He could not remember buying it and thus Gruber initially believed that the postman had lost the newspaper.[3] This was not the case, however, as no one in the vicinity subscribed to the paper.[4] Just days before the murders, Gruber told neighbours he discovered tracks in the fresh snow that led from the forest to a broken door lock in the farm's machine room.[3] While this alone was not unsettling, it was the fact that the tracks did not lead away from the house again that unnerved him.