Florian Apler, 39, allegedly threw his helpless son Leon, 6, into a river in Sankt Johann, Austria, before claiming to police that they had been kidnapped in the early hours of August 28, 2022.
Police later found Leon’s body in the Kitzbuheler Ache River – the boy had drowned. His father is now on trial for his death, but the personal trainer maintains he is innocent.
Prosecutors said the killing was “thoroughly premeditated and cold-blooded” following an analysis of Apler’s phone data revealed he had searched for signs of “anesthesia” on Google four weeks before the boy’s death.
Apler claims he fell unconscious while walking by the river with his son in a pram and when he came to, the boy was gone – but police doubted his story and eventually arrested Leon’s father six months later.
Appler, who had moved from Germany to Austria to be with his wife Sandra, told police his son must have either fallen into the river following climbing out of his pram or the little boy was thrown by the attacker.
A passerby found Apler unconscious next to an overturned stroller around 5 a.m. — an hour before police found Leon’s body in the river — according to local media.
The case even made a German TV show regarding unsolved cases, with Apler and his wife offering €30,000 for information leading to the arrest of the alleged perpetrator.
But as police began to investigate the case, they discovered that Apler had previously searched the Internet regarding how people behave when knocked out, according to prosecutors.
His head injuries, they say, were caused when he hit himself over the head with an empty bottle of Prosecco, and they detail a series of holes in his story.
The video allegedly shows Apler carrying the bottle to the cart. Fragments of the bottle were later found near the crime scene, next to the river.
Apler allegedly threw away his phone and wallet to make the fake robbery more believable, according to prosecutors.
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