Austrian man kills 5 family members to spare them shame of his financial ruin

“It’s been a bad few weeks for Austrian family values…”

 

Austrian police discovered the bodies of five people Wednesday after a man turned up at a Vienna police station saying he killed his family to spare them the shame of his financial ruin.

 

Police say they found the bodies of the man's wife and seven-year-old daughter in his home in an affluent part of the Austrian capital.

 

Both had been killed with an axe.

 

Authorities also discovered the bodies of his parents and father-in-law in Upper Austria province, in the cities of Ansfelden and Linz.

 

The man, identified only as a 39-year-old public relations consultant, told police he killed his 42-year-old wife and daughter early Tuesday morning.

 

He then drove to Ansfelden where he beat his parents - ages 72 and 69 - to death, and then to Linz, where he killed his 80-year-old father-in-law.

 

Criminal investigator Thomas Stecher said the man explained that he wanted to spare his family the shame of financial ruin he caused through speculative financial dealings.

 

"He is completely matter of fact ... without emotion," Stecher said.

 

Police said they were awaiting autopsy results to determine exactly how the victims died.

 

The man could face a life sentence if convicted, said Gerhard Jarosch, spokesman for the Vienna public prosecutor's office.