A young Afghan woman was brutally stabbed and two Slovaks were killed by a Czech.
There have been particularly spectacular murders that have gripped Vienna in the past few weeks. A 29-year-old Slovak construction worker was brutally beaten to death at the end of July while renovating the Julius Tandler train station. A week later, a 29-year-old Afghan woman was found dead in her apartment in Meidling. Her relative had raised the alarm.
After not having any contact with the woman for two days, he got a ladder, leaned it against the wall of the house, climbed up and looked into the apartment through the window. There he saw her lying on the sofa. Obviously unconscious. When the police broke down the door, the woman was already dead. He was killed with more than ten stab wounds in the chest and head.
The culprit was soon caught
Chief Inspector Helmut Fischer from the Vienna State Criminal Police Office gave the details. Police invited the public to a press conference on Wednesday. Because in both cases they proudly announced that the culprits were caught within a short period of time. Abroad. Also, as a result of the investigation, another murder was solved. But more about that later.
Immediately the woman’s husband became suspicious. Two days ago, neighbors heard a loud argument in the apartment. The woman’s husband came to Austria as an asylum seeker 13 years ago. In recent years he worked irregularly as an electrician in the Tenth District. The 29-year-old woman herself had come to Austria three months ago as part of a family reunion.
On the way to Istanbul
Police searched for the husband, but he disappeared without a trace. On questioning the employer, it was revealed that he had already been absent for two days without any reason. An international arrest warrant was immediately issued. Because the assumption goes that he might run home. On the same day, he was arrested at the Berlin airport in Germany. The man was about to leave for Istanbul. The investigation is ongoing and German authorities have not yet extradited the man.
Things are different in the case of the murdered Slovakian who was found in Vienna-Alsgrund on July 23. The suspect is a 33-year-old Czech. He was seen on videos in the hallway under police guard after the body was found. Because the man was a colleague of the murdered man, “it soon became clear that he must be a suspect,” said Colonel Gerhard Winkler, head of the investigative service of the Vienna State Criminal Police Office.
Massive injuries
On the same day, the man was arrested on an international arrest warrant in the Czech Republic – and later deported. Czech law makes this possible. Austria does not send its citizens abroad. The process should be done on site. Man’s Motive: He felt threatened. During one of the discussions there was an argument and it was very big. “The suspect suffered injuries to his arm and leg,” Winkler said.
Then the police noticed something else. A week earlier, on July 16, a man died in the same hotel. A 44-year-old Slovakian fell from a window. He also worked in a construction company. It doesn’t seem to have been noticed then. A witness partially saw the fall. According to the autopsy, the man also showed no signs of struggle. But now the investigating officers have doubts.
He confessed to the second murder
Confronted with the crime, the man also confessed to the murder. This time he felt threatened. But you went to that man with intent to kill. He may have knocked him unconscious at the door. Hence, there are no signs of security and war in the hotel.
During the interview, the man said something about the mafia. Whether this was a security claim or whether the man was suffering from paranoia is currently under investigation. Police say the murders could not have been solved so quickly without good cooperation with the public prosecutor’s office and international counterparts. Deportation also went quickly, as prosecutor Nina Buszek emphasized. By the way, the Czech is innocent in Austria. He had a criminal record in his home country.
