The father who kidnapped his daughter's killer | Forensic Files

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our [Music] website. 1982 was shaping up to be a good year for Andre Bomberski. The 44year-old accountant lived in
Peshbusk, a small village just outside Too in the southwest of France. A bitter divorce 7 years prior
had resulted in Andre losing custody of his two children, Kolinka and Nicholas, who had gone to live with their mother
and her new husband in the German town of Linda. This put a distance of over 1,000 km
between Andre and his children, which was an ongoing source of pain for the doting father as he continued to
simultaneously grapple with the harsh reality that his wife had left him for another man.
Andre missed his children terribly, and he was therefore relieved when it was decided that 14-year-old Kolinka and
11-year-old Nicholas would return to France to live with him at the end of the summer of
1982. Kolinka had always been a very intelligent girl, but she'd been struggling academically at the boarding
school she attended in Germany, and she was missing her old life back in France.
It was agreed that the children would spend the summer vacation with their mother and stepfather in Linda before
moving back to Peshbusk with Andre that September. This was welcome news for Andre who had recently started a new
relationship for the first time since his divorce. After a difficult few years, everything seemed to be falling into
place for a fresh start. That all changed on the morning of Saturday, July 10, 1982, just 2 months
before Kolinka and Nicholas were set to return to France. That day, the phone rang at
Andre's house. It was his ex-wife, Danielle Crombark. She was beside herself. "Kinka's dead," she sobbed.
[Music] [Music] [Music] Andre Bomberski listened in shock as Danielle explained that Kolinka had
spent the previous day of Friday, July 9, wind surfing on Lake Constants, the crystal clearar bay located behind the
Crombark's home in Linda. Danielle Kolinka and Nicholas lived there with Danielle's husband, a
respected cardiologist named Diet Crombark, as well as Dr. Krombark's two older children from a previous marriage.
Danielle said that Kolinka had returned home at around 5:00 p.m. She remarked that she was feeling tired and a little
unwell, but other than that, she'd been her typical happy self. The family ate dinner together
around 7:30 p.m., after which Dr. Krombark's children went out, and the others soon retired to bed for the night
as normal. Danielle explained that the next morning, Dr. Crombark went to wake Kolinka up so they could go horseback
riding together only to find her lying in her bed unconscious. He administered various
injections in an attempt to revive her, but it was too late. She was already dead. With no physical explanation as to
how Kolinka had died, Dr. Crombark suspected that she'd most likely suffered from heat stroke after
overexposure to the sun the previous day and had gone into shock as a result. Paramedics were called, but
there was nothing they could do. Kolinka's body was taken straight to the funeral
home. Andre Bomberski couldn't believe what he was hearing. Kolinka was a healthy, athletic teenager who lived an
incredibly active lifestyle and had no underlying medical conditions. How could she have possibly
died in her sleep and from heat stroke no less? Furthermore, it had only been around 29° C in Linda, yet Kolinka was
used to much hotter temperatures than that in France. To Andre, it simply didn't make
sense. His head still spinning, Andre immediately traveled to Linda. He hoped that his son Nicholas
could shed some further light on the situation, but the 11-year-old said there was nothing out of the ordinary
about the way Kolinka had behaved on the night that she died. She didn't exhibit any of the
major signs of heat stroke, such as dizziness, confusion, slurred speech, or profuse sweating.
Nicholas didn't even recall Kolinka mentioning she was [Music] tired. In Germany, it was protocol that
police be notified and an autopsy be conducted for any death that wasn't directly attributed to natural
causes. 2 days after Kolinka's death, two pathologists performed an autopsy on the teenager's body.
Given the summer heat, her body was already in an advanced state of decomposition. Yet, they noted Kolinka's
overall good health and hygiene. An examination of Kolinka's airways and lungs revealed the presence
of aspirated stomach contents, which indicated that she'd likely vomited in her sleep and subsequently choked to
death. The pathologists estimated Kolinka had died around 7 to 8 hours after eating
dinner, putting her time of death sometime between 3 and 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 10,
1982. On the same day that the autopsy was conducted, a police officer questioned Dr. Da Krombark about the
events leading up to Kolinka's death. Crombark explained that when Kolinka returned home from Lake Constance on
Friday, she complained that she hadn't gotten much of a suntan. Just before the family sat down
for dinner at around 7:30, Crombark said he gave her an injection of cobalt fleset, an iron supplement that he
claimed would help her tan more easily. Dr. Krombark recalled that Kolinka went to bed early, but then got
up to get a glass of water at approximately 10:30 p.m. Around midnight, he noticed that
Kolinka's bedroom light was still on. He peered in and saw that she was reading in
bed. Crombark asked her to turn the light off before going to bed himself. The next time he saw Kolinka was when he
went into her room at around 9:30 a.m. only to discover that she was unconscious in her
bed. In a desperate attempt to revive her, Dr. Crombark grabbed his doctor's kit and injected her with a narcotic as
well as a neurotransmitter. [Music] Realizing it was hopeless and that she was already dead, he phoned emergency
services who came to the house and removed Kolinka's body. They noted no signs of violence
apart from the injection marks on her thorax and right arm. A local prosecutor reviewed the
case and determined that no foul play had occurred. They closed Kolinka Bomberski's file,
leaving her family to grieve as they came to terms with this unforeseen tragedy. Back in France, Andre Bomberski
tried to accept that his daughter was gone, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't
right. At Kolinka's funeral, he'd overheard whispers that she had died as a result of the iron injection that Deda
Crombark had given to help her tan. This was the first Andre had heard about any such injection. His ex-wife
Danielle had made no mention of it. Danielle had also promised to send Andre a copy of the autopsy report. Yet,
one week passed and then another, and still there was no sign of it. Andre called Danielle and demanded to
know what was going on. It was a difficult situation to navigate given that the pair already had
a complex history between them. The two had met in the Moroccan city of Casablanca in the early 1960s
where Andre was overseeing a large accounting company that specialized in international taxation.
They got married and had Kolinka shortly after, followed by Nicholas a few years
after that. Life was good for the family of four. That was until Da Crombark came
along. At the time, Krombark worked as a doctor for the German consulate in Casablanca and lived just a few doors
down from the Bomberskis. Widowed with two young children who attended the same international school
as Kolinka and Nicholas, the two families would occasionally cross paths. But over time, Andre noticed that
Dr. Krombark seemed to show up wherever they went. When the Bombers family had a
serious car accident in 1974, he was the first person to arrive on the scene. Andre started to suspect that something
was going on between his wife and Dr. Crombark. Eventually, Danielle admitted that the two were having an
affair. Andre confronted Dr. Crombark, who refused to end the relationship with Danielle. Desperate to save his
marriage, Andre moved his family back to France. As he and Danielle worked to mend things
between them, Danielle got a job in real estate that required her to travel frequently to the city of Nice, which
was on the other side of the country. She decided it was easiest if she rented an apartment there during the
week and then returned home on the weekends. Andre was a little suspicious of this. One day he followed Danielle as
she left for work and found that she drove straight to a nearby apartment. It turned out that Dr. Da
Crombark had moved to France so he could continue his affair with the Danielle. Andre filed for divorce and
Danielle married Crombark shortly after. Things had been bitter between the exes
ever since, with Kolinka's death marking yet another source of contention. When Andre called Danielle
demanding to know what was going on with their daughter's autopsy, Danielle thought he was
overreacting. She encouraged Andre to make peace with the tragedy as best as he could by accepting that Kolinka's
time had simply come. But Andre wasn't ready to let it go. After numerous requests, 3 months
after Kolinka's death, he finally got his hands on her autopsy findings. The 16-page report was written
in German, so he immediately had it translated into French. When Andre finally sat down to
read the findings, he couldn't believe his eyes. [Music] The first thing Andre noticed was that
the pathologists had concluded that the exact cause of Kolinka's death couldn't be
determined. While she had choked on her own vomit, they didn't know what had caused her to throw up in the first
place. They had studied the multiple injection sites on Kolinka's body, and although they found no sign of
poisoning, they noted it as odd that Dr. Crombark had attempted to revive Kolinka
with various injections. Her body had already been in a clear state of rigor mortise when
these drugs were administered, which meant she was already dead at the time. As a medical doctor, it should
have been obvious to Krombark that any attempt to resuscitate her would be futile.
More alarmingly, the pathologists noted the presence of fresh blood around Kolinka's genitals, as well as a
superficial tear in her labia and a white substance inside her vagina. Yet, they hadn't conducted any
tests to identify what the substance was, nor had they done any analysis to determine whether sexual intercourse had
taken place before Kolinka's death. In fact, they hadn't conducted any toxicology tests at all, seemingly
taking Dr. Krombark's word for the various medications she'd been given. Andre was
gobsmacked. In his view, it didn't sound like Kolinka had died of natural causes
at all. It sounded like she'd been drugged, raped, and possibly murdered. If this was true, there was only one
person who could be responsible. The last person to have seen her alive, Dr. Da Crombark. In the autopsy report, Dr.
Crombark was quoted making medical observations. To Andre, it seemed as though he was there during the
examination, which went entirely against protocol, as family members were not allowed to be present.
In Andre's view, it sounded like Crombark was providing his version of events and the pathologists were simply
writing their report to suit. Crombark was a well-known and revered doctor in Lindal. And Andre
suspected this could explain why further testing wasn't done and why the pathologists had been willing to
overlook the suspicious findings. He knew these were big allegations to make, but for his daughter, it was a
risk he was willing to take. 3 months after Kolinka's death, Andre Bomberski contacted the German
prosecutor who had closed her file and demanded that the case be reopened. He requested that proper
forensic and toxicology testing be conducted on the samples that had been taken from Kolinka's body.
The prosecutor denied the request. The German authorities said that Dr. Da Crombark hadn't been present
during the autopsy, but had simply entered the room momentarily to officially identify Kolinka's
body. They trusted the pathologists and saw no reason to reinvestigate the matter. Andre called his ex-wife to
voice his suspicions. Danielle claimed she hadn't even looked at Kolinka's autopsy report. She said
she trusted her husband implicitly and had no reason to doubt his medical explanation for her daughter's
death. Andre accused Danielle of covering up for her husband. And in turn, she accused Andre of seeking
revenge against Crombark for the affair. She also suspected anti-German sentiment
had something to do with Andre's allegations. Although Andre was born in France, his father's family was
originally from Poland, and Andre had been deported to both Poland and Germany by the Nazis during World War
II. Danielle told Andre as much, saying that his attempts to have Kolinka's case
reopened dishonored her memory. Undeterred, Andre Bomberski hired a renowned lawyer who convinced the German
prosecutor to order a review of Kolinka's autopsy report. In November 1982, 4 months after
the teenager's death, three experts from the Munich Forensic Institute were assigned the task.
They tested samples from the injection sites on Kolinka Bomberski's body and confirmed there was no evidence of
poison. However, like the original pathologists, they agreed that Dr. Crombark's resuscitation attempts on a
body in rigor mortise were crude and outright strange. The forensic experts also had questions
about Crombark's use of cobalt fleset as a tanning aid as they'd never known it to be used for such a
purpose. They pointed out that the only reason this medication should be administered intravenously is in cases
of severe iron deficiency anemia and only then under close medical supervision. If not, it had the potential to be
dangerous, causing serious side effects such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, loss of consciousness, and even cardiac
arrest. They therefore suspected that Kolinka had an adverse reaction to the iron injection, went into shock, and
then choked on her own vomit. However, the initial autopsy report estimated that Kolinka had died sometime
between 3 and 4:00 a.m. The Munich pathologists noted that an adverse reaction would have happened
immediately after the injection was administered, not several hours later. Dr. Crombark claimed he had given
Kolinka the iron infusion before dinner on Friday, July 9, sometime around 7 and
7:30 p.m. Traces of undigested food in Kolinka's stomach also indicated that she'd died shortly after eating, leading
the reviewing pathologists to question the time of death on the original autopsy report.
The original autopsy stated that various organs had been removed from Kolinka's body during her post-mortem exam, such
as her kidneys, rectum, and genitals. The reviewing team questioned one of the original pathologists about
the tear on Kolinka's labia. He claimed that the damage had occurred postmortem because of how badly
decomposed Kolinka's body had been. The team from the Munich Forensic Institute requested access to these
organs for further analysis, but the prosecution's office brushed off their request and the matter wasn't pursued
further. Without all the evidence, the team therefore produced an inconclusive report stating that while they were
unable to determine Kolinka's exact cause of death, they suspected it had something to do with the cobalt flesid
injection. For Andre Bomberski, these findings were significant. If Kolinka had died shortly
after receiving the iron shot, then it called into question Dr. Krombark's claim that he'd seen Kolinka around
midnight when he'd asked her to turn off her light. While this wasn't enough to convince
German prosecutors to reopen the case, the discrepancy between the two reports only made Andre Bomberski more certain
that Dr. Crombark was covering something up. He visited Kolinka's grave site and
made a vow he'd discover the truth and get justice for her no matter what. As word spread about Da Krombark's
potential involvement in Kolinka's death, Andre wasn't the only one whose suspicions were
raised. In 1969, Krombark's first wife, 24year-old Monica, had been rushed to hospital after suffering from a
mysterious illness that had rendered her unable to see, speak, or move. Krombark, who had recently graduated
with honors from the University of Frankfurt, had apparently pushed aside Monica's attending physician and
injected her with what he claimed to be snake venom. A few hours later, Monica suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and
passed away. The doctors had attributed Monica's death to an overdose of the contraceptive pill. But when her parents
heard about what happened to Kolinka Bomberski, they suspected that Crombark could have poisoned Monica
too. They claimed that Crombark had treated Monica terribly when she was still alive, beating her and threatening
to kill her. In 1983, Monica's parents reported their suspicions to the German police,
and an investigation was launched, but no evidence was found to support their theory.
As the one-year anniversary of Kolinka's death approached, Andre's lawyer finally
convinced the Linda police commissioner to interview the other family members who were present at the Krombark home on
the night Kolinka died. Danielle Crombark told the police that the household had eaten dinner at
around 8:30 p.m., not 7:30 like her husband had originally reported. According to Danielle, it was
actually after dinner that Dr. Crombark gave Kolinka the iron infusion, and it wasn't to help her suntan, but to treat
her anemia. Danielle explained that both she and Kolinka received these iron injections regularly and had never had
an adverse reaction before. On the contrary, Danielle found them to be restorative. While she hadn't been
present when the injection was administered, Danielle said she remembered it because Kolinka had a
band-aid on her arm and mentioned that she just had her iron shot. Danielle recalled that she and Dr.
Crombark then took their dog out for a walk after which Crombark did some work in his office while Danielle went to
bed. She didn't recall what time her husband came to bed that night. He woke her up the next morning, his
hands shaking and eyes bulging as he told Danielle something had happened to Kolinka. Danielle rushed to her
daughter's bedroom, finding her lying in the fetal position, her face blue and her body cold to the
touch. Dr. Krombark's daughter, Diana, claimed that over dinner, Kolinka had complained of being sunburnt, but seemed
otherwise fine. Diana recalled having seen her father prepare the cobalt file injection for
Kolinka afterwards, which she said was a standard procedure in their household. Diana went out with friends
and returned home around midnight, at which point she didn't notice anything out of the
ordinary. The next morning, she found her father trembling in Kolinka's room, shouting to Diana to fetch his medicine
bag. Kolinka's younger brother, Nicholas, said his sister showed no signs of poor
health on the night that she died. He didn't remember Kolinka having her iron infusion, nor did he recall seeing a
band-aid on her arm. All Nicholas remembered was that he and Kolinka squabbled over something trivial while
their parents were out walking the dog. The siblings went to bed and the next thing Nicholas knew he woke up to the
sounds of ambulance sirens and his mother crying. When the police commissioner tried to question Dr. Da Crombark, he
insisted he was too busy. The commissioner therefore agreed to give him a list of five questions
that he could answer at his own leisure. Krombark eventually responded to the questions via
post. In contrast to his original statement, he claimed to have given Kolinka the iron injection after dinner
at around 8:30 p.m. and not for tanning purposes, but to treat anemia. He also added a new detail for
the first time. He claimed that after his wife and children went to bed, he did some work before going into the
kitchen. Kolinka was there complaining that she was unable to get to sleep, so he gave her a sleeping
pill. When Andre Bombers caught wind of these witness statements, he was convinced that Dr. Crombark had changed
his version of events to fit with the results of the autopsy review. The detail about the sleeping pill was
no doubt his attempt to cover for the fact that he'd intentionally drugged and raped
Kolinka. Crombark's answers matched Danielle's to a tea, and Andre was certain that the two had corroborated
their responses. It was the first that Andre had ever heard of Kolinka being anemic,
and no blood tests had been done to confirm such a diagnosis. Andre and his lawyer requested that
Kolinka's case be officially reopened, but once again, their request was denied on the grounds that there was
insufficient evidence to warrant a new investigation. Andre was at a loss. He felt like he'd exhausted all possible
avenues and feared that Crombark was going to get away with what he'd done to Kolinka and go on living his life like
nothing had ever happened. Refusing to let that happen, Andre had to think outside the
box. On Friday, September 30, 1983, almost 15 months after Kolinka's death, Andre traveled to Linda during October
Fest, an annual beer festival that attracted upwards of 30,000 people. Andre walked the crowded streets and
stopped into the bustling cafes and restaurants handing out a two-page leaflet that
began, "You should know that a criminal lives in Linda, it is Dr. Krombark who practices at 23A Brigenza
Street. On the evening of Friday, July 9, 1982, he killed my splendid daughter, Khalinka, at his own home by injecting
her with cobalt fleset. The flyer went on to detail all of Andre's allegations against Crombark
and his perceived flaws in the investigation. He provided the Crombark's home address,
listed the names of the police commissioner, prosecutor, and the pathologists involved, and claimed that
a rapist was being protected by powerful locals. Someone told Dr. Crombark's daughter, Diana, about the leaflet, and
she immediately called the police. Two hours later, officers found Andre handing them out and placed him under
arrest for disturbing public order, defaming Crombark and injuring the reputation of the
prosecutor. After sharing his side of the story, Andre was free to go, but Crombark sued him for defamation of
character. Crombark's lawyer denied the allegations against him, arguing that so-called
signs of sexual assault on Kolinka's body had occurred when the pathologists were redressing her fragile and badly
decomposed body after their examination. Crombark won the lawsuit with a German judge ordering that Andre Bomberski pay
him 500,000 German marks in compensation, the equivalent of around €255,000 in today's
money. Andre was also warned that if he did such a thing again, he'd face up to 6 months in
[Music] jail. Andre was completely undeterred. Not only did he refuse to pay the money,
he also got a copy of the Linda phone book and started mailing the leaflet to as many people as he could, including
250 Bavarian officials. The reaction was lackluster with less than a dozen of those
officials agreeing that the case warranted further attention. However, it was enough to get the
Bavarian Minister of Justice involved and finally a new investigation was ordered. A fresh team of German forensic
experts reviewed Kolinka's autopsy report and agreed that her death had likely been caused as a result of the
iron injection DA Crombark had given her. They determined that Crombark's crude resuscitation attempts had happened
about 10 hours after Kolinka had died, indicating that he had either tried to cover up his medical error or foul play.
However, the investigation hit a standill after German officials told Andre they wouldn't be able to
re-examine or forensically test Kolinka's genitals for evidence of sexual assault as these and the other
organs had been returned to France with her body. Given that Kolinka was a French
citizen, Andre discovered that he was also able to lodge a criminal complaint against Adida Krombark with the French
courts. If magistrates uncovered enough evidence to press murder charges, Crombark could
also be tried under French law. A French investigation was simultaneously launched, but German
officials refused the French magistrate from investigating on German territory. This prevented them from
interviewing Crombark or the witnesses who were home on the night Kolinka died. Crombark and Danielle had since
separated. Yet they remained on good terms and Danielle was disgusted by Andre's ongoing
accusations. Andre's lawyer attempted to summon Crombark to France, but he declined in a letter which
read, "The files of the German authorities are certainly at your disposal." I see no reason for me to go
to Paris for an interview. Such a journey would be a considerable burden for me in every respect.
Things progressed at a snail's pace and it took 3 and 1/2 years after Kolinka's death before Germany agreed that the
French investigators could exume Kolinka's body for additional examination. In December 1985, Andre
gathered at Peshbusk Cemetery with a team of French police officers and forensic experts as Kolinka's coffin was
pulled from its grave site. It turned out that the teenager's body had been incredibly well
preserved. But to the dismay of those gathered, the organs that had been removed during Kolinka's autopsy,
including her genitals, weren't in the coffin, as German officials had claimed. The German forensic lab who had
handled Kolinka's remains could provide no trace of them. It appeared they were gone
forever. Without access to the sex organs that had been removed from Kolinka's body,
the German court ruled there was insufficient evidence to press any charges against Adida Crombark and
German officials made it clear they would not be investigating the case any further.
Andre Bomberski was horrified by the way Kolinka's body had been treated during the autopsy. He later remarked, "Kolinka
got carved up like a pig in a slaughter house, but nobody wanted to know how and
why she died." The only hope Andre had left was with the French investigation, but German
officials refused to extradite Crombark to France on the grounds that he'd essentially already been acquitted by
the German courts. The Germans claimed that undergoing prosecution in France would
go against the European Union's double jeopardy principle, which prevented individuals from being tried for the
same offense after they had already been acquitted. With no new evidence to examine, the
French magistrates requested access to the original samples taken from Kolinka's body. They had to be manually
retrieved from Munich, a process 2 years in the making. In 1988, a team of three French
forensic experts were finally able to examine the available evidence for themselves.
They were given skin, lung, heart, and tissue samples from Kolinka's body. Yet, test tubes filled with her blood had
been inexplicably discarded by the first reviewing team at the Munich Forensic Institute. The lack of blood meant they
were unable to find a definitive link between any intravenous substance and Kolinka's death.
However, the trio highlighted various gaps in the previous autopsy reports, concluding that Kolinka Bomberski had
died as a direct result of the iron injection Dr. Crombark had given her. With nothing in her medical records
to indicate that Kolinka was anemic, the injection would have put her body into shock, in turn causing her to lose
consciousness and choke on her own vomit. She would have died shortly after receiving the injection. Once again,
calling into question Crombark's timeline of events. The drugs Crombark had injected
her with hours later weren't known to be used for resuscitation purposes, and given together, they formed a dangerous
combination. Therefore, the experts concluded the only reason Krombark would have
administered these drugs was to make it look like he'd made a genuine attempt to
revive Kolinka or to cover up another drug that he' given her earlier on, possibly to enable a sexual
assault. It took another few years until the French magistrates believed they'd built up a solid case against
Krombark. While they didn't have enough evidence to proceed with any sexual assault charges, the courts decided that
Kolinka's death was caused by a direct result of an intravenous injection or a solution that might or might not have
been cobalt fleset. It wasn't enough to uphold a murder charge, but it was enough to
indicate voluntary assault resulting in unintentional death. In April 1993, Andre Bomberski received
the news he'd been waiting for for almost 11 years. The Paris Court of Aiz had just
charged Dr. Da Crombark with killing Kolinka. An indictment for Crombark's arrest stated that in order to justify
the injection he gave Kolinka, Crombark furnished conflicting and untrue accounts.
It further stated that he quote also lied about the chronology of the events when he affirmed that the
injection had taken place several hours before the death. Lastly, the faked attempt to
revive her and the use of mutually incompatible products on a living being can only be explained by an intention to
conceal the cause of death. These factors taken as a whole constitute sufficient grounds for
suspecting that Dita Crombark gave the fatal injection not as a cure but with the intention of causing
death. Given Kolinka's age, the maximum penalty Krombark faced was 30 years in prison.
The trial was set to take place in Paris, but Crombark successfully postponed it several
times. When the date was finally set for early March 1995, Crombark was protected
by a law that prevented German citizens from being prosecuted outside of their own country.
He therefore wasn't legally required to attend his own trial and it went ahead without him in what's known as a trial
in absentia. There were no defense attorneys present nor were there any witnesses or jury members.
Instead, a judge reviewed the available evidence which excluded the sexual assault allegations and concluded that
Ded Crombark was guilty of willful violence leading to death without intent or in other words,
manslaughter. Without the sexual assault motive, the court concluded that Crombark was responsible for Kolinka's
death because he'd given her the injection without then monitoring her for possible adverse
reactions. Crombark was sentenced to 15 years in a French prison, the maximum sentence for manslaughter at the time.
Despite this conviction and sentence, Germany remained under no legal obligation to extradite
Krombark. He was ultimately a convicted killer allowed to walk free, provided he
steer clear of France. Andre Bomberski wasn't the only one outraged by this technical loophole.
After an article about the case appeared in a major French newspaper the following year, pressure was placed on
the Paris public prosecutor and eventually Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for
Crombark. This meant that if he attempted to leave Germany, he'd no longer be protected by German laws and
would be extradited to France to see out his sentence. In March 1997, 2 years after
the trial, Andre Bomberski's phone rang. A German journalist was on the other line with some information they
thought might be of interest to him. 61-year-old Adida Crombark had just been arrested. Andre's immediate thought was
that Krombark was finally being held accountable for Kolinka's death. But what the journalist told him next was
even more astonishing. 16-year-old Lara Stila was a Russian immigrant living in Linda. On the morning of Tuesday,
February 11, 1997, she attended Dr. Krombark's practice to undergo a gastroscopy, a diagnostic procedure that
involves an endoscope being passed through the mouth and into the esophagus, stomach, and
bowel. As per standard practice, Lara was given an anesthetic and a sedative to make the procedure more
comfortable. The gastroscopy was completed without incident. But when Lara woke up, she took longer than usual
to recover from the anesthetic. Dr. Crombark and his assistant left Lara to recover on the
couch in their post treatment room. As Lara lay there barely able to move or speak, Dr. Crombark
returned. He began kissing her and touching her breasts. Lara tried to push him away,
but her body felt completely paralyzed from the anesthetic, and she could barely lift her
arms. Dr. Krombark locked the door from the inside and removed his pants. He took Lara's clothes off and
proceeded to rape her. After he was done, he wiped them both down with a paper towel, helped Lara get
dressed, and then drove her home. Lara reported the incident to the police straight away, and an examination
confirmed the presence of seaman. Da Krombark was subsequently charged with the sexual abuse of an
individual unable to resist. He denied the allegation and was jailed pending trial, but he changed his plea
after learning that the seaman had tested positive for his DNA. Andre Bomberski traveled to Germany
to be present for Crombark's sentencing hearing. His presence clearly rattled Crombark, who began yelling that the
Frenchman was there to kill him. Once order was restored in the court, Crombark claimed that he'd been under
the impression that Lara had consented to sex, even if she hadn't explicitly said
so. Many present were takenback by the casual way in which he spoke about what he'd done. He seemed to have no remorse,
instead testifying with what some viewed as a kind of amused cynicism. A psychiatrist testified that Crombark
was a narcissist who considered himself above the law, a description many found apt after he was handed a 2-year
suspended sentence. The citizens of Lindau were outraged. Hundreds gathered to protest
against the leniency of the sentence while a petition circulated demanding that Crombark's medical license be
revoked. Wanting to voice his side of the story, Crombark agreed to an exclusive
interview with Barbara Furklur, a journalist for the German TV broadcaster ZDF. Answering prevetted questions in
the presence of his lawyer, Crombark sat back comfortably in his chair as he explained that he didn't view his
actions as sexual assault. He claimed that he'd simply been expressing his fondness for Lara, going
so far as to call his actions love making. While Krombark admitted that Lara hadn't been enthusiastic, he
explained, "I believed she was consenting. She didn't say yes, but she didn't say no either. When I kissed her,
she kissed back." Crombark recalled there was a moment during the assault that he told I love
you in Russian. He chuckled as he remembered this prompting Barbara Furkel to exclaim but you drugged
her. Crombark sighed remarking like they said in ancient Rome. Those who remain silent seemed to
agree. A woman named Swanya Maagunta was watching the interview and couldn't believe what she was
seeing. Not only was she sickened by the way that Crombark seemed to mock his victim, Suena remembered Dr. Krombark
well. As a teenager living in Linda in the early 1980s, she had visited his medical office regularly as her mother
had been sick at the time. Swana and her sister Jana were also diagnosed as anemic and required regular iron
infusions. 1985 had been a hard time for the Maua sisters. Their parents had been
going through a brutal divorce and their mother struggled with health problems. Dr. Crombark became a
muchneeded source of support, providing positive distractions for Svena and Diana by taking them horse riding and
out to fancy dinners. Then when the girls were around 14 and 16, Dr. Krombark invited them to
join him on a long weekend to the south of France without their mother. Suana and Jana were thrilled after the
turmoil they'd been witnessing at home a few days away with the charming and sophisticated doctor seemed like a
dream. They'd come to view Crombark as a type of substitute father figure and were excited to travel to a beautiful
location. The trip started off well until it came time to check into their motel.
The trio arrived late at night only to find they would all be sharing a room which contained only one double bed with
a single foldup bed alongside it. Dr. Krombark told the sisters he was too big to take the foldup bed. He said
he would sleep in the double bed and the girls could choose which one of them would join
him. Jana begged Suena to take the double bed. She had only packed a small night gown and she was too
self-conscious to sleep alongside the 50-year-old man. Agreed, and as they climbed into
bed, Dr. Krombach told the sisters that they were due for their iron infusions. Given that he had his
doctor's kit with him, he figured this was as good a time as any. He retrieved his doctor's bag and
proceeded to give them both their injections. Suena dozed off almost immediately. She woke up sometime later
only to find a Dr. Crombark sexually assaulting her. Terrified, she didn't dare move or
speak. As the assault continued, she played dead to the point that Crombark started shaking her to make sure she was
still alive. Swanya found the only way she could get through it was to disassociate entirely,
telling herself, "This isn't happening." The next day, Sana felt as though the whole thing had been a
horrible nightmare. She knew how highly respected Dr. Crombark was in Linda and felt that
nobody would believe her if she spoke up about what happened. She told her sister Jana, who had
knotted off as soon as Crombark injected her and slept through everything. Jana didn't know whether the
doctor had assaulted her, too. But if he had, she felt it was best that she didn't
know. The girls eventually told their mother, who scolded them for making such an allegation against a good man.
Following the interview about Lara with Barbara Furkel, the public backlash against Dita Crombark was
immense. By the end of 1997, his medical license was revoked and he had to sell his
practice. In addition to the Mau sisters, at least two other patients came forward claiming they too had been
sexually assaulted by the doctor in the past. None of the alleged survivors were able
to press charges due to the lack of evidence, but the public condemnation reignited discussion about Kolinka
Bomberski's death and the case started getting media attention outside of Germany. Andre Bomberski quit his job so
that he could devote all of his time to pursuing Da Krombark. Knowing that he frequently
traveled to Austria and Switzerland, Andre visited police and custom posts throughout both countries, handing out
dossiers containing photos of Crombark, newspaper articles detailing the allegations against him, and judicial
warrants for his arrest. The reactions were mixed. Some treated Andre as though he was crazy,
while others were willing to listen to his story. Either way, his efforts paid off
in early January 2000 when a police officer in Western Austria recognized Adida Krombark from one of Andre's
photos and placed him under arrest. He was detained as per the terms of the European Convention on
Extradition that was in place at the time. German officials called for his release,
arguing that Crombark had been cleared of any wrongdoing in his home country and that the French arrest warrant was
therefore a violation of his rights. French officials didn't argue against this and Crombark was
subsequently released and free to return to Germany. Krombark and his legal team had been
arguing against his manslaughter conviction in France ever since the sentence was handed down back in
1995. They petitioned to the European Court of Human Rights, asserting that France was wrong to conduct a trial
without Crombark or a legal representative there to defend him. In 2001, the court concluded that by
trying Krombark in absentee, France had violated several stipulations set out in
the European Convention on Human Rights. They found that he'd been denied a fair hearing and his right to appeal
and that the sentence could therefore no longer be enforced. The court avoided the conviction and
ordered that the French government compensate Krombark with 100,000 Franks for costs incurred, which was around
15,000 at the time. This was a major blow for Andre Bomberski, whose allegations against
Crombark were finally being taken seriously after years of denial. He implored French officials to appeal
the decision to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, but his
request was denied. They also refused his request to re-examine Crombark's 1995 trial. The entire legal process had been
incredibly grueling for Andre, both emotionally and financially, but still he refused to give up.
Andre was convinced that the French authorities were prioritizing their relationship with the Germany over
justice for Kolinka. This suspicion only grew after he became aware of a report from
Crombark's legal team that claimed public prosecutors in Paris had assured them that Crombark's sentence wouldn't
be enforced. In Andre's view, the French had failed in their duty to catch Krombark, who was now living freely as a
convicted rapist in his home country. In 2002, he filed a complaint against several French magistrates and
prosecutors, alleging corruption and obstruction of justice. As Andre's newly appointed lawyer
explained to the French television show Bringing In the Accused, it was an attempt to wake up a
sleeping machine by the implementation of an explosion. A judge ruled there were no
grounds for Andre's complaint and that the allegations wouldn't be investigated further.
The entire Kolinka Bomberski case was transferred back to Germany where a new prosecutor determined yet again that no
charges would be pressed against Adida Crombark in relation to the teenager's death. Andre was aware that he'd earned
a particular reputation within the French legal circles as an annoyance. As much as this hurt him, it
made him all the more determined to continue with the fight. In 2004, the European Union implemented
a new system known as the European arrest warrant. This aimed to simplify and streamline the extradition process
for suspects within the EU so that they could be transferred from one EU state to another without the need for specific
extradition treaties. As a result, French prosecutors issued a fresh European arrest warrant for DA
Crombark. German officials denied it again on the grounds that the case was closed. Although Wandre seemed to hit a
dead end at every turn, he wasn't alone in his quest for justice. By this point, a concerned citizen had
created a group in support of Andre's cause titled Justice for Kolinka, which soon amassed over 1,000 members from all
walks of life. Members held rallies, wrote letters to people in positions of power
and created a website detailing all the available information about Andre's legal struggles.
German filmmaker Hilka Zing was among those following Kolinka's case. In 2006, she released a documentary dedicated to
the allegations against Adida Krombark titled Kolinka's Last Journey, which featured interviews with the Maua
Sisters. After the documentary aired, Hilka received a letter from Krombark in which
he claimed that the sisters were lying about being drugged and sexually assaulted during their trip to the south
of France. Crombark said he barely knew the girls and had never taken them on a holiday. Yet, the Mau sisters had
provided Hilka with photographs that proved the trip had taken place, and these had been broadcast in the
documentary. Speaking about Krombark to the Guardian, Hilka later said, "I have no idea if he
has problems with reality." Around the same time that the documentary aired, a German librarian
named Petra Stefen sat down at her computer. Petra lived approximately 400 km from Linda in the German town of
Rodental. Her regular doctor had recently passed away and she'd been given the name of
his replacement. A curious person by nature, Petra typed the name of the new doctor
into Google. One of the first things that popped up was the Justice for Kolinka website, followed by Hilka Zing's
documentary. Petra was stunned as she learned about the crimes Dr. Da Krombark had been convicted of and discovered
that he'd been banned from practicing medicine entirely. She booked an appointment to
see if the new doctor in town was indeed the same Dr. Krombark she was reading about. After confirming that it was,
Petra wasted no time in reporting him. Further investigation revealed that Dera Krombark had been working as a locom
doctor all over Germany ever since his medical license was revoked after his rape conviction back in
1997. He'd gotten away with it by producing a photocopy of his old medical license, claiming that the original had
been stolen. Crombark was charged with 28 cases of fraud and 19 cases of illegally
practicing medicine. He was placed under arrest just as the authorities suspected he was about to
flee overseas. According to the Netflix documentary My Daughter's Killer, police
found him with a suitcase containing clothing, cash, and a penis pump used to treat erectile dysfunction.
He was subject to a psychiatric assessment with the two psychiatrists concluding that he was a chronic liar,
sexual predator, and a narcissist who believed he was outside the law. Crombark was subsequently convicted
and sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in a German prison. He served 18 months before being released early for good
behavior in June 2008. [Music] By this point, 26 years had passed since Kolinka Bomberski's death. Under French
law, a 30-year statute of limitations meant there were only 4 years left in which legal action could be taken
against Adida Krombark in relation to Kolinka's death. After that, not only would he be
free from facing any punishment, but he could also choose to sue Andre Bomberski
for defamation. Following Krombark's early release from prison, the Paris Court of
Appeal admitted that his 1995 trial in Absentia had been distorted under pressure from Germany.
The French warrant for his arrest was still in place, but other than that, in the eyes of the law, Andre Bomberski had
exhausted all possible options when it came to getting justice for his daughter. It was important to Andre that
Crombark knew he hadn't been forgotten. Andre traveled to Germany and tracked Krombark down to Shide, a small market
town 20 km inland from Linda near the Austrian border. He visited every once in a while
to keep an eye on Krombark and to make his presence known. Then in September 2009, Andre
noticed a for sale sign at the front of Crombark's apartment. He spoke to some neighbors who told him
that Crombark had accepted a job in West Africa. With the clock ticking and Crombark on the move again, Andre knew
it was now or never. I had enough in my head, he later told the Guardian. I knew that the French
government would do nothing. I knew that the German government would do nothing.
I decided that I had to do something. It was just after 3:15 on the morning of Sunday, October 18, 2009,
when a call came through to police in the French city of Mealoo. Go to the Rude DTL across from
the customs office. An anonymous caller said, "You'll find a man tied up. The police station was only four blocks
away. Two squad cars raced to the narrow street near the center of town. There, in a courtyard nestled
between two buildings, they found an elderly man lying on the ground behind an iron
gate. It was Dera Crombark. He was curled on the pavement, his hands and feet bound together, and
his mouth gagged with duct tape. His face was barely recognizable, battered, bruised, and covered in
blood. One of the police officers removed the tape from his mouth. Bomberski is behind it, he
said. Crombark was rushed to hospital where he received treatment for a fractured
skull. He told the police that the previous evening he'd been at his home in Shide when there was a knock on the
door. He answered it only to find an unfamiliar man standing there. "Are you Crombark?" the man asked with a thick
Russian accent. When Crombar answered yes, the man punched him in the face. Two other men appeared and
launched a violent attack. They managed to bind and gag Crombark before throwing
him into the backseat of their car. As the men drove along, Crombark struggled and begged for his
life. He offered to pay the trio €50,000 if they'd just let him go. Then, one of the men pulled out a
knife and threatened to chop his penis off. Suddenly, the driver pulled over and ordered the knife wielding man out
of the car. He said they had over 300 km to go and couldn't risk doing the drive with a
dangerous man with a weapon. The car eventually crossed the border into France and stopped in
Mealoo, the first town they came upon that had its own police station and courthouse. The men dumped Crombark,
called the police, and fled. Andre Bomberski wasn't with them, but Crombark had no doubt that he'd
orchestrated the whole thing. The police looked into Andre's whereabouts the night before and
confirmed he'd been in To the entire time. However, they soon received word that Andre had booked a flight to Malus
that was scheduled to arrive that evening. At 5:00 p.m., they drove to the hotel he'd booked in and placed him
under arrest. Andre seemed genuinely shocked. He denied having anything to do with
Crombark's abduction and claimed that he'd only traveled to Me because someone had informed him that Crombark was
there. However, a search of his hotel room turned up €19,000 in cash, leading investigators
to suspect that he'd paid someone to carry out the attack on his behalf. Investigators visited Crombark's
home in Shide and found a utility bill near the scene. On it was the address and phone number
of an individual named Anton Kranichi, a Kosovan who lived in the Austrian town of
Brigance. Andre Bomberski had recently spent time in Brigance, which was right near the German border just 20 km from
Dieter Krombark's home. Police looked into Anton Kresnichi and discovered that his brother-in-law had
worked as a German translator for Andre as he spread the word around Brigans about Crombark's
crimes. He wanted the town's folk there to be aware of Krombark in case he crossed the border, at which point his
international arrest warrant could be enforced. He'd been putting up posters in cafes,
bars, and restaurants appealing for assistance. At the police station in Mealoo, Andre Bomberski admitted to
knowing Anton Krnichi, but he continued to deny having anything to do with the kidnapping
plot. He said that Kranichi had shown up at his hotel in Brigans and offered to help transport Data Crombark to France.
Kranichi said he wasn't interested in money, but just wanted to do what he believed to be the right
thing. As a father himself, he felt compelled to help. Kranichi explained that there were
two Russian mobsters who would help him do the job for €2,000 a piece. He didn't
provide any more details, simply telling Andre, "The less you know, the better. Andre told the police that he insisted
on paying for any expenses involved, but asked no further questions. He claimed he didn't know
when or how it was going to go down and that he only learned about it when Kranichi called him from Me to let him
know that it was over. Anton Kranichi confirmed Andre's version of events. Having served prison
time before, he said he didn't care about the consequences. Appearing on My Daughter's
Killer, Kranichi said he was moved by the battle fought by Andre Bomberski. This is a father who never
gave up. Kranichi remarked, "He knew where his daughter's killer was living, and I had a plan to help him hands on."
As a father, I was fascinated by the strength of this man. He's a really great dad. It moves you and you think if
that happened to you, what would you do as a father? What are you capable of doing
for your child? For their role in the violent kidnapping, Anton Kranichi and one of
his accompllices, Katchcha Bob Lavani, were also arrested. Andre Bomberski was hit with various
charges including kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, and complicity in causing violence. Charges which came with the
possibility of 15 years in prison. Andre's lawyer argued that his client had acted under moral duress,
knowing that if he could just get Da Krombark to France, then the legal saga regarding Kolinka would finally be over.
Andre was free to go but under judicial supervision awaiting trial. When he left the Mealoo police
station, several officers gathered in the lobby and gave him a standing ovation. As he waited for his day in
court, he told the Guardian, "If I should have to go to prison, I will go to prison. Most
important is that Crombark is judged even if he is not found guilty. For me, it was necessary to do
justice. I think I will find some peace. This is my last fight and I shall dedicate it to the memory of my
daughter. He told Lepesh newspaper. I can now smile. After 27 years of fighting, I can finally say in
my prayers to Kolinka that the promises I made her are beginning to be kept. The biggest part of my fight is
finished. But I will not be completely at peace until Crombark is in front of the court to answer for the death of my
[Music] daughter. Diet Crombark recovered from his injuries in hospital under police
custody. Regardless of how he'd ended up in France, the arrest warrant for Kolinka's
manslaughter was still valid. And it was announced that Crombark would face a retrial in Paris. This time with both
himself and his legal council required to be present. Crombark's defense team tried
to have him repatriated to Germany or to have his trial heard by the European Court of Human Rights, but their
requests were denied. They argued that the case should be thrown out entirely as the rules of the
European Union declared that an individual could not be tried twice for the same
crime. Crombark's lawyer told reporters the whole situation was a farce, remarking, "How can he be cleared in one
EU country and then tried in another? and how can he face trial after being illegally
kidnapped? With France refusing to release Da Krombark, the German Department of Justice issued an
international arrest warrant for Andre Bomberski. The French authorities refused to extradite him, which came as
little surprise to those who had been following the case since the beginning. Many were sympathetic to Andre's plight
and felt he didn't deserve to be punished, while others spoke out against vigilante justice and the extreme
violence used during the kidnapping. When it was announced that Andre intended to release a book about the
case and he struggled trying to achieve justice for Kolinka, Crombark's lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have it banned,
saying there was no way their client could receive a fair trial if the publication went
ahead. Krombark's lawyer blamed anti-German sentiment for the support Andre received, telling the
BBC, "The way this affair has been covered in France is shocking. Of course, it is heartbreaking for Mr.
Bomberski, but only one side of the story has been told. Naturally, Mr. Crombark protests his innocence. But
that's not even the point. My client was cleared of guilt in his own country. He
was then kidnapped and taken illegally to another European country where he is now going to be tried for murder.
Only in France could that possibly be allowed to happen. Although the lack of physical
evidence still meant Da Krombark couldn't be charged for raping Kolinka, a pre-trial review of the evidence led a
team of medical professors to determine that the injury to Kolinka's labia could
only have happened while she was still alive. They could find no other explanation for
the white substance found in her vagina other than semen. Using advanced technology that
didn't exist at the time of the crime, they analyzed Kolinka's heart and lung tissue and discovered the presence of a
benzoazipene, a powerful seditive that conclusively proved that Kolinka had been drugged on the night that she
died. In the leadup to Crombark's trial, several survivors of his sexual assault
came forward from Germany willing to testify against him. One of these women was a former
patient of Krombarks, who in 1993 had been given a part-time job working as a cleaner for his medical
practice. According to her testimony, one day she arrived at the practice around lunchtime to find nobody there
except Dr. Crombark. Krombark said she was due for her iron infusion and he might as well
do it there and then to save her coming back later. The woman agreed, at which point
Crombark allegedly drugged and raped her. Knowing he had money and influence in town, the woman had been too afraid
to report what he had done. But the most surprising witness was a woman named Isabel, who had been a
patient of Dr. Crombarks during the time he was married to Wandre's ex-wife Danielle. Isabel who had been just 16 at
the time claimed that she began an affair with Crombark who was around 20 years her
senior. According to Isabelle, Crombark would drug an unsuspecting Danielle by slipping drops of sedatives into her
drinks. Once she passed out upstairs, he would call Isabelle over and the two would
have sex in the downstairs living room. Up until this point, Danielle and Crombark had remained on good terms
following their divorce in the late 1980s. They kept in contact even when Danielle moved back to Tulus, and she
continued to support his innocence in Kolinka's death. If anything, she felt that Andre's campaign against Crombark
had only served to bring the two of them closer together. Danielle had even appeared at
a pre-trial hearing in 2010 to attest to Crombark's good character, telling the court that he would never rape anyone
because he had no trouble attracting women on his own. She explained that she only left him
because he was cheating on her and she'd come to accept that it was part of his personality to be attracted to anything
that was forbidden. But when Isabelle's story came to light, a French prosecutor
advised Danielle to file a civil claim against Krombark so she could join the prosecution party and get full access to
the case file. Danielle followed this advice and for the first time ever learned about the
true extent of the allegations against her ex-husband. It was also the first time
she'd read the reports that described cobalt fleset as a dangerous drug. Crombark had never warned her of
any side effects despite administering it to herself, Kolinka, and hundreds of his patients regularly.
Furthermore, it was only through reading the case file that Danielle heard Isabelle's story about Crombark sedating
her so she wouldn't know he was having sex with the 16-year-old downstairs. Danielle's world came
crashing down. She thought back to the night of Kolinka's death and realized she'd slept
very deeply. As she began to view everything through a different lens, she wondered
whether Krombark could have drugged her then, too. She later told the courts, "When
you've done it once, you can do it again." Da Krombark's trial was delayed multiple times as his legal team
exhausted all possible avenues attempting to have the case thrown out. It was finally set to go ahead in late
March 2011, almost a year and a half after the kidnapping and just shy of 29 years since Kolinka Bomberski's
death. 75-year-old Crombark tried one last time to have the case thrown out, telling the court, "I did not kill
Kolinka. I want to stress that I am not guilty, that I did not kill Kolinka, and
that I did not rape Kolinka. The trial commenced, but 5 days in, Crombark's lawyers announced that
he'd suffered a heart attack and ordered that the trial be called off indefinitely. They accused the French
legal system of contributing to the stress of the ailing man, who they said was still suffering from the injuries
sustained during the kidnapping. The trial was put on hold but resumed again 5 months later in October
2011. Danielle listened in disgust as various witnesses testified to the sexual abuse they'd suffered at
Crombark's hand. She couldn't believe this was the same man she'd lived with and defended for so many years.
Now convinced he was lying about what happened to Kolinka on the night she died, Danielle told one
journalist, "I would have appreciated it if Da Krombark had told me it was an accident. I panicked and I
lied. I would have understood. I may have forgiven him. But now I can't forgive him."
A parting gift Crombark had given her after their separation took on a whole new meaning. Figurines of the three wise
monkeys symbolizing the proverb, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." The trial ran for 3 weeks before
the verdict was delivered. Just like the Paris courts 16 years earlier, Dita Krombark was found guilty
of willfully causing violence towards Kolinka that resulted in her unintentional
death. Again, he was sentenced to 15 years in a French prison, a sentence that could now be
enforced. Andre Bomberski's 30-year crusade had finally come to an end. outside court. He told
reporters, "Of course, my first thought is for Kolinka. I have achieved what I promised, a complete and fair
trial. Justice has been done in her memory, and I will be able to mourn for her."
He visited the cemetery shortly after and placed a bunch of flowers on Kolinka's grave, saying out
loud, "I promised that I would give you justice. Now you can rest in peace. But the saga still wasn't over
for Andre. 7 months later in May 2014, he faced his own trial in the Mealoo magistrate's
court for the role he played in Krombark's kidnapping. Bomberski's lawyer argued
that his client shouldn't be convicted for essentially enforcing a decision that had already been handed down by the
French court, stating, "He acted that way to fulfill his duties as a father. He also acted so
that justice could fulfill its duty. Andre Bomberski was found guilty of criminal conspiracy and complicity in
aggravated assault, but cleared of orchestrating the abduction. He was given a one-year
suspended sentence, while the men who carried out the attack, Anton Kranichi and Katchcha Bablavani, were both
sentenced to one year behind bars. Meanwhile, Data Crombark spent the next few years appealing his sentence on
medical grounds. He asked to be transferred to a nursing home, claiming he was suffering from life-threatening
cardiovascular disease. His appeals were rejected until February 2020 when the courts agreed to
suspend his sentence due to the state of his health. After serving just six of his
15-year sentence, 84year-old Crombark was returned to Germany, a decision that infuriated Andre
Bomberski. But 6 months later in September 2020, Da Krombark passed away at the age of
85. According to an article written by Joshua Hammer for the Adavst magazine, German officials have long denied that
anything was done to protect Adida Crombark. In Hammer's opinion, quote, "What seems more likely is that sloppy
forensic work, bureaucratic inertia, and at some level a desire to close ranks against foreign interference in a
domestic matter had caused the Germans to resist pursuing the case. Andre has spoken openly about the mixed
feelings he has about his campaign for getting justice for Kolinka. He told a French radio station
that many people, his father in particular, always told him to drop the case and live a normal
life. He explained, "But personally, if I had dropped it, I don't think I could have lived a normal life."
Opinions remain divided about the lengths Andre went to secure Krombark's conviction. Some view him as a hero,
while others argue that violence should never be condoned, and it wasn't Andre's
place to take the law into his own hands. His lawyer told the documentary My Daughter's
Killer, "Mr. Bomberski is a moral force. He isn't a vigilante. He isn't the master Avenger, but a
warrior. A warrior monk. Andre isn't phased by public opinion. To him, all that matters is
that he fulfilled his promise to his daughter. In 2022, the producers of My Daughter's Killer asked Andre what he
would say to a father who found themselves in a similar situation. Andre responded. I would tell him as it's been
39 years. Don't waste your life. I fought like Dong Kiote Deamacha against windmills. I got justice for Kolinka,
but honestly, these battles are extreme. Andre said he no longer trusted anyone,
but remarked, "I hope that Kolinka is in heaven and that she knows about everything I did for her. I think that
she deserved it. [Music] [Music]

*** Content warnings: Sexual assault, child victims *** After 14-year-old Kalinka Bamberski is found dead in her own bed in the German town of Lindau, her French father André Bamberski refuses to accept that she died of natural causes. The further he digs, he starts to suspect that foul play was involved, and that the person responsible was none other than Kalinka’s stepfather, Doctor Dieter Krombach. Will André’s suspicions be taken seriously, or will he be forced to take matters into his own hands?

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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Brief Summary

Kolinka Bomberski's suspicious death leads her father Andre on a decades-long quest for justice against Dr. Da Crombark.

Key points

A Father's Pain. Andre Bomberski learns of his daughter's tragic death, leaving him in disbelief.
The Autopsy Report. Andre discovers alarming details in Kolinka's autopsy report that raise suspicions.
Seeking Justice. Andre vows to uncover the truth behind Kolinka's death, despite the odds.
Crombark's Indictment. After years of struggle, Dr. Da Crombark was finally charged with killing Kolinka.
Crombark's Trial in Absentia. Crombark's trial proceeded without him, resulting in a manslaughter conviction.
Public Outrage. The leniency of Crombark's sentence sparked protests and demands for his medical license to be revoked.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It simply didn't make sense.

Andre's disbelief about Kolinka's sudden death.

5:18WatchMar 15, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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