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 town of Areguá. Last week, unknown persons destroyed his dream of emigration. 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 22 October. The bodies of the 62-year-old man and the 14-year-old girl were discovered by a friend in the family's house about 30 kilometres southeast of the capital Asunción, the ABC television station reported. The Foreign Office in Berlin confirmed the death of two Germans on Tuesday. The archaeologist died from a gunshot to the neck, according to coroner Héctor Meza. 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 in the stomach. 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 the Paraguayan homicide squad, told the AFP news agency on 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 assumed von Bredow had been forced to look for the key to the safe. When the attackers could not open the safe, they eventually killed von Bredow and his daughter, Grance speculated. The contents of the safe are not known. It will be kept safe until family members from Germany arrive, the police officer said. Paraguay has about seven million inhabitants. Located in the centre 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, many Germans have 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. Recently, vaccination opponents have also come to Germany, looking for a new home because of what they see as excessive Corona measures. Paraguay is actually considered a safe country in the region. However, especially in the countryside, differences of opinion can lead to bloody confrontations. In addition, a number of criminal organisations are active in Paraguay. Smuggling flourishes especially in the tri-border area between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. In addition, the rather small guerrilla organisation EPP repeatedly carries out attacks and kidnaps people in the north of Paraguay. Bernard von Bredow became famous when he discovered the rib of a mammoth skeleton in 1975 at the age of 16. Ten years later, the complete skeleton was recovered. 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 worked as a violin maker in Paraguay. (AFP/dpa)