Mother and daughter

Neighbor of murder victims: “Can’t be dead”

The crime took place in this house.

(Bild: klemens groh)

Horrific act of bloodshed in a Viennese apartment: just two days after the torture murder in a drug bunker, a mother and her 13-year-old daughter were found beaten to death. The husband has disappeared.

She didn't answer her cell phone, didn't respond to any messages and was offline on WhatsApp. And that was hours before the police broke down the door to apartment number 50 in Erdbergstraße at 7 a.m. on Friday after Claudia R.'s mother raised the alarm. She was unable to reach her daughter or her 13-year-old grandson. And certainly not the little girl's father. What the officers discovered was hell: two lifeless people. Mother and daughter. They had been beaten to death.

Father of murdered girl in hiding
"By whom?" asked neighbors at the "Krone" local inspection Friday afternoon. Police press spokesman Philipp Haßlinger was also unable to provide an answer. "A manhunt is underway," he said tersely. The rest is the subject of the investigation - Claudia's husband and father of the 13-year-old is currently nowhere to be found.

I was scared, I slept badly. I knew something wasn't right.

Freundin und Nachbarin der Mordopfer

Judith, a long-time friend of the family, just stands there - in the courtyard of the apartment building - and can't put her grief, anger and rage into words. She cries and takes sedatives. Christian R. was her tax consultant, Claudia her friend, after she had rented the murder victim's second home. "We have a great house community here. Everyone helps everyone. Everyone likes each other. We've always helped each other," she says. There is said to have never been any aggression in this house. Especially not in "House" R., adds Judith - "at least not outwardly."

"I felt it"
And yet two people died (the exact time of death has yet to be determined) in apartment number 50.

(Bild: Sandra Ramsauer)

"I felt it," says Judith. Even the night before. "I was scared, I slept badly. I knew something wasn't right. There was this queasy feeling." She couldn't believe what had happened. "We've been friends for 15 years. She and the little girl can't be dead."

She couldn't reach Claudia on her cell phone, nor her husband Christian. "He was kind of weird last week. I wanted an appointment, he just said 'yes, sometime' in a short voice." Whatever. The manhunt for a double murderer is in full swing. What remains is the question: who could kill a mother and her daughter in cold blood?