On-site inspection

Wife Shot Dead: Entire Town in Shock

In this house, located in the middle of an idyllic residential neighborhood in the Heimschuh district of Unterfahrenbach, a horrific crime took place on Friday night.(Bild: Jürgen Fuchs)

Another femicide has shaken the country: A 36-year-old man killed his wife with a rifle in Heimschuh, southern Styria, and then took his own life. The couple leaves behind two children. The wife’s desire for a divorce is cited as a possible motive. No one in the town can explain how things could have come to this.

Just last Wednesday, the brutal stabbing murder of an 84-year-old Styrian man sent shockwaves across the country—we reported on it. On Friday night, another incomprehensible act of violence occurred in the municipality of Heimschuh (Leibnitz district): A 36-year-old local man is said to have shot and killed his 35-year-old wife with a legally owned long gun during an argument in their shared home and then took his own life.

The couple’s two children, a six-year-old and a nine-year-old boy, were spending the night with relatives at the time of the incident. “When a close relative could no longer reach the couple by phone, he went to check on them at the house and found their lifeless bodies in the kitchen around six in the morning,” said police spokesperson Fritz Grundnig.

When a relative could no longer reach the couple by phone, he went to check on them and found the lifeless bodies in the kitchen around 6 a.m.

Fritz Grundnig, Sprecher LPD Steiermark

Bild: Jürgen Fuchs

During the “Krone” newspaper’s on-site visit to the tranquil neighborhood of Unterfahrenbach on Saturday morning, the sun is shining brightly from the sky, and along the narrow street, one neat, well-kept single-family home stands next to another. But police cars and a police tape barrier in front of a driveway shatter the idyll and suggest that something terrible must have happened here. The playground in the large backyard is deserted.

On Saturday morning, evidence was secured at the crime scene.(Bild: Jürgen Fuchs)

Community in shock, concert canceled
Forensic pathologists in white full-body suits enter the house. The neighborhood is deeply shaken; no one can imagine how such a tragedy could have occurred here. Apparently, however, no one noticed anything about the horrific crime that took place during the night. “There are neither eyewitnesses nor earwitnesses,” says Grundnig. “They were unassuming, nice people. But I recently heard that there was going to be a divorce,” says a neighbor.

Unterfahrenbach, a district of Heimschuh, is an idyllic, quiet residential area.(Bild: Jürgen Fuchs)

That may also have been the motive of the man from southern Styria, who worked for a construction company: “According to initial investigations, the woman is believed to have announced her separation or divorce from her husband,” said police spokesman Grundnig. So far, neither the man nor the woman had come to the attention of the police. The 36-year-old legally owned two rifles; one of them is believed to have been the murder weapon.

When I heard about it, I was speechless. The whole town is in shock. They were nice, hardworking, and helpful people.

Bürgermeister Alfred Lenz, Heimschuh

Bild: Jürgen Fuchs

In the town of Heimschuh, with just under 2,000 residents, there is a sense of disbelief. A concert by the local music association scheduled for Saturday evening was canceled. “It’s incomprehensible; the whole town is deeply affected. I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the family,” says Mayor Alfred Lenz, who was informed of the terrible crime directly by relatives of the couple that morning. The mayor speaks of “kind, hardworking, and always helpful people.” They were always very active with their children.

It is not yet known whether the crime was premeditated. Further investigations into the circumstances of the crime are underway, and autopsies are being performed on the bodies.