A 33-year-old American man convicted of murdering a 21-year-old tourist at Neuschwanstein Castle is fighting deportation from Germany, arguing he could face the death penalty if returned to the United States. The man pushed two young American women down a roughly 50-metre ravine near the Marienbrücke in June 2023, killing one and injuring the other after raping and strangling the victim. The Kempten regional court sentenced him to life in prison, and the Ostallgäu district authority subsequently issued an expulsion order.
The man has lodged a complaint with the Augsburg administrative court, and a hearing could take place by the end of 2026. Any actual deportation remains decades away: under German law, life sentences with a finding of particular gravity typically require 20 to 25 years before release is considered, and the Kempten public prosecutor has initiated no early deportation review.
Neuschwanstein, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2025, draws millions of visitors annually to southern Bavaria.