Dieter Inhofer, prosecutor in the southwestern city of Freiburg, said today that the teen asylum-seeker was identified as a suspect based on traffic video from near the crime scene.
Inhofer tells the dpa news agency that DNA evidence has tied the boy to the crime scene. He was living in the area with a family.
The student vanished on her way home from a party early on October 16. Her body was found in a river later that day.
Authorities are trying to determine if he and the young woman knew each other.