Bernard von Bredow probably victim of robbery-murder : German scientist and his daughter murdered in Paraguay

Tagesspiegel Bernard von Bredow probably victim of robbery-murder : German scientist and his daughter murdered in Paraguay 14 hrs ago | According to regional media, the 62-year-old geophysicist was tortured and shot. The perpetrators apparently targeted the safe. Bernard von Bredow was found dead. Together with his daughter, he moved from Upper Bavaria to Latin America to lead a new life there. The studied geophysicist built violins in the Paraguayan village of Areguá. Last week, unknown persons destroyed his emigrant dream. According to the newspaper "Ultima Hora", the bodies of the man and his daughter were discovered in the scientist's house by a friend on October 22. The bodies of the 62-year-old man and the 14-year-old girl were discovered by a friend in the family's home about 30 kilometers southeast of the capital Asunción, ABC television reported. The German Foreign Office in Berlin confirmed the deaths of two Germans on Tuesday. The archaeologist died from a gunshot to the neck, coroner Héctor Meza said. Von Bredow had burns and injuries to his face and eye, he said. The body of his 14-year-old daughter was lying in the bathtub with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to the report. She had presumably bled to death. Police suspect a group of construction workers in the case, whom von Bredow had recently fired. "We have a very good lead to find the perpetrators," Hugo Grance, head of Paraguay's homicide squad, told the AFP news agency Tuesday. According to the report, the perpetrators probably targeted a safe that police found on the archaeologist's property. "The house was completely devastated, with blood stains in almost every area," Grance said. He said he assumes von Bredow was forced to look for the key to the safe. When the attackers were unable to open the safe, they eventually killed von Bredow and his daughter, Grance speculated. The contents of the safe are not known, according to the report. It will be kept safe until family members from Germany arrive, the police official said. Paraguay has about seven million inhabitants. Located in the center of the continent between Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, the country is slightly larger than Germany and very much agricultural. Many descendants of German immigrants live in Paraguay. These include, for example, around 13,000 Mennonites of German descent, who mainly practice dairy farming in the savannah region of Chaco. The Paraguayans, who immigrated several generations ago, maintain their German roots and run German-language schools, for example. In recent years, Germans have also repeatedly set out to start a new life in Paraguay. According to the German Foreign Office, about 26,000 Germans currently live in the South American country. Most recently, vaccination opponents have also arrived, seeking a new home in Germany because of what they see as excessive Corona measures. Paraguay is actually considered a fairly safe country in the region. However, especially in the countryside, disagreements can lead to bloody clashes. In addition, a number of criminal organizations are active in Paraguay. Smuggling flourishes especially in the tri-border area between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. In addition, the rather small guerrilla organization EPP repeatedly carries out attacks and kidnaps people in northern Paraguay. Bernard von Bredow became famous when he discovered the rib of a mammoth skeleton as a 16-year-old in 1975. Ten years later, the skeleton was recovered complete. Bredow founded the "Mammutheum" in Siegsdorf, Bavaria, and went in search of mammoths and Neanderthals in the ZDF documentary series "Fire in the Ice". Most recently, he had worked in Paraguay as a violin maker. (AFP/dpa)