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Combining business with pleasure as he often did, Von Armstadt travelled to Cairo in the early autumn of 1928 to negotiate a contract with the Suez Company. He was joined at the last moment by his wife. The fateful attack on Von Armstadt's life took place on September 25, during a visit to the pyramids in the Western Deserts. The body was only recovered after two full weeks, disfigured by scavengers. The autopsy report showed that Von Armstadt had been repeatedly stabbed in a vicious and extremely forceful way. Von Armstadt's younger brother Jurgen flew in from Germany to identify the body. Devastated and outraged he vowed to bring his brother's murderer to justice. Emmy Buckingham Parker disappeared the same day the murder took place. Since then there have not been any confirmed reports of her whereabouts. As Von Armstadt was an avid collector of Egyptian antiquities, several more sensationalist tabloids connected his demise to the Curse of the Mummies. It was suggested his wounds matched the incisions described in ancient mummifying protocols. In a connected story renowned medium Madame Shjikasky in Paris reported she had contacted Von Armstadt's tortured spirit. The spirit, wearing the sign of Isis around his neck, had declared Tutankhamen had claimed Emmy Buckingham Parker for his wife and that they ruled supreme in the Underworld. In an attempt to put a lid on the case, the Egyptian police finally arrested and convicted Omar Al Fatah, a petty criminal and father of thirteen, for the Von Armstadt-murder. Al Fatah was decapitated on September 25, 1931, three years to the day after the gruesome tragedy. |
