There is no trace of Friedrich Felzmann. 73 years old, 174 centimeters tall, blue eyes, slim build and short gray-blond hair: This is how the Federal Criminal Police Office describes the Styrian on its homepage. Wanted for suspected double murder and serious bodily harm. A reward of 5,000 euros was offered for information leading to his arrest.
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Exactly seven years ago, on October 29, 2017 at 9:20 a.m., the then 66-year-old Felzmann fired several shots at his neighbors with a rifle after a years-long legal dispute over a right of way. He killed Heidi H. (55) and Gerhard E. (64), and another woman was seriously injured in the upper arm by the shots.
Week-long search
Felzmann then fled in a minibus, which he parked in a nearby forest. A day after the crime, the locked bus was found by the police. Felzmann had disappeared. Hundreds of emergency services and specialists from various police units from all over Austria intensively searched for the suspect in the days and weeks after the bloody crime. Heavily armed officers secured the community.
Image: apa
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Image: apa
In the past three years, the criminal police have received numerous tips. Felzmann was seen in the USA, South America, Asia, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia, Italy and Lithuania. “Our investigators have processed and checked hundreds of clues. Many of them also led abroad. But to date, not a single verified trace of the internationally wanted man has been found,” says the head of the “Soko Friedrich” that was set up at the time, Colonel Rene Kornberger. Experts from the fields of forensic medicine, psychology, criminal psychology, psychiatry and firearms technology were also involved in the investigation.
There were also repeated searches for Felzmann in Stiwoll in western Styria, in the extensive systems of the former silver mine. Under the most difficult conditions, specially trained police mountain guides from the so-called “cave competence team” searched the tunnels and cave systems. However, the team, which is generally used in police investigations and rescue operations after cave accidents, was unable to find any new clues.
There has been no movement or sign of life in the past few years, neither in the bank accounts nor among the sparse number of friends that the Styrian, who was known to be cranky, had. But giving up is not an option for the investigators. “Even if Felzmann’s death seems increasingly likely, it is in the DNA of police officers to finally clarify the case. We will only close this chapter when we find him,” says Kornberger.
