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Murder of Emilie Meng

SOLVED2016Korsør, Denmark3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

Emilie Anine Skovgaard Meng, 17, disappeared in the early hours of 10 July 2016 after a night out with friends in Slagelse, Denmark. She and her friends arrived at Korsør railway station around 4 a.m., and Meng set off to walk home alone; she never arrived, and she never appeared at a local church where she was expected to sing later that morning.

Her disappearance prompted a highly publicized search. Volunteers hung missing-person posters across the country, and hundreds of people joined the police effort. Early tips led investigators to question and release three suspects, including a 33-year-old truck driver and a 67-year-old man whose home was searched five times. After roughly four months, police said they were working from three theories: that Meng had run away, been involved in an accident, or been the victim of a crime.

On 24 December 2016 — 168 days after she went missing — Meng's body was found in a lake at Regnemarks Bakke, near Borup in Køge Municipality. Police cordoned off the site, and at a press conference the following evening announced that she had been the victim of a very serious crime. A post-mortem determined she had been strangled. A memorial service was held at Korsør Station on 26 December, attended by several hundred people, including Slagelse's mayor. Meng's funeral took place on 19 January 2017 at St. Povl's Church in Korsør, and she was buried in Korsør Church cemetery.

In June 2017, police released a technical analysis of surveillance footage from Korsør Station showing a car — assessed by an expert as most likely a Hyundai i30, 2011–2016 model — near the station at about 4:07 a.m. on the night Meng disappeared. By then investigators had interviewed roughly 650 people, filed close to 2,000 reports, and compared about 400,000 vehicles against phone records, without identifying a suspect.

The case broke open nearly seven years later. On 15 April 2023, a 13-year-old girl disappeared in Kirkerup, in Slagelse Municipality, after finishing a newspaper delivery round; she was found alive the next day at a house in Svenstrup, Korsør, where a 32-year-old marketing manager, Philip Patrick Westh, was arrested. Two other people who had also been arrested were released the same day. Westh was charged over the Kirkerup case, and police were reported to have seized a white Hyundai i30 he had sold to a family in Slovakia in 2016 — the same model sought in the original Meng investigation. On 26 April 2023, police charged Westh with Meng's murder as well as an unsolved November 2022 crime in Sorø, confirming he had been among roughly 1,450 people whose DNA police had collected in 2016, though the sample recovered at the time had been too degraded to produce a result.

A court-ordered ban on publishing Westh's name was lifted in April 2024. At trial, which began 14 May 2024 at Næstved Court House, he admitted charges related to the 13-year-old but pleaded not guilty to Meng's murder and to charges involving a 15-year-old student in Sorø. In June 2024, Westh was found guilty of Meng's murder and of abducting two other girls, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He withdrew a planned appeal in late 2025 and, in May 2026, confessed to Meng's murder.

Key facts

Victims
Emilie Meng
Date
2016
Location
Korsør, Denmark
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 1998-07-31

    Emilie Anine Skovgaard Meng is born.

  2. 2016-07-10

    Meng, 17, disappears after leaving Korsør railway station on foot alone in the early hours, having arrived there with friends around 4 a.m. following a night out in Slagelse; she never arrives at a church where she was expected to sing that morning.

  3. 2016-12-24

    Meng's body is found in a lake at Regnemarks Bakke, near Borup in Køge Municipality, 168 days after she went missing.

  4. 2016-12-25

    At a press conference, police announce that Meng had been the victim of a very serious crime.

  5. 2016-12-26

    A memorial service for Meng is held at Korsør Station, attended by several hundred people, including Slagelse's mayor.

  6. 2017-01-19

    Meng's funeral is held at St. Povl's Church in Korsør; she is buried in Korsør Church cemetery.

  7. 2017-06

    Police release a technical analysis of Korsør Station surveillance footage showing a car — assessed as most likely a Hyundai i30, 2011–2016 model — near the station around the time Meng disappeared.

  8. 2023-04-15

    A 13-year-old girl disappears in Kirkerup, Slagelse Municipality, after finishing a newspaper delivery round.

  9. 2023-04-16

    The girl is found alive at a house in Svenstrup, Korsør, where a 32-year-old man is arrested; two other people who had also been arrested are released the same day.

  10. 2023-04-18

    The 32-year-old is arraigned at the Court of Næstved on charges of deprivation of liberty, violence, threats of violence, and rape against the 13-year-old, and pleads partly guilty.

  11. 2023-04-24

    Police are reported to have seized a white Hyundai i30 in Slovakia that the suspect had sold to a family there in 2016 — the same model sought in the 2016 Meng investigation.

  12. 2023-04-26

    Police charge the 32-year-old with Meng's murder and with an unsolved November 2022 crime in Sorø, confirming he had been among roughly 1,450 people whose DNA police collected in 2016, though the sample recovered at the time had been too degraded to produce a result.

  13. 2023-05-09

    The suspect voluntarily agrees to prolong his pre-trial detention.

  14. 2024-04-24

    A court-ordered ban on publishing the suspect's name is lifted, revealing him as Philip Patrick Westh, then 33.

  15. 2024-05-14

    Westh's trial begins at Næstved Court House; he admits charges relating to the 13-year-old but pleads not guilty to Meng's murder and to charges involving a 15-year-old student in Sorø.

  16. 2024-06

    Westh is found guilty of Meng's murder and of abducting two other girls, and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

  17. 2025

    Westh withdraws a planned appeal of his conviction.

  18. 2026-03-05

    A Netflix documentary about the case, A Friend, a Murderer, is released.

  19. 2026-05

    Westh confesses to Meng's murder.

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People

  • Kim Kliver

    LAW ENFORCEMENT

    Police inspector who announced the arrest of the suspect in the 2023 Kirkerup child-abduction case that ultimately led to Meng's murder being solved.

  • Philip Patrick Westh

    CONVICTED

    Marketing manager arrested in April 2023 after a separate child-abduction case in Kirkerup; charged with Meng's murder later that month and convicted in June 2024, receiving a life sentence for her murder along with the abduction of two other girls. He withdrew his appeal in 2025 and confessed to Meng's murder in May 2026.

  • Emilie Meng

    VICTIM

    17-year-old from Korsør, Denmark, who disappeared on 10 July 2016 and was found dead on 24 December 2016; a post-mortem determined she had been strangled.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

Korsør, Denmark

55.3300, 11.1400

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Emilie Meng, 17, disappeared after a night out in Korsør, Denmark, in July 2016 and was found strangled five months later. The case went unsolved for almost seven years until a break in an unrelated 2023 child-abduction case led to the arrest of Philip Patrick Westh, who was convicted of her murder in 2024 and confessed in 2026.
Where did the murder happen?
Korsør, Denmark.
Who was convicted?
Philip Patrick Westh (Marketing manager arrested in April 2023 after a separate child-abduction case in Kirkerup; charged with Meng's murder later that month and convicted in June 2024, receiving a life sentence for her murder along with the abduction of two other girls. He withdrew his appeal in 2025 and confessed to Meng's murder in May 2026.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in Denmark

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICMurder of Emilie MengWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — nyheder.tv2.dknyheder.tv2.dk · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — dr.dkdr.dk · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026