AUSTRIA: A soldier as part of the national holiday, on October 26, 2025 at Heldenplatz in Vienna.Image: APA/APA
Dec 9, 2025, 3:41 p.mDec 9, 2025, 3:41 p.m
Almost eight years after a young woman disappeared in Vienna, her ex-boyfriend has confessed to killing her and hiding her in a military training area.
The 32-year-old is now suspected of murder, the police and public prosecutor’s office in Vienna said. As detectives reported, a voice message from the suspect and increasing pressure from investigators brought about the breakthrough in the case that has been troubling the public in Austria for years.
In January 2018, the 21-year-old woman was reported missing after she failed to show up for work. According to police, suspicion soon fell on her then 24-year-old partner, from whom the young woman said he had separated before disappearing.
“He talked in the chat about the best way to dispose of a body – avoiding traces and ensuring that no one finds it.”
Investigator Wolfgang Lehner
But despite the detailed examination of her apartment, no evidence of a violent crime was found at the time, the criminal investigators explained in a press conference. Public calls and searches with hundreds of officers, cadaver dogs and an excavator were also unsuccessful.
Suspect chatted about the topic of corpse disposal
The turning point was a voice message from an online chat this year that was sent to the police. “He talked in the chat about the best way to dispose of a body – avoiding traces and ensuring that no one finds it,” said investigator Wolfgang Lehner.
After repeated interrogations and a recent violent incident with another woman, the man finally confessed last weekend, investigators said. He testified that he strangled the 21-year-old in 2018 when she wanted to break up with him. He hid the body under leaves and branches on the Austrian Army training area northwest of Vienna. The remains of the dead have now been secured. (sda/dpa)