The shooting in Les Crosets
On the evening of April 30, 2006, Corinne Rey-Bellet and her brother Alain were shot dead at the family chalet in Les Crosets, canton Valais. Their mother was seriously wounded, while Rey-Bellet's young son and her father were unharmed. The killings drew national attention because Rey-Bellet had been one of Switzerland's best-known alpine skiers before retiring from competition in 2003.
The principal suspect
Police and the investigating magistrate quickly focused on Rey-Bellet's estranged husband, Gerold Stadler. Contemporary Swiss reporting said witnesses had seen him leaving the property with a handgun and that investigators issued national and international arrest warrants. The couple had separated shortly before the shootings.
Search and death of the suspect
Stadler's vehicle was located in the canton of Vaud, and police conducted an intensive search. On May 3, 2006, his body was found near Ollon, close to where the vehicle had been abandoned. Police said he had died by suicide and a firearm was found nearby.
Why the case remains legally unresolved
Because the principal suspect died before arrest and trial, there was no criminal judgment determining responsibility for the murders. Later coverage continued to describe Stadler as the presumed or principal perpetrator while also noting that the motive remained uncertain. For this archive, the case is therefore classified as unresolved rather than adjudicated.
Sources and further reading
Case context
The case became one of Switzerland's most prominent domestic-homicide investigations of the 2000s. Its evidentiary record points strongly toward a principal suspect, but the absence of a trial means the legal record never reached a verdict.