"Huge damage"

Thieves plundered the home of traditional costume legend

After a break-in at her home in Weitra (Lower Austria), dirndl fashion icon Elfi Maisetschläger is still in shock. Even the bed mattress was brutally torn out.

Elfi Maisetschläger went back to her store in the city center after making herself a cup of tea later on Wednesday afternoon. By then, however, the burglars must have been lurking in the bushes, freezing cold, waiting for their chance.

Because when the Dirndl legend of the upper Waldviertel returned home after closing time, she reeled back in horror. The unknown criminals had broken into the pretty house via a first floor window and had ransacked every room, every drawer and every nook and cranny for valuables in their search for loot.

Cash stolen from safe
"What pains me most is that they took my mother's, grandmother's and great-grandmother's jewelry, which is very valuable to me personally. Expensive coats and a special costume have also disappeared. And the cash was plundered from the well-hidden safe," the shocked victim told the "Krone" newspaper.

The perpetrators ransacked my entire house and even brutally tore out the bed mattress because they were also looking for money there.

Elfi Maisetschläger, geschocktes Einbruchsopfer

The damage was enormous
In any case, the damage was enormous. Maisetschläger believes he had been scouted out beforehand. Because a few days earlier there had also been such a coup in the neighborhood.

In the meantime, similar break-ins have also been reported in nearby Groß Gerungs. According to criminologists, it is likely to be a roving gang.

Maisetschläger himself praises the swift and professional actions of the police officers from the Kuenringer town: "They were quickly on the scene with a service dog and really secured every conceivable lead."