The man who delivered Swiss teen Manuela Riedo, who was murdered in Galway last October, was himself a serial killer accused of taking the lives of three people including his wife, his sister-in-law, and a rival co-worker.
Dr Marcel Walther was a respected gynaecologist in Switzerland when he delivered the beautiful baby girl who, almost 18 years later, would be discovered dead on wasteland at Lough Atalia on October 8, 2007, just days after her arrival in Galway city. The doctor, however, was leading a secret second life as a cold-blooded killer that would eventually win him the name of ‘Dr Death’ in the teen’s home country.
The doctor’s killing spree began in the 1980s, seemingly set off when he lost a promotion in the Berner Women’s Hospital where he was employed.
It is believed that as revenge he murdered his work rival Dr Peter Gisin (33 ), who disappeared shortly before Dr Walther was overheard telling another colleague that making “a corpse disappear is not a problem”, suggesting a sewer system as the best option.
The body of Dr Gisin was never found and it would be many years later before Dr Walther would face the blame.
Nine years later the doctor burned down his holiday chalet with his first wife Kathi (42 ) inside and a year later, just months before delivering Manuela, he married his second wife Brigitte Walti, the daughter of a prominent millionaire.
When his wife’s sister, Beatrice Steger (31 ) became suspicious and confronted the doctor he struck her in the head before shooting her four times and dismembering her body in the upstairs bathtub. Her body was later discovered dumped in a forest.
Speaking of the deranged doctor, Manuela’s mother Arleta said: “It was a murderer who brought my daughter into this world and it was a murderer who took her life.
“When I think about his hands on me it makes me sick to my stomach.”
The brutal killer was eventually apprehended and arrested for his crimes and, following a failed attempt to kill himself by biting into the artery in his wrists, he eventually hanged himself in his cell.
