From the football pitch to a life of crime, Marco Müller’s story took a dramatic turn, culminating in an unexpected demise.

Marco Müller, bank robber and former Young Boys player, died in his home town of Bassecourt in the canton of Jura after 36 years on the run. The 71-year-old died in an accident on the railroad track.

The Jura public prosecutor’s office confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency a corresponding report in the newspaper “Le Quotidien Jurassien”.

With the help of a comparative DNA analysis with a relative of Müller, she was able to identify the lifeless body that was found in February near a substation of the energy company BKW. The public prosecutor’s office has ruled out the involvement of third parties.

Müller committed several robberies of banks and cash transporters in the 1980s.

After escaping from Thorberg prison in Canton Berne, he disappeared from the scene. He was due to stand trial for two cash-in-transit robberies in Geneva and Delsberg.

He had previously escaped from prison in the cantonal capital of Jura, where he had been imprisoned for other robberies in Jura and Neuchâtel.

In his younger years, Müller was known as a football player for Delsberg and Young Boys. The total haul from his criminal career is estimated at almost three million francs.

©Keystone/SDA