Local media reported that the father of a 3-year-old boy who was found murdered-suicide by his mother in Portugal threatened to hurt him if he didn’t give up on plans to divorcing him.
Clemens Weinshaar (44), had texted Phoebe Arnold, Phoebe’s estranged husband and mother to Tasso aged three years, saying that “your hell has begun” after he disappeared with Tasso one week earlier.
According to the local media, Portuguese police sources said Weisshaar threatened to harm Tasso ‘several times’ after failing to return him to Ms Arnold on November 1 following a custody visit – his first since the couple broke up in July.
Weisshaar last made contact with celebrity stylist Ms Arnold on November 4, Correio da Manha reported, three days before his body was found in a remote wooded area alongside the remains of his son which were inside a burned-out car.
Though it’s possible that Weisshaar, Tasso might have been dead between his last message to Tasso and when they were discovered, post mortem examinations are ongoing to confirm this.
Local media also quoted police sources as saying there had been ‘several episodes of domestic violence’ between the pair at their shared home in Grandola, where they moved in 2020 and spent several months living before Ms Arnold moved out.
Christian Weisshaar and Phoebe Arnold are pictured together at an fashion event in New York in 2017. Sources claim that Weisshaar assaulted Arnold and caused the couple to split.
A Portuguese nanny who worked for the couple in London and went with them to Grandola when they moved, told officers she had witnessed multiple episodes of abuse during her time working for the pair, it was reported.
Ms. Arnold is a former editor of magazines and stylist, who collaborates with Paloma faith, Paloma Faith, and other designers. Since at least 2016, she had been seeing Weisshaar.
After a time spent together traveling the world, they then moved to Portugal in last year. Local reports indicate that they were married. The exact date of the wedding is unknown.
The couple had lived together for many years in Grandola. Weisshaar has an office there as well. They bought nearby a schoolhouse with the intent of making it a martial home.
The couple split in July. Ms. Arnold and Tasso moved to Lisbon with Ms. Arnold. A source close to the couple told MailOnline that Ms. Arnold couldn’t bear Weisshaar’s aggressive and controlling behavior any longer.
Weisshaar does not believe that he was in touch with his son from the time of the separation until October 30, when he took the boy to his first custody visit.
Weisshaar was found dead alongside the body of three-year-old son Tasso, whose remains were found in a burned car
It appears that he was still in touch with Ms Arnold. Jornal de Noticas reported that he had sent her “numbers of messages” updating her about the progress at her house, and trying to persuade her to continue their relationship.
The newspaper said that he convinced her to take their son to him again on October 30th, and then stay there until the next Monday.
Phoebe Arnold informed authorities of the disappearance on November 1st, while Clemens & Tasso were still missing.
“She gave the police Clemens’ messages, showing a clear sense of frustration.
Weisshaar last saw his son at Taberna dos Mosqueiroes the day before.
Rui Ermida is the owner of the restaurant. He said that the designer would often stop by the place for lunch or a drink with the men helping him to re-design it.
Dulce, Dulce’s wife, stated that the father often came in to get something to drink or eat.
He had purchased a home nearby and, while working on it, he liked to invite people in.
“He looked like a nice, normal guy. Both the little boy and his mum were in the room before, but it was not the same since summer. Nothing was unusual.
“We were aware that the youngster and his father had been missing since Monday. We assumed they’d gone to Germany together.
“We didn’t imagine that these things would turn out the way they did.
“We learned what had occurred yesterday afternoon/on Sunday afternoon. We received the news very fast
“I am still shocked to tell the truth. This is really disturbing.
Rui stated that Clemens seemed to be in a good mood on the 29th of October when he saw him last before going to collect his son.
He said, “He often came in with the men who were working on his home to have lunch or a drink.”
“It was simple to talk to him. He was always friendly.
Weisshaar and Ms Arnold had been living together in a house in Grandola, where he also had an office, before splitting in July. She moved to Lisbon in the following months with Tasso. The bodies of father and son were discovered in the wooded region near their former home on Sunday.
Search teams prowling the countryside with dogs near the village of Santa Margarida da Serra (file image) located the remains of father and son in a remote wooded area on Sunday
“He was there two to three times, along with the child and his mother. He was supposed to have gone to Germany with the boy, which I believed. It’s what most people around here thought.
Ms. Arnold reported Weisshaar, Tasso and their whereabouts missing the night of November 1, when the boy had not returned with him following custody visits.
The father was suspected to have fled Munich, the city where he was born. Police also conducted a local search.
After days of searching with search parties, drones and dogs, nothing was found until Sunday’s grim discovery.
The animal was discovered in an isolated cork forest, five miles away from Grandola, and near the Herdade da Ribeira Abaixo Biodiversity station – a field station for Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Lisbon University.
After the search party arrived on the scene, police called for medics and ambulance personnel. These workers spent several hours at the site before Weisshaar’s and Tasso’s bodies were discovered.
Weisshaar was believed to have been killed by a gunshot to the head. Tasso may not have died from a gunshot wound to the head. However, a post mortem is expected to determine his cause of mortality in the days ahead.
British-born Ms Arnold has been heavily involved in fashion since she co-founded Ponystep magazine and then went on to become fashion director for magazines like Garage and Elle.
Her celebrity styling skills include Paloma Faith’s clientele and her friends. She has been working with Paloma since 2018.
Ms. Arnold was credited with designing her look at the British Vogue Fashion Awards ceremony last February and Comic-Con 2019.
Her other notable friends include Lady Eliza Cummings, a model and Katie Jan Hillier, a designer.
On her Instagram, she was also pictured with Gigi Hadid.
Weisshaar was a famous German designer – born in Munich, he studied in London at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art.
He founded his first independent design studio in 2000, before going on to create the KRAM/WEISSHAAR studio – based in Stockholm and Munich – in 2002 with American-born partner Reed Kram.
Their work features in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Fondazione Prada in Milan, among others.