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The Jaeger estate gardener, Hermann Schmidt, discovered the bodies of Gerhard and Heidemarie Jaeger face-down in the large man-made lake at the bottom of the sprawling Jaeger estate, some 500 metres from the back door of the family mansion. The pond, almost an acre in size, was built at the same time as the homestead was constructed and was filled with seasonal blooming water lilies and stocked with Japanese Koi.
At first, long before Adalhard was born, Gerhard and Heidemarie visited the lake regularly and, on top of a slight rise overlooking the lake, they sat on a purpose-built bench and drank ice-cold Badstube Riesling Beerrenauslese, a Bernkastel wine from the prominent Moselle wine producing region in Germany; it was Heidemarie’s favorite white wine, and probably Gerhard’s least
