Austrian authorities are still investigating a disturbing incident in which an elderly man murdered his wife and drowned himself using her remains.
According to DW.com, police believe a 72-year-old man had strangled and beheaded his 71-year-old wife before encasing her head in concrete and using it as a weight to drown himself.
The husband’s remains, along with the concrete block, were found outside of Gmunden, Austria in Traunsee Lake on Monday. Local residents found most of the wife’s dismembered body in a suitcase.
After citizens reported the woman’s remains to authorities, a police dive was organized to search for her missing head. The head of the woman, encased in cement, was found tethered to her husband’s arm.
A coroner said that the woman likely died between Christmas and New Year’s Day. The incident is believed to be a murder-suicide because the man’s body displayed no signs of violence or struggle.
Several Austrian media outlets have reported that the couple is from Frankfurt, Germany. However, police are still gathering more details before releasing such information to the public.
About one in five people who die from drowning are children 14 and younger, but this gruesome incident is one of several recent tragedies in the water that resulted in the death of an elderly person.
According to The Telegraph, an English man in his 70s drowned on New Year’s Day when he tried to retrieve a ball, which had floated out to sea, for the family dog.
A 50-year-old woman had waded through the crashing waves of Cornish cove to get her dog’s favorite ball when her mother’s elderly partner decided to help. The woman survived, but the man drowned after he could no longer stay afloat.
As for the couple in Austria, police have yet to establish a motive for the crime.