Tragedy in Gamsstadt

Kitzbühel in shock: “She loved her son!”

Kitzbühel's mayor Klaus Winkler: "A great tragedy that weighs heavily on us."(Bild: stockadobe.com,Stadtamt Kitzbühel, Krone KREATIV)

How could it have come to this? There is utter disbelief in the world-famous luxury ski resort of Kitzbühel and far beyond. A mother (48) allegedly killed her five-year-old son and then took her own life. The "Krone" spoke to Mayor Klaus Winkler, who gave some insight into the woman's life and his own feelings.

"It is a great tragedy that weighs heavily on us," said Mayor Winkler in an initial response to the "Krone." The discovery of the bodies of mother and son has left no one in the town of Gamsstadt unmoved and even hardened criminologists are horrified. The circumstances are still completely unclear, and the motive is a mystery—autopsies of the two dead were underway on Wednesday morning at the Innsbruck forensic medicine department.

"She was helpful and hard-working back then"
But who was the woman who is said to have first killed her son and then herself? "She worked for the city administration a long time ago and was always a very helpful and hard-working employee. But then she decided to pursue a different career path," said Mayor Winkler.

Kitzbühel Mayor Klaus Winkler: "A great tragedy that weighs heavily on us."(Bild: stockadobe.com,Stadtamt Kitzbühel, Krone KREATIV)

The 48-year-old did not appear in public life, so she was probably not active in any clubs. "We learned from her friends and family that she loved her son very much," said the mayor.

"Memories of a quintuple murder"
The woman lived with her son in a residential area not far from the train station. Investigators from the Tyrol State Criminal Police Office are now trying to reconstruct exactly what happened in the apartment on the first floor of an apartment building. Evidence has been secured, and neighbors will be interviewed in the coming days.

We learned from her neighbors that she loved her son very much.

Bürgermeister Klaus Winkler

"This event is unique in the city," Winkler struggles to find the words. "When you lose fellow citizens in such a tragic way, it naturally brings to mind the quintuple murder in October 2019." At that time, a young local man shot and killed his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend, her parents (father, 59, and mother, 51), her brother (23), and a friend (24) of the 19-year-old in the family home.