Usually, we don’t write about crime here at Alphablogs. However, I just found this intriguing story in the Austrian news, (thanks to my Twitter friend Lotree) and noticed that no-one in the English speaking blogosphere had talked about it yet so I thought I’d translate it.
A Haiku renewed hopes to find the killer of 19-year-old Austrian Ulrike Reistenhofer, who was murdered on August 9, 1998. However, the poet could not be found.
According to psychologist Alfred Endl, the person who wrote the Haiku is directly or indirectly connected to the killing. In 2006, Austrian media reported the poem. Soon after, internet users contacted them to inform them that they had seen that poem at a memorial, signed by “serial killer”, as far back as 2003.
The police’s hoped were fanned. They attempted to determine via the ISP (internet service provider) address who had posted the Haiku – it was possible that the killer her or himself had put down the Haiku at the memorial and posted it to the internet.
Unfortunately, this is where the investigation ended – with the internet provider. In 2006, there was no law that the activities of internet users had to be recorded and stored with internet service providers for a specified amount of time.
The case remains cold.
(Image by John Drinkwater)