Murder in the vineyard

Woman stabbed to death: “Oleg always had a weapon with him”

The perpetrator holed up in the cellar of the Huber winery.

(Bild: Antal Imre/Imre Antal)

Oleg M. is described by his acquaintances as a "calm person". Despite the weapon that he allegedly always had with him and with which he finally stabbed her. Johann Huber witnessed the atrocity. The winegrower doesn't know how to process what happened ...

It is almost 24 hours since Barbara R. (65) was killed with a knife in Zistersdorf in the district of Gänserndorf (Lower Austria). Oleg M. is the name of the suspect. However, there will be no confession: The man - who comes from Slovakia - is said to have taken his own life in a wine cellar on Saturday morning. 

Girlfriend killed in front of his own eyes
But what motivated the 59-year-old to commit such a heinous act? Those close to him describe him as very calm. "Oleg had never harmed anyone before," says eyewitness and owner of the house in which the suspect had barricaded himself before his death, Johann Huber. The winegrower had to witness the crime with his own eyes. Barbara was his girlfriend and they had eaten together beforehand. 

Huber had known Oleg for ten years. According to the winegrower, the Slovakian had never been aggressive. He had never even harmed the spiders in the wine cellar.

(Bild: Josef Poyer)

"Barbara called me. Told me to come to dinner. Oleg didn't want to go with me. But she wanted to talk to him, so we went to his place," Huber recalls in an interview with the "Krone". It is not known what the discussion was ultimately about. In any case, the argument escalated. "Oleg ran away, Barbara followed - then Oleg stabbed her in the body." 

In this vineyard, he stabbed Barbara R. in cold blood.

(Bild: Josef Poyer)

"He wanted to settle it without the authorities"
He doesn't know how the winegrower is supposed to spread the word about what happened. "You have to be able to cope with something like that," says the Slovakian's ex-boss on the verge of tears.

Martin König is also completely stunned. He is a good friend of the winegrower and was probably the last person to speak to the murder suspect. "He called me and told me he had done something bad. He asked me to come and get him and help him. Take him away or bury Barbara." But König didn't comply with this request, he waited for the police to arrive and watched as the rescuers took care of the body. "He asked me not to call the police. He wanted to deal with it without the authorities," says König. 

Martin König is a friend of the winegrower. He was probably the last person to speak to Oleg.

(Bild: Josef Poyer)

König also describes Oleg M. as a calm person. "But still waters run deep," he adds. The 59-year-old is also said to have always had a weapon with him. "Mostly in his fanny pack. That was also known in the village." 

He always had a weapon with him. Mostly in his fanny pack. That was also well known in the village.

Martin König

Holed up in the cellar for hours
Cobra, officers from the provincial police headquarters, explosives experts and Red Cross staff had been on duty since Friday afternoon. After the 65-year-old woman was stabbed to death, Oleg M. barricaded himself for hours in a building including a tunnel-like cellar in the Zistersdorf cadastral district of Gösting. During an initial intervention in the early hours of the morning, the man had apparently detonated an explosive device and one officer was seriously injured.

The operation lasted over 18 hours. The suspect is dead - he had blown himself up in a cellar.

(Bild: Imre Antal, Krone KREATIV)

(Bild: Antal Imre/Imre Antal)

Around midday, the news broke: the Slovakian is said to have blown himself up in the cellar.

Probably aggressive and mentally unstable
The area around the press house, under which the wine cellar in which the murder suspect had barricaded himself is located, was cordoned off on Friday evening. Heavily armed police units secured the area. Residents had to leave their homes. The entire town is in shock. But Oleg M. will take the background to the crime to his grave - the dangerous felon is likely to have been aggressive and mentally unstable for years. Friends say: "His favorite saying was 'My father was cursed, and I am cursed too'."

Watch the police press conference in St. Pölten here: 

The police held a press conference on the horrific case as late as Saturday afternoon. The investigators announced that the Slovakian had been asked to give up several times via loudspeaker before his death by means of so-called call-outs. After there was no response, technical equipment was brought into the basement area, it was said. The human remains were discovered in the process.

Search the room for booby traps
However, the investigators have not yet been able to identify the body, which remains in the cellar for the time being. The premises still have to be searched by the Cobra bomb specialists for further booby traps, only then can the forensics team begin work on the crime scene.