The man who stole Michael Schumacher’s medical records while the former F1 legend was in a coma and later killed himself was a native German who kept to himself, neighbors and co-workers say.
The man, who has only been identified in media reports as AK, was found dead in his cell from suicide just a day after being arrested for allegedly stealing the records.
Now the mayor of St. Gallen has confirmed that the man was an employee of the Swiss air rescue service Rega and was 54 years old.
And neighbors describe him as a loner who lived in seclusion with his girlfriend, reported Blick.
The man did love sailing, and a longtime friend described him a trustworthy and upright man who he never would have believed could have committed such an act.
The friend said the man had never spoken of financial worries, leaving the motive for stealing the records still unclear.
Rega Vice President Franz Steinegger condemned the theft but said that the act is in conflict with how the other employees of Rega act, and noted that people sometimes make horrible mistakes.
The medical records belonging to Schumacher, who hit his head while skiing in December and was left in a coma for nearly six months, were apparently stolen while he was transfered from the Grenoble hospital to University Hospital of Lausanne in June after he came out of a coma.
A few weeks later, it was revealed that his medical records were stolen, and the perpetrators were trying to sell them off for about 60,000 Swiss francs.. The messages about the sale of the records were said to have come from a computer with an IP address in Zurich.
The investigation led prosecutors to the Rega employee, who was arrested on Tuesday. He denied wrongdoing in questioning by police, and prosecutors had planned to question him further.
Prosecutors said they currently have no evidence of further suspects and likely will close the case.
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