Steirer (83) robbed: – Brutal burglary in the house clarified after 14 years

On June 13, 2008, shortly after 7 a.m., two men broke into the 83-year-old’s older farm in Wörth an der Lafnitz in the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district and surprised the victim. The perpetrators brutally tied up the man with tape and then searched the entire house for money. They then fled for several thousand euros.

The witness noted the license plate of the getaway car
The victim was able to free himself after half an hour and alerted the police. The perpetrators fled together with an accomplice who was waiting on the spot in a car. But an observant witness wrote down the license plate and the driver was examined and arrested in Vienna shortly after the crime.

Two suspects arrested
One of the robbers was caught last year by Romanian police officers at the Albita border crossing. The 45-year-old Moldovan has since been sentenced to four years and three months in prison, and the driver of the escapee has also been sentenced. The third accomplice has so far remained at large.

Robbers with 18 aliases
But the detectives of the robbery group in the National Criminal Investigation Office did not give up and again sent photos to the foreign colleagues. In cooperation with the Moldovan and Romanian police and an Austrian liaison officer in Romania, the identity of the second fugitive main suspect is finally clear. He had as many as 18 aliases.

Caught and released
At the end of May, the 48-year-old Moldovan was arrested at Hamburg airport. He has lived undisturbed with his family in Germany since 2014.

A month after his arrest, the German authorities released him under conditions. But this time, the suspect did not flee, but returned to the police with his lawyer and was transferred to Austria on September 27.

He denies the fact – despite obvious traces. He says he has never been to Styria. Unfortunately, the clarification of the burglary for the elderly victim comes too late. The East Styrian has already passed away.