Criminal Cases (UNRESOLATED CASES)

 50 meters from the house - the case of Sabine Hammerich

The case of Sabine Hammerich is certainly exceptional because of the special circumstances surrounding it; they show how little it takes for an adult to persuade a child to do something, and they realize that sometimes only chance decides who will fall victim to a crime. 9-year-old Sabine lives in Stuttgart on Schwabstraße. It is Wednesday, July 17, 1985, late afternoon. Sabine's father is a policeman, he is expected to start the night shift at 7 p.m. Sometime before he leaves the house, he notices that he has run out of cigarettes. The daughter herself suggests that she can bring him a pack of cigarettes from a street vending machine. So Dad hands Sabine a few coins and the girl leaves the house. The vending machine is located 50 meters from the gate. The girl is seen by two more people, including a neighbor who is looking at the street from the window. But Sabine doesn't come back after a few minutes as you'd expect. The parents are not worried yet, they are convinced that the daughter met a friend along the way and forgot about the whole world. Dad goes to work soon, mom goes about her own business. Back then, no one knows about what happened half an hour earlier, just a few streets from Sabine's house. Another girl, also 9 years old, on her way home, is interviewed on the street by a stranger. The man introduces himself to her as Dr. F., a pediatrician. He says he has to take drugs to the station and asks for help in finding his way. He adds that they could drive his car, which is nearby. I offer 10 brands for help. It just so happens that the girl knows doctor F. because she is his patient, so she immediately knows that the man is lying. Hearing his suggestion, he replies "no" shortly and begins to run quickly towards the house. He bursts into the apartment and tells his mother with excitement about the meeting, expressing his indignation that the encountered gentleman lied, claiming to be Dr. F. 

At this point, my mother does not attach much importance to this event. At 7:30 p.m. Sabine's mother is already very concerned about her daughter's absence. She calls her husband at work, informing him that the girl has not come home yet. Sabine's dad leaves work and starts looking for her; because it is useless, he informs his fellow policemen. It's 20:30. The search for Sabine lasts all night. When the day comes, another action begins, with increased forces: little Sabine is looking for as many as 600 policemen. They search buildings and all other larger and smaller objects in this part of the city, they scour the surrounding parks and forest areas. The girl, however, seemed to dissolve into thin air. Two days later, on July 19, some pertinent information finally appears. The mother of a 9-year-old girl reports to the police and tells about how her little daughter was accosted by a strange man two days earlier; it was also in the west of the city. Case handlers immediately see a local and temporal link between the incident and Sabine's disappearance. Based on the descriptions of the nine-year-old girl, a memory portrait of a man is created. The "false doctor" is about 40 years old, 180 cm tall, has a slim body, light brown hair, combed forward in a characteristic way. He was wearing a plaid shirt that day. Police officers assess the girl as a very credible witness, which contributes to the fact that the memory portrait of the alleged perpetrator can be considered quite accurate. It is also very important to judge the importance of this information that the child told his mother the story in detail before anyone even heard of Sabine's disappearance. In the following days, policemen handed out hundreds of leaflets on the streets of Stuttgart with a memorable portrait of a suspect man; along with the information about Sabine's disappearance, it also appears in the press, which, moreover, informs about the investigation on an ongoing basis. The police check hundreds of information still flowing in. Fear of a mysterious stranger kidnapping children is spreading in the city. Everyone is afraid - both children and adults. On July 30, the prosecution announced that a reward of 8,000 marks was awarded for helping to find Sabine Hammerich. The police have not yet made public that an important lead is being tracked at the same time. A woman living near the district city of Leonberg, about 15 kilometers from Stuttgart, reported that on the day and time of the girl's disappearance, she noticed something very strange from the window of her apartment. Well, in the car that drove right behind the public transport bus and stopped for a moment, she noticed a naked body, most likely female, from above. When the time was compared with the bus timetable and it was confirmed that it had left the stop on time, it turned out that it had to be exactly 19.16. The time and place of this event made it possible that it could be related to Sabine's disappearance. As for the car, the witness remembered it was a white Volkswagen bus with registration from Pforzheim. It seems doubtful to the investigators that the perpetrator was transporting the exposed body of the child in a car that could be easily accessed. In addition, he would have to go through the center of the city and in broad daylight? However, the information is taken very seriously. The policemen check a total of two thousand five hundred cars of the specified brand. Drivers are informed that it is about escaping from the scene of the accident - of course, so as not to scare the potential perpetrator. Unfortunately, this search does not bring any results.

It's December 29, 1986. Hunting takes place in the forest in the town of Pommersfelden (just over two hundred kilometers from Stuttgart). Under one of the trees, the hunter suddenly notices lying bones. They get his attention immediately. The hunter calls his friend. On closer inspection, they both have no doubts that these are human bones. No traces of clothing whatsoever. The hunters are on the edge of the forest by the national road 2205. They remember the place where they found the bones and notify the police as soon as possible. After conducting the research, specialists from the University of Würzburg conclude that it is most likely the corpse of a female person, aged 15 to 18 years. The Bamberg City Criminal Police Department is checking cases of reported disappearances, but none of them can be matched here. Less than a year later, the police in Bamberg are looking for a missing 17-year-old girl. After a careful examination of the remains found in Pommersfelden, it turns out that they belong to a person between the ages of eight and twelve. However, no one associates this disappearance with the search for Sabine Hammerich from Stuttgart. Time passes. It's March 1988. Joseph Kögel, head of the "Sabine" special committee, browses a newspaper published by the Federal Criminal Police Department. In it he finds "his" case and immediately puts the case into action. In early June, specialists from the University of Ulm officially confirm that the remains belong to Sabine Hammerich. A funeral takes place on August 12. On December 2, 1988, ZDF television broadcasts another episode of the extremely popular crime program "Aktenzeichen XY ... ungelöst", in which the case of Sabine Hammerich appears. The host of the program, as usual, on behalf of the police, asks for help from viewers who have any information about the presented case. The hint that comes after the broadcast is completely surprising. Well, a man who was in Stuttgart on the day of Sabine's disappearance reports to the police, having a business meeting there scheduled for the early evening. He had heard of Sabine's disappearance before, and he had noticed them because he was driving right through that part of town on that day. Until now, however, he had been convinced that he could not bring anything new to the case, as it seemed to him that Sabine was missing at 7:30 p.m., and he must have remembered that he was already at the meeting by then. The information is given in the "Aktenzeichen ..." program, therefore, made him aware that what he observed happened at 6.30 pm (not 7.30 pm) and that this information was perhaps crucial to the case. On July 17, 1985, at 6:30 PM, he stood at the red light at the intersection of Schwabstraße and Rosenberg Square. There was a Mercedes in front of him, the driver of which irritated him greatly, because after the light turned green, it started off with force, then suddenly braked sharply. The witness barely managed to pass him by; he managed to notice that the driver was staring at the child walking down the sidewalk: a dark-haired girl in a yellow dress. It had to be Sabine. The Mercedes driver has never been found - after such a long time, no one can recall such details in memory.

Calls from the missing person - Frauke Liebs

This case is special due to the fact and form of contact between the victim and her relatives after the disappearance: the missing student regularly called her relatives, assuring them that everything was fine and that she would return home soon - however, the circumstances that accompanied these conversations proved about something completely different ...

It's the summer of 2006 and the soccer world cup is underway. Frauke Liebs, a 21-year-old student at a nursing school, lives in Paderborn with Chris P. The young people were a couple for four years and remained friends after they broke up. Some time ago they decided to move in together for practical reasons. It's June 20. Frauke spends the morning at school. Classes end at 3 p.m. Frauke has an evening at the restaurant with Chris and his mother. During the meal, Frauke receives a text message from a friend, which he reads aloud: this is an offer for Frauke to join a meeting in a pub, where a whole group of friends will watch the England - Sweden match. The girl declares that she will be happy to accept the invitation. During this stay in the pub, Frauke is not very interested in the match and all the time exchanges text messages with friends. Finally, her phone's battery runs out - that's when Isabella, her friend, lends her hers. Even though everyone is having a lot of fun, Frauke is the only one who starts getting ready to leave right after the game. She tells her friend that she doesn't want Chris to wait too long for her. Isabella walks her back to the exit. Already at the door, Frauke remembers about the borrowed battery, so he takes it out of the phone and returns it. As it was later established, it was around 11pm when Frauke left the premises. She had about 20 to 30 minutes to walk home. After midnight, Chris receives text messages telling him that Frauke will be coming later. The text message sounds completely ordinary and is written in a typical Frauke manner. Sometime later, Chris calls her, but the phone is turned off. Chris is not concerned yet, he remembers about a low battery. He continues to watch TV and falls asleep after 3 am, not knowing when. At 8 a.m., Isabella notices that her friend is missing from class. He asks the teacher if Frauke may have reported that she is sick. The teacher denies it. Concerned, Isabella calls Chris during the next break. Her anxiety stems from the fact that she knows how much importance Frauke places on school - so the only explanation for her absence could be that a friend just overslept after partying yesterday. The phone wakes Chris up. She immediately looks into her roommate's room. The bed is evenly made, though, and I am sure Frauke hasn't slept here that night. Chris is very concerned. She immediately starts calling hospitals and shortly afterward alerts Frauke's mom. The mother, who lives in Bad Driburg, immediately goes to the local police station to report her daughter's missing. However, the report is not accepted, the policeman explains to the mother that the daughter is an adult, has the right to stay wherever she wants, and that it is definitely too early to raise the alarm. However, the police notify the police station in Paderborn, which in turn checks that the missing woman has not had an accident and is not in a hospital. In the end, however, due to pressure from the parents, the notification of the disappearance is officially accepted (around 2 pm). Mother and Frauke's friends and acquaintances hang out all over the city with leaflets with the girl's photo and information about her missing. About 40 people are involved in it. Unfortunately, it is not known exactly what path Frauke took to get home - and there are three different routes involved. As it was later stated, it is certain that shortly after leaving the pub, Frauke must have been out of town because the text message she sent after midnight came from the Nieheim-Entrup mast in the city of Nieheim, 40 km from Paderborn. It should therefore be assumed that Frauke got into a vehicle, and most likely voluntarily, which can be deduced from the fact that the SMS she sent sounded normal.

It's June 22, so another day has passed. There is no message from Frauke. Suddenly, at exactly 10:25 PM, Chris's phone rings. It's Frauke! Chris picks up immediately. "Hallo, Christos" - he hears, and at the first moment feels anxious because Frauke normally never addresses him like that. In addition, her voice sounds as if she was under the influence of some drugs. “I just wanted to say that I'm fine and that I will be home soon. Let mom, dad, and the others know ”- and that's it, Frauke hangs up. Chris is worried, he doesn't understand this strange conversation. Still, she can't help but rejoice that Frauke has made a sign of her life and that, as she herself said, she will be home soon. After this call, all the closest people are waiting in the apartment for Frauke to come. This one, however, did not appear. It is also impossible to call her, her phone is turned off. The night passes. There is another day, which is Friday, June 23. Police are starting an investigation on suspicion of kidnapping, so calls can be tracked from Frauke's phone. However, it does not look as spectacular as on television: you cannot eavesdrop on conversations, only the data about the time and place of connections of the phone with a specific cellular transmitter is influenced. At. 11.04 pm Chris receives a text from Frauke: "Today I'm coming home. I'm in Paderborn. " He immediately notifies Frauke's mother. Parents come to their daughter and Chris' apartment. Everyone waits all night for Frauke's return, but she doesn't show up. Her mother is at the end of her tether. Frauke's parents try to persuade the police to do more, but investigators reply that it is unjustified as Frauke is in regular contact with their loved ones. Apparently, she wanted to get away from everyday life. It happens, argues the police. However, Frauke's relatives and her friends are becoming more and more nervous and scared, as they know that such behavior would be absolutely impossible on her part. Their awareness is more and more permeated by the fact that something terrible must have happened to Frauke; they are sure that she is being held somewhere against her will. It's Saturday, June 24 at 2:23 pm. Another call to Chris - Frauke announces he will be home tonight. Chris only had time to ask her if anything was wrong, but Frauke only replied like a “No. I'm in Paderborn. I'm in Paderborn. I'm in Paderborn. ”Then hang up. This is another signal for the police that no intervention is needed. Frauke's mother (in an interview with Stern - Stern Crime, May 3, 2016) commented on the fact as follows: “The police told me, 'What do you want? She called, she is alive, we have nothing to do here '. I was outraged. It was all terrifying to me: those constant announcements that she would be coming home, her voice changed, her phone turned off. The police didn't even know where the connections were from. Only the origin of the first text message has been established. It took days for the network operator to provide further information. Later, I found out that the police had only asked for her data from the first calls until Friday night. We waited weeks for the next ones because there was no court decision. " On Sunday, June 25 (exactly at 10:28 pm), Frauke calls again, announcing that he will be back home. When asked if she is in danger, she replies no, and when asked why she did not come back yesterday, she replies that she will explain it when she returns home. However, none of the relatives really counts on this return. Monday passes without a sign of life from Frauke.

On Tuesday evening, her parents and sister are waiting with Chris for the phone. Since Frauke doesn't call, his parents leave after 11 p.m. However, shortly after their departure, exactly at 11:24 pm, the phone rings. Chris picks up, sets up the loudspeaker, so Karen can also hear the conversation. Frauke speaks in a colorless voice in which you can hear exhaustion and boundless sadness. Frauke's mother is shocked, especially when asked, "Where are you?" the daughter replied "Mama" three times. Is it some sort of hidden clue? Frauke's mother works in a gymnasium in Bad Driburg and during the week she lives there is a kind of temporary apartment. Perhaps the repeated "Mom" was a suggestion to look for the perpetrator in this town or to link her stay with the mother's place of work in any way? However, Chris doubts that Frauke was able to deliver such a veiled message. While everyone around them celebrates the World Cup in a euphoric mood, Frauke's relatives are at the end of their mental toughness. They decide to prepare and post another batch of leaflets. Police refuse to intervene, claiming that the girl simply ran away from home. However, their relatives know that this is impossible, and the inaction of the police causes additional frustration. Frauke has been silent since this long conversation. Due to the lack of police intervention, the family hires a private detective, and in addition, parents and friends conduct the search on their own. Sister and brother Frauke are also browsing her computer, contacting people who chatted with her. However, no one finds anyone or anything suspicious. Weeks pass, then more ... Frauke's mother is practically awake. Everyone suspects the worst but does not give up hope. October 4 at At 7:20 p.m., the criminal police in Lichtenau (15-20 km from Paderborn) receives the following report: a hunter in the area accidentally came across a corpse lying under a tree. The body is located on the 817 national roads, approximately 10 meters from the road itself. There are no houses around, and pedestrians do not go there either. Due to the clothes of the deceased, the police suspect that she may be Frauke (and her mother is notified the same day). Two days later, this news is officially confirmed. As it was later determined, Frauke must have been killed no more than a few days after the last call. Due to the advanced state of decomposition of the body, the cause of death could not be determined. She may have been strangled, but that's not certain. Likewise, no evidence has been found that sexual abuse has taken place, although it cannot be excluded. No traces of drugs have been found, but the use of a rape pill cannot be ruled out, as it does not leave any traces in the body after a short time. What is certain is that the place where the body was found was not a crime scene. In the course of the investigation, people from the closer and more distant surroundings of Frauke are excluded. Appeals to the public do not bring results, no one comes forward with some groundbreaking information. The most important data comes from the mobile operator - these are where Frauke's phone logs into the masts. Her phone logged from the mast in Nieheim when the first text message was sent. As the rest of the connections were logged to masts in other localities in the area, police assume that Frauke was being held in Nieheim.

The Nieheim mast covers an area of ​​15 kilometers in diameter. It is therefore not possible to search houses, buildings, garages, and any place in such an area. The police take the following actions: leaflets with information about the disappearance and death of Frauke and an appeal for help in the investigation are thrown into the mailboxes of all houses and apartments in this city. Dozens of clues were received (as to where Frauke could possibly be held - out-of-the-way buildings, barns, trailers, etc.), and each of them was checked - to no avail. Despite the passage of months, and then years, no new clues have emerged that could contribute to its clarification. After a decade, the results of the investigation were as follows: checking 900 people, 40 searches. The lack of knowledge about the perpetrator and the circumstances of the crime is an unspeakable burden for relatives, as it is associated with the feeling of “not closing” the case. Hope for a solution to the Frauke case comes unexpectedly when in April 2016, 46-year-old Wilfried W. and his ex-wife Angelika W. are arrested. The couple lives in Bosseborn, administratively part of the city of Höxter, which is approximately 50 kilometers away. from Paderborn. Wilfried W. and Angelika W. are arrested after it turns out that the 41-year-old woman they are holding dies of injuries sustained from the mistreatment. When the investigation reveals that the couple had murdered another woman two years earlier, their home is hailed by the media as a "home of horror" and there are suspicions that one of their victims was also Frauke Liebs. In December 2016, after an eight-month investigation into the "activities" of the Höxter couple, investigators reported to the official information that no evidence was found that would indicate that Wilfried W. and Angelika W had anything to do with the disappearance of Frauke Liebs. The matter of her kidnapping and death remains unresolved to this day.

So close - the case of Tanja Gräff

The case of Tanja Gräff is special, as the circumstances of her disappearance and death remain unclear this day; This case is also characteristic of the place where the remains of the missing woman were found, including the fact that they were discovered quite a by accident, in a place that had already been searched years ago, after Tanja's disappearance ...

It is early summer evening on June 6, 2007. 21-year-old student Tanja Gräff, who lives in Trier, is going to an all-night party at the University of Applied Sciences in Trier. At this party, apart from many friends from college, Alex, the current love of Tanja (at the same time the guitarist of the death metal group), will also be present. Before leaving, the girl says goodbye to her father, who is sitting on the terrace of the house. Tanja shows him how she's dressed for the party: a brown tank top, jeans, and white heeled shoes. At that moment, the father would never have imagined that he was seeing his daughter for the last time and that her image, along with all the details of her clothes, would be remembered forever. As previously agreed, my mother takes Tanja by car to the university building. Saying goodbye to his daughter, he wishes her a good evening and adds that she should take care of herself. "Then see you tomorrow morning," says Tanja as she leaves; then he turns around, waves his mom and sends a kiss with his hand. The next day, the parents wait for their daughter to return home. When afternoon comes and she's still gone, they get worried. Mom calls Alex. The boy is very surprised by the fact that the girl is not at home. When asked when he last had contact with her, he replies that he and Tanja "got lost" at the party; he adds that at times there was no mobile phone coverage. He went to the city with a group of people. When asked if this meant that Tanja was left alone up there, Alex replies that he does not know. Tanji's mom remembers saying to her husband then, “Something must have happened. Tanja won't be coming home anymore. ”Parents report her missing to police. Investigators begin questioning Tanja's friends. Two days after the disappearance, a special commission is formed, consisting of several dozen people. Many witnesses are still being questioned and a certain picture of what Tanja was doing that night has already been drawn up. It is therefore known for certain that around 1 am she had a short conversation with her colleague Christian. Other witnesses independently testified that around 3:50 they saw her near the beer shack standing by the stage. One of them is her colleague Tim, who noticed Tanja, standing in this very spot, talking on the phone. As he wanted to say hi to her, he waited a moment for the conversation to end, then walked over and exchanged a few words with her. Tanja said she was going to town now and was on her way to the bus. At this point, about 5,000 are still enjoying the party. people. Whether Tanja finally goes to the bus, as her colleague announced, no one can confirm, but she never reaches the city. Other witnesses at about this time saw Tanya accompanied by two men. Still, others testified that they observed an argument between a man and a young woman with red hair. The woman was screaming: "Leave me alone, I want to go home!" Or was it Tanja? The police are unable to establish this.

The special committee works with the most modern equipment. Helicopters scan rocks with a thermal imager. Entire departments of people search the area around the university and the surrounding forest. Various buildings, garages, etc., and even bunkers from World War II in the vicinity are also searched. Tanya's parents live in a huge tension between conflicting feelings - on the one hand, they hope that the police will eventually discover an important lead, on the other hand, they fear that this lead will lead to some terrible discovery. However, months pass, then years, and Tanja doesn't find herself. Trier, May 11, 2015: While clearing trees and shrubs, workers accidentally stumble upon human remains, shoes, clothing, and personal items on a rocky escarpment just behind a multi-family apartment building. As it quickly turns out, these are the remains of Tanja Gräff who disappeared eight years ago. Police notify Waltraud Gräff, Tanja's mother (her father had died two years earlier). The site where Tanja's remains were found in less than a kilometer from where the girl disappeared - above, at the very top of this rocky slope, is the university site where Tanja was last seen.

For the girl's mother, this information is a shock: during the years that her daughter was missing, Tanya's mother walked the road above and often drove down the street that stretches along this rock below - and she did not know her daughter was so close! And the bottom line: why, despite such an extensive search operation, Tanja was not found right after her disappearance ?! For Tanja's parents, the period since her disappearance has been a torment. They did not know what happened to her, whether she was a victim of a crime or an unfortunate accident. They didn't even know if their daughter was alive. Therefore, despite everything, the mother is relieved after finding Tanja, because, as her attorney put it, the possibility of a dignified burying of her daughter is essential for her. So the mother is waiting for the results of the autopsy. However, due to the condition of the remains after such a lapse of time, the autopsy results do not say much about the circumstances of the girl's death: the research carried out shows that the death was caused by injuries sustained after a fall from a height of 50 meters. As no signs of violence are found on the bones, it remains an open question to this day as to whether it was an accident or a crime. It remains unclear to this day why the large-scale search operation in 2007 was unsuccessful. Several hundred people with dogs participated in the search of forested areas near the university, helicopters with heat sensors were used, divers searched the Moselle and nearby water reservoirs in Germany and neighboring Luxembourg. In March 2011, drones were included in the search. The most amazing thing is that, as the deputy chief of the police in Trier said, the location of Tanya had been searched several times in the past. During the press conference, even photos of the area were shown to make the present people aware of the difficulties associated with conducting searches in this hard-to-reach and densely overgrown place, where officers of various services could reach with great difficulty when lowered on ropes. The accusations against the investigators were made at the end of 2014 by the mother of Tanja Waltraud Gräff, who, in the opinion of the investigation, did not provide a satisfactory explanation of certain threads. Günter D., a former member of the special committee appointed to investigate the case of Tanja Gräff, spoke in a similar vein. In an open letter published by "Trierischer Volksfreund", he questioned the correctness of the statements of the head of Trier's prosecutor's office (and his predecessor), who believed that no unverified threads were left that could lead to the clarification of the case. The letter's author disagrees with this and points to, among other things, an unexplained thread related to the man referred to in the investigation as "Spitzbart" ("Spitzbart"), who he believes may be a link to the unknown man with whom Tanja was seen at 3 o'clock: 50 on the night of his disappearance. The man was supposed to aggressively address Tanja's acquaintance who asked her if he would go to town with him, saying: "Hey, leave Tanja alone." It is assumed that the girl knew him personally. The police identified a person who might have been a "spitz." More details about it come from the "Bonner Generalanzeiger" newspaper, about which, however, it is not known where it obtained the relevant information. The statements of the "pointed chin" were to be contradictory and his alibi questionable. In 2013, Detlef B., Tanja's mother's attorney, found on the basis of the files that the "spitz chin" thread had not been sufficiently explained, as well as the topics related to the death metal environment or the trail from the cable car. Members of the local community interested in death metal music met on the other side of the Moselle in the center of youth and culture. Death metal is a subgenre of metal music. The texts contain themes related to fear, torture, and death. A month before her disappearance, Tanja met Aleks, who was then playing in a death metal band. This milieu was also supposed to include the aforementioned "spitz". The thread with the trace from the cable car is related to the testimony of one of the witnesses, who claims that on June 7, 2007, i.e. on the night of the disappearance of the girl, he heard a woman scream coming from the place where the cable car is located on the Moselle bank. In order to clarify this issue, the Phonetics Institute was commissioned to carry out an appropriate expert opinion; its results have not yet been published. The police countered these allegations that they were only a few of the more than eight hundred traces checked during the investigation. Nevertheless, after the discovery of the body, an announcement was made that all these traces would be reconsidered based on the new findings. To this day, however, there are no significant new findings regarding Tanja.