Baby in dustbin

Mother gave clue about missing daughter herself

The mother is said to have thrown her daughter into a garbage container and ultimately gave the clue to the location herself.

(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK, Krone KREATIV)

Two deaths within a few days in Vienna-Favoriten: The suspects? Both times it is the 30-year-old mothers. After the death of a four-year-old in a municipal building, the next tragedy occurred on Thursday: the mother is said to have thrown her daughter into a garbage bin and ultimately gave the clue to the location herself. What remains is: Bewilderment. 

It is a depressing picture that can be seen outside the clinic in Vienna-Favoriten. The area in front of the hospital is cordoned off for eleven car lengths, and investigators are still working on the crime scene hours after the shocking discovery on Friday. The innocent-looking green and yellow waste containers in Kundratstraße in front of the building are the focus of the investigators' attention. On Thursday, they became the scene of an almost incomprehensible crime. 

Baby was only ten days old
The little girl was only ten days old and her 30-year-old mother is under urgent suspicion of murder, as was revealed on Friday. The baby disappeared from the hospital's neonatal ward shortly before midday on Thursday. A nurse had noticed this and raised the alarm.

A large-scale search operation, including with dogs and a drone during the night, did not initially yield any results. First, a sniffer dog raised the alarm at a garbage bin on the hospital grounds - this turned out to be a false alarm. There was still no trace of the little girl. The search was suspended on Thursday evening with the intention of continuing it the next morning.

30-year-old mother gave clues about the location herself
Suspicions quickly focused on the baby's family environment. The Vienna Health Association (WIGEV) had pointed out on Thursday that there was no free access to the ward. The suspicion of murder was confirmed when the Austrian woman was questioned on Friday night. She finally confessed to the crime and led the investigators to the dumpster where she had thrown her ten-day-old daughter - wrapped in a plastic bag and blanket -.

Snow was expected on Friday and an icy wind whistled through the streets of Vienna. However, the results of the autopsy are still pending - the cause of death should be clear in the coming days. "We are stunned by what has happened. Our employees, who actively supported the police forces in the search, are all deeply affected. They are receiving psychological support if necessary," says the hospital's Medical Director, Michaela Riegler-Keil. 

Around two hours after the body was found, crime scene investigators from the State Office of Criminal Investigation were still working on the evidence. Investigators have ruled out the possibility that Section 79 - the killing of a child at birth - could be involved. The paragraph reads: "A mother who kills the child during birth or while she is still under the influence of the birth process shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years."

Unfortunately, we had to learn today that the missing baby was found dead outside the Favoriten clinic. The police investigation into the circumstances of the crime is still ongoing.

Michaela Riegler-Keil, Ärztliche Direktorin der Klinik in Wien-Favoriten

Four-year-old boy stabbed to death five days earlier
Less than three kilometers from the crime scene, a similar sad fate had occurred just five days earlier: In a Viennese municipal building on a sunny Sunday morning, a father made an emergency call. Klaudija, a 44-year-old resident, discovered the crying man in the stairwell - with his clothes covered in blood. "I don't know if I can continue to live here," she said shortly after the terrible crime.

The 29-year-old mother is said to have stabbed her four-year-old son to death with a knife and then attempted suicide. She survived, was taken to hospital and has been in custody ever since. The small coffin was taken out of the house, flanked by WEGA officers. The crying neighbors cannot believe the crime, they hoped it had been an accident, their children "had played together more often", according to witnesses, the mother suspected of the crime "often gave parenting tips". The shocking detail: she works as a kindergarten assistant.

Both women probably mentally ill
Questions remain, many questions. What would cause mothers to commit such acts? In the case of the baby thrown into the container, the 30-year-old suspect had been in an exceptional psychological situation since the birth. It is currently unclear whether the young woman was undergoing therapeutic treatment beforehand. Further details about the crime are currently under investigation. Were there any signs? The investigators will also have to clarify this first.

The investigators are also revealing little information about the terrible crime on Sunday due to the sensitivity of the situation. But here, too, it became known shortly afterwards: The mother also suffers from mental health problems. She is said to have sought psychological help. 

In both cases, the biological mothers are under the horrific suspicion of having ended the lives of their own children in a cruel manner. These tragedies leave deep scars: compassion for the grieving relatives, dismay at the fate of the allegedly mentally ill women and grief at the loss of two young lives. Bewilderment at how it could have come to this. No detail is comforting here. The two mothers are presumed innocent.