The man, armed and extremely dangerous, is suspected of having killed the mayor of a town as well as a former hunting manager in the space of an hour and a half.
He is nicknamed the “mad hunter” in the Austrian media. After intense searches lasting several days, the Austrian police announced this Saturday, November 2, that they had found the body of the alleged murderer of two people, including the mayor of a town, the epilogue of a soap opera that kept the Alpine country in suspense. .
On Monday, the mayor of the town of Kirchberg ob der Donau, near the border with Germany and the Czech Republic, was killed “presumably due to a conflict over the allocation of hunting rights”. His body was found “lying in a meadow” a few kilometers from her town, said Ms. Handlbauer, adding that the second victim was a former hunting official.
Rudolf Keplinger, 56, is the main suspect. He fled and the police lost track of him, before finding his car. The man was described as extremely dangerous by law enforcement. Around fifty people from his entourage, mainly hunters, had been placed under protection.
Five days later, the body of the 56-year-old suspect “was discovered at midday”declared the deputy director of the regional police, Rudolf Keplinger, during a press conference in Linz (north-east of the country). “The circumstances suggest that he committed suicide”he clarified, saying to himself “personally relieved despite the death toll of three” of this story.
Rudolf Keplinger called it an operation “exceptional” the searches which have mobilized hundreds of police officers since Monday, supported by helicopters and drones.
The suspect's vehicle was located Friday in a forest in Upper Austria (north), not far from the scene of the crimes believed to be linked to a dispute over hunting. The police then found the lifeless body of the fifty-year-old whose identity was confirmed by the analysis of his fingerprints. An autopsy was ordered to confirm the causes of death.
