German police said Monday two more bodies have been found during investigations into the deaths of three people discovered in a Bavarian hotel room and killed by crossbow bolts.
The two female corpses were found near the northern city of Hanover while detectives probed the mysterious deaths of a man and two women discovered over the weekend in the Bavarian town of Passau, close to the Austrian border.
The two crime scenes are 645 kilometres (400 miles) apart at opposite ends of Germany. Police said they found the two female bodies while searching the home of one of the women found dead in Passau.
No details were given as to whether the latest two corpses in the district of Gifhorn, Lower Saxony, had also been killed by crossbow bolts.
On Saturday, hotel staff in Passau discovered the three dead Germans in their room around noon alongside two crossbows.
A third crossbow was later found packed inside a bag, police said.
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The three were a 33-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man from Rhineland-Palatinate state and a 30-year-old woman from Lower Saxony, who had arrived Friday.
Local media reported that the man and the 33-year-old woman were found dead in bed holding hands, with bolts in their heads and chests.
The other woman was lying on the floor with a bolt in her chest.
Reports said the three had arrived Friday from different parts of Germany and had all checked in without luggage.
They only returned to their cars later after the reception was closed to get the bags containing the crossbows.
One of the women had booked the triple room for 85 euros a night, without breakfast, for three nights.
"It was a strange group," a guest recalled, according to the newspaper Bild, saying that the bearded man wore a suit while the women were dressed in black.
They had all wished a "good evening", taken glasses of soft drink and water, and then disappeared into the second-floor room as rain fell outside.
Police said the town's prosecutor had ordered the autopsies which aimed to ascertain the cause and circumstances of the deaths.
Initial results from the post-mortem investigations were expected by Tuesday morning, police said.