A 22-year-old British millionaire's daughter was choked to death by her German bouncer boyfriend during an alleged sex game in their Switzerland hotel room.
Anna Reed, daughter of millionaire horse trainer Clive Reed, was on a world tour to celebrate her 21st birthday when she met 32-year-old Marc Schatzle in Thailand in February 2019, two months before her death.
Together they traveled to Vietnam, Singapore, and Dubai, with Anna covering most of the costs.
Over the three-month relationship, Anna reportedly showered the "Warrior" tattooed Schatzle with lavish gifts, hotel rooms, and expensive drinks.
Anna was found dead in room 501 of the luxury La Palma Au Lac hotel in Muralto, Switzerland on April 9, 2019, after Schatzle called paramedics.
An autopsy revealed she had suffocated. Reports said she had also suffered cuts and bruises.
During the hearing in Lugano, Switzerland, Schatzle told the court how he was sorry for killing Anna. He insisted Anna had died accidentally during a rough sex game.
"I put a towel around her neck and started kissing her. But she wanted more so I put my hand on the towel and pushed," Schatzle told the court, the Daily Mail reports.
"We did this a lot. She liked it and had done it before lots of times with her previous partners but I had never done anything like that before."
"She would tap my hand if she wanted me to stop. That was our code. That night the towel wasn’t having much effect so I used my hand as well."
However, other guests at the hotel told the court they had heard screaming and shouting coming from the room.
One said: "I heard breaking glass and furniture being pushed noisily around the room."
"There was crying. A voice said, 'You are killing me,' or 'You are kidding me'."
"I wanted to go and say something but thought it was too dangerous."
Prosecutors claim Schatzle had run up debts of more than $75,000 through drink, drugs, and designer gear.
They claim that he knew Anna, who was said to have threatened to dump him, had "more than £25,000 ($ US 34212. approx.) in her account" and that he killed her to gain access to the money in her bank account.
Investigators who searched the hotel for evidence found Anna’s credit card hidden behind a panel in the hotel elevator.
Schatzle denies murder and the trial continues.
"He has a problem with alcohol and cocaine and he was always able to travel to nice places," Schätzle’s former partner, the mother of his two kids, Michèle Bochsler told the Times.
"He betrayed me but he is not a violent man."
She added: "I am 1,000 percent sure he did not mean to kill this young woman. He never, ever has been violent. Never, ever. It’s just not possible. I am so sure that he is innocent. It was an accident, it must have been."
Anna’s dad Clive owns a stud farm worth more than £12 million in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Her sudden and untimely death had left Harrogate's close-knit community in disbelief.
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