Baroness Mary Vetsera - Death

Death

Vetsera and Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria were found dead, an apparent murder suicide, at his hunting lodge.

A common statement...has it that the Prince was shot through the heart and from behind, a view which would coincide with the first statement - namely, that the body had been found lying on the right side. The same tradition holds that Mademoiselle Vesera was shot through the left temple - a view entirely coinciding with the assumption that the window to the left of the couch had been opened, and the sleepers murdered. Dr. Widerhofer was admitted at once to the chamber of the Archduke, where the body was already laid out, that of Mademoiselle Vetsera having been removed to an adjoining room, where it was disposed on a couch and completely hidden with a plain white coverlet, pending the arrival of relatives, who had at once been summoned....Although I entered the girl's death-chamber, I was prevented, from the position of the table, which ran lengthwise with the couch, from closely observing the body."

The facts of the incident are unknown; it has been suggested that she was killed by Crown Prince Rudolf, who then killed himself; that they both killed themselves; that they killed one another; and that the two of them were murdered. Some say she was pregnant at the time of her death while others dispute this claim.

In his book Crime at Mayerling, The Life and Death of Mary Vetsera, Georg Markus claims that what happened at Mayerling was never seriously investigated, and the few investigations that were made were falsified – manipulated by the monarchy.