Four-year-old missing

Child abduction in Vienna: mother (38) in custody

(Bild: P. Huber)

On Thursday afternoon, WEGA had to be deployed in Vienna-Döbling after a mother (38) barricaded herself in an apartment with her three children. She had previously lost custody.

As child abduction was suspected, the officers were alerted to the 38-year-old's apartment. According to the police, there was a four-year-old girl, an eleven-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl inside.

Four-year-old girl could not be found
Shortly before the door was forced open by WEGA officers, the 38-year-old allowed the officers to enter. The mother, 13-year-old girl and 11-year-old son were then found in the apartment. However, there was no trace of the four-year-old.

Bed sheets knotted together
However, knotted bed sheets were discovered during the house search. According to the police, it is suspected that the mother may have "roped" the child down from the second floor with the help of the sheets and was picked up by an unknown person.

Mother arrested
The 38-year-old was arrested. She refused to make any statement. After the two older siblings were taken into care by child and youth welfare workers to be taken to the crisis center by cab, they both broke away and ran off, reported Ingrid Pöschmann, spokeswoman for the child and youth welfare service. A manhunt was initiated.

The family had already been known for several years because of reports of endangerment, which involved a serious form of neglect by the mother, such as ignoring the children's compulsory schooling or allowing unrestricted media consumption. In discussions with the MA11, the woman had indeed shown a certain understanding of her parenting duties, but had so far proved unable to cope with the implementation.