AN AUSTRIAN man who lost a six-figure sum in bad investments has admitted killing five family members with an axe to spare them the "disgrace" of financial ruin.
The 39-year-old public relations consultant, identified only as Reinhard S, walked into a Vienna police station at 3.20am yesterday, and told the duty officer: "In my apartment are my dead wife and my dead child."
The man said that, after killing the two, he drove two hours to Linz, where he killed his father-in-law and his parents.
After trying and failing to hang himself, he turned himself in.
Vienna police confirmed the "extremely brutal" attacks yesterday after finding the body of his 42-year-old wife Barbara in the bathroom of their modern apartment in Vienna's leafy Hietzing neighbourhood.
The body of their seven-year-old daughter Natalie lay in a walk-in wardrobe, partially covered with a blanket.
Investigators in Linz and the nearby town of Ansfelden confirmed that they had found another three bodies.
"The motive for the killings was massive money problems after he speculated and lost money he had borrowed from the family," said criminal investigator Thomas Stecher.
After killing his wife and daughter at 7.30am on Tuesday, the man drove 180km to the town of Ansfelden. At about 7pm, he rang the bell of his parents' home and struck his 69-year-old mother Gabriela in the face with the axe when she opened the door.
Then he headed upstairs and killed his 72-year-old father Engelbert, a retired postman, as he slept in an armchair before the television.
Later, he drove to nearby Linz and killed his father-in-law Heinrich, an 80-year-old widower.
"He described everything very factually; he was completely unmoved when he gave answers," said Mr Stecher.
The 39-year-old man left notes of explanation and apology beside the bodies in Ansfelden and Linz, which police are now studying. In a rucksack on the back seat of the man's car, police found a brand-new axe they presume the man purchased especially for the killings.
Austrian media reported that the man lost €300,000 in risky investments using money from his family's savings, as well as money from other family members.
After the killings, he drove aimlessly for several hours before turning himself in. Police believe the man has a brother and a sister and were trying to locate them yesterday.