A high-ranking German ambassador has been detained in Brazil on suspicion of killing his spouse of more than two decades with fatal blows at the couple’s residence.
Uwe Herbert Hahn, the German consul to Brazil, was detained late Saturday night after his 52-year-old spouse Walter Henri Maximilien Biot was discovered dead in their Rio de Janeiro penthouse the night before. Hahn reportedly told police that Walter died from a fall the night before. Hahn asserts that Biot had a fit, started racing towards the apartment’s balcony, stumbled over a rug, and struck his head, resulting in a fatal injury.
However, according to the police, Biot’s body was covered with bruises, some of which looked to be the result of stomping, and he had lesions associated with ‘violence with a cylindrical instrument’ that were inconsistent with a fall.
It is unclear who alerted police to the couple’s flat in the upscale beachside neighborhood of Ipanema on Saturday, but when they arrived, Hahn was reportedly cleaning the apartment.
He was brought into custody for interrogation as forensic teams went in with luminol, a chemical that lights in the presence of blood, to locate bloodstains.
Some were reportedly on the tile flooring, with the couple’s secretary stating she had them cleaned after a dog was seen licking blood.
Meanwhile, cops discovered another probable bloodstain on a newly cleaned couch.
According to reports, Hahn informed authorities that Bitot, a Belgian national, had a drinking problem and was using sleeping drugs.
According to reports, he informed authorities that Biot acted “strangely” in the days before his death and seemed “panicked or frightened.”
Hahn said he was in the kitchen when he heard Biot get up and begin jogging before to his collapse.
He said that when he heard his spouse ‘groaning’ on the floor, he assumed he was inebriated and attempted to put him to bed.
Hahn only spotted the blood after texting a photo to a friend claiming that Biot was “drunk again.”
However, forensic exams revealed that Biot died from a wound to the rear of his skull, not the front as would have been the case if he had fallen front.
This, together with the many other injuries Biot had sustained, led detectives to infer that he had been murdered.
Officer Camila Lourenco said, “The consul’s account of events, that the victim fell, is incongruous with the findings of the forensics investigation.”
The corpse is crying forth the details of its demise.
Given the nature of the offense, Hahn will not have diplomatic protection, according to Brazilian media sources. The police did not reply quickly to a request for comment.
According to a photograph of his identification card released in the Brazilian news, Biot was one week shy of turning 53.
Hahn allegedly informed police that the pair was contemplating relocating to Hawaii.
They had been married for 23 years in all.
A request for information was not immediately met with a response from the German embassy.
However, both the embassy and consulate in Rio de Janeiro are in “close communication with the Brazilian authorities investigating this matter,” according to a Sunday statement from the German federal foreign office.