Two long-running missing-person cases remain unresolved in Carinthia

Two unusual missing-person cases continue to occupy Carinthian investigators after many years, ORF reports. Around 1,000 people are reported missing in Carinthia each year, although most are found again quickly. The International Day of the Missing will be observed this Sunday.

The case of Michaela Grabner

Michaela Grabner disappeared in February 2006, when she was 22 and working in the red-light industry. A pimp who was 40 at the time was suspected of murder.

The man escaped from custody in Styria and fled to South America. He was arrested there on suspicion of killing a German couple, but was later released. Despite the lack of an extradition treaty with Paraguay, he was sent back in 2012. He was not charged with murder and was convicted in Austria only of insurance fraud through arson.

Grabner’s case remains unresolved. “I still hope that something can be done. I would like to know what happened and whether she is still alive,” her mother, Christine Grabner, has repeatedly said in interviews.

Two years ago, the missing woman’s handbag, including her electronic health card, was found in the Glan river. It may have been there for many years.

German couple disappeared on the Nassfeld

The disappearance of an elderly German holiday couple on the Nassfeld mountain area also remains unresolved. The 80-year-old man and his 73-year-old wife set out for a hike in June 2008 and were never seen again.

Mountain rescuers, police, search dogs, divers from Venice and helicopters spent thousands of hours searching over months and years. Investigators still cannot understand how two older people could disappear without leaving any clues in the alpine pasture area.

“We search with a certain amount of hope, but when there are no clues, you have to work your way through the terrain, and that is very difficult,” mountain rescuer Hermann Holbein said at the time.

Despite the mystery surrounding the 18-year-old case, investigators do not believe the couple were victims of a violent crime.

By contrast, some cases have been solved by chance decades later. In 2005, the remains of a Serbian-born woman and one of her children were found near a signal box beside Klagenfurt railway station, 17 years after they disappeared. Her husband had killed, dismembered and buried them.