All language subtitles for Cold.Case.Detective.S02E06.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP.2.0.H.264-deadorbit_track3_[eng]

(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)