Family’s Balcony Death in Switzerland Appears to Be Suicide

The 4 members of a French household who have been discovered lifeless on the backside of an condominium constructing in a Swiss resort city final week seem to have jumped off a balcony, “one after the opposite,” as a part of a bunch suicide, the Swiss police stated.

The police stated on Tuesday that their investigation means that the 4 individuals — a 40-year-old man, his 41-year-old spouse, her twin sister, and the couple’s 8-year-old daughter — plunged to their deaths in Montreux in western Switzerland in succession.

A fifth individual, the couple’s 15-year-old son, additionally apparently jumped from the seventh-floor balcony however survived, and he’s in a coma, stated the police within the canton of Vaud, the place Montreux is located.

The police stated they’d dominated out the presence of different individuals within the condominium on the time that the members of the family apparently leapt, and provided further proof to help their principle.

Investigators stated they discovered a stepladder on the balcony, there was no signal of a wrestle and no witness heard any sounds or shouting coming from the condominium or the balcony earlier than the household fell, they stated.

Because the starting of the coronavirus pandemic, the household was “very concerned about conspiracy and survivalist” theories, and had stocked up on an “spectacular” quantity of meals that occupied many of the condominium, the police stated.

“The household lived in close to autarky,” the assertion stated, “faraway from society.”

Just one member of the household, the mom’s twin sister, labored exterior the condominium, the police stated. The daughter was not enrolled in class, and he or she and the mom weren’t registered as dwelling in Montreux.

The son was home-schooled, and two cops knocked on the door of the condominium at 6:15 a.m. on Thursday morning to summon the daddy in reference to the son’s training. A voice requested who was on the door, however when the officers recognized themselves, nothing additional was stated. The officers then left.

Shortly earlier than 7 a.m., the 5 individuals fell from a peak of greater than 20 meters within the span of 5 minutes. “All these parts recommend, among the many members of this household, the worry of an interference by the authorities of their life,” the police stated.