Close to Home: Murder in the Coalfield (2022) s01e01 Episode Script

[Martin] There are always those
who belong.
And there are those on the outside.
[cheering]
[Martin] There are those
who take everything.
[mysterious music playing]
[Martin] And those who lose everything.
When you're young, you're stupid.
Because you think you're strong.
[gasping]
[Martin] I was stupid, too.
But I've learned.
I have learned.
CLOSE TO HOME - MURDER IN THE COALFIELD
[ominous music playing]
TREACHEROUS SOIL
[man on radio] The region continues
to reel under the ongoing heatwave.
Even with the severe weather
in the forecast for later today,
the rainfall won't cool temperatures.
Heavy showers are expected
into the afternoon,
and then it's right back
to tropical conditions.
Even tonight, the temperatures
won't drop below 20 to 24 degrees Celsius.
And now, back to the studio,
with Stefan Johanson and the latest news.
Fuck!
[breathes in, coughing]
Shit.
[crows cawing]
READY TO MOVE IN!
DREAM PROPERTY. HOUSE ON THE LAKE
[ominous music continues]
[laughing] Yeah, I heard that, too.
Uwe! Get those looky-loos out of here.
[scoffs]
[indistinct chattering]
If you would please step aside. Thank you.
Each and every one of you
is impeding our investigation,
and you will be held accountable
for it.
- [woman] Yeah, keep everybody out.
- And we tend to be very intolerant.
Damn.
[indistinct chattering over intercom]
- [thunder rumbling]
- [gasping]
Be careful. The soil's treacherous here.
Annalena Gottknecht, your new partner. Hi.
Hi. Maik Briegand.
I thought we'd meet tomorrow in Cottbus.
Well, I thought so, too.
There's too much going on up there.
We need to secure tire tracks on the road.
I know. We're on it. The tent, hurry up!
Let's go, guys, come on,
come on, come one.
[dramatic music playing]
Evidence five-point-one-point-four,
blue denim miniskirt.
Evidence five-point-one-point-five,
sneaker left foot,
size seven-point-five. Evidence
five-point-one
[ominous music playing]
- [thunder rumbling]
- [flies buzzing]
She was in the water. But not for long.
Maybe a few hours.
Someone pulled her out.
[sighing]
Did she drown?
I don't think so. You see here?
How the blood seeps into the conjunctiva
and the injury to the neck?
She was probably strangled.
Here?
She was put in the water
somewhere around here.
But she was probably dead already.
How long has she been out here?
A day, day and a half.
The wounds on her face?
Birds. Crows perhaps.
[music intensifies]
Was a cellphone found?
The divers are on their way.
Come help out.
[grunting]
[sighing] Maik Briegand,
Cottbus State Police.
You knew the girl personally?
Ramona.
Ramona what?
Schinschke.
I was with her mother for a long time.
Have you had contact?
[dramatic music playing]
Barely.
- Well, who found her?
- Tourists.
[dramatic music playing]
You're standing here on top of
one of the largest movable work machines
in the world
and one of the most expensive
abandoned projects of the reunification.
This little machine here,
at over 500 meters long
and weighing nearly 13500 tons,
one of only five of its kind worldwide
and the pride
of East Germany's TAKRAF combine,
was operational for 15 months
post-reunification.
It had barely started to work
before it was shut down again.
Goodbye.
Good morning. Maik Briegand,
Cottbus State Police.
- Are you in charge here?
- Yeah.
Don't let your visitors leave just yet.
We still have questions.
Why? Someone's already there.
- Where?
- There, wheel house. Your colleague.
Thanks.
Where were you when you took that photo?
Well, now, where else?
At the end of that thing up there.
Yes, these are the Lehmanns,
Klaus and Hannah from Eberswalde,
here visiting relatives.
Eleven o'clock tour,
the guide was Jaschke Martin.
He does tours at 11 and three,
three times a week.
My colleague, Maik Briegand.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- So you're the one who noticed birds?
- Yeah, Well
I said to my wife:
"Those definitely aren't seabirds.
"What would they be fishing for?
There are no fish here.
It's just a big hole
with some water in it."
- Thank you.
- Tell me, did you notice anything?
No.
No car, no one?
Nobody doing anything near the water?
I did hear something.
A saxophone or something.
Why don't you ask those climate freaks,
they're not locals.
They camp in the forest
and speak everything but German.
No idea what they want.
To stir things up, probably.
[ominous music playing]
So you also heard music?
A clarinet or something like that.
Maybe a saxophone, I'm not an expert.
- And you are?
- Janosz. Radomski.
Where do you live?
- Technically Katowice and Leipzig.
- And un-technically?
- Wherever we're needed most.
- Needed for what?
[soft music playing]
The future.
Ramona, 17 years old.
Mean anything to you?
No, not really. No one here by that name.
And who is here?
Our little circle of friends.
[indistinct chattering]
Anything else?
No, that's all for now.
But thank you.
[dramatic music playing]
Briegand, finally. I'm done at the camp,
you can come pick me up.
All right.
I'll wait at the road.
You're familiar with this place?
Lauchhammer?
Yeah, I grew up here.
- Oh, yeah?
- Really.
How did the victim get here?
And with whom?
There's also a bus here.
You could have spared yourself
the workout.
- What line?
- So, does your car not work?
Which bus line?
- No idea. Does it matter?
- Everything matters.
Especially if it's missing.
Oh, and could you please
fasten your seatbelt?
Schinschke, Ramona. Two identity checks
in the last 12 months, nothing else.
Where?
Twenty Peace street.
The old locksmith's factory.
That's where the shit's going on nowadays.
Blacks, punks, Berliners.
By the way, what happed to your partner,
Thorsten?
She's the new Thorsten.
Where's the old Thorsten?
In Leipzig. They swapped.
- Where can I sit down?
- Upstairs maybe.
What is this place? A U-boat?
They produced conveyor parts here.
And now?
Now it's shut down.
And we're parked here.
I'm sorry.
You can't sit there. That's Markus's.
Mmm. And that's Pötschi's.
- And where is Pötschi?
- Not here.
Anything else I can do for you?
A cup of coffee would be great.
Black, with two sugars.
[sighing]
The victim's mother doesn't know yet.
- I'm on my way.
- Good.
[soft music playing]
[door creaking]
Hello.
I'm Annalena Gottknecht. What's your name?
Dustin.
- What's wrong with your eye?
- This one won't work.
- Oh, really?
- But with the sticker on, it has to.
And where's your mommy?
My sister is coming home
to make food soon.
[woman on tv] You're not going
to believe the difference.
Order Exiderma today
by dialing 080021346 today.
Exiderma brings you
the latest in skincare technology.
Finally, you can feel young
and fresh again.
Hey.
Dinnertime.
- Where's your stove?
- It's not here.
[mysterious music playing]
Hm?
[dog barking]
[music continues]
PEACE STREET DROHA MERA
[pop music playing]
NEWSPAPER DISTRIBUTION D. KOTZIAN
Can we pick up the pace in here?
Fuck, man! Shit, the cops are coming!
Come on, people, get up! Right now!
Music off! Hurry!
Clean everything up! You've got
five minutes, let's go, let's go!
Hey, have you seen Juri?
Have you seen Juri?
Go clean up the warehouse, all right?
Any idea where he could be?
Shit. Can you get a move on in here, guys?
- Have you guys seen Juri?
- I don't know where he is.
- Have you seen Juri?
- I haven't.
- [moaning] Hey!
- Man, Juri! Put some clothes on!
- Come on, hurry up!
- What's up?
Lauchhammer's crawling with police!
- Huh?
- Your little girlfriend's dead.
- Who's dead?
- Ramona, you asshole!
What's going on here? Get up, come on!
There's nothing there.
- Nothing in where?
- I don't know.
Why are you wearing those?
I just want to be careful.
[crows cawing]
- [dramatic music playing]
- [panting]
[gasping] Fuck.
Come on now, we've got to move faster!
- Well, I'll be. Maiki.
- Walter. What are you doing here?
- Well, I do security here.
- For the doorstep brigade?
For KROMOS.
Personnel resources and Company Limited.
You know them.
You need magazines, or what?
Where can I find the boss?
There. [clears throat]
Thank you.
[grunting]
Walter, how's it going?
Mmm.
[dramatic music playing]
[man coughing]
[coughing continues]
What are you doing here?
[grunting]
Excuse me? Can I help you?
Maik Briegand. Cottbus State Police.
What's wrong?
Did someone steal a cable somewhere?
What's with all the security?
You got a Picasso hanging here?
[scoffs] No. But a few of us
have the wrong skin color.
Do you know a Ramona Schinschke?
Ramona, yeah, I do.
She used to go out with Juri.
Um, she'd come over sometimes,
hang out for a bit.
Have a beer in the evening,
that kind of thing.
Juri, who's that?
- Schavadenov. Part of our group.
- I want to talk to him.
I'm sorry, I don't know where he is.
[indistinct chattering]
Junior, after him!
[breathing heavily]
[car engine revving]
[dramatic music playing]
Wait here in case he doubles back.
Hey!
- Young man
- Stop right there!
early 20s, about six feet tall, tattooed.
Right now, he's heading east bound.
[panting, gasping]
[panting]
[breathes heavily, swallows]
[crows cawing]
[phone vibrating]
Ah man, fuck me.
- Hi, honey.
- [Florian's wife] Florian, where are you?
Do you, uh, know anything
about the girl yet?
No.
I mean, who would do that?
[Florian] That's what I'd like to know.
Are you coming ti the house?
[sighing] Maybe. It'll be late, though.
Listen, I have a customer here
who's been waiting.
I have to go, babe, okay?
- Okay.
- Ciao.
- [dramatic music playing]
- No.
[panting]
[grunting]
[breathing heavily]
[phone ringing]
Dani.
[Dani] Hello, Maik.
I heard you found a dead girl.
That's terrible,
right here in Lauchhammer.
I can't talk about that.
Jackie's been down by the lake again.
I think she smoking weed there.
You know,
with the one's from the climate camp.
- I'll talk to her.
- When?
I already told you, I'll talk to her.
Okay.
- Tonight, I'll swing by.
- All right.
[mysterious music playing]
RESTRICTED AREA
RISK OF DEATH
[dramatic music playing]
[sniffing]
[breathing heavily]
[wind chimes clinking]
[music continues]
[ominous music playing]
Get a hold of yourself. Dustin?
[woman sobbing]
Dustin?
Go get a glass of water.
[woman whimpering]
[whimpering continues]
Ms. Schinschke?
- Ms. Schinschke.
- [sniffing]
Annalena Gottknecht, Cottbus State Police.
- My colleague already informed you?
- How did you even get in?
[sobbing]
We haven't found a cellphone yet.
Do you think you can tell me
what model your daughter owned?
No! You're going to take a hike now, okay?
Do we understand each other?
- Can't you see what's going on here?
- Where's Mona?
[whimpering]
What's taking her so long?
[sighing]
Come here, big guy.
You and I need to talk.
[grunting]
[whining]
[mumbling, whining]
Yeah. Okay.
[whimpering continues]
Ms. Schinschke?
I'll be back tomorrow, okay?
We still need to give Ramona's room
a closer look.
Just leave everything the way it is.
[whining continues]
Just go.
[sniffing, breathing heavily]
[dramatic music playing]
[grunting, sighing]
- Maik. I'm so glad.
- Liese.
The spare bed is already made up.
I saw you coming, my dear.
- How's the hip?
- Don't ask, or I'll have to lie to you.
[chuckling]
Do you know anything yet?
Who could have done this?
How the hell does everyone know already?
- Evening.
- Evening, Erich.
That kind of thing didn't used to happen.
Not to us here. But, over there.
Is Jackie still awake?
Come in. Nice to have you here again.
You didn't even notice you were burning?
Where were you guys?
Ouch. At the swimming pool.
[mysterious music playing]
See there.
Which pool now?
- Hi.
- Maik.
- Uh
- Can I help you?
No, I'm all right.
That's Florian. Maik, Jackie's father.
Um, the girl that died. Is it Ramona?
She does that all the time.
Jackie, open up, please.
[sighing]
[sighing] Since when do you have a lock?
Hmm?
Because of him?
Otherwise? How you doing?
With mom's guy? [scoffing] Yeah.
I guess he's okay.
As long as he doesn't try
to play dad to me.
Is Ramona dead?
Yeah.
Were you friends?
Not really.
You knew her, too.
She played Kantorka
in the school play.
- When we did Krabat.
- Hmm.
[clears throat]
The perpetrator is still out there.
We're looking into everyone
at that climate camp.
I want you to stay away
from there from now. Okay?
Why?
None of them would have done that to her.
Let's check everyone out first, all right?
[scoffing]
Mom says your smoking weed?
Awesome,
so now Mom's complaining about me?
Ugh! I tried it once after a performance,
okay?
I don't know why everyone's freaking out
about it.
Am I freaking out?
[breathing deeply]
So did Juri sell you the stuff?
I don't know his name.
His name's Juri,
he was Ramona's boyfriend.
Was he the one who killed her?
[sighing]
We don't know yet.
[sighing] Um, Jackie.
I want us to be honest with each other,
okay?
I want you to tell me everything you know.
If you know anything.
But I don't know anything.
Honestly, Papa.
Okay.
[sighing]
So, what's with your hand?
[breathing sharply] It's nothing.
Point one: Ramona's cellphone. Negative.
The divers will keep searching tomorrow.
Point two: Tire tracks. Also negative.
Rendered useless either by the rain
or by the professionals here
who didn't secure the scene.
Three: witnesses.
No eyewitnesses of the crime so far.
We're questioning the climate activists
down by the lake.
Four: the victim's mother.
Has financial problems
and will take anything to get high.
- I've sent you the photos.
- Uh-huh.
Five: Our colleague Pötschke
from Lauchhammer,
he let the mother know
without clearing with us.
So, is he just stupid
or was it done on purpose.
They used to be a couple.
The element of surprise
would have been useful.
Element of surprise?
Hold on, what's wrong with you,
she just lost her daughter.
Six: An email from Doctor Hamadi.
She writes the girl was strangled
sometime between six p.m. Saturday night
and six a.m. Sunday morning.
Just how many points are there?
Her right shoe is missing. Seven.
[Oliver giggling] Maik!
[Annalena] Are you still there?
[breathing deeply]
So, he throws her in the water,
then pulls her back out.
And then kills her, protecting her face.
[ominous music playing]
None of this makes sense.
Hm.
- See you tomorrow.
- See you tomorrow.
[Oliver] Maik, wait for me! Maik!
[Maik] Oliver, come on. This way.
[Oliver] Wait for me! Maik, not so fast!
[mysterious music playing]
[laughing]
[both laughing]
[Oliver] Down here, Maik, come on!
Maik!
[Maik] Oliver! Oliver,
please don't let go of me! Please!
[Oliver] I won't let go of you!
I won't let go of you!
[grunting, panting]
- [woman] Maik?
- [groans]
Coffee!
[groaning] Ouch.
[grunting]
[mysterious music playing]
Hey, what do you think you're doing?
Get lost! Asshole!
[phone vibrating]
Jannik, yeah?
[Jannik] We have a break-in.
And a connection to the victim.
Coming.
[Annalena] Can you tell me
how tall the man was?
[woman] Yeah, about as tall as me.
[Annalena] Dark hair?
[woman] Yeah. Yeah.
[mysterious music playing]
- Could you please hold your dog closer?
- Yeah.
- Morning.
- Morning.
Okay. Any distinguishing features?
Birthmarks, tattoos?
[Annalena] Yes. Thank you, that was all.
[flies buzzing]
[indistinct chattering]
[dramatic music playing]
Morning, Maik.
We've got blood splatter
and a description
that matches the guy
who was going out with that girl.
Juri Schavadenov. And then there's this.
Uh-huh.
[sighing]
The witness describes the man
as in his mid-twenties,
tattooed, thinks he's a drug addict,
but that doesn't mean anything.
Why's that?
She thinks everyone under thirty
is a drug addict.
And she's seen him here before,
with Ramona as well.
How does she know the girl?
The garage is leased under
the name Elisabeth Schinschke.
That's Ramona's grandma.
Died December 2nd, 2012.
This lease has been expired for years.
Yeah. There are many empty garages
around here.
Looks like the break-in was witnessed
at 7:12 a.m. by one of the neighbors.
Is anything missing?
It's hard to say.
There's something else.
The neighbors say there's someone
who spends nights here sometimes.
Maybe it's the same guy
who was at the lake, the homeless
No. This was a junkie.
Juri Schavadenov is off the grid.
His cellphone's offline,
and hours after his ex-girlfriend's
been found dead,
he breaks into her garage.
What about the homeless person?
- We'll be focusing on the Russian for now.
- Bulgarian.
The whole town knows 20 Peace
sells more than newspapers.
So, no one does anything?
[policeman whistling]
[mysterious music playing]
Have forensics dust the place
for fingerprints.
We're going to talk to
the doorstep brigade.
Fuck. Someone's been in the victim's room.
Dammit! Goddamn fucking shit.
You play the saxophone?
My daughter.
Hello.
- Hey.
- Hey.
Er, yeah. This has been steamed off.
Was it you?
What?
Did you go inside there?
Just get lost, all right?
Ms. Schinschke, a seal is a document
that is protected by law.
It wasn't mom.
What?
My mom didn't take off the sticker.
Hey. You're still wearing your jammies.
This late?
My little brother never wanted
to get dressed, either.
He even wore his jammies to school.
So, if it wasn't mom, who then?
I just wanted to try get Tobi out.
Eight-sixteen p.m. Saturday night.
And a second attempt at 9:30.
Number zero-one-six-five-three-
three-four
Two-one-three-six.
That's Ramona's number.
Did you call Mona the other night?
This past Saturday?
There was a soccer game,
the one with Germany.
My bike was missing.
I'll bring it back, okay?
It might take a little while,
but you'll get your bike.
I promise.
[mysterious music playing]
All right, just get the hell out of here.
Right now, you stupid b
Hey, hey, hey.
I'm just doing my job here, okay?
Ms. Schinschke,
please step over there for a moment.
She should go back to her monkey country.
- What did you just say?
- Ms. Schinschke.
- What did you just say!
- I didn't say anything.
I'm sorry.
Don't worry, I won't put up with it.
Klara Goll, child welfare.
Gottknecht, State Police.
Did you also know the daughter, Ramona?
I've been working with this family
for years. [sighs] This is so unfair.
That girl never gave up.
She took good care of her brother.
She wanted custody when she turned 18.
Any chance she would have gotten it?
She's been doing everything by herself,
for years.
Dustin's father?
Unknown. The boy can't stay here
without his sister.
[piano music playing]
[all laughing]
Okay, I'll ask you one more time.
What could Schavadenov have been looking
for in that garage?
I have no idea. I really don't.
And I won't say anything more.
Ms. Kotzian.
You have faced some serious charges.
Trespassing,
driving without a license, theft.
Defamation, disturbing the peace.
Till now,
the prosecutors have been lenient.
But they don't have to be.
Just think about it for a minute.
They were arguing.
Juri and Ramona, I mean.
- Because Juri screwed around with Liv.
- Go on.
And he's back on crystal now.
Which is why we're throwing him out.
Not for the first time,
but this time it's for good.
- Was it violent?
- It was intense.
So, where is he now?
[dramatic music playing]
[sniffing, gasping]
- [indistinct chattering]
- [woman] You two go to the left
[panting]
Police!
[music intensifies]
- He's making a run for it!
- Police!
Police! Don't move! After him! Stop!
[panting continues]
Hey, wait!
Hey, it's okay. [panting]
[man over loud speaker]
Put your hands in the air.
Hey, hey, don't be stupid!
Get down from there!
Juri!
Put away your guns.
[music continues]
[Juri breathing heavily]
[calls out in Bulgarian]
[music continues]