The World - News from Oct. 13, 1987

The widow and brother of West German politician Uwe Barschel, forced from office because of an election scandal, claimed that he had been murdered after meeting a mysterious informer who promised help in clearing him. Barschel’s widow, Freya, and his older brother, Eike, made the accusation at a news conference in Geneva, where Barschel’s fully clothed body was found lying in a bathtub at a luxury hotel Sunday. Swiss police, who had no immediate comment on the murder allegation, said that a preliminary autopsy report indicated Barschel might have died of heart trouble. A police spokesman stressed, however, that suicide had not been ruled out and that results of a coroner’s tests for chemicals or poisons were expected soon.