BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they may have made a breakthrough in their investigation of the mysterious 2001 disappearance of a 9-year-old girl.

Bavarian officials said Friday that a 41-year-old man has told them he buried the remains of Peggy Knobloch, who disappeared on the way home from school and whose remains were found in 2016 in woods in neighboring Thuringia state.

They said he told investigators that another man handed him the girl's body at a bus stop and he claims he tried to revive her, before driving the body away and burying it.

Prosecutor Daniel Goetz said the man is being investigated on suspicion of murder, to which the statute of limitations doesn't apply in Germany, but was released after questioning because there wasn't immediately enough evidence to hold him.