Three dead in Perg

Sylvana starved to death and died of thirst in the cellar

The crime scene in the small settlement in Perg is sealed. Following the autopsies of parents and daughter, attempts are being made to reconstruct the exact course of the family tragedy.

(Bild: Werner Kerschbaummayr/TEAM FOTOKERSCHI / KERSCHBAUMMAYR)

An 82-year-old man shot his wife and himself, leaving his handicapped stepdaughter alive. But she died alone in the cellar of the house. The autopsy will clarify many things, but one important question remains: Did the Upper Austrian hope that the 57-year-old would be found in time?

Why did Sylvana have to die in the cellar of the smart detached house just outside Perg? The 57-year-old woman from Mühlviertel, who was severely affected by a tick bite in her youth, probably died of starvation and thirst, while her mother (75) and stepfather (82) lay dead in the bedroom two floors above her.

Next to them was the weapon, a Flobert rifle. Forensics revealed that Brigitta H. most likely died from a shot to the head. As did her husband, who shot himself.

Mailbox overflowed
The crime had probably already happened in August, the last traceable contact with the family was on August 25. It is still unclear exactly when Sylvana died. As reported, the family drama only became known on Friday after a friend of the 75-year-old became concerned. Neighbors had wondered about the locked shutters and the overflowing letterbox, but thought that the family was on vacation in the Waldviertel.

When did who die and how?
"We hope that the autopsy of the bodies will shed light on this. It will shed light on the course of the crime and the time of death of the individual persons", says the Linz public prosecutor Ulrike Breitenender. 

A Flobert rifle, as used in Perg, is freely available but must be registered. Johann H. had his small-caliber rifle illegally. Since when is unclear (symbolic image)

(Bild: laumat.at)

"Brigitta would never have left Sylvana helpless"
However, some questions will probably remain unanswered forever. For example, why the stepfather, who was terminally ill with cancer, took his wife to his death but not his helpless stepdaughter. Did he hope that she would be found and rescued in time?

As there is no suicide note, everything remains speculation. Including whether the 75-year-old wife went to her death of her own free will. "We don't think so, then she would have informed someone to look after Sylvana," say neighbors at the site inspection. The mother had devotedly cared for her daughter, who almost died of meningitis, for around 40 years, teaching her to walk and talk again.

Escape route would have been open
Sylvana was not locked in the cellar when she either fell in the washroom or collapsed from exhaustion and died.