American man raped tourist near ‘Cinderella’ castle before pushing her down ravine
An American man has been jailed for life in Germany for raping and murdering a fellow tourist and attempting to murder her friend when she tried to intervene.
Troy Phillip Bohling, 31, befriended Eva Liu, 21, and Kelsey Chang, 22, both also from the US, on a trail to a beauty spot overlooking the famous Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria in June 2023.
He lured them away from the public path claiming he knew a better viewpoint over the 19th-century palace, said to be the inspiration for Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ castle.
After reaching a secluded spot, he pushed Eva to the ground and began stripping her clothes when Kelsey attempted to stop him.
Bohling then pushed Chang down a 165-foot ravine. She survived with a severe head injury after getting caught on a tree branch.
The 31-year-old, then raped Eva, throttled her and threw her down the ravine.
Eva died in hospital later that day. A German court found she would have died from the strangling alone.
Detectives discovered Bohling had filmed himself choking Eva with his belt using his phone, which contained large amounts of violent pornography.
In court, the killer did not deny murder but argued the attack should be deemed non-aggravated, which would have granted him automatic parole after 15 years.
But the judge overseeing his trial said the crime was of ‘severe gravity’, which means a hearing will be held in 2039 to decide how much longer he must stay in prison.
Bohling’s defence team said their client ‘will have to spend definitely 15 years in Germany before he is extradited’ to America.
The killer, who is from Michigan, was not named locally due to Germany’s strict privacy laws around defendants in criminal cases.
He can apply to serve his sentence in the US, but his barristers said they had advised him not to due to German prisons having better conditions.
Eva and Kelsey had been on a ‘trip of a lifetime’ one month after graduating from the University of Illinois with degrees in Computer Engineering.
Eva was described by her alma mater as a ‘a dedicated, academically talented and involved student’.
The mayor of nearby Kempten said the area had ‘never had such an incident’.
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