Jury Reaches Unanimous Verdict

7,793 Days After the Murder: Acquittal in the Kammerer Case!

The 42-year-old was unanimously acquitted! The relief was evident on his face and that of his family. The Kammerer murder case thus remains unsolved.(Bild: Krone-Collage/Samuel Thurner, Klemens Groh, APA)

Exactly 7,793 days have passed since Daniela Kammerer (19) was murdered in a phone booth near Rapoldipark in Innsbruck. After more than 21 years, a former college classmate (42) stood trial at the Innsbruck Regional Court. After the trial began on Monday, proceedings resumed today, Friday. Shortly after 2:00 p.m., the verdict—which is not yet final—was announced: Acquittal!

Following closing arguments that were at times very heated, the jury retired to deliberate around 12:45 p.m. The verdict was then handed down at 2:13 p.m. The jury has decided—unanimously—that the 42-year-old defendant is acquitted!

The verdict is not yet final. In its reasoning, the panel of judges referred to the jury’s verdict.

There was immense relief for the defendant and his family.(Bild: Samuel Thurner)

The relief was written all over the defendant’s face; he was immediately embraced by his family members.

Murder Case Remains Unsolved
The relatives of Daniela Kammerer, however, remain in the dark. The murder case remains unsolved.

Read the “Krone” live ticker here:

Party Night Ended in Tragedy
The trial in the Kammerer murder case began on Monday at the Innsbruck Regional Court. The 19-year-old student was killed in the early morning hours of June 23, 2005, after a night of partying, in a phone booth near Rapoldipark with two stab wounds to the chest and back.

DNA from a former classmate was detected on the filter of a partially smoked cigarette found at the crime scene. Charges were unexpectedly filed against the man, now 42, in early May.

Traveled all the way from Australia
But the man, who had emigrated to Australia years ago (which had always been his plan), consistently denied the crime. In court, he fought back tears. “I am innocent; please acquit me and let me watch my son grow up,” the father of a two-year-old pleaded to the jury. He said he had traveled 15,000 kilometers of his own free will to prove his innocence. “What was done to my college classmate back then is absolutely cruel. But I had no reason to brutally stab her to death,” said the defendant.

Friday’s trial began with the rejection of three motions to introduce evidence filed by the defense. One of them involved a well-known Innsbruck politician. However, the rejection meant that no additional witnesses were allowed to testify.

All I can say is that it wasn’t me, and I just want to go back to my family.

Der Angeklagte

Before the jury retired to deliberate early Friday afternoon, the 42-year-old emphasized once again: “All I can say is that it wasn’t me, and I just want to go back to my family.”

So many coincidences? “That can’t be!”
In her closing argument on Friday afternoon, District Attorney Adelheid Steiner painted a picture of the defendant’s alleged character and—particularly with regard to the DNA evidence—emphasized: “It’s impossible for so many coincidences to occur at once. There is so much evidence incriminating the defendant. And yes, there are alternative scenarios, but they are hardly plausible.” Each piece of incriminating evidence further proves his guilt. She continued: “I am deeply convinced that the defendant stabbed the student to death. I move for a guilty verdict and an appropriate sentence.”

The defendant (left) with his defense attorney Mathias Kapferer (right). In the center: Albert Heiss, who represented the man in 2013 and is now retired.(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

Defense Attorney Delivers Passionate Closing Argument
Defense attorney Mathias Kapferer, in turn, reacted quite emotionally to the prosecutor’s remarks. “You lied,” he began his closing argument, referring in particular to the fact that Steiner had failed to give due consideration to the fact that there was not a single trace of DNA indicating that his client had been at the crime scene. “All I’ve ever heard from the prosecutor is that she believes and that she believes,” he continued. “There wasn’t a single piece of conclusive evidence,” Kapferer said. Every single DNA trace could be “easily explained away”: “At a party, people just grab each other and fool around.”

“And then there is simply no motive whatsoever as to why my client would have committed the crime. There is absolutely nothing,” the defense attorney further emphasized.

Arrest as Early as 2013
The Austro-Australian had already been placed in pretrial detention in 2013—around Christmas, of all times—after he was arrested at Vienna-Schwechat Airport by cold-case investigators. He spent seven weeks in prison. At the time, the circumstantial evidence wasn’t sufficient to bring charges—but then, in May 2026, came the surprising turn of events.