The Strange Murder of a Rare Violin Collector | Bloomberg Investigates

Bernard von Bredow: A Life and a Murder

• Bernard von Bredow was a well-known scientist who lived in Paraguay.
• He was found murdered along with his teenage daughter, Loreena.

Bernard's Life and Interests

• Bernard was a collector of expensive violins and had a history of financial instability.
• He had a unique life story, including discovering a mammoth as a teenager.
• Bernard opened a museum called the Mammutheum in Siegsdorf, Germany, showcasing his mammoth discovery.
• Bernard and Loreena had moved to Paraguay in 2017 and built a life for themselves in the small community of Aregua.
• Bernard and Loreena were known for their love of cooking and posting videos of their activities on YouTube.
• Bernard was described as a doting father who called his daughter "Lolo."
• Bernard's friend described him as an "outstanding character, a good man, and an excellent father."
• Bernard was a violin collector and had a business buying, selling, and repairing violins.
• He had connections to wealthy individuals, including Vladimir Putin and Abramovic.
• Bernard had moved to Paraguay from Germany because he was dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
• He was part of a community of Germans who had moved to Paraguay for similar reasons, including dissatisfaction with Germany's social and political changes.
• Bernard had become involved in conspiracy theories about George Soros and Bill Gates.
• He had started to view Paraguay as a place to escape and had evangelized for it to his friends back home.

The Murder of Bernard and Loreena

• Bernard was found naked, tortured, and shot in the back of the neck. His daughter was shot in the stomach and found in the bathtub.
• The Paraguayan media reported that the motive for the murders was the theft of Stradivarius violins.
• The authorities concluded that there had to be at least two people involved in the murder, as Bernard was a large man.
• They believed that the person who killed Bernard must have known him prior to the killing, as Loreena was also killed, likely to prevent her from identifying the killers.
• The authorities found evidence suggesting that the house had been broken into from the inside, possibly to make it appear as if a break-in had occurred.

Suspects and Investigations

• The authorities suspected that Volker, Stefan, and Yves had conspired to murder Bernard to take possession of his instruments, find documents, and sell them.
• Volker was found in possession of some of Bernard's violins, and Stefan was caught trying to hide weapons belonging to Volker.
• Volker and Stefan arranged a funeral for Bernard and Loreena just a few days after the killings, which was considered unusual.
• The authorities arrested Stefan and Volker, but Bernard's brother, who had been in contact with Volker, was shocked and believed that Volker would never harm his brother.
• The police were accused of corruption and incompetence, as they did not release any of the violins they had in their possession, despite claiming they had Stradivarius violins.
• Bernard's brother lost everything financially in the process of trying to recover his brother's violins.
• Bernard and Yves had a contentious relationship, with Yves claiming that Bernard stole a cello from him, and Bernard claiming that Yves stole his violins.
• Yves told Bernard that his house in Paraguay had burned down, destroying all of Bernard's violins, which led to a legal battle between the two.
• The reporter felt that there was a lot of conflicting information and accusations, but there was a growing sense that Yves might have been involved in the murder.

The Speaker's Investigation

• The speaker, Bernard's brother, traveled to Paraguay to investigate his brother's murder.
• He contacted Jimmy, a lawyer he knew from previous visits, but Jimmy's family advised him not to be in contact with the speaker.
• Jimmy eventually agreed to meet with the speaker and showed him files containing handwritten notes indicating that Jimmy would inherit Bernard's property.
• The speaker found this strange, as he believed Bernard's wife, Loreena, should inherit everything.
• The speaker felt uneasy about the situation but remained outwardly friendly.
• The speaker believed Jimmy was the murderer, as he was known to be financially motivated and had been seen near Bernard's house at the time of the killings.
• Police raided Jimmy's mother's house and found cash, violins, and a rental car with a GPS that placed Jimmy near Bernard's house.
• Police investigated the possibility that Jimmy and Yves, a friend of Bernard's, were involved in the murders.
• Phone records showed increased communication between Jimmy and Yves around the time of the murders, and they exchanged a blueprint of Bernard's house.

The Speaker's Forgiveness

• The speaker forgives the perpetrators for his own sake, as dwelling on the murders would harm him.