News in the Drexler case

Not even the dogs found her dead “Herrl”

Roland Drexler shot two people and killed himself. A state of emergency prevailed in the Mühlviertel during the manhunt for him.

(Bild: Werner Kerschbaummayr)

They were supposed to find their "Herrl" - in the search for the suspected double murderer Roland Drexler (56) from Altenfelden, the police also took unusual paths. As has now been revealed in a (provisional) final report on one of the largest police operations in the country, the police attempted to use the two hunting dogs of the amok-wideman.

After Drexler's car was found on a forest path in a wooded area between Altenfelden and Arnreit on Friday, the two sniffer dogs were sent out. The dogs were monitored by a drone. The unusual search operation almost worked: however, the dogs were stopped by the topography around two hundred meters before the body was later found. The search teams simply couldn't get any further in the steeply sloping terrain.

Body lying 800 meters away from Caddy
When officers from the Rapid Intervention Group (SIG) and Cobra finally ventured into the forest on Saturday, the body of the perpetrator was found 800 meters away from his VW Caddy. The six-day state of siege in the Upper Mühlviertel was thus history.

Forensic medicine is continuing its investigations. An expert is to be called in to examine the corpse maggots and determine their age.

Ulrike Breiteneder ist die Sprecherin der Staatsanwaltschaft Linz

Rumors swirl
But since then, the rumors have been growing like ivy: it is still unclear how long Drexler had been dead. The Upper Austrian State Police Directorate is now at least certain that the VW Caddy had not yet been in the forest on Tuesday. This was the result of internal questioning. Officers who searched the area on Tuesday swear that the Caddy was not there at the time. It is possible that someone else had later parked the perpetrator's car in the forest. However, the VW Caddy is more than ten years old and it is therefore questionable whether the movement data can still be read out, according to the Upper Austrian State Police Directorate.

Forensic medicine to clear up mystery
Whether Drexler was actually still alive at the time is to be clarified by Salzburg forensic medicine. However, this will take some time. After the Linz public prosecutor's office intervened, an expert was commissioned to examine the corpse maggots. This question therefore remains unanswered