Illinois tourist who survived attack near German castle released from hospital
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The University of Illinois graduate who survived an attack in Germany last week has been released from the hospital.
The other of the two women attacked that day did not survive.
Kelsey Chang, 22, was released from the hospital on Monday. She and Eva Liu, 21, who was from Naperville, were traveling together when they were attacked.
Police in the southeast German state of Bavaria confirmed to CBS News that a U.S. national was arrested in connection with the incident, and Stefan Rinke, the Mayor of Schwangau, in Bavaria, told local media that all three people involved were American.
The women were hiking near Neuschwanstein Castle, which served as the inspiration for the castle in Disney's movie "Cinderella," when they met a 30-year-old man from Michigan who told them to follow him down a trail leading to a secret viewpoint.
When the two women followed him, the suspect attacked Liu, police spokesperson Holger Stabik said. Chang tried to intervene and the man choked her and pushed her down a steep slope. He then attempted to sexually assault Liu, Stabik said, before pushing her down the slope as well.
Both women fell approximately 165 feet.
Rescuers found the women and flew them to the hospital, where Liu died of her injuries. Chang survived the attack – and suffered minor injuries.
The Michigan man was taken into custody.
"The perpetrator at first moved away from the scene of the crime after the assault," Stabik told journalists on Thursday. "Whether this was a classic escape or not is not entirely known. In any case, he was then arrested a short time later by police officers on the basis of a witness tip in the immediate vicinity of the crime."
