The shock in the Viennese colleagues is deep: someone from their own ranks is said to have strangled his girlfriend. Did jealousy drive the investigator into an act of violence?
The cell phone of the drug investigator at the State Office of Criminal Investigation in Vienna has been turned off since Wednesday evening, and he left the getaway car near his parents’ house. He himself has apparently gone into hiding with his fully loaded Glock service pistol. Even on the day after the shocking crime in the small community of Deutsch-Brodersdorf in southern Lower Austria near Baden, there is still no trace of the suspected police officer.
The 44-year-old – divorced father of an adult child – and his 43-year-old girlfriend outwardly lived as a harmonious couple in their neat dream house, which they bought together. The inspector’s happiness, a fitness fan, and the pretty, successful woman seemed perfect for many years. But behind the facade, the investigator was apparently ravaged by jealousy. Which now discharged itself in a terrible deed.
An argument and the gloomy premonition on the evening of the crime
On this fateful evening there was apparently another argument in the common four walls. The fact that the relationship was seething dangerously is also supported by the gloomy foreboding of relatives of the woman, who checked that everything was going well – and rebounded in horror in front of her corpse. At this point in time, the former EGS officer (task force to combat street crime) was already over the mountains.
The homicide investigators from the Lower Austrian State Criminal Police Office and the Cobra special unit, including police search teams with dogs, helicopters and drones, are now looking for the suspect from within their own ranks. Even if the fugitive is described by colleagues as helpful but rather reserved and as a quiet loner – “someone who prefers to go home alone after work” – is searched with caution: The police officers wear helmets and bulletproof protective vests.
Insiders assume that he judges himself
In the meantime, it is assumed behind closed doors that the fugitive drug investigator will not face a firefight. Even after the crime he did not try to be shot by colleagues (“suicide by police officers”, English suicide by cop). Insiders are more likely to believe that he has already judged himself.
Since the 44-year-old athlete knows the densely wooded home region like the back of his hand, the search for him could be tedious. For his comrades, that means a rather unpleasant test of nerves …
Acts of violence like the most recent one in Deutsch-Brodersdorf cause shudders overall – if the perpetrator is also a police officer, it becomes even more delicate. And of course it is not the first time that evil has been wearing uniform – the last case was not so long ago and it brings back memories: In the first week of October 2016, a Viennese police officer shot his pregnant partner and strangled his only 20 months later old son. The tragedy at the time was also based on jealousy. Because Daniel L. was repugnant to his girlfriend’s behavior, he made the diabolical decision to get her out of the way. His service weapon had to be used for this – headshot! He killed the young son with his bare hands after preparing breakfast for him. The then 23-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment by a jury.