At 9:00am on Tuesday April 4, a mechanic arrived for a scheduled appointment to repair a diesel engine. His knocks to the front door went unanswered and there was no smoke coming from the chimney. Thinking the family must have stepped out, he went to inspect the engine room and noticed the lock was broken and easily removable. He carried the engine to the toolshed and spent the next four and a half hours fixing it.

Afterwards, as he walked across the courtyard, he noticed the previously locked door to the barn was now wide open and the family’s pet—a German spitz watchdog—had been removed from the stables and was now tied up by the front door, snarling. The mechanic assumed someone had since returned home but was confused as to why they hadn’t approached him…