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CRIME

Woman’s body found in washed-up suitcases

A walker who fished a suitcase out of Traunsee lake in Upper Austria made a gruesome discovery on Sunday when he opened it to find a woman’s dismembered body.

Woman's body found in washed-up suitcases
The idyllic Traunsee. Photo: Michi1308/Wikimedia

Wels prosecutor Alois Hubmer said that the witness told him that a pair of hands and feet were clearly visible. 

Police sniffer dogs found a second suitcase on Monday morning on the shore of the lake, containing further body parts.

Later on Monday police divers discovered the body of a man in the lake. They are currently investigating whether he killed and dismembered the woman, and then drowned himself.

The first suitcase was found near Gmunden, not far from the Ramsauerwirt restaurant, which is closed for the winter.

After carrying out an autopsy late on Sunday night the Salzburg coroner said that the remains in the suitcases belonged to a woman who was between 50 and 70 years old.

Police said she may have been murdered quite recently. So far they have declined to release any further details as to the state of her body or how she died, in case it endangers their investigation.

They did say that the body is not believed to be that of anyone currently on the missing person’s register. Identification is made more difficult as the woman's head is missing.

CRIME

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

Austrian authorities on Friday said they were investigating 17 teenagers - including 12 minors - over the alleged months-long sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl in Vienna last year.

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

The alleged offences took place in a disadvantaged area of the capital’s south “between February and June 2023, in toilets, garages, a hotel and in the perpetrators’ homes”, Florian Finda, deputy director of the Vienna police, told a news conference.

The suspects in the rare case – most of whom are aged between 14 and 18 – are of Bulgarian, Italian, Serbian, Syrian and Turkish origin.

Two of them are under 14 and therefore below Austria’s age of criminal responsibility.

The suspects – almost all of whom were known to police for other offences – are accused of serious sexual abuse of a minor, including the pornographic depiction of the abuse of a minor.

Thirteen suspects were questioned on Thursday, with some of them partially denying the allegations.

The suspects and the Austrian victim met through one of the accused, with whom the then 12-year-old is said to have made out with.

She was then introduced to the rest of the group.

The boys allegedly exchanged videos and photos of the abuse via social networks including WhatsApp chats, with one of them allegedly threatening to share the pornographic material.

According to the police, none of the material was made available to the wider public.

In October, the young girl, now 13, informed her mother, who subsequently filed a complaint.

The ongoing investigation is due to be transferred to the public prosecutor’s office.

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