New details have emerged

Dubious alibis: HiPP blackmailer breaks his silence!

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER, Krone KREATIV/zVg)

In the sensational poison mystery surrounding tampered baby food jars from the HiPP company, the 39-year-old suspect continues to cause a stir: As the “Krone” has learned, the suspect firmly denies all charges—and is now also offering an interesting explanation for a particularly incriminating detail...

Following his arrest by “SOKO Glas” on Saturday in St. Gilgen, Salzburg, and his transfer to the Eisenstadt correctional facility, his defense attorney, Manfred Arbacher-Stöger, has now spoken out. He has already visited his client in prison and reports a “clear line”: The 39-year-old denies all charges and claims to have nothing to do with the case. According to him, the investigation is a “dead end.” 

Suspect claims he has never been to Brno
Furthermore, the suspect contradicts a central point of the investigation so far. According to authorities, poisoned HiPP jars are said to have turned up in the Czech Republic—specifically in the Brno area—among other places. 

Manfred Arbacher-Stöger visited the Eisenstadt Juvenile Detention Center. He is defending the 39-year-old suspect.(Bild: Eva Manhart)

But the 39-year-old claims he was never there. His alleged alibi: a smartwatch. This device can fully document his movement data and prove that he was not in the Czech Republic at the time in question. Whether these digital traces will actually exonerate him will likely become clear in the course of the investigation.

Rat poison discovered during house search
Particularly explosive: As the “Krone” learned, rat poison was seized during the house search in St. Gilgen. According to authorities, this very poison is said to have been found in tampered HiPP jars.

But the suspect has an explanation for this as well: He owns farmland in Slovakia—where the use of rat poison is nothing unusual.

Nevertheless: He is now behind bars at the Eisenstadt correctional facility in Burgenland—the very place where two jars of baby food laced with rat poison were placed on the shelves.

The background to this insane case? Because he lost his job at the Hipp branch in Gmunden—according to the alleged blackmailer, being fired wouldn’t have bothered him—the 39-year-old father of three is said to have poisoned jars of baby food and placed them on supermarket shelves. For nearly 40 days, the rat poison thriller had left hundreds of thousands of parents in a state of sheer terror. One of the six tampered jars is still missing. Five have been recovered—one, sold in Burgenland, remains missing.