Legendary Rolls-Royce designer assassinated at luxury home

BERLIN (Daily Beast) —A nationwide manhunt is in full swing and an upper-crust lakeside town in shock after a mystery man stabbed and killed the former design boss of Rolls-Royce at his front door on Friday evening.

Security camera footage and a red backpack have police hot on the trail of the alleged killer, who may have been after a pricey luxury auto in the victim’s garage.

Police found Ian Cameron, a 74-year-old British national who lived in the idyllic Bavarian lakeside town of Herrsching, dead in the entryway of the family home he shared with his wife not long after 9:20 pm Friday. His wife escaped the terrifying scene and fled to a neighbor’s house, where she phoned emergency assistance.

Witnesses saw the killer flee the gated property, which is set against a small woodland, on foot.

“I was quickly pretty sure that this was not a random act,” said Julia Magenau, another neighbor, in an interview with television network RTL. “It looks to me more like he was targeting the person directly.”

Meanwhile, the man suspected of Cameron’s murder was shown shopping at a supermarket near the scene of the crime just hours before it happened. In a CCTV photo released by Upper Bavaria police Monday, he sported a trim beard, a thinning buzzcut hairline, and an emotionless gaze. Officials asked, “Who knows this man? Who knows where this man is right now?”

A Royal College of Art graduate, Cameron’s best-known design is the 2003 Phantom, a grand and imposing luxury saloon car credited with reviving Rolls-Royce’s stature after a down period that culminated in a 2003 takeover by BMW, where it continues to operate as a subsidiary.

He is also credited for the 2009 launch of the Rolls-Royce Ghost, distinguished by flowing lines and long, uninterrupted surfaces, which saw the carmaker ramp up competition with luxury models at a lower price point than the premium Phantom.

Top brass at Rolls-Royce paid tribute to Cameron.

“Ian played a significant role in shaping Rolls-Royce from when it was first acquired by BMW Group and moved to its home at Goodwood, West Sussex,” CEO Chris Brownridge said in a LinkedIn post, adding that Cameron “led the design team for all Phantom family and Ghost models, creating thoroughly contemporary motor cars that remained sympathetic to the marque’s design heritage. My thoughts are with his family and friends during this very difficult time.”

The murder left residents of sleepy Herrsching stunned. The idyllic town, home to 11,000, sits in one of Germany’s richest districts, where there are 22.8 millionaires per 10,000 inhabitants, according to the Bavarian State Statistical Office.

"I would never have thought that something so terrible would happen on our quiet street," one resident told the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Another described Cameron and his wife as a "nice married couple." Yet another reported that Cameron could often be seen working on vintage cars in front of his garage. Neighbors who spoke to the tabloid Bild emphasized that those valuable cars were kept in the garage, which could point to an attempted robbery gone horribly wrong.

A Google Earth satellite image of Cameron’s property, taken in April 2022, shows two vehicles parked in the driveway, although it is unclear if either is a luxury model.

Unclear in addition to the killer’s identity is his motive, and whether he had any connection to Cameron, who led Rolls-Royce’s design team from 1999 to 2013 before founding his own consultancy. “We still don’t have answers to many questions,” Manfred Frei, the head of the responsible investigations unit, told Süddeutsche Zeitung. An autopsy was carried out on Saturday, but police haven’t released results, nor have they publicly identified a murder weapon.

Witnesses who saw the suspect flee told police he is between 5-foot-11 and 6-foot-2 in height and wore light-colored pants, a dark blue hooded sweatshirt, bright yellow-green gloves, and a red backpack. He evaded an initial police search that lasted into the early hours of Saturday morning.

Two more CCTV pictures, taken at the crime scene shortly before the attack and also released by police Monday, confirmed the witnesses’ description.

In addition to a 30-strong investigative team, drones, a police helicopter, sniffer dogs, and divers were brought in to look for evidence throughout the weekend to search the surrounding area including the nearby Ammersee lake.

Bild and Süddeutsche Zeitung reported Monday that investigators found the red backpack on the lake promenade. Citing sources, Bild says it contained the clothes the suspect wore at the crime scene and goods from the supermarket he was captured at earlier, suggesting he changed before and after the killing—in the supermarket image, the suspect is wearing blue trousers and a gray T-shirt. The paper also said the backpack is being tested for DNA. In addition, Bild reported that the wire to one camera on the property had been cut.

(A police spokesperson told The Daily Beast they could not confirm the papers’ reports.)

Police have asked the public to share any relevant footage they might have from security cameras, especially from Friday night and Saturday morning, and are also reviewing public security cameras including those at nearby train stations.

Law enforcement warned anyone who sees the suspect not to engage him. “We are currently not assuming there is a danger to the general public,” a police spokesperson told public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk, but in a moment of extreme understatement added that the crime suggests the suspect “is not entirely harmless.”