German millionaire heiress found shot dead at family safari estate, day after estate manager’s killing

A 26-year-old heiress to a German shipping fortune was found reportedly shot dead at her family’s luxury wildlife estate in South Africa, less than 24 hours after a senior employee was killed on the same property.

Caroline von Rantzau, an heir to the Hamburg-based shipping company Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL), was discovered with a gunshot wound inside her room at the family’s Leeuwfontein Estate in Limpopo Province on June 1, as per German newspaper Bild.

According to the report, gunshots were heard on the reserve shortly before her body was found. Investigators believe she was shot with a .357-calibre hunting rifle allegedly linked to a firearm kept by her father, Eberhart von Rantzau, the managing director of the German shipping firm.

The death came a day after the estate’s financial manager, 44-year-old Arno Koën, was found fatally shot on the property. Koën, who oversaw bookings and finances at the reserve, was reportedly considered a close confidant and mentor to the young heiress.

Police reportedly said Koën died from a gunshot wound inflicted by a 9mm firearm. Authorities are awaiting autopsy results in both cases and have released few details about the investigations.

No arrests have been made, and police have not indicated whether the two shootings are connected.

Initial reports suggesting that von Rantzau had died in a road accident were later disproved.