A SCOTTISH primary school teacher has been murdered while on holiday
in New Orleans with his pregnant fiancee, US police said last night.
The body of Mr Adrian Strasser, 36, from Edinburgh, was found with
head injuries at 7am on Saturday in the historic but rundown French
Quarter.
Police Sergeant Gilbert Johnson said his gold watch and wallet were
still on the body and there was no indication that anything had been
stolen. There were no immediate suspects, he added.
Orleans parish coroner Mr Frank Minyard said: ''It looks like he was
hit on top of his head three times and each one of the blows caused a
skull fracture and brain damage.''
Mr Strasser's fiancee, Ms Margaret Reece, 38, said they arrived in New
Orleans on Friday and checked into a guest house. They had spent a week
in California and planned to spend five days in the city before visiting
New York.
They had had dinner at a restaurant in the French Quarter.
Ms Reece, who is also from Edinburgh and works for The Scotsman as an
advertising executive, said: ''We had gone for a meal at 7pm. I was
tired and I just wanted to go back to my room and he wanted to go for a
few drinks and shoot some movies with his new camera -- a gift from his
dad.
''I believe Adrian must have either wandered off by himself into a bad
neighbourhood, or was befriended by someone who perhaps took him into
the area where he was killed.
''The police don't really know what happened. Adrian was a great
traveller and loved to meet the local people and look at new places.''
The dead man's uncle, Mr James Strasser, 76, of Elm Row, Edinburgh,
said: ''We understand he was mugged for the camcorder he was carrying.''
Mr Strasser's father, Ernest, a retired Navy officer whose wife
died six months ago, was last night at home at Penicuik, near
Edinburgh, awaiting further news of his son's death from the Foreign
Office before travelling to New Orleans.
Ms Reece said she had known Mr Strasser for four years and they lived
in the Haymarket area of Edinburgh.
''Adrian had a law
degree from Edinburgh University but never practised,'' she said.
''Instead, he helped run his parents' haberdashery shops in the city.
''This is especially tragic because he finally landed a great job
teaching at Tower Bank primary school in Portobello last June, after a
seven-month wait. He loved the kids and he loved to teach.''
She said Mr Strasser had been to America before and had always wanted
to visit New Orleans.
''He loved jazz and one of his favourite movies was The Big Easy.''
Ms Reece was thought to be returning to Scotland yesterday.
* Almost exactly a year ago, British holidaymaker Julie Stott, 27,
from Manchester, was shot dead by a mugger when she and her boyfriend,
Peter Ellis, were held up as they walked back to their hotel from the
French Quarter in New Orleans during the city's jazz festival.
Four men are in prison awaiting trial on charges of her murder and
accessory to murder.
Mr Ellis survived the attack but Miss Stott was reported to have been
shot as she tried to hide under a car. New Orleans police said they
believed the motive for the robbery was money to buy the drug crack.
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