Posted on 05/15/2008 3:19:39 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick
VIENNA, May 14, 2008 (AFP) - An Austrian man has confessed to hacking his wife, daughter, parents and father-in-law to death with an axe, leaving the bodies strewn at locations throughout the country, police said Wednesday.
The bodies of the 39-year-old man's family were discovered in Vienna, Linz and Ansfelden after he turned himself in to the police in the early hours of Wednesday, Vienna police said in a statement.
His 42-year-old wife and his seven-year-old daughter were found in their flat in the well-to-do area of Hietzing in the Austrian capital, where the man was believed to have killed them early Tuesday.
The wife's body was found in the bedroom, while the daughter was found in her own room, partly covered by a blanket, Austrian television reported.
The bodies of his parents were found in Ansfelden, 180 kilometres (112 miles) west of Vienna, and of his father-in-law a few kilometres further north, in the city of Linz.
They were believed to have been killed on Tuesday evening.
The man, who gave his occupation as a self-employed public relations consultant, told police he decided to turn himself in after unsuccessfully trying to hang himself.
He said he wanted to spare his family the shame of being saddled with debt after he lost large sums of money he had borrowed from them -- reportedly some 300,000 euros (462,000 dollars) -- in a series of risky investments.
Investigators found letters of explanation next to the bodies of the victims. The axe has also been recovered.
The suspect, who is in custody under constant surveillance in case he makes another suicide attempt, was "calm, collected and showing no emotion," investigator Thomas Stecher told AFP.
Stecher said that the suspect had clearly planned the murders in cold blood, given the amount of time between the first two killings at around 7:30 am (0530 GMT) and the other three at around 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) and the 360-kilometre round trip between the different crime scenes.
Austria is still trying to come to terms with another horrific crime that came to light two weeks ago when it was revealed that a 73-year-old man had held his daughter as a sex slave for 24 years, repeatedly raping her and forcing her to bear seven children from that abuse.
Evil. Just plain evil.
Family values seem to be declining in Austria.
What is up with Austria lately? lol. First the loon who kept his daughter in the basement for 30 years and now this guy...
Yep. Too bad the his attempt on his own life failed. :-(
If he admits his guilt in court he may not see the light of day for, 10-12 years.
Makes you wonder if he would have ever been caught if he did not turn himself in? Maybe these crimes are not so rare in Austria, just unreported.
/johnny
A NY Times contributor said at least Austria could be proud of a filmmaker like Michael Haneke or a writer like Elfriede Jelinek, but watching his films, including one based on a novel of hers, is the sort of thing that would lead someone to hold people captive in a basement or dismember them.
This only looks like a set of atrocities to the untrained observer. Some members of SCOTUS and of the California Supremes know that this fellow’s behavior is a basic human right awaiting “constitutional” affirmation by elitist judges.
Is there something in the water over there? But then, this is the same nation of people who essentially supported Adolph Hitler.
I blame it on their Austrian Governor ;-)
They should ban axes in Austria.
While we are at it, we need to sue the crap out of the scumbag profiteer that made that axe. How does that guy sleep at night, knowing that axe was used to hack up perfectly good Austrians?
They should kill that axe manufacturer for making that axe. While they are at it, if you buy an axe somewhere else, and bring it into Austria, well they should find somebody with a gun and shoot that guy. Now, you may have to go all the way to Indiana, USA to find a guy with a gun, and fly him to Austria to shoot that guy, but I think it would be worth it.
And buy all means we should cover the carbon credits for the flight out of public funds.
That’s what I think. My pachoulli incense pyramid is burning kind of low, and I have a tantric yoga class to go to, so I gotta run.
They should ban axes in Austria.
LOL. Good one!
That profession is tough to hack.
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