Child Murder Acquittals

"The suspicion remains, but no one should be sentenced on the basis of suspicion alone," Ulrich Chudoba, the trial's judge, said as he was giving his verdict at the end of the three-year trial in Saarbrücken. "In the absence of a body and of material evidence, the accused have the benefit of the doubt."

Despite digging up backyards tearing down walls, no trace of the 5-year-old's body was ever found. He was last seen in the Saarbrücken's Burbach district five years ago.

Prosecutors alleged that he was raped and killed by a group of pedophiles and said they would appeal the ruling.

Woman innocent of organizing pedophile ring

Christa W. was acquitted on charges of luring boys to her bar where they could be abused by some of her customers in exchange for cash. A total of eight men and four women were charged either with direct involvement in or as accessories in to the boy's disappearance.

During the trial, many of the allegations were ruled inadmissible and the key witness later denied their own testimony.

The accounts of Pascal's childhood in Saarbrücken, a poor city near the French border, shocked Germany.