Three men have been arrested for torturing and murdering a world-famous German palaeontologist and his daughter so they could steal a Stradivarius violin worth millions.
Bernard von Bredow, 62, and his daughter Loreena, 14, were found dead in their home in the city of Aregua, which is located in the Central Department in Paraguay, on 22nd October.
Von Bredow purchased a plot of land, built a house and moved to the country to start a new life with his daughter four years ago.
Volker Grannass, 58, Yves Asriel Spartacus Steinmetz, 60, and Stephen Jorg Messing Darchinger, 51, all German nationals and friends of the victims, have now been arrested on suspicion of killing the father and daughter, according to German daily Bild.
The suspects allegedly carried out the gruesome murders so they could steal money and a valuable Stradivarius violin from the victim, who collected antique instruments.
Grannass, a wealthy landowner, asked for the case to be reported and even offered a bounty of EUR 5,000 (GBP 4,283) for anyone who could provide information that would lead to the capture of the killers.
Von Bredow was allegedly tortured because the suspects needed to get their hands on certificates proving the authenticity of the violin.
Stradivarius violins were made by the Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari in the 17th and 18th centuries, and with just 650 left in the world, they are incredibly valuable, selling for millions.
Von Bredow was reportedly tortured before being shot in the back of the head while his daughter died of blood loss after being shot in the stomach.
Attorney General Lorena Ledesma said: “To commit the crime and such a brutal murder it must be because they knew the victims. We’ve found a lot of evidence.”
Bernard von Bredow was gifted in the sciences, which he taught himself, discovering a whole giant mammoth skeleton near his hometown in Bavaria when he was just 16 years old and restoring an aeroplane at the age of 23 before going on to make violins and write songs, according to Bild.
Following his discovery of the mammoth in 1975, he even founded a prehistoric museum called the ‘Mammutheum’, in the town of Siegsdorf, in the southern German state of Bavaria.
He became an expert in mammoths and even pioneered ways that can help preserve similar finds.
The investigation is ongoing.
