Original subtitles

(eerie music)

- [William] Lars Mittank a compassionate

and easy going young man,

was a hardworking engineer and family man

of Itzehoe Germany.

His free spirited, personality, and love of all things

traveling was cut short by an unexplainable,

unsolved disappearance in July of 2014.

Leaving all who knew him around Northern Germany

and the entire of the world at large

grasping for answers in a sea of evidence

that drowned us all in doubt.

As a hope to provide more substantial reasoning

built upon observable evidence on situational analysis,

this is an examination of Lars Mittank

unsettling disappearance at the Varna Airport in Bulgaria,

and the mysterious CCTV footage

that was released soon after.

This is "Cold Case Detective."

(eerie music)

Lars Mittank was born on February 19th, 1986,

near Berlin, Germany.

From Berlin, a young Lars and his parents

moved to Marne where his mother, Sandra

and her husband had resided alongside their families

for decades.

Not long after his family moved to Itzehoe, Germany,

the capital of the Steinberg district in Northern Germany.

Itzhoe is a smaller town compared to major cities

around north central Europe,

featuring a population of just 31,000 as of 2019.

It is a quiet place throughout most of the year

aside from the first weekend in August,

when commuters from the nearby Wacken Open Air,

a heavy metal music festival held in Wacken Germany

use Itzehoe shuttles for transportation.

Overall, the town has a gentle aura

that made raising a small family quite the easy endeavor

for the Mittank couple,

thus, as Lars navigated childhood,

he found it easy to make friends

and always got along well with his classmates.

He fit right into the soft-spoken low key nature

of his fellow Itzehoe community

and found much social and educational success because of it.

Lars loved outdoor activities.

And as a teenager found a love for fishing

and diving expeditions.

He would often go on weekend excursions

with his school friends,

sometimes even vacationing outside of Germany

to see what other European countries had to offer.

Without a doubt though, Lars his favorite pastime

was cheering on his favorite football club,

the hometown SV Werder Bremen Green Whites.

Werder Bremen competes in the top tier

of the German football league system.

And while they aren't considered powerhouses of their league

in the 21st century Lars bled their colors

and supported them nonetheless.

He didn't care about championships and honors,

he simply devoted himself to his favorite team

and carried that fiery spirits wherever he went.

When Lars wasn't attending Werder Bremen matches

with his friends or chasing adventures around Itzehoe

he was diving deep into his textbooks

and studying to become an engineer.

Foregoing the traditional four year university course,

Lars went the route of a specific trade

taking extra coursework and advanced training classes

to become a power plant operator

at a coal fired power plant.

Lars excelled beyond expectation

and after receiving top marks in all of his courses,

he found employment at the Wilhelmshaven Power Plants.

This new job led Lars 150 kilometers away

from his family and friends back home in Itzehoe in Marne,

but he made sure never to forget them

and kept in tight communication with everyone,

a symbol of his devotion and love for those around him.

That familial sacrifice was seen most drastically in 2012,

when Lars's father suffered a stroke

and needed special care moving forwards.

Lars, living near Wilhelmshaven would go home on weekends

between work shifts to help Sandra take care of his father.

While he could have been taking additional trips

or hanging out with his friends,

he chose nursing his father back to full health instead.

He was always thinking of others

no matter what life threw at him.

Outside of his ailing father Lars's life

was otherwise smooth sailing for two years

following the stroke.

In 2014, he continued his sporting ventures

and enjoyed a healthy relationship

with his girlfriend off several years.

Everything appeared to be going as planned.

That is until one of his many vacations,

took a turn for the worse.

And after a bizarre set of events

on the coast of Bulgaria, Lars disappeared,

never to be seen or heard from again.

Now let's turn to the timeline of events

that led up to Lars's disappearance.

(suspenseful music)

In the early summer months of 2014,

Lars Mittank decides he needs a vacation

from the constant stress of balancing work

and tending to his father.

He and five friends,

three from childhood and two from school

decide to plan a trip to Varna, Bulgaria,

a coastal city along the Black Sea.

It's not the normal type of vacation for Lars,

but his friend's crew has an open reservation

and Lars jumps on board the opportunity.

On June 30th later that season Lars and his friends

fly to Varna and check into hotel Viva,

a four-star star lodge along the Golden Sands Beaches

on the Bulgaria Riviera.

Over the next few days of the vacation

Lars breaks from his group of friends to play football

with a group of high school graduates on the beach.

His friends all stayed behind at hotel Viva

to eat by the pool and party in their rooms.

But Lars likes the physical activity

and is considered a pleasant guy

by the other beach footballers.

At 11:00 p.m. on July 3rd, the fourth day of the vacation,

Lars reconvenes with his five friends

and they all attend the mystery of Golden Sands Bar

to watch Costa Rica and the Netherlands

in their world cup quarter finals match.

Throughout the night and into the early morning hours

of July 4th, Lars and his friends

exchanged flags of their home football clubs

with others around the bar.

Lars wears his Werder Bremen Jersey proudly like usual

and with a few drinks in both he and his friends.

The flag trading with other patrons in the bar

upsets a group of Bavarian high school graduates.

These young men starts an argument with Lars,

whether it's for his hometown Jersey

or ornery antics with the world cup flags is unknown,

but Lars and his friends quell their bakery,

and then the nights on a positive note.

Another few hours pass and at 4:00 a.m. on July 4th,

Lars and his five friends are the last patrons to leave

the mystery of Golden Sands Bar.

Just after 4:00 a.m. two of Lars's friends, Tim and Paul

suggest the cruise stop at a nearby McDonald's for food.

Lars declines the offer,

having little appetite for fast food

and considering his athletic diet for sports and nutrition.

He breaks off from the rest of his friends

and starts the one kilometer trek back to the hotel.

However, not long after leaving the group

Lars is attacked and beaten by a gang of either Russians

or Bulgarians.

He escapes without any major injuries

except for a torn eardrum due to a blow

to the left side of the head

and returns to hotel Viva to sleep it off.

After a few hours of rest,

Lars wakes at noon on July 4th

and immediately phones his girlfriend.

He tells her of how he believes

that the gang that attacked him

was hired by the FC Bayern Munich fans

that argued with him at the Golden Sands Bar,

remembering how they told him the night before

that hiring someone to beat someone else up for money

isn't not difficult in Bulgaria.

Lars's girlfriend pleads with him

to get his ear checked out by a doctor,

but last says he doesn't think

that would be a medical office open on the weekend.

He goes on to tell his girlfriend,

he hopes his ear will heal naturally

and ends the conversation.

That same evening Lars rejoins his friends once more

for a night of celebration and drinking in town.

No further incidents occur, and everyone has a great time.

The same good fortune continues over the weekend

on both July 5th and sixth as Lars and the crew

relax at their hotel

and the vacation winds down to an end.

On July 7th, just before 12:00 p.m.

Lars checks out of the hotel,

but still can't shake the pain he has in his left ear

from the fight.

He realizes flying with a hurt ear could damage his hearing

and slow him down at his job.

So he hails a camp with one of his friends

and visits a doctor's office.

Between 12 and 1:00 p.m.

Lars is checked out by a practitioner

who diagnosed him with a ruptured eardrum

and tells Lars he cannot fly in his current state.

Instead, the doctor refers Lars to the St Anna Hospital

in Varna for additional assistance.

Before going to the hospital however,

Lars returned to Hotel Viva

and rendezvous who's with his friends

later that afternoon at 5:00 p.m.

Lars implores everyone to fly home without him

saying he'll find a way back to Germany after treatments

via travel insurance.

A few hours later at around 8:00 p.m.

a shuttle bus picks up Lars five friends

from Hotel Viva and takes them to the airports.

Lars waves goodbye,

and claims into a separate cab of his own

that transports him to St Anna Hospital.

A mere 40 minutes passed by before Lars is examined

by an ear nose and throat specialist in St. Anna

at 8:40 p.m.

However, in a strange twist,

there is a communication debacle between the ENT specialist

and Lars.

Thus Lars is never admitted to St. Anna,

but does receive a prescription for 500 milligrams

of Cefprozil a common antibiotic used for ear infections.

At 9:41 p.m. Lars exit St. Anna

and finds the same cab that dropped him off

still parked outside the hospital's entrance.

Lars climbs inside and asks the drivers to take him

to the nearest pharmacy.

The pharmacy in question, isn't carrying enough

Cefprozil tablets to fulfill Lars's prescription.

And so he asked the cab driver to take him

to a second pharmacy.

At 10:05 p.m. Lars finally receives his order of Cefprozil

and asked the cab driver to take him

to one final destination, a cheap hotel.

The cab driver informs Lars

that due to the popular summer season,

almost all of the hotels in the area would be booked.

However, he knows of one possibility

and drives lost to the hotel Color Varna,

a small lodge in a poorer area of the city.

Five minutes later at 10:10 p.m.

Lars arrives at Hotel Color

and pays his cab driver with a hefty tip.

He thinks about grabbing water at the convenience store

across the streets,

but notices a few men dressed in dark clothing

milling about and thinks better of it.

Instead Lars checks in at the front desk of Hotel Color

and pays for his room with a credit card.

Between this time and 11:00 p.m,

Lars ventures down to the hotel bar

and fills up on water there.

Both to quench his thirst

and so he can take the Cefrozil tablets.

Just after 11:00, Lars's behavior begins to change

and he calls his mother Sandra from his cheap cell phone,

because he left his new smartphone back home in Germany.

His lesser phone needed minutes charged to it

to make outgoing calls.

Lars asked Sandra to put money towards the phone minutes

to which she agrees.

This is where Lars finally informs his mother

about the weekend's events.

He tells her about the arguments in the Golden Sands Bar,

the fights with the soccer fans, the ruptured eardrum,

and how the ENT doctor mocked him

and refused to speak to him in English,

laughing him out of St. Anna.

Sandra is understandably perturbed about her son's stories,

but she tells him she'll file a claim

with foreign health insurance to secure a patient transports

back to his home in Germany.

A few minutes passed by and Sandra calls Lars back,

she tells him about the health insurance claim failing

to which Lars responds with more cryptic behavior.

He tells Sandra that he needs to leave

because there was something off about Hotel Color.

He goes on to ask Sandra to cancel his credit cards

because apparently the front desk clerk

had copied his credit card upon check-in

and that bothered him as he had never witnessed that process

at a hotel before.

Sandra double checks with the bank

to make sure she can cancel the cards

and unblock them later,

but the bank assistant tells her it's not possible.

Nevertheless, Lars pleads with his mother

to cancel them anyway,

claiming to have enough cash on hand.

Another couple of minutes go by and Sandra books Lars a bus

out of Varna for the following night at 11:30 p.m.

on July 8th.

She implores her son to get a good amount of sleep

and rest up for the next day's journey.

Before the clock can strike midnights however,

Lars call Sandra once again,

this time more paranoid than before.

He goes on about something being wrong with the hotel,

but it doesn't go into further detail

acting as if his room was wiretapped

and someone is recording his every move.

Sandra tries to comfort her son,

but Lars ends the call saying he needs to get out of there.

Sometime between two 30 and 3:00 a.m.

Lars called Sandra once more

whispering to her that he's being followed

by four men who want to kill him.

Lars sounds more frightened than ever before,

but hangs up soon after calling.

At 3:06 a.m. Lars texts Sandra asking her what's,

"Cefzil 500 is."

He repeats the text again at 3:15,

apparently confused by his Cerprozil tablets.

At this point, Sandra knows the situation

is more dire than originally thought,

and books Lars a flight out of Varna airports for 4:20 p.m.

later that day on July 8th.

A couple of hours later at around 5:00 a.m.

Lars is spotted waving at a new cab driver

on the side of the road.

The driver picks Lars up and takes him to Varna Airport.

The other female passenger in the cab reports Lars pupils

to be severely dilated.

After arriving at the airport later that morning,

Lars meets a man inside of the terminal

who explains to him how to send and receive money

through the Western Union banking system.

Lars calls his mother again,

careful not to burn through his cell phone's battery

and asked her to send him money via Western Union.

Sandra is confused as neither she nor Lars

has ever used it before,

but she agrees to send him 500 euros per his request.

Sandra also gives Lars the information regarding his flight

that evening, but also asked him to check in

with the airport's medical office

to make sure he is safe to fly.

In the event that the doctor suggests otherwise.

Sandra also gives Lars the info for the bus ticket

she bought him on the previous night as well.

Lars makes a comment that they won't let him fly

or drive, and that he looks disheveled

from hiding around earlier that night.

Sandra suggests cleaning up in the bathroom and calling back

when he has new information.

A few minutes later after setting up

the Western Union transaction, Sandra calls Lars again,

but after hearing only an unintelligible whisper from Lars,

the call shuts off.

This is the last point of contact Sandra makes with her son.

She attempts to call again, but Lars never answers.

At around 9:00 a.m. Lars finally makes it

to the airport's medical clinic

and meets with a doctor Kostow.

Over the next 42 minutes. Dr. Kostow

studies Lars's passports, gives him medicinal eardrops

and clears him with a normal temperature of

37.2 degrees Celsius.

Dr. Kostow attempts to give him more pills as well,

but Lars refuses.

Regardless Dr. Kostow lets Lars knows

he is healthy enough to fly.

He'll just need to sign a waiver.

Lars signs this waiver,

and then asks to use the restroom,

whispering under his breath about coming right back.

It is at this time around 10:00 a.m.

on Monday, July 8th, 2014 Lars bolts

from the medical clinic,

flees the terminal and runs away from the airports.

He climbs a fence escapes into an adjacent meadow

and disappears into a sunflower field

along Bulgarian highway A2.

This is the last confirmed sighting of Lars Mittank.

Over the next couple of hours,

Sandra Mittank attempts to locate her son

after losing all communication with him.

She calls the Honorary Consulate in Varna

and speaks to Ms. Metrova at 11:00 a.m.

informing her of the situation.

An hour later at 12:00 p.m,

Ms. Metrova returned Sandra's call

and informed her of Lance's frantic escape from the airport.

She says that Lars left all of his belongings behind,

and hasn't been seen since.

The following day on Tuesday, July 9th,

a missing person's report is filed on behalf of Lars Mittank

in Germany.

The Wilhemshaven Power Plant hires a private detective

and lawyer based out Varna

and the investigation into Lars's bizarre disappearance

begins.

Nearly seven years later,

despite countless search and rescue operations

and a few potential sightings.

Lars Mittank is still missing.

His family and friends scouring Europe

for any remaining clues, despite the time passed

without any credible evidence coming to the surface.

(dramatic music)

Not long after the missing persons report was filed,

Bulgarian officials brought in Sandra Mittank

to show her CCTV footage recorded at Varna airports

the morning Lars arrived and subsequently ran out

just prior to vanishing.

Some of these clips were eventually released

to the public as well,

as in all cases regarding missing people,

security footage is our best tool

to tracing their final steps

and getting a best glance at their situation.

However, these clips may also be distressing

for some viewers and thus discretion is advised,

we will show you the footage now.

(dramatic music)

In the footage, we see Lars recorded

walking through the airport terminal

with his luggage under normal circumstances.

He looks as if he's simply walking from point A to point B.

However, after he looks over his shoulder

and enters the CCTVs blind spots,

the tape cuts to a later point in which Lars sprints back

in the opposite direction without luggage

and exits the terminal altogether,

then outdoor cameras capture Lars completely abandoning

the airport property itself,

supposedly scaling the fence.

In these clips, we don't see anyone explicitly tailing

or following Lars or really any suspicious figures at all.

What Lars is running from isn't concrete.

And the videos only adds to the mystery.

They do confirm that Lars was quite obviously troubled

and whatever he was dealing with

during those final few days in Varna wasn't just real,

but very severe too.

The only anomaly reported about the CCTV clips

is that Sandra Miksang was actually shown different footage

to what the public has access to.

In the interviews following the investigation,

Sandra told reporters that she saw

additional security footage of Lars outside the airport.

In these clips, one can see Lars navigate

around two police cars as if he was avoiding capture.

Sandra went on to say that judging from these clips,

Lars was acting in a stable frame of mind

and was operating with a plan.

She said his actions were stealthy,

moving behind buses on piles of sand

before running towards the fence.

Again, we do not have access to this portion

of the CCTV files, but if Sandra

and other investigators do have this information

available to them, it does put a different perspective

on Lars's activity.

It does not answer the question why,

but it does give us some information

in a case with precious little.

Now let's turn to the most prominent theories

in answering the question of Lars Mittank

unsolved disappearance.

When dissecting the strange case of Lars Mittank

many people wonder if laws wasn't imagining

the supposedly men following him in the final hours

of his movements around Varna,

but the four men who assaulted him on July 4th

were indeed stalking him as he finished up his vacation.

The big question, however, is why,

why would these men continue to follow Lars

even after inflicting severe pain on him and letting him go?

Some people wonder if Lars had actually escaped

the initial first fight,

had said something to the four gangsters as he ran off

and thus coax them into further retribution.

It would explain why Lars only had a ruptured eardrum

and nothing more permanent.

And also why he'd be worried about the four men

finding him in the first place,

because he said something he regretted

and felt like it put his life at even greater risk.

The four men would have then eventually found him,

waited for his friends to leave

and then followed him to the airport

where they met him in the bathroom

after his pre-flight checkup.

At first, this may sound like a plausible theory,

but it doesn't make much sense

when you consider Lars's actions following the scuffle,

he still went out with his friends

the next couple of nights after July 4th,

and would've put himself in the public eye

where the gangsters could find him.

Sure, maybe he felt protected in a group of people,

but he would know that the gangsters

could just follow him until he was alone.

In addition, no one besides Lars

ever reported seeing suspicious men follow him

or around him after July 4th.

In fact, even Lars himself was acting usual

up until his friends flew back to Germany.

Outside of not eating much,

which can be linked to the incredible heat,

Lars was being Lars.

There was no reason to think he was being stalked

by a nefarious crew of criminals.

So if Larss wasn't running from a gang

of hires Bulgarians,

what could he have been paranoid about?

There are those who believe laws was actually in cahoots

with a group of men

all part of a larger criminal organization

helping them to peddle drugs.

It is possible that if Lars was dealing narcotics,

it was against his own will,

and not necessarily by his design.

These theories suggest that off the Lars was roughed up

by the four Bulgarians on the way back to the hotel

on July 4th, they gave him a proposition,

help them with their drug operation

or suffer worse consequences than a busted eardrum.

Not having much of a choice,

Lars agreed to the deal and went back to Hotel Viva

under the pretense that he had simply been

beaten up a little by the Bulgarians after his confrontation

at the Golden Sands Bar, and that it was no big deal.

This would explain why Lars was hesitant

to go to the doctors as suggested by his girlfriend.

Because he didn't want to alert anyone else of the situation

or bring suspicion upon his motives.

Lars then acted like his usual self

for the remainder of the vacation

and used his ear as an excuse not to travel home

with his friends.

It was after his friends left and he realized he was alone

and stuck in a horrible situation

that Lars felt overwhelmed.

Hence the conversations with his mother on the phone

and his paranoia regarding his credit cards.

Maybe the night he was supposed to drop off

the alleged narcotics was the night he spent

at the Hotel Color and was captured by the hotel CCTV

meandering aimlessly in the lobby

almost as if he were distressed.

People also like to point out that Lars was using

the same cab driver the night of July 7th

and suggest that he had maybe been sent by the Bulgarians

to escort laws or keep an eye on him

as he made the drop for whatever organization

had threatened him.

The most intriguing points to the drug cartel theory

is the revelation made by reports of the airport

CCTV footage capturing laws, avoiding detection by police,

as he disguised himself running away from the terminal.

It's possible that the airport itself was a drop point,

and after Lars fulfilled his part of the plan,

he took off into the distance.

Careful not to be arrested,

fearful that he was a fugitive of the law.

It would explain Lance's bizarre moves

and give reason as to why someone

would completely change their personality

and behavior in the blink of an eye.

However, if Lars did enter some sort of pact

with Bulgarian drug peddlers,

there isn't very much physical proof

outside of circumstance.

Lars's suitcase and luggage were recovered at Varna Airport

and there were no illegal substances or any other drugs

amongst his personal artifacts.

Not only that, but the question must be asked

if Lars was forced to get involved with the drug trade

at the request of a few street gangsters,

why wouldn't he just tell the police?

He'd have the busted eardrum as proof of coercion,

as well as witnesses who saw the confrontation

with the Bavarian football fans at the Golden Sands Bar

and heard their verbal threats about hiring muscle

to assault Lars himself.

It is not as if no one would believe him,

the area he wound up in on July 7th

was a poorer section of Varna

and well-known for both human trafficking

and higher crime rates.

It's within the realm of possibility

that Lars ran into trouble,

but also totally plausible that law enforcement

would be sympathetic to his situation

and get him back to Germany safely.

There are those who wonder if Lars

wasn't threatened to do this,

but rather got in on a drug transaction for the money,

pretending not to want McDonald's on July 4th

when in reality he was meeting up with people

in a pre-planned event.

The problem with this line of thinking

is Lars had never engaged in criminal matters before,

and it seems unlikely he would put his steady job

and flourishing relationship in jeopardy,

all for an incredibly risky crime

hundreds of miles from home.

Lars didn't know anyone in Varna,

nor did he speak either Bulgarian or Russian.

He never showed signs of living a double life

and breaking bad on a random summer night

during a relaxing vacation, doesn't make sense.

So if Lars wasn't running from gangsters

or involved in a drug ring,

was there anyone else who could have been responsible

for scaring Lars away?

One suspects, a few theorists have pointed out

is the doctor who treated Lars at the Varna Airport

right before he disappeared, Dr. Kostow.

Dr. Kostow changed his statements over the course

of the initial investigation and made interesting claims

about who exactly was in that examination room

when Lars ran out.

Kostow's first testimony claimed that a man

in an airport uniform unexpectedly entered the office

while Lars was being treated which spooks Lars

and led to his escape from the medical station.

This man was described as an employee of the airline

that Lars was using to fly home to Germany

and was actually looking for Lars at that moment.

The next statement Kostow gave mentioned an airport laborer

walking into the examination room, not an airline employee.

Finally, in the third claim,

Kostow told investigators that he did not know

who the intruder was and that he did not recognize him

as either an airline employee or a separate worker.

When investigators attempted to locate this man

from the third statement,

they were introduced to a man who was said to have been

this mysterious figure.

However, after exhaustive facts checking,

it was learned by police that this man

wasn't even in Bulgaria the day Lars disappeared,

only clouding the entire airport's predicament.

Not only this, but there are holes in Dr. Kostow's

first two statements as well.

Lars visited the airport medical site at around 9:00 a.m.

but his flight wasn't scheduled until 4:20

and there were no travel alerts associated

with that specific flight.

So why would an airline representative

be looking for a passenger so early?

And how would they know Lars was with the doctor

or the facts that he was even at the airport so early

in the first place?

Similarly, if the intruder wasn't an airline employee,

but rather a maintenance worker or other laborer

for the airports, why would they just walk

into an examination room unannounced?

That would be a pretty large breach of privacy

and very abnormal.

If it was true,

if someone did barge into the doctor's office

while Lars was getting checked on,

it's not out of the question

that being in a vulnerable state of mind,

Lars panicked and ran out thinking this intruder

was out to get him.

However, not even that scenario lines up

with official reports.

Remember, when Sandra called the Honorary Consulate,

they told her that Lars had asked to use the restroom,

and Dr. Kostow gave him permission,

believing that laws would return and collect his luggage.

So in this scenario, there was no third man

and Larss didn't make a run for it

until he was out of the office.

Who is telling the truth?

Was Dr. Kostow really involved?

Authorities have ruled him out as a suspect.

And there doesn't seem to be any motive for him

wanting Lars out of the story anyway.

It just doesn't make sense as to why he would lie.

Could it be an honest mistake?

Absolutely.

But that would be four separate misspoken testimonies.

And that does lead one to see Dr. Kostow

in a suspicious light.

Was he paid off to change his story?

Well it is unlikely, but plausible.

Regardless, we'll never have definitive proof

of exactly what happened in that examination room

as airport CCTV cameras do not capture

the entrance to the office space,

making it a blind spot.

Without the doubt, the most popular theories

surrounding Lars Mittank unsolved disappearance

revolve around the idea that Lars suffered

from an unfortunately timed mental health crisis

or similar psychological break.

Some people are quick to blame the medicine

prescribed to Lars by the physician on July 7th,

just after Lars checked out of hotel Viva with his friends.

The medicine in question, Cefprozil

wildly popular antibiotic in Bulgaria

is not as widely spread a drug in Germany.

While it's highly effective against ear

and other bodily infections,

German health officials are wary

of its possible side effects, including,

but not limited to hallucinations

and potential drug induced psychosis.

It should be mentioned that these types of side-effects

are extraordinarily rare, basically never happening at all.

But experts have warned that Cefprozil

taken with other substances, such as alcohol

can exacerbate the drugs various ill-fated effects.

It is a known fact that Lars was drinking alcohol

with his friends on the vacation prior to receiving

the Cefprozil, and it is possible

he was taking other pills too,

prescription nor recreational.

Thus Lars could have suffered a reaction to the Cefprozil

the alcohol or other drugs and fallen victim

to the drugs powerful side effects.

It is also important to recognize

that Lars's is dosage of Cefprozil 500 milligrams was higher

than most prescriptions of the same type,

and could also have played a role

in creating a stronger reaction

to the negative aspects of the antibiotic.

Not only that,

but it seems as if Lars himself was wary of the drug

the night in which his paranoia began.

He sent two texts to his mother, Sandra

asking her what's quote, Cefzil 500 was.

Maybe as a reaction to feeling the strong antibiotics,

affecting him in an unsettling way, not only that,

but these side effects in combination with being alone

in a foreign country,

and after experiencing a potentially traumatic event

at the hands of the Bulgarians could have tipped the scales

and left Lars to deal with new anxieties, panic,

and hallucinations without the appropriate care

to handle him.

Spinning off this theory, our questions of Lars's

mental health in general,

and potential risk of developing schizophrenia,

Lars age at the time puts him right on the point

of the demographic who are most likely to see

an onset of schizophrenia prior to age 30.

His symptoms also line up with those often seen

in schizophrenia patients who are early on

in their diagnosis,

such as the feelings of being followed, losing control,

imminent death, and of course, hearing voices,

seeing things that aren't there and physical sensations

that do not exist.

Everything Lars had dealt with leading up to that moment

could have triggered his own psychosis

and thus left him afraid and paranoid.

It should be stated, however

that no one in the Mittank family has ever displayed

a history of schizophrenia,

nor was Lars considered at risk by medical professionals

back home.

Lars did have somewhat a stressful life

with his demanding job,

and his father's ailing health not helping matters.

But again, there were no warning signs

or previous diagnoses that affirms the speculation

that Lars was dealing with the onset of schizophrenia.

So if it wasn't a mental disorder,

could Lars have been dealing with a deeper physical issue

than just a ruptured eardrum?

Some theories detail a much more complex problem,

figuring Lars to be suffering from repeated brain aneurysms,

leading to retrograde amnesia

and the inability to create new memories.

This may explain why Lars seemed confused

and at odds with everyone around him.

He may have continually forgotten why he was where he was.

This alone would spin anyone through cycles of emotional

and psychological distress,

potentially unlocking further panic

and unrelenting terror

while a more severe brain injury is certainly in the cards.

Remember that Lars had been checked by three separate

medical professionals, all of whom told him

he was only suffering from the eardrum rupture.

Maybe Lars was convinced there was something worse

happening inside of his head,

developing symptoms of hypochondria,

and when the doctors continued to tell him no,

he lashed out and ran away.

Maybe this is why Lars had that awkward encounter

with the ENT specialist at St Anna's,

and while he ran away from Dr. Kostow,

'cause he believed he was dying,

but was being told, he wasn't.

Of course, this may have been an issue in of itself

and not necessarily the effects of a traumatic brain injury,

but it would explain the bouts of confusion.

Also, it should be stated that Lars was lucid enough

to call his mother multiple times,

engage in conversation with others,

navigate complicated bank transfers

and credit card functions and travel around Europe.

So whatever he was dealing with,

it wasn't 100% debilitating.

If Lars was totally incapacitated,

he wouldn't have slipped through the cracks so seamlessly.

Despite the countless abnormalities surrounding Lars's case,

there is still hope he is alive.

While the summers in Varna,

Bulgaria can get incredibly hot

Lars was an experienced outdoorsman

and theoretically could have survived the elements.

The facts he ran off without his belongings,

his wallet, cell phone, and any other necessities

do not increase his chances of survival,

but certainly don't guarantee death.

Like all major missing persons cases,

there have been countless sightings of Lars

made by the general public in the seven years,

since he vanished into the sunflower fields

around Varna Airport.

One truck drivers saw a man eerily similar

to Lars's physical description hitchhiking

along a Varna highway about a year after he went missing.

Another sighting, alleged Lars was living

as a homeless man in Poland,

while one person posted they're supposed to meet up

with Lars in Canada on Reddit three years ago.

While none of them have been confirmed,

there was one testimony that led investigators

to believe they had actually found Lars.

In December of 2016 or authorities

in Porto Velho, Brazil discovered a homeless man

bearing a very strong likeness to Lars

walking along a highway.

The man was barefoot disoriented and disheveled.

When police asked who he was,

he was unable to remember where he came from,

or even what his own name was.

He carried no identification and was confused

as to how he got there.

Law enforcement took him to a nearby hotel

and a photo of the man sleeping

circulated around the internet,

like police people believed this man was Lars Mittank

thinking it was him hiding behind the massive beard

and matted hair.

Ultimately, or authorities discovered this man

was in fact not Lars, but another missing man,

a Canadian humanitarian worker named Anton Polipa

who had disappeared in 2011.

While it didn't end up solving Lars's mystery,

it did give hope to the fact that finding laws alive

and breathing is not out of the question.

He'd probably be found in a similar state to Anton

confused and unaware of his situation.

It's also proof that no matter how long we go

between someone's disappearance and discovery,

we cannot give up hope

because unless evidence proves otherwise,

they could still be out there alive

and desperate to return home.

(dramatic music)

Before we divulge our hypothesis,

we want to make it known that our conclusions

presented in "Cold Case Detective"

are purely logical speculation

based on evidence circumstance and factual subtext.

We are only privy to the same information

presented in each episode,

and we do not attempt to promise certainty

or an expert guarantee on the findings we reach in closing.

We simply observe research and reports.

In the case of Lars Mittank unsolved disappearance,

we believe there is not just one single to blame,

but rather a collection of ideas

pulled from the popular theories we've just discussed.

First and foremost, the chance that Lars

went into the vacation with already accumulating stress

is higher than what a lot of people think.

You have to remember that Lars spent the last year

and a half commuting between work

and his hometown on the weekends

to help his mother take care of his father.

This combined with balancing a relationship

and the pressure of operating a power plant

could have created a bubbling foundation

of untapped anxiety.

He was only 28 years old

and took on a lot of extra challenges at such a young age

all while maintaining a sense of normality

to his friends and family.

This anxiety only worsened on July 4th

when Lars was attacked on his way home from the bar

in the middle of the night in a country foreign to him.

While he managed to survive

and continue on with the vacation

as if everything was normal,

this facade only forced the building stress

and anxiety deeper.

Then when his eardrum caused enough pain

to force him to stay behind in Varna

as his friends all flew back home to Germany,

he was suddenly isolated and alone, again,

in a place he wasn't used to.

An event like that in itself is incredibly stressful.

So when you compound that with unchecked anxiety

and a traumatic incident only a few days before

a break in mental wellbeing is not surprising.

The volcano of anxiety and panic burst at the seams

when Lars attempted to go home via foreign health insurance,

but was hit with a snack and unable to drive home

right away.

Plus with the communication struggles with medical experts

and having to stay in a shadowy section of Varna,

it's no wonder laws began to experience

elongated periods of panic and paranoia.

It is well-known that the walls up the Hotel Color

are incredibly thin and everyone can hear everything

from their rooms.

Lars was probably hearing muffled conversations

and never ending noise,

causing him to believe he was being recorded

or that other people were listening to him too.

It's an unbelievably chaotic situation

and would only make someone susceptible to a panic attack

feel even worse.

Once the panic and paranoia set in

and without the proper mental health parameters

or resources to help ease his anxiety

Lars was simply out of options

and reacted out of ballooning fear.

We do not think he was being followed by gangsters

or hunted by the Bulgarian government,

but rather was running from his own anxieties,

struggling to accept his foreign situation.

The Cefprozil tablets would not have made things better

either.

There were only three tablets missing from the prescription,

meaning that he couldn't have taken that many pills.

So we don't believe they were the root cause of the problem.

However, their side effects could have been exacerbated

by the he had consumed that night in Hotel Color.

And if he did receive a mild brain injury,

that would almost certainly only worsen

the anxiety attacks and paranoia.

What happened to Lars after he ran out of the hotel

isn't discernible,

but we do want to say that while the events

at the Varna terminal are bizarre,

we don't believe there was any foul play.

Dr. Kostow ever-changing story is frustrating,

but it could just be the by-product

of a bizarre investigation and intense circumstances.

It is unfortunate that we don't have access

to the entire CCTV tapes

and that the doctor's office entrance

was a blind spot for the cameras,

but whatever happened inside was likely a result of Lars's

worsening psychological condition.

And whoever that intruding third person was

probably wasn't out to get Lars.

Despite not knowing exactly what occurred there

we are all in agreement with Lars's mother, Sandra,

there is still a very reasonable chance

that Lars is still alive.

While he may be scared or fearful

or forgetful of his previous life,

there is no proof that he is dead and hope must linger

if we are to bring him home safe and sound.

Until that day arrives,

it's important to highlight the fact

that Lars Mittank was and is a human being above all else.

Yes, the CCTV footage from the airport

that fateful July morning

has made its rounds on the internet

and led to Lars being named the most famous missing person

on YouTube.

But it's important not to glorify these images

and mystifying what is a tragic case

of someone suffering a mental breakdown.

Lars was dealing with some of the most stressful

and terrifying factors one can encounter

on what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation.

He had thoughts and feelings and dreams like the rest of us,

and should always be thought of with respect.

The videos of Lars running away can be a tool to help

aid his discovery, but they shouldn't be the only story.

The story that remains is that Lars Mittank

was a compassionate, empathetic, and hardworking man.

He gave so much to the people around him

without ever expecting anything in return.

And in response,

we will give the same effort to finding Lars,

to spread the word so that one day he might return

and carry on his legacy of potential and love.

This is "Cold Case Detective."

(gentle music)