Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer (2024) s01e02 Episode Script
Ein Serienkiller in Berlin
1
[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 kill 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 homosexual 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 murder 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 kill 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 murderer.
On Saturday, May 5th,
in a bar in Friedrichshain,
the alleged is suspected of
having killed 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 KILLER WITH THE KO DROPS
All I can remember is the headline,
which read,
"Another Dead Body in the Darkroom".
DARKROOM-MURDER:
POLICE LOOKING FOR THIS SUSPEC
[Matthias] And, "The Darkroom Killer,
The Darkroom Killer".
Which at the time,
put everyone's focus on the darkroom
and everybody who worked there.
32-YEAR-OLD MAN KILLED IN GAY 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 killed
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 gay community,
which was once again being portrayed as
light-footed, in the sense that,
"They are risking their lives
whenever adventuring inside a darkroom."
MURDER 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 gay?"
[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 "queer 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 MURDER 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
"murder."
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 MURDER:
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 gay 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 killer?"
"Did you see the surveillance picture
that's on the front page?"
HERE COMES THE KILLER 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 killing
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 killers 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 kill, and
I don't know why he would stop.
[suspenseful music intensifies]
[ominous music playing]
[rhythmic electronic music playing]
[music ends]
[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 kill 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 homosexual 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 murder 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 kill 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 murderer.
On Saturday, May 5th,
in a bar in Friedrichshain,
the alleged is suspected of
having killed 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 KILLER WITH THE KO DROPS
All I can remember is the headline,
which read,
"Another Dead Body in the Darkroom".
DARKROOM-MURDER:
POLICE LOOKING FOR THIS SUSPEC
[Matthias] And, "The Darkroom Killer,
The Darkroom Killer".
Which at the time,
put everyone's focus on the darkroom
and everybody who worked there.
32-YEAR-OLD MAN KILLED IN GAY 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 killed
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 gay community,
which was once again being portrayed as
light-footed, in the sense that,
"They are risking their lives
whenever adventuring inside a darkroom."
MURDER 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 gay?"
[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 "queer 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 MURDER 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
"murder."
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 MURDER:
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 gay 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 killer?"
"Did you see the surveillance picture
that's on the front page?"
HERE COMES THE KILLER 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 killing
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 killers 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 kill, and
I don't know why he would stop.
[suspenseful music intensifies]
[ominous music playing]
[rhythmic electronic music playing]
[music ends]