Two double murders in the Göhrde near Lüneburg shook northern Germany in the summer of 1989. Shortly thereafter, a woman disappears nearby. It was only 28 years later that her brother, a retired LKA chief, was able to solve the crime.
For almost three decades, former Hamburg police officer Wolfgang Sielaff was haunted by the disappearance of his sister. A lot of personal commitment and painstaking investigative work finally led him and his team on the trail of a brutal serial killer. A team from the NDR was allowed to exclusively accompany Sielaff, his fellow campaigners, investigators and relatives of the victims for three years. The documentary "Eiskalte Spur" traces the crucial moments. In addition to the film adaptation of the criminal case "The Secret of the Dead Forest" in the first there is the reconstruction of the case as an NDR documentary in nine podcast episodes.
"Göhrde murders" shock the population in 1989
On July 12, 1989, berry pickers in the Göhrde state forest found the bodies of the couple Ursula and Peter R. from Hamburg-Bergedorf, who had gone to the forest east of Lüneburg for a picnic. The bodies are already badly decomposed. The perpetrator must be extremely cold-blooded. Because on the day the police examine the first couple who was shot at the scene and secure the crime scene, he kills the second couple just 800 meters away - unnoticed by the officers. The double murders have shaken the country, and the population is concerned. The police put every available criminalist into the "Göhrde" special commission.
Birgit Meier's missing person case receives little attention
In the summer of 1989, Birgit Meier disappeared without a trace in Lüneburg - the picture shows her a few months earlier.Shortly thereafter, 41-year-old Birgit Meier, a wealthy entrepreneur's wife, disappeared in Lüneburg without a trace. But the missing person case receives little attention due to the "Göhrde murders". A dramatic mistake, as will be shown almost three decades later. The brother of the missing person, Wolfang Sielaff, was then head of the State Criminal Police Office in Hamburg. In the case of his missing sister, however, he has no recourse:Lüneburg is in the neighboring state of Lower Saxony - and police work is a state matter. Sielaff tried from afar to urge his colleagues in Lower Saxony to carry out more efficient investigative work. But he keeps observing significant glitches. Only a few police officers who are entrusted with the case investigate apparently courageously. Birgit M. remains gone.
Husband falsely accused of murder
The police suspect her husband, from whom she was separated at the time of her disappearance. He was the last person to see her alive the night before she disappeared - and has no alibi for the night. Soon the police are of the opinion that he may have killed and disposed of his wife to save money in the divorce.
Contradictions among investigators in Lüneburg
Wolfgang Sielaff tried several times to draw the attention of the investigating officers in Lüneburg to open questions and contradictions. But the investigators consider the husband a suspect. Other leads are followed only half-heartedly. And one man comes to mind:Kurt-Werner Wichmann. The cemetery gardener has appeared on charges of rape, attempted murder and other serious crimes. He knew Birgit Meier and had contact with her several times - even shortly before her disappearance. It was three and a half years before the investigative authorities arrived at Wichmann's door in Adendorf (Lüneburg district) with a search warrant.
House search - Kurt-Werner Wichmann goes into hiding
But the officers make fatal mistakes during the search. When they arrive at the suspect's house in the morning, he has already gone to work. Only his wife is at home. The officers call Wichmann at the office and ask him to come home. He agrees - and goes into hiding.
On the first floor of the house, the officers find a locked room with a soundproof door, to which his wife is not allowed.
Buried car in the garden, handcuffs with blood
In secret hiding places they find small caliber weapons, silencers, knives, stun guns, daggers, narcotics, syringes, shackles and lots of ammunition. They discover dried blood, the size of a grain of rice, on a pair of handcuffs. Weeks later, the BKA arrives and searches the entire property. On the steep slope behind the house, the officers find a completely buried sports car. The cadaver dog hits the trunk. The suspect, however, remains missing.
Who was Kurt-Werner Wichmann?
Kurt-Werner Wichmann is held responsible for two double murders in the Göhrde state forest in the summer of 1989. He is also blamed for the death of the entrepreneur's wife Birgit Meier.
A connection to other killings has not yet been proven.
Wichmann was born on July 8, 1949 in Adendorf, north of Lüneburg. In the region he worked as a gardener and cemetery gardener. In the early 1970s he lived in southern Germany, where he raped a cyclist and threatened her with a gun. He was convicted of these and other crimes and released from prison in 1975. Three years later he moved back to his home region of Lüneburg.
During a house search in 1993 in connection with the missing Birgit Meier, Wichmann went into hiding. After a traffic accident he caused, he was taken into custody for a weapon offense and committed suicide there a few days later, on April 25, 1993.
Suspect hanged himself in custody in 1993
More mishaps happen. Weeks after his escape, Kurt-Werner Wichmann was finally arrested in southern Germany. He caused a traffic accident. When the police in Heilbronn checked his car, they found a disassembled submachine gun and 100 rounds of ammunition. Wichmann is taken into custody. A few days later he hanged himself in his cell. He leaves his wife a farewell letter full of hidden clues.
No investigation into the dead man
According to the law, no investigations may be made against the dead. The file is closed, the order is made to destroy all evidence. An irreparable mistake. One could and should have investigated further. Because Wichmann probably had accomplices:witnesses heard the sound of a running car engine on the night Birgit Meier disappeared. Possibly the waiting accomplice. And so the mystery of Birgit Meier remains unsolved:Was Wichmann the murderer? Who else does he have on his conscience? Finally, the finds indicate that other serious crimes were also committed.
Why was it possible to continue investigating after Wichmann's death?
General investigations, for example against unknown persons or people who were still alive, were still possible in the case of Birgit Meier.
The criminal police later assumed that Kurt-Werner Wichmann had an accomplice who was still alive. Investigations were also possible there.
Wolfgang Sielaff's private soko moved in a border area. The lawyers in the group have assessed the legal basis as follows:relatives are allowed to search for their missing relatives. However, they must not hinder the work of the police with their investigations. The group around Sielaff has repeatedly shared their findings with the Lüneburg police and the search measures on Wichmann's property were also announced.
In contrast to the police, the group around Sielaff was also allowed to specifically "investigate" Wichmann. However, it was not about investigations in the legal sense, but about research. Although Sielaff and his comrades-in-arms could fall back on their criminalistic experience, they did not have police powers such as DNA comparisons, house searches or forensic science.
Sielaff is reopening the case with a private group of investigators
The case of his missing sister leaves the former head of the LKA in Hamburg, Wolfgang Sielaff, restless. After his retirement, he puts together a private investigative team.For years, the Lüneburg police officers stalled Wolfgang Sielaff and always insisted that they were doing everything humanly possible. When Sielaff retires in the early 2000s, he requests access to the files - and is blown away when he recognizes the errors in the investigation and the omissions of the Lüneburgers. Finally he gathers the best companions, from the forensic doctor to the prosecutor, in his "core team" and rolls up the case again. The team develops new approaches and finally gets the Lüneburgers to set up two new investigative groups:the EG Iterum (reopening of the case) and the EG Göhrde.
Birgit Meier's blood on the handcuffs
After nine months of investigative work at the forensic medicine department in Hanover, the EG Iterum found an item that escaped destruction:the handcuff with the drops of blood. Thanks to new DNA methods, it was soon clear that it was Birgit Meier's blood. So she was in the power of Kurt-Werner Wichmann.
Wichmann's DNA is found in the victim's car
The traces that were secured in the victims' cars in 1989 could be re-evaluated almost three decades later.The EG Göhrde processes the files and the available evidence of the "Göhrde murders" again. In both cases, the victims' cars were moved after the crime - according to the investigators, this speaks for at least two perpetrators. When viewing the evidence, adhesive foils are now also being evaluated, which were used to secure fiber traces from the seats of the victims' cars in 1989. Without knowing it, the officials had also glued skin flakes - and thus DNA traces. With modern technology, these can now be evaluated. And there is the DNA of Kurt-Werner Wichmann.
Birgit Meier's body on Wichmann's property
The Lüneburg police are now closing the Birgit Meier case as solved - even if her body has not yet been found. But Birgit's fate does not leave Wolfgang Sielaff and his family in peace. They focus on Kurt-Werner Wichmann's house. There is a car pit in his garage. On July 29, 2017, the core team has the concrete chiseled here. In one corner of the pit they come across a cavity. And in the sand of this cavity on human bones - the bones of Birgit Meier, as it turns out later. The autopsy shows that Birgit Meier was shot in the head. Just like at least one of the victims of the "Göhrde murders" and like another murder victim from 1968.
How many murders does Wichmann account for?
Specially trained search dogs are also deployed in 2018, when the house and property of the "Göhrde killer" are once again extensively examined.Now the investigative authorities are assuming that they could find more bodies on the property of the former cemetery gardener. In the meantime, investigators are pursuing the approach that Wichmann could be responsible for more than 200 crimes across Germany. A large-scale search operation follows in April 2018:For around two weeks, excavators, search dogs and the support of international experts are used to search the house, property and garage of the former cemetery gardener. The investigators are also hoping for clues that lead to a possible accomplice. They secure around 400 items and hand them over to the State Criminal Police Office for further investigation.
Five murders and one suicide - and a "cold case" ending?
At the beginning of 2020, the police announced that Runde had examined half of the evidence - without any new indications of further crimes, other perpetrators or accomplices. Beyond the five murders that can be proven to be related to Wichmann, who died in 1993, the investigators cannot see any connection to other cases. The question of the motive and at least one other person who was initiated also remains open for the time being. The investigative team for the "Göhrde murders" is to be reduced, and further investigations will be put on the back burner as a "cold case" once all open traces have been examined. It remains to be seen whether new clues will emerge.