The killer of the Baja boy confessed, but was allowed to leave freely

For clemency reasons - no motive for the crime was reported.

The killer of Tamás Till made a detailed confession, but he cannot be punished, as he was still a minor at the time of the crime committed twenty-four years ago, so his criminality expired after fifteen years - announced at Tuesday's press conference Chief Commissioner Attila Petőfi and Gyula Bogdány, Bács-Kiskun County Police. head of the criminal department of the headquarters.

Tamás Till, who was 11 years old at the time of the events, disappeared in Baja on May 28, 2000, after going to a children's day event on his bicycle with his parents' permission.

The boy was searched for a long time as missing, and then this year the police received the information from the Bács-Kiskun County Prosecutor's Office that Tamás Till was killed twenty-four years ago. The information also included that the body was encased in concrete in a workshop on a farm near Baja.

The research yielded results, and the genetic examination of the remains confirmed that Tamás Till had been found, but it was also proven that his death was caused by severe abuse. The farm belonged to an entrepreneur who regularly employed students from a vocational school in Baja.

The police interviewed several witnesses, among them János F., who told the investigators that his former partner, Róbert K. - with whom he often worked at the contractor, József V. - told him that he helped to encase the dead boy in concrete after the older man threatened her and then gave her money to keep quiet.

The investigators could not interview Róbert K. and József V. because they had both committed suicide earlier. V. József was questioned after the boy's disappearance only because Tamás Till's bicycle was found near his farm.

The police already held a press conference on the case in August, at which time the authorities had not yet ruled out the involvement of Róbert K. and József V. At the event on Tuesday, Attila Petőfi explained the history and the latest developments in the investigation.

Gyula Bogdány told the staff of the press that new witnesses were questioned, among them the former teachers and educators of Róbert K. and János F., who described the deceased young man as an organized teenager who planned his future, while János F. was more careless and impulsive.

According to the lieutenant colonel's report, the special technique of witness interviews brought the result, the circle of possible perpetrators narrowed, and then János F. admitted his actions.

In his detailed testimony, the currently forty-year-old entrepreneur living in Budapest said that on May 28, 2000, he was working for József V. on the farm when he went outside to smoke. Just then, Tamás Till arrived on his bicycle, whom he addressed and called to help him.

The friendly boy followed F. János, who lured him into a shed, and then beat him to death with a carpenter's staple, as he said in his testimony, beating him as long as he lived. He buried the body and covered it with a tarpaulin in the workshop where he and János V. and Róbert K. were preparing to make concrete. The latter did not notice what had happened, and János F. clarified in his testimony that the two men never knew that a murder had taken place on the farm.

Attila Petőfi explained that since 1993, the criminality of manslaughter has not been statute-barred for adults, but for juveniles, a maximum sentence of fifteen years can be imposed, which in the Tamás Till case expired in 2015, so János F. was not suspected, he was a witness in the investigation , and was free to leave the police station.

The major general did not report the motive of the crime to the media's interest - for reasons of mercy.

Tamás Till was buried last week, the police informed his parents at the same time as the press conference in Budapest that they had found their son's killer, but the culprit could not be punished.

MTI

Cover photo: Tamás Till's photo on a flyer Photo: BorsOnline