Original subtitles

THE BLACK FOREST MURDERS

It's not here either.

A VILLAGE ON THE HUNT

There you go, scatterbrain.

- Where was it? - Same place as usual.

It's dead again, even though I charged it. I think it's done.

- You'll get a new one for your birthday. - No sooner?

I have to go.

- Who's refereeing today? - No idea. You don't want to come?

No.

All right, then. See you later. Have fun.

You too. See you later.

Bye!

Bye.

- Got the dog's lead? - Yes, I have it.

- Stefanie! - Stefanie!

Stefanie!

Yes?

Good morning. We have a missing person.

Aha. Since when?

Yesterday afternoon, 4 o'clock.

Says who?

The local fire brigade.

The local fire brigade?

And her husband.

- All right, I'll make my way there. - OK.

DAY 1

Morning.

Yes, exactly, that's why.

Yes.

All right, then. Thank you. Bye.

- Has she turned up? - Uh, no. Unfortunately not.

- Mobile phone tracking? - We're on it.

- Who was the last to see her? - Her husband, Tobias Berghoff.

It was him who reported her missing.

Could it have been an accident? Is there a river nearby?

Apparently she always takes the same route through the vineyards.

From Buchingen towards Schmerlau.

You live in Buchingen, don't you? Do you know her?

I know the entire family.

Everyone has been told?

Yes, just a word about the briefing...

Good morning, everyone.

- Morning. - Stefanie Berghoff.

Aged 27, from Buchingen.

Went for a jog yesterday afternoon and never returned.

- I only like the jam ones. - Missing for 17 hours.

- Suicide? - Unlikely.

I know her: solid background,

not been married long, no children yet,

works for the winegrowers' co-op.

We tried hospitals and emergency services, nothing.

Local police officers and the fire brigade followed

Mrs Berghoff's usual jogging route with searchlights last night.

But to no avail.

Also, the local villagers have come out,

taking it in turns to search for her.

That's not good. They might trample on the evidence.

You don't just disappear like that.

Although it's understandable they want to get involved.

We'll take over quickly. What we need most is a reliable timeline.

When was she where? And, most importantly, with whom?

Navid...

You contact the phone provider. All mobile phone data. Great.

The area is too large to fence off.

We need more feet on the ground. Carmen, Freddy...

You go round the local police stations asking them to free up staff.

Great, thank you.

Sandra is right. You don't just disappear around here.

You're connected, you notice someone missing, not like in a big city.

We had plenty of missing persons in Berlin.

That's not what I meant.

We need a helicopter.

- A helicopter? - A thermal imaging camera.

Well, if it gets too expensive, we cancel the new coffee machine.

- Steffi! - Stefanie!

- Go left there. Left, left! - Here?

But this was... This was all still a field a few years ago.

- Can I get you a drink? - No, thanks.

You have a nice place here.

- How long have you two been married? - Two years.

But we've been together for ten years.

- You don't have any children? - No.

But we'd like some.

- Did you see your wife leave for her jog? - No.

But she was wearing her running gear and about to leave.

Did you notice anything different?

- Had she had an argument with anyone? - Not to my knowledge.

Well, not with me, anyway.

There's no trouble or anything. It's all good.

Listen... this is just an idea, but...

Is it possible Stefanie is with another man?

- Deliberately out of reach? - Come on...

- You serious? - Listen...

- We need to ask these questions. - Yes.

Often, when people disappear, is has to do with relationship issues.

- It's standard practice. - I understand.

See you later. Have fun.

You too. See you later.

Well?

What? Oh, I see.

No... no.

Steffi didn't return from her run. From her run. Like I said.

Yes. And when did you realize she was missing?

When I came back from playing football. I was surprised she wasn't home.

- What time was that? - It must have been...

- just before 6 o'clock. - Right. And then?

I couldn't get hold of her, so I called my in-laws

and we looked for her together.

Bye.

- And when did you call us? - Uh... Around nine.

I mean, not you, I called Martin at the local police station.

May I take a look at your wife's handbag?

Sure.

- There you are. - Thanks.

Where's your wife's car?

We... we sold Steffi's car last week.

Wait here a moment.

- Shall we give you a lift? - No, why?

Haven't you heard?

- Got any opinions? - My opinion isn't relevant.

- That's not what I meant. - What, then?

Tobias is a good guy.

What's that supposed to mean?

You're from around here. You know what I mean.

- No, I don't know. - Hang on a second.

This is Riedle.

Yes. I see.

Here with us?

- Where are you actually going? - The sports ground.

You need to turn right up here.

OK.

Wait a minute.

They either show up or they don't.

Let's go over to the lane and then along Riedgraben to the next vineyard.

Hello, everyone! May we ask what's happening here?

Ms Kramer.

This is my colleague Mr Riedle.

- What's going on? - I'm asking you. What is going on?

Why aren't you doing this, Thomas? You're local.

This is Chief Superintendent Barbara Kramer.

Yeah? Hello. And?

- She's my new boss. - Hello.

Armbruster. I'm Stefanie Berghoff's father.

Do you even know your way around here?

You know we're searching for Steffi.

Can I talk to you?

- It won't take long. - What is it?

We understand completely,

but I'm asking you to leave the search to the police from now on.

- I can't do that. - Where have you been looking so far?

Towards Schmerlau, down Lauburger Weg

and now in the vineyards.

OK. I understand, but...

if people keep walking all over the place, important traces may get lost.

Traces?

Local police will take over till more officers arrive.

- No, they need to stop completely. - We won't be able to enforce that.

Better to let them carry on under supervision.

26 hours.

Temperatures are dropping to 10 degrees at night.

Yes.

Sorry. I need to take this. I'll see you inside.

- Sure, no problem. - This is Riedle. Yes?

Just one tracker dog unit?

You know what's going on here? This is massive.

Tobias already called me. But I've no idea where Steffi might be.

Tobias told us you're Steffi's best friend.

He still thinks that? How sweet!

These days I only see her at training events,

Christmas parties or village fêtes.

That's pretty much it. We sometimes talk on the phone.

Why's that? How does Steffi spend her spare time now?

With Tobias, with her family. Things like that.

Snuggled up in front of the telly. I get it, though.

What do you talk about on the phone?

Nothing special.

Listen, Anja...

This is important.

She takes folic acid because they want a baby.

She lies about the price of her clothes

because Tobias wants to spend every penny on the house.

But they are cute together.

- This isn't helping, is it? - Oh...

Were there any conflicts?

Did Steffi say it was too much for her, was she sad about not getting pregnant?

- Things like that? - Tiny little arguments.

I'm sure she wouldn't want me to share them with you.

This isn't going against Tobias.

It's about helping us find Stefanie more quickly.

You just tell us, we'll assess it.

DAY 3

A dog-walker and his daughter think they saw her around 3:20 on Lauburger Weg

going towards Lenzbach, here...

They passed Stefanie while she was jogging.

This would make them the last to see her.

These highlighted areas have already been searched.

However mainly by volunteers from the public.

But that means it was away from her usual jogging route.

Exactly.

So which route do we think she took?

We have two dozen statements by people who saw Stefanie Berghoff,

or claim to have,

mainly in Buchingen.

Fountain, village hall, fishing lakes, memorial cross.

This gives us a preliminary movement pattern,

but it doesn't reliably tell us which route she took.

There are also contrasting statements.

A winegrower claims to have heard a scream on Sunday afternoon.

He thought it was wild geese at first, so couldn't pinpoint the direction.

Whereas a woman picking mushrooms heard a scream

in the woods, here.

OK... Vineyards, woods...

So she could have gone this way, that way, or...

Assuming the alleged scream was her in the first place.

Anything from the helicopter?

- Thermal imaging? - No.

We've also had rain in the meantime.

Rain lowers the air's transmission rate.

I know, it makes it harder to differentiate temperatures.

- What about wildlife cameras? - We checked. Nothing.

It's also possible she didn't deviate from the route, but continued on and...

OK, we've been searching for her for three days

and all we know is she went jogging somewhere, correct?

- Maybe she left the village? - We asked bus drivers.

They said no, as did station staff and taxi drivers.

- What about the fishing lakes? - Divers searched every square inch.

So maybe she did get into a private vehicle, then.

- Have we got the phone data? - Inconclusive.

Network cells are huge here.

But we do know her mobile went offline abruptly

on Sunday afternoon.

- We don't have the call log... - Barbara?

Yes? Anything concrete?

- No, not really. - OK.

Yes, but we don't need divers, we need a whole division, this is...

It's the local derby. Know how busy we are?

Yes, sure, no problem. We'll just let the locals carry on.

With a bit of luck, a keen boy scout will find her.

Screw the traces, we deal with them later.

I have limited resources here. What area are we talking about?

Sorry. Someone's here with a photo of the missing woman.

Do you have a minute?

Actually, we have plenty of photos. Can you handle this?

- Sure. - Thanks.

One moment.

Yes, hello?

OK, Barbara, I can send you one unit.

Wonderful. Thanks. How soon?

Friday. That's the best I can do, OK?

And don't slam the receiver down again. That'll only work once with me.

Thank you. Bye.

- Better than nothing. - Sorry.

Mrs Berghoff posted this selfie on Sunday afternoon

before she left for her run.

- That's what she was wearing? - Mm-hm.

The police are asking for help

finding missing person Stefanie B. from Buchingen.

She left for a jog on Sunday afternoon,

and since then has vanished without a trace.

This photo shows her in the clothes she was wearing.

If you have any leads, contact your local police

or the police headquarters in Lauburg.

Yes, hi, this is Thomas.

Listen, once you've covered the two eastern grid sectors,

we'll merge units again at sector 1, OK?

All right. Thank you.

- The second group... the area... - Bye.

I don't know. We're going to have to change shifts somehow.

The missing woman is 27 years old, 5 foot 4 and of slim build.

She has dark hair and was wearing

grey running gear and pink running shoes.

- Thank you. - See you tomorrow.

Bye.

- Getting used to your luxury motor home? - Yes, of course.

Sit down.

- Did you get hold of Michi about the house? - "Contact Michi."

Did you?

Yes. But he doesn't want it either. Too big, expensive to heat.

We'll see.

We have a missing person over in Buchingen.

I heard. Terrible thing.

I hope she didn't drown, like Helmut last year.

Do you know the Armbrusters?

Or the Berghoffs?

Barbara, I'm happy you're back. I never understood why you went to Berlin.

But I won't talk about the locals to you.

They're pupils of mine. Neighbours, friends, colleagues.

I refuse to think of them as suspects or perpetrators.

That was your decision.

- It wasn't mine. - Oh, well.

- At least I don't have to travel far. - I don't mind you being here.

I'm leaving again soon anyway.

Is there anything I need to do with the house?

Bausching is coming to look at the heating and Martini to do the electrics.

- I thought since you're here anyway... - Yeah, sure.

- Oh, good evening! - Hey.

It's nice of you to still be open.

- We do what we can. - Yeah...

I've never experienced anything like it.

- But I'm sure you have. - Yeah... Thanks.

- Thomas. - Does it ever end well?

- Oh, you don't even want to know. - Really?

I'll have one, too.

So...

Do you know anything we don't?

- Would I be sitting here if I did? - No idea. Why are your radiators leaking?

- I've no idea. - Well, there you go.

- Where? - Up there.

Thanks.

May we?

Yes. Go ahead.

- Did she die where she was found? - Looks like it.

Sort of. She was dragged a short distance.

You can see the drag marks.

From there to here.

Assuming no wild animals were involved,

the perpetrator didn't cover her, but simply dragged her a short distance.

It makes no difference, though. Both spots are equally visible.

- Strange. - Maybe the perpetrator was interrupted.

One of her shoes is missing. That's all we've got.

Maybe we can pass on the baton now. I want her in the autopsy room.

- It'll be a long night. - I think we're done. I'll check.

What can I say?

You can see for yourself. She didn't trip and push up her top.

- How long has she been dead? - Definitely more than 72 hours.

Body temperature is identical to the ambient temperature.

Rigor mortis has completely eased.

- See you at the institute. - Yes.

Let's pack up.

We'll set up an incident room.

We can have a room at Buchingen town hall.

The one used by the health authority.

- I mean, if the acoustics don't kill us. - Will you talk to the family?

Yes.

- I parked down there. I'm going this way. - OK. Where shall we meet?

At Lauburg tonight before we move offices. I'm off to see Tobias.

All right, then. OK.

See you later.

Hey, stop! Wait, stop.

- What are you doing here? - We heard Stefanie...

- Wait, wait. - Is it true?

I was on my way to see you. Let's move away from here.

Come on, you can't be here. Let's go.

Where is she? What's happened to her? Did someone do something to her?

I can't give details.

- I want to see her. Let me... - Not right now. Stop it.

I'm sorry.

No idea. I think Christian was supposed to take care of that.

I don't know. You need to ask him. OK, I can't deal with this right now.

I'll be in touch later, OK?

Bye.

So, what's happening?

Is the public prosecutor coming? If not, we might as well start.

I'm sorry, I had... I was...

Ah! Leave your things outside. I'll show you.

Yes.

- Your first autopsy? - Does it look that way?

- All right, ladies. Shall we get started? - Yes. - Sure.

Going on the exterior appearance of the body, the cause of death

was a blow to the head, here.

The weapon was probably made of metal.

Softer materials don't cause this amount of damage.

- Was she raped? - No intercourse.

But massive injuries to the genital area.

- Time of death? - Hard to tell due to the elapsed time.

Her digestion will tell us more.

Forensics will take a close look at her stomach contents and then...

we'll be able to tell.

DAY 5

Hello.

Everyone!

Could I have your attention, please!

Just a moment.

First of all, thanks for making this happen so quickly. That's brilliant.

Now, the evidence situation is extremely poor at the moment.

That's due to Stefanie Berghoff's body lying on wet leaves for four days.

Her murder was probably sexually motivated,

but we haven't been able to secure any foreign DNA.

May I, please?

Thank you.

Our rough estimate of the time of death is currently only based

on the contents of the digestive tract.

They indicate Stefanie Berghoff was killed on Sunday, the day she disappeared,

between 3:30 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Her husband, Tobias Berghoff, has an alibi for that time.

Personal circumstances are unremarkable which suggests a random perpetrator.

Usually only locals go there. Was she killed in that exact spot?

There or thereabouts, based on the estimated time of death.

Also, drivers from the wider area use the route as a shortcut to Lenzbach.

We have witnesses who confirm there were some vehicles there.

They report on colours, makes, parts of registration numbers,

but none of them are complete, making it tricky to identify the vehicles.

Has CCTV footage from Sunday night been secured from local petrol stations?

- There might be some crossover. - Of course it's been secured.

The local residents are extremely motivated and cooperative, aren't they?

- Yes. - Well, it won't be anyone from Buchingen.

Guys, do me a favour: when you're at the baker's or wherever,

don't give out... any internal information

or discuss the status of our investigation.

- Of course. - Right!

We're looking for a pink running shoe, Stefanie Berghoff's mobile phone,

her wedding ring, an ear stud and the murder weapon.

Yes, and there is already huge media interest,

so make sure you direct any press inquiries... there.

There he is, Werner Schmidt. Understood?

There'll be a press conference with the public prosecutor in two hours.

- So, let's get cracking. - Thanks, everyone.

We haven't got a single lead yet and no evidence to exonerate anyone.

If we mention the location to the press maybe someone else will come forward.

Yes. Great. OK, so we'll keep it brief.

Body found during police search,

homicide, sexual motivation, location of the body, but not the exact situation.

Good.

Do you have a minute?

I have the call log of Stefanie Berghoff's mobile phone.

Shortly before she left,

she sent a text and a selfie to a colleague, Rocco Dettmers.

- We know that. - That's not what's suspicious.

But the log shows they had frequent contact.

He texts, she replies, he texts, she replies. That's the pattern.

- Yes, and? - Yes?

After that last message, Rocco Dettmers never tried to contact her again.

As if he knew there'd be no response.

- May I see? - We'll head over there. Right?

Yes.

- See you later. - Later.

I'm Detective Riedle. This is my colleague, Ms Kramer.

- Hello. - Hi.

We're looking for an employee of yours, Rocco Dettmers.

Rocco?

Rocco?

- Back there, by the steel compacter. - Thanks.

No worries.

Mr Dettmers?

Mr Dettmers!

Can you turn that off, please?

Riedle, Federal Police.

You were exchanging messages daily, including after work and at the weekends.

Yes, that's correct, I mean...

Most of the time, actually quite a lot.

But... she would have told me if I'd got on her nerves.

We... got along well.

- Were you hoping for more? - No. No, it was just...

I've only been here for half a year, and...

It's hard to make new friends in Buchingen.

- Everyone knows each other. - Yes.

- Did you go jogging together? - No, I'm too slow for that.

I'd have to do some training first.

You didn't reply to the last message with the selfie that Stefanie sent.

Why not?

She wanted to make me feel guilty

because I ate too much again after work while she was going for a run.

She didn't show up at work on Monday, then it all happened so fast,

with her disappearance and so on.

I don't know what I would have texted her. What could I have said?

"Where are you?" would have been weird.

- We weren't that close. - May I see your chats?

Sure.

So...

You received the photo, and where were you then?

Here. We'd had a wedding. I was putting things away.

- On your own? - Yes.

No one can confirm that?

Annie signed the timesheet.

And when was that?

Around 4:30 or 5 o'clock.

- Something like that. - Hello.

- Hello. - Hi.

Sorry.

Riedle, Federal Police. We're just talking to your employee.

- Can we go inside? - Of course.

- Barbara, I'll go ahead. - Yes.

- And don't delete the chat history, yeah? - OK.

At least he had an answer for everything.

- First of all we check his alibi. - Yes.

Then we check him out.

And?

Enough to warrant an arrest?

Not sure. I'd like a search warrant for his place.

OK. What about this here?

We can only say what we agreed.

That's all we have.

We invited you to this press conference today

because Lauburg police recovered the body of a woman near Buchingen.

It is my task to update you on the current state of the investigation.

The body is that of Stefanie Berghoff, who had been missing for four days,

triggering an extensive search operation since last Sunday.

Mrs Berghoff had not returned from her afternoon jog.

The autopsy shows that Mrs Berghoff was the victim of a homicide

combined with a sexual offence.

So far, we have no evidence linking this crime to a suspect.

Hello. Parcel for you.

Sign here.

- Have a nice evening. - Thanks.

FROM: SPORTZOOM FASHION TO: MRS STEFANIE BERGHOFF

It's not some remote horror location.

People go there to jog, pick mushrooms, to cycle, go for a walk, whatever.

There must be more witnesses, so I'm sure we'll catch him.

The odds are in our favour.

Are you trying to cheer me up?

Yes, maybe I am.

- Barbara... - Yeah?

Uh... why did you come back from Berlin?

- Was it really because of an unsolved case? - No.

Mum was dying and I wasn't sure Dad would cope alone.

Don't you have two brothers?

Sure, but it's standard for the daughter to do the caring.

I wonder how Julia and I will cope with our parents one day.

Listen... Does your dad live all on his own here now?

No, he's off in his motorhome at the moment.

He's retracing all the trips he did with my mum.

- You don't want to move in? - No.

- Why not? - It's way too big.

Are you thinking of selling?

- Would you want to buy it? - Our fourth child is on the way, so...

Why? You don't like the idea?

You think we can't afford it?

Or is it too close? I mean, it's just a house.

No, a family home is more than just a house,

but, of course, if you're serious I'll ask my dad.

Thank you.

You know...

If it really was a random perpetrator,

it's going to be a long haul.

- Really long. - Yes.

- Thanks for driving me. - No problem.

- Good night. - Good night.

- Hey, Josi, want a lift? - No, I have my bike.

- All right. - Bye. - Bye.

Subtitles: Subtext-berlin