Discovery and investigation
In the early morning of June 26, 2021, passers-by found the 13-year-old girl's body on a green strip near a residential complex in Vienna's Donaustadt district. Investigators established that she had previously been with several young men in a nearby apartment.
The inquiry examined her movements, witness accounts, toxicology, forensic evidence and the roles of those present. Prosecutors eventually brought charges against three men. A fourth person who had initially been under suspicion was no longer treated as a participant in the fatal offense by the time the prosecution was finalized.
The prosecution theory
The Vienna prosecution alleged that the three defendants had intentionally placed Leonie under heavy drug influence in order to sexually assault her. According to the medical evidence described during the case, she died from a combination of drug poisoning and suffocation.
The criminal case did not turn on a claim that every defendant personally performed the same act. The jury was asked to assess differentiated responsibility, including whether two defendants were criminally liable for murder through omission because they failed to obtain lifesaving assistance despite the circumstances confronting them.
The 2022 verdicts
On December 2, 2022, all three defendants were convicted of rape and murder. The principal defendant was convicted of intentional murder and received life imprisonment. The other two were convicted of murder by omission as well as rape and received prison sentences of 20 years and 19 years.
At that stage, not all parts of the verdict were final because appeals remained possible. One defendant accepted his sentence; two pursued further remedies.
Supreme Court review
On May 31, 2023, Austria's Supreme Court rejected the remaining challenges. The court left the life sentence and the 19-year sentence unchanged, while the 20-year sentence had already become final. ORF reported that all judgments in the case were therefore legally final.
This distinction matters editorially: the 2022 verdicts were initially subject to appeal, but by the end of the Supreme Court proceedings the murder and rape convictions and the three prison terms were no longer provisional.
June 26, 2021: Leonie is found dead in Vienna-Donaustadt and a homicide investigation begins.
June 2022: prosecutors report that the investigative phase has been completed.
July 14, 2022: charges are announced against three defendants.
December 2, 2022: all three are convicted of rape and murder; sentences are life imprisonment, 20 years and 19 years.
May 31, 2023: Austria's Supreme Court rejects the remaining challenges, making all judgments final.
What the judgments establish
The final judgments establish criminal responsibility for the three defendants convicted in the case. They also establish that the defendants did not all receive the same legal characterization or sentence. Crime by Region preserves that difference rather than flattening the case into a single undifferentiated accusation.
The verdicts do not justify extending blame to an ethnic, national or immigrant community. Background characteristics are not evidence of collective responsibility and are not needed to explain the legal outcome.
Current status
The case is fully adjudicated. By May 31, 2023, the remaining appeals had been rejected and the sentences of life imprisonment, 20 years and 19 years were final. Crime by Region therefore classifies the case as solved.
Sources
Archive context
This case is included in the Austria archive. Related Austrian files include The Murder of Julia Kührer, The 2015 Graz Attack and The 2020 Vienna Terror Attack.