On Friday, 23rd February, around 9 pm, the Vienna police were alerted that a passerby discovered a blood track leading from a sex studio onto the sidewalk. The police officers and the ambulance teams arrived at the scene shortly and found 3 Asian women stabbed to death.
This happened in the 20th district, in Studio 126a, and the officers, paired up with the special team WEGA, started the manhunt for the suspected murderer. He was found in the nearby green area, and because he still had the knife used for the murders, the police had to use extra care. The murderer behaved aggressively during his arrest, so the police officers had to use their tasers as well.
As later turned out, the suspected killer is a 27-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who has been in Austria since 2022. At the time of murders, there was another woman in the studio, who locked herself in a room, which saved her life. She had to listen to the crime, she has been offered psychological support.
The three dead Asian women were found in different rooms in the studio, while the murderer suffered minor injuries during the stabbing.
Why working independently or in small studios can be dangerous?
As it turned out, the 4 women were alone in the studio, where the murderer attacked them, leading 3 of them to death. These murders also highlight a very important aspect of working in the sex industry: it is much safer to work in a legal and well-known brothel than working illegally or even in a small studio.
Over the years, we have also reported a lot of news where sex workers were attacked or killed. A 32-year-old man attacked a 38-year-old sex worker with a knife, leaving her badly injured. Three sex workers were tricked into a trap by four men who threatened them with a fake pistol and raped them. An illegal sex worker was attacked by a customer after she advertised her services on social media and met him in a hotel room. A prostitute was killed in Koblenz after being tortured for a longer period of time. The ELLA network, an independent organization, published a report stating that at least fifteen prostitutes were killed in the past years only in Bavaria, and many others were attacked.
The worst situation is when you work independently, and most likely, illegally in an apartment. In such cases, you won’t have any protection against aggressive clients or in case of any argument. It can also happen that a client would force you to provide unwanted services, as no one will be behind you to protect you. As a plus, working illegally in apartments is strictly prohibited by law; the police officers in Vienna and any other cities often check the ads on the sex portals and raid the illegal sex workers. In case of being caught red-handed, you will face a huge fine, and if you are not an Austrian resident, you might be denied entry to Austria for a longer period of time.
Sex Clubs in Vienna Magazine published a lot of news, where illegal sex workers were raided by police. You can read few of them here, and here.
Working in smaller studios might be a bit safer, but as it turned out in the Friday’s stabbing, these places do not have security personnel to help you.
Why is it much safer to work in a high-class brothel?
Bigger brothels have different kinds of security measures to protect their sex workers. These include security guards, alarm systems in the rooms, and other protective steps. The ladies are a very important part of the brothels, and the management does everything to protect them and provide them with everything that is needed for successful and effective work.
Additionally, such places won’t let problematic people in, as it is highly important that no one disturbs the guests’ experience in the brothel. In any case, it is very unlikely that such problematic people try to enter a well-known brothel, as the security guards and other measures deter them in almost all cases.
Are you starting your sex worker career in Vienna? Don’t work illegally or in a small, unsafe studio! We wrote an article about how to find a reputable and high-class brothel for work. Read it and follow the steps to get hired in a safe place. Click on the button to read the article: