A German regional court sentenced a U.S. citizen to life imprisonment Monday following his conviction for rape, physical assault, and murder committed at the iconic Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany, according to multiple reports.
Troy Phillip B., 31, was sentenced after confessing at the start of his trial last month that he was “deeply ashamed” of raping a 21-year-old female American tourist and throwing her and her 22-year-old friend down a gorge last June, The Washington Post reported. B. is reportedly not fully named according to German privacy laws.
B. enticed two women, aged 21 and 22, to leave the main approach to the castle near the popular tourist vantage point known as the Marienbrücke bridge, according to the outlet. He then reportedly shoved the younger woman to the ground to try to rape her. Her friend intervened, but he reportedly threw her into a 165-foot gorge. He then raped the younger woman, strangled her with a belt while filming the abuse and threw her into the gorge as well when two other tourists challenged him, investigators reportedly told the court.
The police combed the area and apprehended the man near the crime scene, The Washington Post reported. The police also reportedly transported the two women to a hospital, where the rape victim died.
A tree broke the older woman’s fall, helping her survive, a video showed, FOX 32 Chicago reported.
German authorities are unlikely to grant parole to the man after 15 years — the least number of years a person sentenced to life may serve before becoming considered for parole — because of the “particular severity” of the crime, the presiding judge ruled, The Washington Post reported. (RELATED: US Citizen Indicted For Allegedly Throwing Two Tourists Off Cliff, Raping And Killing One In Germany)
The man was fully identified as Troy Phillip Bohling of Lincoln Park, Michigan, according to Daily Mail. The deceased victim was reportedly Eva Liu and Liu’s friend was identified as Kelsey Chang. Both women are from Illinois, the outlet reported.
Both women had just graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before embarking on the ill-fated trip to Germany, according to FOX 32 Chicago. The suspect reportedly might have stayed at the same hotel with the women and rode the bus with them.
He lured them to a spot that appeared to offer a superior sightline of the castle and where visitors often took “romantic” selfies, according to the Daily Mail.
German prosecutors reportedly said the suspect would not be extradited to the U.S. for trial.
“I’m shocked what he’s been accused of, I’m scared he may have done stuff here and no one has figured it out yet,” a neighbor of the man told the Daily Mail.
The 19th-century Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria famously inspired Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle, according to The Washington Post. It also is called the Cinderella Castle, FOX 32 Chicago reported.