What happened to the missing German teenager?

 Rebecca Reusch was born on September 21, 2003 in the German capital. The girl lived with her parents, Brigitte and Bernd in Berlin's Rudow district. She also had two sisters. Jessica was 12 years older than her and Vivien was 8 years older. Due to the significant age difference, the sisters have already moved out of their family home and started an independent life. But that didn't mean Rebecca didn't spend time with them. On the contrary, the siblings maintained regular contact with each other. The sisters tried to meet as often as possible.

Close relatives described Rebecca as quite introverted. She lacked self-confidence. She felt best among family and a small circle of friends. She liked spending time at home. She spent a lot of time using the Internet. She also cared a lot about what other people thought of her. The teenager had few close friends at school. Moreover, Reusch was a victim of bullying by her peers.

Rebecca, like almost any teenager, liked watching movies and series (her favorite was "Riverdale"). The girl was also a huge fan of the South Korean boy band BTS. The teenager thought about the profession of a model. She was predisposed to it, because she was distinguished by her beauty and height (she was over 170 cm). At some point, however, she gave up on this plan. Her next dream job was the job of a flight attendant.

On February 7, 2019, Rebecca decided to visit Jessica. The eldest sister lived in Berlin, in the Britz district with their 2-year-old daughter and husband Florian R. He had a good relationship with his sister-in-law, but they did not spend much time together that day. The man was supposed to take part in a company party in the evening and planned to party until late at night. When Florian left the house, the sisters sat with pizza in front of the TV.

They talked freely about various topics and had a good time. Time passed pleasantly but quickly. Around 11:00 p.m., the sisters decided it was time to go to bed. The weekend was coming to an end, and the next morning they had to go to work and school. Rebekah was supposed to spend the night on the sofa in the living room. The sister went to her bedroom, which was located on the first floor.

The next day at 5:40 Florian returned from the party. Around the same time, his wife woke up and then started getting ready to go to work. Around 7:00 am, Jessica left the house, taking her daughter with her. She wanted to take her to nursery, as was her custom. The woman was convinced that Rebekah was still asleep when she left. However, she deliberately avoided the living room during her morning routines because she didn't want to wake up the teenager. So it was just a guess. It's hard to say what it actually was.

Around 7:15 am, Rebecca's mother tried to reach her daughter without success. She wanted to check if the teenager was already up. She was afraid that she might be late for school. Then she called Jessica. The woman reassured her mother. She told her they didn't stay up late on Sunday and the 15-year-old wasn't supposed to start her lessons until 10:00. About an hour later, however, Brigitte tried again. The result was the same - she only heard a voicemail.

So she decided to call her son-in-law, who declined the call. The man called back after a while, but this time Rebecca's mother didn't answer the phone. So she called again. Florian looked as if he had just woken up. During the call, he went to the living room. He didn't find the girl or her things there. Rebecca didn't seem to be home anymore.

At 8:42 am, Brigitte wrote a WhatsApp message to her youngest daughter. It was delivered but not read. This lack of contact was unusual for a teenager. The relatives began to worry. The more so that she did not return to her family home or her sister's apartment.

At first, Rebecca's parents still thought that the girl might spend time with her friends. There was a possibility that the teenager's phone had discharged or broken down. Evening came, however, and Rebecca still gave no sign of life. So the relatives called the tutor. It turned out that Rebecca did not show up at school that day. Even her closest friends had not been in contact with her for hours. Family members already knew something bad must have happened. So they reported their daughter missing, who did not return home that night.

The police took the report, but at first held off on any major action. Everyone hoped that the teenager would appear at home any moment. However, that did not happen. After a few days, the search began. First, the nearby areas were checked. Over time, helicopters, additional officers and dogs trained to search for missing and human corpses were involved. The media also published information about the disappearance of a teenager. There was a lot of publicity about the case from the very beginning. Subsequent events fueled this, as it later turned out, media madness.

Rebecca's brother-in-law quickly became the first suspect. Moreover, his testimony turned out to be contrary to what the investigators had established. The man testified that on the day of the disappearance of the teenager, he was sleeping off a company party. The police managed to get to the fact that he used the Internet shortly after his wife left the house. He reviewed e.g. porn sites.

Investigators also checked a system that automatically recognizes license plates on nearby highways. In this way, the detectives learned that the suspect's car was driving along the A12 motorway towards Frankfurt (Oder) (i.e. towards Poland). This happened twice: around 11:00 on the day the 15-year-old disappeared and before 11:00 pm the next day.

Everything indicated that Florian was driving the vehicle. The suspect, however, could not give a reason for these strange rides. However, he changed his mind when investigators became more and more convinced of his guilt. He admitted at the time that he was actually driving his Renault Twingo that day. He claimed that he was transporting drugs at the time, so he did not want to disclose this information.

There are at least a few issues that are puzzling. First, it would be an unusual case if the drug trade were to occur on the day a 15-year-old girl went missing. Secondly, Florian probably drank a lot of alcohol during the party and should not be driving. If he knew he was going to be transporting drugs, then why had he been drinking the night before? Third, why were no traces of any banned substances found in the car?

It is also worth adding that a witness saw a red Renault Twingo in a wooded area near Kummersdorf on the day Rebekah disappeared. It is a town situated on the A12 motorway. The suspect had the same vehicle. These testimonies are consistent with the observation of two women who were riding horses at a similar place and time. Around noon, they saw a conspicuous man who was behaving suspiciously. He had a hat that he wore in such a way as to hide his face as much as possible.

The police searched the area. However, no significant traces were found. Other forests and lakes near the A12 motorway were extensively checked in March and April 2019. However, no clues as to Rebecca's whereabouts have been found either. The missing woman's brother-in-law was arrested twice in February and March 2019. However, he was released due to lack of evidence. What is perhaps most puzzling, despite all these clues, Rebecca's entire family believed in Florian's innocence.

One of Rebecca's friends testified that she received a Snapchat photo from her on the morning of February 18. The 15-year-old was wearing a white BTS hoodie, a pink jacket, ripped jeans and black sneakers. She was probably in the hallway of her sister's house. The investigation determined that Rebecca's mobile phone last logged into Jessica's Wi-Fi network on February 18 at 7:46 AM. So the photo should be taken between 7:00 (when the older sister left the house) and 7:46 in the morning. However, since Snapchat photos are deleted after they are viewed, the exact time they were taken is unknown.

Some of her personal belongings also appeared to be missing along with the 15-year-old, including the clothes she was wearing in the morning's Snapchat photo, her school backpack, purse, cell phone, and a pink Polaroid camera. The purple blanket disappeared from the sister's house.

At some point, suspicion fell on an online friend of the missing person. It was a boy about the same age as Rebecca. It has been suggested that the teenager may have secretly met him on February 18. For many, it was puzzling that the boy deleted his social media profiles shortly after the disclosure of the case. The police followed this lead, but eventually tracked down an online acquaintance and ruled him out as a suspect. He admitted that he actually deleted the accounts. He claimed that he was afraid of being connected to a disappearance with which he had nothing to do.

Jessica's neighbor testified that Rebecca passed her on the street late on the morning of her disappearance. She was surprised because the girl took a blanket with her, although it had rained the day before. It was still winter, too, and it was hard for her to imagine having a picnic, which she associated with the blanket. However, it turned out that on February 17 it did not rain. It is assumed that the neighbor may have mixed up the days. On the other hand, the woman might have seen the blanket that had indeed disappeared from Jessica's house.

The police were also contacted by witnesses who were supposed to have seen Rebecca on the day she disappeared near a nearby bus stop. However, after checking the surveillance cameras, these reports could not be confirmed. The same was true of hundreds of other reports.

Another witness testified that on April 4, 2019 he saw Rebekah in Kraków. The observed girl matched the description and spoke German. She also seemed nervous as the witness began to look at her intently. Later, the police determined that she was not missing.

To this day, unfortunately, it has not been possible to determine what happened to the missing girl. However, there are several theories that are cited most often.

The first assumes that Rebecca Reusch was killed by her brother-in-law. It is speculated that the man decided to take advantage of the situation. His sister-in-law was very attractive, perhaps he had liked her for some time. In addition, Florian was under the influence of alcohol and watched porn sites. He may have raped and/or killed a 15-year-old girl and then transported her corpse to the forest. That would explain why he took the highway.

They even managed to find an explanation for another trip the next day. Investigators discovered that the suspect was not wearing a wedding ring. There is a hypothesis that the man lost it while burying a corpse in the forest. He could have figured out the time and decided to look for her. That's why he came back to where the body was hidden.

According to a similar hypothesis, Rebecca died as a result of an unfortunate accident that happened at her sister's house. She may have been present at the incident or the accident occurred after she had left the apartment. Here too, the brother-in-law could dispose of the body so that the matter would never come to light.

The next scenario assumes that Reusch planned her disappearance. She could also go out with a person she met online and run away with her. It's possible that something went wrong and she became a victim of a stranger. According to yet another theory, the 15-year-old committed suicide. Apparently, on internet forums, she posted entries according to which adult life was pointless. She also complained that she had no real passion and did not know what she wanted to do in the future. There were also problems with peers. The family did not notice these signs or explained that they were typical of this age. However, there is no shortage of voices that Rebecca could suffer from depression.

Investigators are still working on solving this mystery, and the German media do not let us forget about the case. Hopefully one day we'll find out what happened to Rebecca Reusch. Feel free to share your thoughts and theories in the comments.