Rose Keil, 34, was found dead in 2003 after leaving for an important meeting on a day that would prove to be decisive in her life. The graphic details of this terrible tragedy are depicted in the “Dateline NBC” episode titled “The Model & the Millionaire.” In addition, it provides information about her murder trial and the subsequent inquiry. Therefore, if you are curious about the case and want to discover more, including who the guilty party is, we have you covered!
How Did Rose Keil Die?
Rose Keil was born in Germany in 1969, and in addition to her parents, she has five siblings, including a brother named Wolfgang Keil. She became a model as she grew up as a result of her beautiful beauty and aura. The German model with the long red hair relocated to the US from Frankfurt, perhaps to advance in her modelling career. After arriving in the US, Rose met her future husband, real estate mogul Fred Keller, in an unusual way: through an advertisement in a German magazine.
They swiftly progressed as they got married to Fred in 1992 after the model responded to the advertisement. Around that time, Keller received a leukaemia diagnosis. Knowing he didn’t have long to live, he decided to reverse his vasectomy and try to conceive a son. For the couple’s benefit, his illness entered remission, which made their honeymoon years blissful. The newlyweds welcomed their baby, who they named Fredchen, three years after their nuptials, in 1995.
He even bought Rose and her husband a 10,000 square foot house in Palm Beach as he increased his real estate interests. They also helped her brother Wolfgang find employment after he immigrated to the US and paid for his college education. Nobody knew the couple was soon to experience tragedy because of their happy home life. Rose and her brother Wolfgang went to Fred’s workplace on November 10, 2003, for a meeting.
After a while, there was a shooting; the mother of one w as struck in the neck by a bullet from a.38 calibre handgun, and Fred and Wolfgang were also seriously hurt. When the latter made a panicked call to the police, they showed up on the site and discovered Rose dead from her wounds in a pool of blood on the floor. She had perished from a single gunshot wound to the neck, according to an autopsy.
Who Killed Rose Keil?
During the course of the inquiry, the police discovered that as Rose and Fred got to know one another more, inevitable fractures in their relationship started to show, and that over time, their problems seemed to be piling up. But when he refused to give her a piece of his corporate empire, she snapped. Rose, who had been married to her husband for eight years, filed for divorce in 2000, claiming that her husband was violent and controlling, along with all the other unresolved issues between the two. She left the family home during the start of this protracted legal struggle and moved into an opulent condo on Worth Avenue.
The couple’s prenuptial agreement was then declared illegal by the court on October 30, 2003, and Rose was given 50% of Fred’s real estate company. As they still needed to iron out some last-minute details, they made the decision to meet at Fred’s workplace 10 days following the decision. The meeting between Fred and Rose, who were joined by Wolfgang, began on November 1st, seemingly as usual. As Fred allegedly shot Rose in the neck after shooting Wolfgang in the chest while he was reading paperwork, the situation abruptly changed into a shootout.
The two got into a fight over the gun as a result, and Fred managed to shoot Wolfgang again before Wolfgang grabbed the weapon and fired back, barely missing Wolfgang’s cheek. Since his estranged brother-in-law had shot him and his sister, the latter called the police and reported the incident. When the police showed up, Fred was taken into custody. Additionally, during the trial, which got underway on January 20, 2004, the prosecution told the jury this version of events.
The defence, on the other hand, began with a completely different account. Fred’s attorney claimed that his client carried the weapon because Rose, who is accused of threatening to shoot his staff, was afraid of him. He had no reason to kill her because he was still financially secure after the divorce. Fred told the jury that he shot Wolfgang in self-defense because Wolfgang thought the black thing he pulled out was a pistol.
It was further claimed that during the scuffle, Rose and Wolfgang were shot when Wolfgang reached for his revolver. Fred Keller was charged with first-degree murder and given two life sentences in prison by the time the trial ended in April 2007. However, he passed away from leukaemia in prison at the age of 73 just four months after receiving a life sentence.
