German police say they have detained a 69-year-old woman in the southern German town of Künzelsau, not far from Stuttgart,  after a 7-year-old boy whom she had been babysitting overnight in her house was found lying dead in a bathtub.

The woman was arrested on Saturday evening after a short police search and has since been remanded in custody.

The boy had been spending the night with the woman as he had done many times before. When his parents came to pick him up on Saturday morning, no one came to the door. They used a neighbor's key to enter the house, where the father discovered his son dead in the bath.

Trusting relationship

Police say marks on the throat showed that the boy was very probably strangled to death before being put in the bath.

The babysitter, who had initially disappeared, was found after a search involving a helicopter and tracking dogs, police said.

The boy's family said he had often been in the babysitter's care in the past five years and had always been happy to stay in her house, having enjoyed a "trusting" relationship with her.

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