01x02 - A Serial k*ller in Berlin

[bunniefuu]

[suspenseful music playing]

BASED ON ORIGINAL PERPETRATOR STATEMEN

[perpetrator] I was afraid it wasn't

a psychological problem

but a medical, psychiatric problem.

On the one hand, I wanted to get help.

On the other hand, I was afraid of

what therapy would be like.

But I also knew this problem

couldn't be set aside or forgotten about.

I was torn,

but I couldn't muster the courage

to see a doctor or psychiatrist.

[ominous music playing]

[music wanes]

[ominous music playing]

The more a perpetrator does

at a crime scene,

the higher our chances of saying,

"Hey, we have a clear pattern here."

[suspenseful music playing]

It's always interesting when it tells us

something about

the perpetrator's personality.

[music continues]

Sometimes you only realize

the full extent of a crime

when you investigate a series of crimes.

You only realize after the fact

that he's committed more crimes

than what was previously believed.

[ominous music playing]

Maybe he realized,

"Hey, that worked really well,"

then thought, "They won't find me."

[dramatic music playing]

[mysterious music playing]

[music fades]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Andreas] We knew the location.

We also had a very good idea

of what time of day it happened.

Everything was clear, but

SENIOR HOMICIDE INVESTIGATOR

there was still no clue regarding the man

from the surveillance video.

He was like a ghost,

completely under the radar,

that's how he moved.

[suspenseful music playing]

At that point, for me, it could have been

anyone who had been here. I had no idea.

Um

I also never could have imagined

that there would be someone

who would just walk in here,

offer someone a drink

and then k*ll them with it.

I think it could be someone

who wanted to feel like they belonged

OWNER OF GROSSE FREIHEIT 114 (SINCE 2021)

but because they lacked self-acceptance,

they didn't feel like they belonged.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Danjel] Grosse Freiheit has always been

a safe space for h*m* men.

So, it became a big topic of conversation

in my friend circle,

and within the community.

And

You could sense that

my friends were apprehensive

about going into the darkroom.

It was

just awful to have

that fear in the community.

[ominous music playing]

[Matthias] We closed the bar for two days,

and then, very discretely,

we decided to reopen with a vigil.

We placed a candle up on the bar.

Our regulars were all here to

Um [exhales]

To say a collective goodbye as well.

[melancholic music playing]

[Anka] He was loved by everyone. Everyone.

He was never faking it.

NICKY'S SISTER

Never. He didn't need to.

He had this aura.

If you talked to him,

you couldn't help but just love him.

A ray of sunshine.

Mom and Dad were unable to do anything.

At all.

They were breathing, yes.

But that's it.

Nothing more than that.

You couldn't talk to them.

They didn't eat much.

They barely slept.

We basically wandered around

the apartment.

Nicky's sister was able to describe

the color of his wallet,

and she told us that

his driver's license should be in there.

She told me Nicky

always had his phone on him.

But his stuff was missing.

And we couldn't find it

at his place either.

It's a common investigation tactic

to trace a phone

to try and gain information

about who might have it

in their possession,

or to try and pinpoint the location

where the device was last active.

Can the location give us any clues

about the person who took the phone?

[Katrin] We were able to determine

that the deceased's phone

had been used after his death.

STATE PROSECUTOR

And that it had been used with a SIM card

and a phone number

associated with a distinct profile,

meaning the person was actually real.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Andreas] With that,

we were on to something.

Next, we investigate

and try to get a photo ID.

We check to see if they have priors

or a police record.

Who are we actually dealing with?

And could they be the perpetrator?

[suspenseful music playing]

We were able to get

a picture of the person.

I kept watching

the surveillance videos repeatedly.

I compared them with the picture.

It was extremely difficult.

On the one hand, personally I didn't think

the man in the photo resembled

the person from the videos

from Ostbahnhof.

So, I was reluctant to say,

"Yes, that's him."

But at the same time, I

I couldn't dismiss it, either.

[siren wailing]

After obtaining the photo,

we went to Grosse Freiheit,

and showed it to the entire bar staff

working that night.

[camera clicks]

And one of the bartenders said that

he actually knew who this person was.

And he was 99 percent certain

that this was the person

who had appeared

on the surveillance footage

from the Ostbahnhof train station.

[ominous music playing]

[Andreas] With this statement,

the person with the phone

certainly became the prime suspect.

So, we sent a team after him.

[siren wailing]

[tires screech]

[Andreas] And we arrested him temporarily.

[ominous music playing]

[door opens]

When we questioned him, he seemed calm,

self-composed.

He told us he had been out

with two female friends

and one friend, who was male.

And at some point, they split up,

and he went to Grosse Freiheit by himself.

He walked around a little,

and also described having

multiple sexual encounters.

He said he eventually left.

Outside the bar, he then found

a cell phone, an iPhone.

HOMICIDE INVESTIGATOR

Of course,

we didn't believe a word of this.

Then it finally dawned on him

that he was actually here

as a suspect in a m*rder case.

I think that slowly got him thinking.

And he said, "What's going on here?"

So, we told him,

"Someone had died at the bar.

It's actually the owner of the iPhone,

which is now in your possession."

And that's when he started talking.

He started explaining

how a darkroom works,

you strip down, naked,

and then the other person joins you.

So, he proceeded to touch

the person's genitals,

but then felt no reaction.

He thought, "Oh well, he must be asleep,"

or something like that.

He didn't think much of it.

In one of the person's pockets,

he felt an iPhone and then,

for some reason, grabbed it

and took it with him out of the bar.

I didn't buy a single word of it.

So, after I heard his story,

I decided to tell the others,

"Let's go and get Miro."

[suspenseful music playing]

The person I was shown had pulled

the victim's iPhone out of his pocket.

SURVIVOR

That immediately makes you suspicious,

for good reason.

It's strange to find a dead body

and then take a phone from their pocket.

[ominous music playing]

The situation was a bit odd

because they asked the man

to walk up and down the hallway.

And I was supposed to watch his movement

to see if I recognized him,

and to confirm if he was

the perpetrator or not.

- [suspenseful music playing]

- [heart beating]

I said, "I've never seen this man before."

But apparently we both went

to the darkroom that night.

[ominous music playing]

[Monika] Now imagine this scenario,

apparently there's some criminal,

who goes around with knockout drops

and is responsible for murdering

Nicky at Grosse Freiheit,

then just disappears.

And then imagine someone else

comes in after, approaches the victim,

then decides to steal their phone.

That's hard to believe.

[Andreas] The biggest problem we had

when questioning this person

was the fact that he had lied to us

on multiple occasions.

There was no doubt about that.

And this is typical criminal behavior

that I experience all the time.

They start saying things

that can't be backed up

with any factual evidence.

Eventually I had to make a decision,

do we put this person on trial

before a judge, or not?

But I didn't feel comfortable doing that

at this point in our investigation.

[ominous music playing]

[suspenseful music playing]

BASED ON ORIGINAL PERPETRATOR STATEMEN

[perpetrator] I can tell it's hard for you

to understand my methodology.

[suspenseful music playing]

[music ends]

[perpetrator] It was all about the thrill

of doing something forbidden.

[suspenseful music playing]

[perpetrator] I don't recognize

this sort of behavior.

It's completely alien to me.

Just the thought of these actions

is bizarre and sick.

[suspenseful music continues]

[perpetrator] And then, somehow,

I got the crazy idea

to try and do the whole thing again.

PERFECT. DO YOU HAVE TIME TONIGHT?

[suspenseful music intensifies]

[music ends]

In Berlin, every year,

we have about 100, 110, 120 homicides.

The rate of cases solved

is a little over 90 percent.

The cases that cause us the most work

are the remaining ten percent.

The perpetrator used a drug, GHB,

which is easy to get.

It doesn't leave any trace of blood,

he doesn't get his hands dirty.

There aren't really

any obstacles to face here.

He has everything under control.

No problem, it's that easy.

And then he chooses a victim

who's unable to provide us

any clues about the perpetrator.

So, he's

a clever perpetrator, there's no doubt.

[ominous music playing]

[Christian] What kind of person

can we attribute this type of behavior to?

[suspenseful music playing]

BASED ON ORIGINAL PERPETRATOR STATEMEN

[perpetrator] I'm a teacher's assistant

in Brandenburg.

Elementary school.

Grades one, three, and five.

Teaching math and German.

I have no children.

Unmarried.

I've been living with my partner

for almost ten years.

I don't volunteer,

nor do I have a criminal record.

Not even a speeding ticket.

[suspenseful music swells]

[siren wailing]

[Monika] At this point

in our investigation,

we had the perpetrator captured

on video footage.

[siren wailing]

[Monika] We knew that he had given

knockout drops to at least two people.

We knew that he was pretty determined

to buy train tickets at the station.

That was all we had for now.

[suspenseful music playing]

[suspenseful music resonates]

[Christian] Maybe if he was trying to make

a withdrawal from the credit card,

and then bought something nice

for himself with cash

But to act so compulsively and think,

"I'm going to take this credit card,

walk over to the next kiosk,

and then buy a train ticket."

"And if that doesn't work,

I'll k*ll someone else."

How come?

It must be for some strange reason,

which could probably only be explained

by the perpetrator himself.

[suspenseful music playing]

BASED ON ORIGINAL PERPETRATOR STATEMEN

[perpetrator] I never used

that train ticket.

Now you see what makes me tick.

And so, I had no intention of receiving

any financial gain from this crime.

I'm doing something

that I would blame anyone else for doing.

[suspenseful music playing]

[perpetrator] I threw out the wallet.

I didn't even take out the cash.

When I stole these items,

it happened spontaneously.

It's hard to explain, but material gain

was of no interest to me.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Katrin] There wasn't much we could do.

We were helpless.

We continued the meticulous work,

or rather, the police

continued this meticulous work,

but that's all we could do.

[Andreas] We changed

our investigative approach,

meaning we decided to go public

with the video footage.

When making a manhunt public,

the goal is to receive

any possible information

on the depicted person.

[woman] With these images

from a surveillance camera,

the police are looking for

an alleged m*rder*r.

On Saturday, May 5th,

in a bar in Friedrichshain,

the alleged is suspected of

having k*lled Nicky, a 32-year-old.

The suspect is between 25 and 40 years old

and about five and a half feet tall.

He has a strong build

and was wearing a dark jacket at the time.

HERE COMES THE k*ller WITH THE KO DROPS

All I can remember is the headline,

which read,

"Another Dead Body in the Darkroom".

DARKROOM-m*rder:

POLICE LOOKING FOR THIS SUSPEC

[Matthias] And, "The Darkroom k*ller,

The Darkroom k*ller".

Which at the time,

put everyone's focus on the darkroom

and everybody who worked there.

32-YEAR-OLD MAN k*lled IN g*y BAR

CLEANING STAFF FINDS CORPSE IN "DARKROOM"

All of a sudden, those dim darkroom bars

were dangerous, evil,

you shouldn't go there anymore,

you could get k*lled

without anyone noticing.

That's how it was being portrayed

back then.

I think my peers and I felt

a lot of people pointing fingers

at our community.

Not just at our bar but

the entire g*y community,

which was once again being portrayed as

light-footed, in the sense that,

"They are risking their lives

whenever adventuring inside a darkroom."

m*rder IN SEX CLUB?

[Anka] I read the paper back then.

I read every word on the page.

But for them to print his face so clearly

on the center of the front page

like they did

It could happen in any small town.

It could happen to you anywhere.

I would like to see

an end to this stereotype.

This

"It's his own fault."

"Why go there? Why is he g*y?"

[melancholic music playing]

I can't speak for anyone

except for myself.

For me, my world was shattered back then.

It still is today.

My happy place.

My happy little place.

The freedom, the carefree life.

You could be yourself.

Nobody cared what you were into,

where you came from.

You were part of something bigger,

like a pixel in a larger picture.

- [dance music playing]

- [crowd chatters]

[Danjel] These days, my bar is open

specifically to "q*eer and friends".

And

I just think it's important

to have safe spaces in the community,

where you and your partner,

or even someone you don't know

who's also up for it,

can get intimate in the dark of night.

[techno music playing]

[Matthias] The nightlife in Berlin

is a happy, free coexistence

that's very sophisticated.

I think this community that we have

here in Berlin is

something very special.

[techno music playing]

[Matthias] Why do you go out at night?

You don't want sunshine.

You want dark, lights.

You want atmosphere.

Smoke.

Being a part of this world, all I can say

is that there's only one Berlin.

[dance music fades]

BASED ON ORIGINAL PERPETRATOR STATEMEN

[perpetrator] I moved to Berlin

because my boyfriend found a job here.

I wouldn't have done that alone.

The city was too big and too loud.

[rewinding]

[dramatic sting]

[perpetrator] I felt lonely

in this city of millions,

despite being in a relationship.

I would've preferred a quiet life

with my boyfriend and my parents,

living in a multi-family house.

But I knew this would never happen

because it was too far away.

[ominous music playing]

[suspenseful music playing]

[distorted music playing]

[rewinding]

[intercom buzzes]

NINE DAYS

PRIOR TO THE m*rder IN THE DARKROOM

[woman] My grandson, Alexander,

hadn't shown up to work one day,

even though he had always been

very reliable.

So, the employer got in touch

with Alexander's mother

and called to inquire

about what was going on.

ALEXANDER'S GRANDMOTHER

So then she drove to his apartment,

which she had a key for.

She entered the apartment,

stood in front of the bed,

and found her son just lying there, dead.

[somber music playing]

It happened out of nowhere.

It's hard to understand why someone

would do this, but it's devastating.

To be robbed of your life like that.

POLICE DISTRICTS

ALEXANDER'S APARTMEN

[suspenseful music fades]

[woman 2] My phone started to ring,

and an acquaintance that knew Alexander

was on the phone.

And you could tell by his voice

that something bad had happened.

ALEXANDER'S FRIEND

He said he didn't know much, but

just that a forensics team was there,

and the police,

and he was found dead in the apartment.

And that his mom found him.

He didn't know anything else.

[woman 3] At first, we checked his body.

He was lying in bed,

on his stomach, covered up.

We inspect all body orifices.

We look at the palms to check for

any signs of a struggle and, um

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR

But the body was

actually rather untouched.

What do you mean,

dead in his apartment? How can that be?

He was healthy. What could have happened?

I didn't believe it. It was nonsense.

It must have been a mistake.

Generally, there was nothing out of place,

apart from the deceased's parents

saying his personal belongings were gone,

for example, his backpack,

a cell phone, and his wallet.

He would never have gone to bed

without his cell phone.

He always kept it on his bedside table.

Also, he never left the door unlocked.

Never. He always locked himself in.

Always.

[suspenseful music playing]

FORENSIC MEDICINE

Because of how the victim was found,

with certain items missing,

and the uncertainty

of what happened that night,

we decided to have him

picked up by the coroner.

With this, we basically compel them

to carry out an autopsy.

[suspenseful music playing]

FORENSIC MEDICINE

[siren wailing in distance]

About 33,000 people

die in Berlin every year.

CORONER

Many of them die alone

in their apartments.

And in all of these cases,

the cause of death is declared "unclear,"

and the police have to get involved.

Which is why we have around

8,000 exploratory death investigations

in Berlin each year.

Exploratory death investigations

are slightly different from homicides,

because a homicide most likely

hasn't occurred in the first place,

and there's no evidence

that supports this.

So, in this case, we basically are just

left with a challenging situation,

where all we have

is the body of a dead person.

There can be multiple reasons for this.

Very often, it's a natural death.

In these cases, where no one is present

at the time of the victim's death,

the doctors often find it difficult

to identify the cause of death.

And even the autopsy

in the case of Alexander M.

didn't provide any details

to confirm the cause of death.

Alexander was joyful.

He was always happy to help.

We talked about all kinds of stuff,

from politics

to various social issues.

He had this dry sense of humor,

making comments,

even during serious situations.

You just couldn't help but laugh.

We also rated

men's dating profiles together.

I was already looking by myself.

But it was a lot more fun

doing that together with him. Yeah.

He was always surrounded by

companions and his friends.

For his birthdays,

he went to the Baltic Sea with them.

I'd always bake a quiche for him

and give him a bottle of wine to take,

for example.

[melancholic music playing]

He was a lovely boy.

There was no information indicating that

the police were continuing to investigate.

The police assumed it was just

a young person experimenting with drugs,

and it had most likely been an accident.

But accepting that

wasn't something the family could do.

[distorted music playing]

[Doreen] The whole thing

caught us by surprise.

The fact that

nothing matched up with his behavior,

how he was found,

the things that were missing.

Where was Alexander's cell phone?

[suspenseful music playing]

[Doreen] Why didn't he reach out?

And we never deviated from our opinion

that it must've been someone that he knew.

We were certain someone acted against him.

[distorted music playing]

[Doreen] We knew someone was in

the apartment, but we never said the word

"m*rder."

In that case, there would have been

strangulation marks,

but he was essentially just lying in bed.

[ominous music swells and fades]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Regina] Then there was

this article in the newspaper

DARKROOM m*rder:

POLICE LOOKING FOR THIS SUSPEC

that reached out to the public

for any information about the criminal.

The article talked about a young man

that used credit cards

that he stole from the bodies

of his helpless victims,

to buy a train ticket to Saarbrücken.

That's what it said.

And when I heard Saarbrücken mentioned,

my mind immediately remembered

Alexander telling me he had

a friend or a companion

who was living in Saarbrücken then.

[suspenseful music playing]

And that's when I had the thought

to inform the

police about what I knew.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Andreas] The phone rang.

An elderly woman was on the other line.

She told us that her grandson had died

just a month earlier.

A young man

that died mysteriously in his home.

SENIOR HOMICIDE INVESTIGATOR

He was also a g*y man

and after the initial investigation,

the cause of death remained unknown.

She just wanted to report this information

and also happened to mention

that her grandson's backpack was missing,

his iPhone was gone,

as well as his wallet.

[suspenseful music playing]

The man on the phone was very nice.

He wrote everything down.

I told him I was the grandmother.

I gave him Alexander's

personal information,

and we also spoke about the autopsy

that the coroners had carried out.

Which didn't provide us

with clues of any kind.

[ominous music playing]

Because of the similarities

between these two cases,

I called the toxicologist and contacted

the coroner who performed the autopsy,

to determine whether GHB, or GBL,

may have been a possible cause

of the victim's death.

And sure enough, one day later,

that very result came back,

showing that in this case too, an overdose

of liquid ecstasy was the cause of death.

So we said, "Okay."

We believed he was poisoned.

And

it was quite heavy.

In some way, it was at least

a confirmation.

Then again, we still couldn't believe

who would do such a thing to him.

[ominous music playing]

[Doreen] Why him?

Why?

[ominous music intensifies]

[rhythmic suspenseful music playing]

So, now we have another victim.

That was definitely alarming.

I had goosebumps.

Everyone felt afraid and anxious.

This now confirmed our suspicion

that it was actually a serial criminal.

What else was coming?

[sirens wailing]

[ominous music playing]

[techno music playing]

BASED ON ORIGINAL PERPETRATOR STATEMEN

[perpetrator] I was aware

something was wrong with me.

But I didn't know who to talk to about it.

I didn't dare talk to my boyfriend

or my parents about it.

The fact that something

was wrong with me scared me.

But the urge

outweighed the fear.

[ominous music playing]

[siren wailing]

[suspenseful music playing]

And then I received a phone call.

"Doreen, have you seen the paper

about the darkroom k*ller?"

"Did you see the surveillance picture

that's on the front page?"

HERE COMES THE k*ller WITH THE KO DROPS

[suspenseful music playing]

So I said, "Yes, I've seen it."

And she just asked,

"Do you recognize the jacket?"

And I'm looking at it, and I said,

"Yes, Alexander had one just like that."

[ominous music playing]

[distorted music swells, ends]

For me, this was some sort of display,

showing ultimate power over the victim.

Actually walking around

in his victim's very own clothes.

And he continues k*lling

dressed like this.

It was a detail

that really shook me at my core,

because I found it so unbelievable.

[ominous music playing]

BASED ON ORIGINAL PERPETRATOR STATEMEN

[perpetrator] I knew that nobody but me

could have taken these belongings.

I expected no, I knew

that suspicion could only fall on me.

[suspenseful music continues]

Serial K*llers often

get away with their crimes

because they have

a certain practical intelligence,

even down to their choice of victims

and the locations of their crimes.

For him, there was no other option.

From a criminologist's point of view,

I find this both interesting and tragic.

He wanted to k*ll, and

I don't know why he would stop.

[suspenseful music intensifies]

[ominous music playing]

[rhythmic electronic music playing]

[music ends]