Difficult investigation

Janine’s murder: trial starts this Tuesday

A property owner found the young woman's body in the Lustenauer Ried on March 5, 2022.

(Bild: Dietmar Mathis Fotografenmeister)

In March 2022, the body of the 30-year-old was found in Dornbirn Ried. A 28-year-old man is believed to be responsible for the violent death of the dental assistant. The possible motive: the young woman had lent him money, which he did not pay back despite several requests.

Shortly before, Janine G.'s father had reported his daughter missing. A short time later, his life would change in one fell swoop. On October 5, 2022, a property owner found the lifeless body of the young woman from Dornbirn. Dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, she was lying on her back in a drainage ditch in Lustenauer Ried. The autopsy quickly revealed that the dental assistant had been murdered in cold blood!

Police investigations revealed that the young woman had been partying in the second defendant's apartment in Lustenau on the evening of March 2, and later went to Fußach, where they smoked weed and drank. After a few hours, Janine G. drove back to Lustenau together with her suspected murderer and the owner of the apartment.

Suspects accused each other
The two defendants had completely different versions of what had happened there. According to the testimony of the second defendant, the alleged murderer is said to have announced the crime with the words "I'll break her neck now". After this failed, he strangled the woman for several minutes and shouted "Die already!". Only when she stopped moving did the first defendant let go of her. Janine G. must - according to the coroner's findings - have choked on her own vomit while lying unconscious on the floor.

Judge Christoph Stadler will preside over the main trial.

(Bild: Chantal Dorn)

Just one day after the body was found, the suspected murderer was questioned by the police and arrested. He has been in custody ever since, but denies the murder that his friend is alleged to have committed. The second defendant is arrested a day later and released from custody on March 19, 2022. During his interrogation, he incriminates his friend again. DNA traces under the murdered woman's fingernails and the fact that he had apparently borrowed a large sum of money from the dentist's assistant but had not repaid it despite repeated interventions spoke against him.

Coroner Walter Rabl.

(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

The investigation continued and various experts, such as forensic psychiatrist Reinhard Haller and forensic pathologist Walter Rabl, were consulted.

It was not until March 2024 that the public prosecutor brought charges against the two men. While the first defendant will have to answer for suspicion of murder and disturbing the peace of the dead from Tuesday, the second defendant is charged with failing to prevent a crime and also disturbing the peace of the dead.