Cat and mouse game to the end. The dreaded confrontation with Roland Drexler did not occur. 56-year-old double murderer committed suicide in a forest between the crime scene.
“It’s over!” – On Saturday afternoon, this sentence ended the five-day hunt for the double murderer Roland Drexler between Altenfelden and Arnreit. The 56-year-old amok hunter, who on Monday shot two hunt leaders with whom he had been feuding for years, was found by a patrol of the rapid intervention group sitting dead with his rifle on the ground in a forest between the crime scene. .
Contrary to expectations, he was not confronted with the dreaded confrontation with the more than 300 emergency services who had searched everything in the area last week, but played a treacherous game of cat and mouse until the end.
The car, the silver-colored VW Caddy, was only found in this forest on Friday, All Saints’ Day, by a farmer who had gone to check for bark beetles. “This route had certainly been followed by colleagues and the car had never been parked there before,” said Barbara Riedl, spokeswoman for the Upper Austrian police. “We assume that Roland Drexler only moved his location in recent days because the interrogation of his circle of friends had intensified. It could be that he got nervous,” said Gottfried Mitterlehner, head of the state criminal investigation department, shortly after finding the man he was looking for.
“There were more than 400 clues”
A witness had seen a car drive into the woods on Friday evening, but did not recognize it as the Caddy – but in retrospect this tip was correct. During an initial search of the car, Cobra officers found one of the two guns Drexler had with him when he fled, along with a Glock pistol. Now everything focused on the small forest in Partenreit, municipality of Arnreit. “Previously there were more than 400 tips and they were all processed 100 percent. That was the only thing we could hold on to,” says Markus Vorderderfler, Head of Operations and Operations Manager in Altenfelden.
The forest was surrounded on Friday and on Saturday police vehicles were clearly visible everywhere. “The focus was on self-protection. “We assumed that there was a very dangerous person,” explains interim Linz Cobra boss Andreas Feilmayr, explaining why the forest was not “stormed”. Monday’s autopsy in Salzburg will determine whether Drexler committed suicide on Friday or committed suicide on Saturday – in any case, emergency services never noticed a gunshot.
Where was the double murderer hiding?
But the research doesn’t stop there. Above all, it is important to clarify where Drexler hid and parked his car from Monday morning to Thursday evening. The researchers are certain that it must have been in the immediate area, because the streets in particular were monitored 24 hours a day. Maybe someone had given him shelter for a few days.
This is how the hunt ended, the live ticker of November 2 can be read:
If you or someone close to you is in an exceptional psychological situation or suffers from suicidal thoughts, you can contact the pastoral telephone number on 142. Other crisis hotlines and emergency numbers can be found HERE.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
