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Maria Ladenburger – the daughter of a high-ranking EU official – was going home from a party in the German city of Freiburg when she was attacked on a cycle path.

The 19-year-old was raped and drowned in the River Dreisam in a sickening crime that sent shockwaves around the world.

Despite the shocking incident happening on October 16, it was only reported after details were released after cops made an arrest last Friday.

(Image: FACEBOOK)

Police nabbed the suspect – a 17-year-old Afghan migrant who came to the country as an unaccompanied minor – after police found DNA on Maria's scarf.

He pleaded guilty to the crime following his arrest, although prosecutors say he can still change his plea.

Despite the identity of her attacker, her family reportedly requested in her October obituary that people donate cash to a migrant charity in her honour.

Her dad Dr. Clemens Ladenburger – a lawyer for the legal director of the European Commission – and wife Frederica asked mourners to write cheques to “Weitblick Freiburg".

The charity's Facebook page states: "As part of our local commitment in Freiburg itself we are implementing various projects with children and adults living in the refugee center ‘Bissierstraße’.

"We regularly organize activities such as visits to the theatre, the cinema or to the countryside with them to promote personal and cultural exchange.

"We also connect people to families living in the refugee center through ‘familial sponsorships’, so they can offer special support e.g. with flat-hunting or German bureaucracy."

The horror killing has heaped pressure on German leader Angela Merkel to halt her country's open door policy.

Germany has accepted more than one million migrants since 2015.