GERMAN SUFFERED MULTIPLE FRACTURES TO THE HEAD: POLICE

According to the police investigating the case the motive behind the 66-year-old woman's death could well be financial.
The two ran a construction and real estate business based in Manacor and for years had enjoyed a lavish lifestyle for it only to be curtailed by the recession.

However, during the good days, they were often travelling to the Far East and a few days after von Stein went missing, Axel Albert travelled to Singapore on business.

He apparently told his partner's daughter ,who was in Canada at the time, that while he was away, her mother was going to France on holiday and it was not until September 28, after having not heard from her mother, that the daughter reported her by internet as missing to the police here in Majorca.

The Guardia Civil tried to contact Axel Albert, but he was away on business, however, on his return on Monday, they began questioning him.
Denied
At first he denied knowing anything about his partner's whereabouts but as the Bulletin reported yesterday, a close friend of his told the police on Tuesday afternoon that he had apparently admitted to having buried von Stein in the garden after arriving home to find her dead.

He claimed that if he had told the police he had found her dead, they would not have believed him, so he apparently tried to cover it up.
But, after being arrested on Wednesday morning while found hiding on a nearby beach, he directed the police to where he had buried the body which he had apparently kept for three days inside the house before wrapping her in a blanket and digging a two metre deep hole in the garden of the chalet they shared.

Yesterday, while the police were awaiting the complete results of the autopsy, it was revealed that the victim apparently suffered multiple fractures to the head leading the Guardia Civil to suspect that she may well have been the victim of manslaughter.

Axel Albert is already facing a charge of illegal burial but the police will not be able to ascertain the exact cause of death until they have examined the complete autopsy results.

Axel Albert, who neither has a criminal record here in Spain nor in Germany, is still proclaiming his innocence, despite having withdrawn a substantial amount of money and jewels from his bank after being questioned by police.

Remand hearing
Last night as Canyamel began to return to normal after three days of a heavy police presence, Axel Albert was being held in Guardia Civil custody in Arta and is expected to appear before a remand hearing in Manacor tomorrow.

By that time, the complete results of the autopsy results should have been made available to the investigators so they can build their case.
But neighbours who knew the couple can not believe what has happened and many have said that Axel Albert is not the kind of person who would harm his partner.

Detectives have been questioning local residents and friends and all have spoken very highly of the couple.
One neighhbour told of how they were a very happy couple and they were in fact having a new property built in Cala Romantica, suggesting they were planning a future together.

The case continues.