Leon's father speaks:

“Freedom sometimes comes at a high price”

The two authors Florian Apler (right) and Volker Schütz.

(Bild: Jasmin Steiner)

Florian Apler, father of the dead Leon (6), spent 522 days in custody on suspicion of murder. In August 2024, he was unanimously acquitted by an eight-member jury in Innsbruck. Apler has now written a book, and on Friday he went public for the first time.

It is a case that caused an international stir and made headlines from the very beginning: on August 28, 2022, Florian Apler was found unconscious on the banks of the Kitzbüheler Ache river at around 5 a.m.. Next to him is his son's buggy - overturned and empty.

A short time later, the body of his son Leon (6) is recovered downstream. This was followed by months of investigation, 322 days in custody for the 40-year-old, the indictment and a three-day trial, which finally ended last year with a unanimous, legally binding acquittal by a jury. 

This is what the cover of the book looks like.

(Bild: Jasmin Steiner)

Florian Apler wrote his first notes on a desk calendar.

(Bild: Jasmin Steiner)

Diary entries in the prison cell
Apler kept a meticulous diary behind bars, and he has now compiled all these notes into a book. It is entitled: "The Leon case - 522 days innocent behind bars". On Friday morning, the father of the family went out in public for the first time to present his work. He was supported by co-author Volker Schütz, an experienced lawyer in Germany. "Writing down all the incomprehensible things day after day was an important mental anchor for me during my long imprisonment. I wanted everything that had happened between the impassable walls surrounded by barbed wire to find its way out into the public at some point," emphasized Apler.  

A total of three main messages
In addition to grief, he feels a "huge amount of anger". Writing a diary was "the first straw that broke the camel's back". He also did it for his daughter, "so that she can read everything that happened at some point". It was an important tool behind bars "to keep her from going crazy". The book is based on three main messages: "Our Schnuffi was an incredibly great little boy, and the image that has been created in many places is not true, and we want to set the record straight with this book. The search for the perpetrator must continue in any case - we will find him. And we hope that nothing like this happens to anyone else and that a learning process takes place here," emphasizes Apler. 

"We now know that for sure"
There have been more than "100 mistakes and mishaps". "We now know that for sure," says Leon's dad. And he lists examples: "It's about the death of a child, and the investigation is so unprofessional from the very first second. Charges that have long since been refuted continue right into the closing argument. The presumption of innocence was repeatedly trampled underfoot. Not all shards of the murder weapon were recovered. Male individuals followed us several times on the night in question, but the Tyrolean State Office of Criminal Investigation did not manage to secure these videos in time. There are also inconsistencies regarding the DNA analysis."

According to Apler, the trial was "short", "so only fractions of it could be processed". In other words, not everything came to light. One example that stuck in his mind in particular: "There was a camera that was set up 90 meters away from the crime scene. And on the video you can see a person walking through the picture during the time of the crime. But the investigator's report says that no information could be gained from the video."

The crime scene was extensively cordoned off by the investigators at the time.

(Bild: ZOOM.TIROL)

Leon (6) lay dead on a sandbank in the Kitzbüheler Ache.

(Bild: Zoom.Tirol)

Memories of the little sunshine can be found along the promenade.

(Bild: Zoom.Tirol)

Videos of Leon shown
During the trial, Apler and his lawyers were not allowed to show any photos or videos of little Leon (6). "He had such a great development, but that was simply not allowed to be shown during the trial," says Apler. He made up for this during the press conference - two excerpts of Leon were shown. 

What went through Apler's mind when the acquittal was announced? "It was all totally surreal, I couldn't get my head around it at all. The last few minutes until the announcement were the worst. I was led into the courtroom, my wife stood diagonally in front of me and gave me a 'thumbs up', but she was totally crying. My lawyer told me that it would be an acquittal. But it was still totally surreal, the pressure just fell off," he explains. "Freedom sometimes comes at a high price," Apler also emphasized. He was alluding to the high financial resources he had to raise for the trial. "It's definitely in the hundreds of thousands of euros."

"Family as a source of strength"
How did he feel in prison? "I didn't really notice the media coverage. I had my family as a source of strength. There was only one situation connected to prison: a prison guard brought me a newspaper and said they had written something about me. And what was published wasn't true - but I was never able to explain it, which I could have done in two minutes. That really gets to you," says Apler. 

"The justice system simply failed here"
Co-author Volker Schütz also spoke out. He has known Apler since December 2019 and has had a close friendship ever since. "When Florian was arrested, I didn't understand it because I knew his relationship with Leon. It was simply unthinkable for me and I hoped that the investigators would eventually realize that none of this could be true," says Schütz.

He also emphasizes: "Where there's work, there are chips. But mistakes normally have to be corrected - that didn't happen here. That is a scandal. Nobody questioned whether the case might have been different. That has to be dealt with now, something has to happen. The justice system has quite simply failed here."