Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
A heinous crime, in which two people were brutally murdered, took place in 2004 in Austria’s capital, Vienna. At 10.14 pm on 16 June, an emergency call was received by the Vienna police. A patrol car was dispatched to Messenhausergasse 7 in Vienna’s 3rd district, Landstraße, where they went to flat number 7 on the first floor. Upon entering the flat, they found a horrific bloodbath and two bodies. These were 75-year-old retired master builder Alfred Rauch and his 22-year-old Slovakian partner Erika Sarközyova, who referred to herself as Alfred’s ‘bride’. Alfred, who was also known as ‘beautiful Fredl’, lay directly in front of his home organ. Erika lay not far from him. Erika had probably been sitting next to him whilst Alfred played his home organ, until both were struck from behind with a blunt object, which later turned out to be a red wine bottle. Neighbours testified that Alfred had been playing a Beethoven symphony until the music suddenly fell silent and he had screamed loudly at around 8.58 pm. As the flat door had not been forced open and there was a laid table with wine glasses in the living room, the criminal investigation department assumed that Alfred and Erika had known their killers. Erika was a student at the University of Agriculture in Nitra and had passed an exam with top marks just two days before her murder. To finance her studies, she worked as an au pair in Vienna, where she looked after a two-year-old boy. As the money was not enough, Erika, who came from a poor background, also worked as a waitress in a nightclub in Vienna’s 3rd district. It was there that she had met the fun-loving Alfred Rauch, who spent his pension on young women from the Eastern Bloc. For Alfred loved not only fast cars, but also pretty, young women. Erika moved in with Alfred in his 90-square-metre flat, where both were brutally murdered. Given the brutality of the crime, the criminal investigation department assumed there were at least two killers. The trail quickly led to 20-year-old Jana M., Alfred’s former partner, and her boyfriend Mario. Together with Jana’s sister Maria and her husband Roman, the pair had taken a trip to Vienna the day before the double murder to exchange a broken DVD player. It was then that Jana had the idea of visiting Alfred. They had been warmly welcomed by Alfred and Erika and had drunk red wine together. Afterwards, they had left. Even before they drove back to Bratislava, Jana and Mario had made another detour to see Alfred. In May 2005, charges of double murder were brought against Jana and Mario, as well as their sister Maria and her husband Roman, at the Vienna Regional Court. They had planned a robbery and intended to kill Alfred in order to steal his valuables. Erika, who had witnessed the murder, now had to be killed as well. At the trial, Maria and her husband Roman were acquitted. Maria’s sister Jana and her boyfriend Mario were sentenced to 12 and 18 years’ imprisonment respectively.
