Possible motives emerge in Austrian murder-suicide case

Possible motives have emerged Friday in the tragic Austrian murder-suicide case in which a woman killed five family members and then herself, the Krone newspaper reported.

Police discovered six bodies in a house in Schildberg, Lower Austria on Thursday, in which the 35-year-old woman had shot her 59-year-old mother, 41-year-old brother, two sons aged nine and 10, and her seven-year-old daughter, as well as family dogs, before taking her own life.

She had reportedly shot each family member in the head before covering them with a blanket.

New information indicates the mother of the woman had found out about two weeks earlier that she had advanced cancer and would not live much longer, which could have tipped the 35-year-old over the edge.

The single mother called her children's school on Monday and told the school her children would be absent for several days as their grandmother had died unexpectedly. It is unknown if she had already shot them by that time.

Further reports indicate the woman may have been a drug user in the past, and the family's had high debt.

Neighbours had described the family as withdrawn. The mother did not allow her children to play with others in the neighbourhood, and avoided contact with other people herself.

The children themselves reportedly had psychological problems as well as difficulties at school. Enditem