Three teenagers were arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a man was found in a meadow in a residential area in a town in western Germany, authorities said Friday.
The victim, who was experiencing homelesseness, was in his mid-40s, according to local media reports. His body was found Thursday morning by a passerby in Horn-Bad Meinberg, a small town in a rural region of Germany located 170 miles north of Frankfurt.
The suspects — a 14-year-old boy and two 15-year-olds — appeared to have met the victim by chance, prosecutors said.
One of the teens filmed the attack and then circulated the video, Prosecutor Alexander Görlitz said, according to German newspaper Bild.
Two suspects admitted to using violence against the man, Görlitz told German news agency dpa. Investigators recovered a knife near the crime scene, but it’s still not clear if that was the weapon used in the murder.
An autopsy of the victim is expected to be carried out on Friday, authorities said.
A man who said he was a friend of the victim — identified by German media as Thorsten D. — said his friend was a music fan who had recently worked as a steward at a festival in Berlin.
“A good man has died,” he told Bild.
With News Wire Services
