A man has been arrested after a severed head was left on the steps of a German court.
Witnesses called police early Tuesday night after seeing the man placing the body part outside the main entrance to Bonn District Court.
German police said a body they believe belonged to the decapitated head was found a few hundred meters further near the Rhine River.
The suspect, a 38-year-old man from Bonn, was arrested after being found near the courthouse.
Police said the detained man is known to officers, especially for drug crime.
The victim has not yet been identified, but it is suspected that he is a 44-year-old man, according to the German newspaper General Anzeiger.
Investigators said initial inquiries indicate that both the suspect and victim were homeless.
No weapon has been found yet.
Police said no suspicious activity was reported in the area, and they are looking for witnesses.
“The background to the crime is still unclear,” said General Anzeiger, police spokesman Robert Scholten.
“So far we have only two places. The route taken by the suspect is also not known. At the moment we can only describe the scene. “
Images taken at the scene on Bonn’s Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz show police vans blocking the road while a blanket hid the head from view.
Bonn Police said in a statement: “At around 17:35 witnesses informed the police control center that a human head was lying in front of the Bonn courthouse on Wilhelmstrasse.
“After the first arriving police forces confirmed this initial report, a suspect was identified and arrested in the immediate area.
“Much later, further investigations led to the discovery of a corpse in the vicinity of the old customs.
“The suspect is a 38-year-old man who is especially known to the police for drug crime. The victim has not yet been identified.
“According to the first investigations, both the suspect and the victim can be assigned to the homeless scene. A possible instrument of the crime has not yet been found. “