape Crime Files/Youtube)
Police disclosed the missing student had secretly set aside 4,000 Deutschmarks (£1,500) to finance her plan and handed a neighbouring student her flat keys to look after her pet birds.
Petra’s first destination was a flat in Gelsenkirchen, roughly 150 miles from Braunschweig, where she disappeared beneath the radar and began an entirely new life.
Neighbours in Düsseldorf recalled that she kept herself to herself and had very little contact with those around her. Authorities believed she made ends meet by carrying out work on the black market, though declined to elaborate further.
“Her family is devastated. We are trying to arrange a reunion, but Petra P is adamant that she does not want any contact with them,” a spokesman added.
Last year, Petra spoke with German news outlet Bild, accusing her mum of beating and abusing her as a child. “I was 24, a computer science student in Braunschweig. Smart, quiet, compliant. I didn’t know why I was leaving. I only knew: I had to go,” she said.
A psychiatrist reportedly identified sexual abuse during her childhood, allegations she is unable to prove. Yet she added: “My body knows. I was sold to men too.”
Upon embarking on her new life, Petra adopted the unremarkable alias ‘Susanne Schneider’.
She revealed her work comprised cleaning, teaching and illegal cash-in-hand jobs — she invariably paid for everything in cash and never visited a doctor or took a holiday, terrified of being discovered.
Today she once again lives under her real name and continues to work as a cleaner, with no pension to fall back on. Her sole connection with the outside world is a weekly coffee with a neighbour, adding: “I know how this ends. At the food bank.”
