Murder Victim from Ukraine

Fled the War Only to Meet Her Death: Mother Beaten to Death

Still happy: 35-year-old Anna from Ukraine in her “Children’s Police” uniform, who had come to pick up her daughters—behind this iron door, the mother’s life came to an end.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Stefan Steinkogler privat)

She wanted to start over from scratch in Austria with her two young daughters—more than four years later, Anna, a Ukrainian woman, is dead. Beaten to death by her boyfriend in a stairwell in Vienna. A look into the life of the 35-year-old mother...

Shortly after the Russian army invaded her homeland, the mother of two fled to Austria with her daughters in the spring of 2022. In the Tulln district of Lower Austria, she found refuge in a shelter—along with about 30 other women from Ukraine, most of whom were also single mothers. Her two sisters had also found a new home there. Nothing stood in the way of a future free from violence.

War Trauma Haunts Anna
But Anna never truly shook off the trauma of the war. No job, no long-term relationship—and eventually, the Ukrainian woman ended up in a women’s shelter. A friend describes her tragic fate: “Then things went even further downhill, and in the end, her two daughters—now seven and 13 years old—were also taken away by child protective services.”

After Her Children Were Taken Away, the Mother’s Life Continued to Unravel
She also kept turning up with bruises and contusions. The 35-year-old, who had fled the war with so much hope, continued her downward spiral; most recently, she was apparently homeless in the capital, without a valid registration. Then, in early October, came the shocking news: As reported, a woman’s body was found in a stairwell in Vienna’s Landstraße district. After the autopsy, a murder investigation was launched!

She leaves behind two young girls in a children’s home
Cause of death: blunt force trauma to the upper body and head; the victim had been beaten to death. Her boyfriend from Romania, who was waiting at the crime scene, was quickly identified as a suspect by investigators and arrested.

As it turned out, the woman was Anna, a Ukrainian national. Four and a half years after she came here hoping to start over, the 35-year-old mother of two breathed her last in an apartment building.

Left behind are her two daughters, who have lost their mother. They are currently being cared for in a children’s home. “It’s truly tragic. An aunt is now taking care of the girls,” the acquaintance says thoughtfully.