Torn-Up Doctor's Note Found in Co-Pilot's Home

Andreas Lubitz may have been treated for depression
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 27, 2015 4:58 AM CDT
Updated Mar 27, 2015 7:39 AM CDT
'Significant Find' Made at Co-Pilot's Home
Investigators carry boxes from the apartment of Germanwings airliner jet co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, in Duesseldorf, Germany yesterday.   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Police last night searched Germanwings co-pilot's Andreas Lubitz's apartment in Duesseldorf, Germany, and the home he shared with his parents in the small town of Montabaur, removing boxes of possessions and what one investigator called a potentially "significant clue" that will be taken for testing, reports the BBC. German prosecutors later announced that they found medical documents in the 27-year-old's home that indicate "an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment," reports the AP. Prosecutor Ralf Herrenbrueck further said that torn-up sick notes for the day of the crash "support the current preliminary assessment that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and colleagues." It's not clear if the notes and the "clue" are the same.

Herrenbrueck says no suicide note or evidence of any political or religious motivation for Lubitz's actions were uncovered. An unconfirmed report in Germany's Bild newspaper stated that Lubitz was diagnosed with a "severe depressive episode" in 2009 and had to repeat flying classes because of depression. The German paper says Lubitz was having relationship problems with his girlfriend, and police are looking into whether he was having a "personal life crisis," the Guardian reports. So far, airline chiefs have said only that there "was a lengthy interruption in his training" six years ago and he passed all subsequent checks with "flying colors," reports Reuters. (More Andreas Lubitz stories.)

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