Man accused of assaulting Americans near King Ludwigs castle in Germany detailed moments before attack
A woman who lives in Thailand connected months ago with a Michigan man while playing an online video game.
They quickly struck up a friendship and chatted every day.
Those conversations came to an end on the afternoon of June 14 — the day Troy Bohling, 30, of Lincoln Park, Michigan is accused of sexually assaulting and killing one woman and injuring another in Germany.
Chanidtha Khumpuok said she is shocked to learn the man she knew online is now accused of choking and pushing two women down a steep ravine near a castle known for its fairytale appearance.
It was less than an hour beforehand that Bohling sent her several selfies in an online chat — photos resembling the very area he was arrested, wearing the same clothing he had on when police took him into custody.
In a chat log shared with The News-Herald, Khumpuok and Bohling began talking that day like any other day. Both said good morning to one another.
Bohling then told her about a dream he had.
“I had a dream that I was sleeping in the room and wanted to open the window to get a breeze but it was too loud outside,” he said. “And for most of it I was watching my body and not in my body … if that makes sense.”
A few minutes later, Bohling said he was getting ready to head out and would message later.
Once he arrived near the castle, he sent a message with a mountainous photo, showing where he had parked.
At 6:53 p.m. Thailand time, which is 1:53 p.m. Germany time, he sent several more photos, mostly selfies of himself smiling from different vantage points of his walk up.
“I climbed it,” he wrote. “It went about 100 meters up, only tree roots and branches for steps/grabbing.”
The last photo he sent was of two people kneeling in a small area that provided an overlook of the castle. He captioned it: “And now I get to sit here and look at these 2 try to get the perfect insta.”
Those details eerily mirror parts of the account police gave of that deadly day.
Lincoln Park man arrested in Germany after two hiking women thrown down ravine, one dies
According to German police, the incident occurred at about 2:40 p.m. June 14 at a viewpoint near the Marienbrucke, a bridge over a gorge close to the castle that offers a famous view of Neuschwanstein.
Bohling allegedly met the women on a hiking path and lured them down a trail that was difficult to see, but he said offers a romantic view of a historic German castle.
The women are identified as 22-year-old Kelsey Chang and 21-year-old Eva Liu, both from Illinois. They are friends who were visiting Germany after graduating from the University of Illinois.
“The younger of the two women was attacked by the suspect,” police spokesman Holger Stabik told the Associated Press. “The older one tried to rush to her aid, was then choked by the suspect and subsequently pushed down a slope.”
Police said Bohling is suspected of sexually assaulting Liu before pushing her down the ravine.
Chang’s fall reportedly was caught by a tree branch and she suffered cuts and bruises. Officials said she likely also would have died had the branch not stopped her from further falling.
Liu was flown to a hospital via helicopter and died the following day. Chang was released from the hospital on Saturday, according to German media.
After the attack, Bohling left the immediate area, but was located and arrested after a large police response. He was seen walking out of the area in police custody.
Police said a judge has ordered Bohling held in jail pending a potential indictment — a process that can take months. Police are pursuing murder, attempted murder and sexual offense charges against Bohling.
At Neuschwanstein, there was a rescue of multiple people from a helicopter and one was taken out in handcuffs, seemingly after they fell from a cliff and climbed over railings. pic.twitter.com/yVGqqSRlwX
— Eric Abneri (@thefrownyface) June 14, 2023
Who is Troy Bohling?
During their many chats, Khumpuok, who is Asian, said Bohling told her that Asian women were his type. Both of the women he’s accused of assaulting are Asian.
Khumpuok said the Bohling she knew is a workaholic with a strict schedule. It’s unknown why he was in Germany or how long he had been there.
Khumpuok described Bohling as someone who didn’t have many friends because he was too logical and very private.
“He doesn’t have much interactions with people in real life,” she said. “He is quiet. He loves cats more than people, he said.”
That matches a neighbor’s description, saying he was known for walking his cat on a leash in his Lincoln Park backyard.
Former classmates remember Bohling as a quiet kid.
“He kept to himself,” said Shelby Prater, who went to middle and high school with Bohling. “He was in band, and I want to say maybe drama club, as well.
“He was never like overly creepy, but never really very friendly, either. I can’t say I would have ever expected this, but I also haven’t heard anything of or about him since school.”
Prater added Bohling was not much of a conversationalist.
“I remember he was intelligent, but very few friends, and just not the kind of person you’d go out of your way to have a conversation with, especially if you had known him for a while, because it never went anywhere,” she said. “He was a bit odd and very closed off, but never rude, never seemed like an angry kid, and never showed any violent tendencies that I can recall. But definitely odd.”
Brittany Tyslicki, who went to high school with Bohling, said she didn’t know him well and is shocked by what he is charged with. She remembered him as being a quiet guy who played in the band.
“From talking to other classmates, they say the same thing — he was just quiet,” she said. “Nothing spectacular happened at school involving him. He was just a classmate. … I would’ve never thought this could or would happen.”
Media frenzy
Since news of the crime broke in Michigan identifying Bohling as the suspect, media from inside and out of the country have converged on his Lincoln Park neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking neighbors questions about him.
He shared a house with his brother and, from all accounts, they seemed to have been good neighbors.
His next-door neighbor, only willing to give her first name, Donna, said a reporter from an international publication was pacing in front of the house, which drew concern for her and another neighbor.
She said he sat on her porch for three hours waiting for someone to come out of Bohling’s house.
Once his brother emerged, she said, he was met with questions with a camera pointed in his direction.
“The reporter told me what was going on, but I didn’t believe him,” Donna said. “He said, ‘Do you recognize this man?’ and he showed me a picture. I said, ‘Yes, that’s my neighbor.’ I just thought he’s got the wrong person. But, that was his picture.”
Donna said she and her neighbor searched the internet to find out what actually happened and said it was frightening to discover someone so close in proximity could be accused of such a crime of that magnitude.
“I have nothing to say about him personally because we never spoke,” Donna said. “I spoke with (his brother) who is still there. He’s a very friendly man, but I never spoke with Troy. He came and went, came and went. Sometimes he would be gone for three weeks at a time. I’m still in shock to tell you the truth.”
Donna said she feels compassion for Bohling’s relatives who have come under attack online, but aren’t suspected of doing anything wrong.
The News-Herald attempted to contact several of Bohling’s relatives for comment, but none responded.
Donna said all of this brings home a point for her.
“You really think you know somebody, but you never really do because this is a shocker,” she said.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/XWjFMDg
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