Who was ‘The Woman Without a Face’? | Forensic Files

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happy listening [Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents
if you feel at any time you need support please contact your local crisis center
for suggested phone numbers for confidential support please see the show notes for this episode on your app
or on our website don't walk down a lonely german street particularly at night if you do you might feel something heavy
jump on your back weighing you down you can't shake off the creature nor can you kill it according to german
folklore the alpha meaning leap upon is a mythological shape-shifter that will hang onto you until you pass
away from exhaustion or terror variants to the legend say that the alphaka kills its victims by tearing out
their throats it can take the form of a goblin or a sad old lady and in some cases no shape at all
the alpha can never be caught changing shape as it pleases and disappearing into the night
it is said that church bells sunlight prayer and profuse swearing may help to ward off the evil creature
another version of the alpha lies in the legend of a beautiful young woman who preyed upon a border guard returning
home after a long day at work he spotted the woman and as he approached was attacked from behind by a
force that he could not see nor fight off the guard struggled and screamed before the attack suddenly ceased
the beautiful woman disappeared leaving the guard to wonder if he had even seen her at all
although the legend of the alpha was derived from roots buried deep in german mythology
a real-life shape-shifter struck throughout europe in the early 90s so pervasive was this woman who became
known as the woman without a face that she travelled through multiple countries and murdered recklessly
without ever being seen she vanished every time leaving few clues behind to mark her presence
[Music] [Music] lisa lotta schlanger was going about her morning as usual on may 23 1993
the 62 year old retired church warden lived alone in the german town of eda uberstein
kilometers south of west of berlin lisalotta made some lemon cakes and placed them in the oven to cook
in preparation for any house guests that might visit on her kitchen table lay a bouquet of
flowers tied neatly together with metal wire three days later lisa lotta's neighbor
arrived at her home to chat over a cup of tea she knocked on the front door there was no
answer finding a way inside the neighbor came across lisalotta's body on the floor
flowers littered the kitchen table around lisa lotta's neck was the metal wire that had been used to bind them
she had been strangled with such force that the wire was embedded into her throat
the brutality of the murder coupled with the strength needed to overpower the victim
and inflict her injuries led police to assume that lisalotta's killer was a man a thorough examination of the crime
scene uncovered a little in the way of evidence the wire was common available for
purchase from many hardware stores no foreign fingerprints or footprints were left behind by the killer
while left unharmed lisalotta's yorkshire terrier didn't make a peep around the time of the attack which occurred on
the morning she was found or the day prior this led to speculation that lisa lotta knew her killer or
otherwise welcomed to them inside unsuspecting of any danger several items were taken into evidence
including a brightly coloured floral teacup that was sitting out in lisa lotta's
kitchen a neighbor reported who they thought resembled a salesman leaving lisalotta's
house in the days before her body was found he was carrying a pilot's case and had a
bodybuilder-like figure detectives focused on this lead but the man was never identified eight years passed
and at least a lot of schlanger's murder remained unsolved on march 26 2001 61 year old
joseph valzenbach was alone at his home in freiburg in breisgau 300 kilometers south of where lizalotta
schlenger was murdered joseph lived alongside a small shop where he dealt antiques
hearing a knock at the door joseph opened it and let the person on his doorstep inside
as he turned his back joseph was hit over the head multiple times with a heavy object
police later found joseph velsenbach's body on the floor of his home in addition to having his skull broken
joseph had also been strangled with a piece of garden wire 125 euros had been stolen from him
a foreign dna profile was found on joseph's body presumed to have come from his killer
the same profile was also uncovered in his kitchen on a glass and in joseph's antique shop
adjacent to his house sampling found on the sign in the shop window indicated that the killer had been
brazen enough to turn it from open to closed after carrying out the murder the dna profile was run through
germany's national dna database as it was still in its infancy the database did not locate a match
however the sample was uploaded in the hope of one day identifying joseph's killer
the sample itself was particularly intriguing while it was suspected that joseph's
killer was a male the dna proved otherwise it had come from a woman of eastern european ancestry
although separated by almost a decade the similarities between the murders of lisa lotto schlanger and
joseph valzenbach were obvious both were aged in their 60s lived alone and were strangled by wire
evidence taken from lisa lotta's house was re-examined following joseph's murder
a residual saliva sample from an unknown source was found on the floral tea cup taken from her kitchen when compared to
the sample on file from joseph valzenbach's murder there was a match the same unknown woman
of eastern european ancestry was present at both crime scenes [Music] after following up nearly three thousand
leads authorities were unable to identify the woman as with lisa lotto schlanger's case the
investigation into the murder of joseph valsenbach went nowhere over the following months the mysterious
woman went on a crime spree throughout germany in august 2001 police linked her dna to
several break and enters of garden sheds 200 kilometers northeast of where joseph
was murdered a month later a caravan was broken into a further 200 kilometers north
the wanted woman's saliva was found on a half-eaten biscuit one month after the caravan break in a
seven-year-old boy was walking near his home 175 kilometers west in the town of geraldstein
he stepped on a used syringe on a pathway obtaining a needle stick injury the boy was taken to hospital and tested
for the transmissible diseases hiv and hepatitis results came back in negative the syringe contained trace amounts of
heroin and a minute sample of blood test results revealed that the blood contained
the same dna profile as the woman who was suspected of murdering lisalotta schlenger and joseph
valsenbach as well as breaking into garden sheds and a caravan it seemed as though she was an
intravenous drug user with the need to fund her heroin addiction offering a possible motive for
her crimes without any further clues to hint at her identity she was henceforth known as the woman
without a face over one year passed with no further crimes occurring that could be linked to
the woman without a face then in 2003 she re-emerged [Music] 220 kilometers east of where her used
syringe was found in garrelstein lies the bustling town of dietzenbach on new year's day 2003 dietzenbach
police were called to a break-in at a downtown office building nothing much was stolen aside from some
loose change however dna recovered from the crime scene matched the woman without a face
she had returned after 15 months of inaction a high-profile prosecutor who liaised
with the police spoke of the deatenback break-in telling reporters it was a professional job she left no
fingerprints but she did leave a scraping of skin and that was enough to pin the job on her
a year later in 2004 the woman without a face's dna was found yet again this time
on a spring-loaded rifle used by a man to carry out a robbery in france it appeared that she was on the move
across europe but by may 2005 she was back in germany earlier that month a nomadic romani man
named randolph attempted to shoot and kill his brother police located the gun used by randolph
in the rhine river which winds its way through the city of warms dna on a bullet was a match to the woman
without a face warmth was in close proximity to some of her previous crimes randolph was arrested and charged with
attempted murder he testified that the gun had been given to him by his father years earlier he could not think of how
any woman could be connected to the firearm and its bullets in any way detectives believed
randolph and the woman frequented the same bohemian community even if they didn't know one another or
interacted directly this explained how and why she moved back and forth across europe
and had ties to everywhere she visited but never seemed to settle down in one spot
for long a year later 120 kilometers away in the german town of zabrulken an apartment was broken into
neighbors witnessed the offender enter the property and were able to provide a description to police
it was a man with short brown hair dark eyes a large nose and a thin vertical line of
facial hair that ran from his lower lip to his chin police were stunned when dna uncovered
at the crime scene came back as a positive match to the woman without a face this revelation provided a possible
answer as to why they had been so unsuccessful in tracking her down investigators now suspected that their
target identified as a man or donned a male disguise a police spokesperson told the bbc we can't rule out that our
suspect is a man now or that she looks like a man we just don't know later that year the woman's dna was
discovered yet again this time in the austrian village of mauthausen like previous robberies this one
targeted a store in this case the woman had accomplices a gang of robbers set off an explosive
device under a manhole cover near a large shopping center the blast caused the windows of an
electronic store to shutter allowing the group to enter the premises and steal mobile phones before fleeing
though dna belonging to the woman without a face was found at the crime scene no other foreign samples were found
one of the gang members was eventually arrested for the robbery but denied any knowledge of the woman
and wouldn't offer any further information that could lead to her identity she had somehow coerced or threatened
her co-offenders to stay silent [Music] michelle kizawata grew up in the small german town of uber weissbach
350 kilometers southwest of berlin upon finishing school michelle joined the police force
she started training at age 19 and once completed joined the anti-terror unit of the
german federal police by age 22 michelle was stationed in heilbronn a historic city close to where the woman
without a face was known to strike in april 2007 michelle kizawata was a drug squad officer
working undercover on the 25th she was on duty driving her green and silver series 5 bmw
her policing partner martin arnold was riding in the passenger seat just before 2 pm the pair stopped for
lunch they pulled into a terraisian visa in heilbronn an open space used for flea markets and
festivals that served as a parking lot when not in use a short time later witnesses heard
multiple gunshots ring out from the parking lot first responders found michelle lying on
the ground outside her bmw she had been shot dead execution style martin had also been shot in the face
with a bullet lodging behind his right eye he was lucky to survive after waking from a month-long coma
martin revealed that he couldn't recall anything in the lead-up to the attack a special task force titled special
commission parking lot was established to investigate the shooting of the two police members
officers set up a dragnet registering any vehicles within a certain radius of the crime scene
in the hope that it would reveal any leads while a forensics team went through michelle's bmw
both michelle and martin's service weapons and handcuffs were missing presumed stolen by their attacker
the bullets fired upon the officers came from two different guns indicating there were at least two
offenders the trajectory of the discharged bullets revealed that the gunman had entered the
bmw via the rear doors and shot the officers point blank from the back seat it happened so quickly that neither
officer had time to draw their own weapons working on the theory that the crime was
an act of revenge on the state police investigators zeroed in on groups that would harbor such resentment
they made enquiries with the local homeless and drug affected communities but failed to uncover any leads or rule
anything out the chief superintendent of special commission parking lot conceded
it was brutal apparently random and with no apparent motive what are we dealing with
here and who is the accomplice [Music] special commission parking lot received its first major lead in june
two months after the shooting dna samples taken from the center console and one of
the rear armrests of michelle kizawata's bmw came back with a match the woman without
a face had been implicated in yet another murder following this revelation police ramped
up their search to find the killer who had earned the new moniker based on her latest crime
the phantom of heilbronn a reward of 10 000 euros which was later increased to 15 000
was offered for any information leading to the identification of the phantom the gang member who had worked with her
previously to carry out a robbery of an electronic store in mount hausen was interrogated
yet again even with a reward on offer he remained tight-lipped leads dried up and of the 18 homicides
investigated by the heilbronn police in 2007 the murder of michelle kizawata was the
only one left unsolved the phantom of heilbronn however was just getting started
dna from the phantom of heilbronn or the woman without a face was found four months after the murder
of michelle casavata it was located in a shared garden south of heilbronn following a series of house break-ins in
the area nothing of major significance was stolen only a few bottles of beer some bell peppers and a bunch of grapes
her dna was found at other crime scenes including the theft of a car and computer equipment from a school
in the german town of zarland as well as a stolen car from lintz in austria anyone else arrested in relation to
these crimes refused to name the phantom on january 30 2008 three men from the country of georgia traveled to
the german town of happenheim 80 kilometers northwest of heilbronn they had planned to buy used cars to
transport home for resale their dead bodies were later fished out of the rhine river
after traveling 25 kilometers downstream two men were quickly apprehended for the
murders one of whom was working as a police informant as reported in crime magazine the
informant had previously been given a station wagon by the local police which he used to transport the bodies
prior to dumping them in the river the station wagon was examined thoroughly the carpet within was stained with the
blood of the victims when forensics took swabs of the carpet they also uncovered the phantom of
heilbronn's dna her accomplices refused to give her up instead implicating each other as being
the killer the chief superintendent overseeing special commission parking lot told the mirror publication
we are as baffled as everyone else about how her dna came to be there but it is one more piece in the mosaic
all criminals no matter how deadly or how clever all slip up eventually we just hope we
catch her before she kills again on october 22 2008 45 year old diana pavlenko was completing chores in her home in
weinsberg six kilometers east of heilbronn after cleaning some dishes the psychiatric nursing assistant
locked up and left her house four days later diana's body was found near the hospital where she worked
the phantom of heilbronn's dna was found in diana's car co-workers described diana pavalenko as
someone who was friendly and nice but also extremely reserved nobody knew much about her private life
even though diana had worked on the same ward for 20 years a neighbor spoke of seeing diana only
when she went onto the balcony to hang out washing otherwise she remained indoors usually
with the blinds drawn diana's murder offered investigators a rare opportunity to narrow in on a
suspect they theorized that the phantom might have been a current or former patient at
the hospital where diana worked the psychiatric ward treated 8 000 patients a year between the ages of 18
and 62. police interviewed some persons of interest at the facility but privacy laws prevented them from
accessing patient files that might have contained more valuable clues the ward's chief physician was fairly
dismissive that a female patient was responsible for the murder of his colleague
quote the connection between the dna trace and us is a mystery to me i can't explain it
all to myself when diana pavlenko disappeared she was off duty for a week during this
period no patient went into hiding at diana's funeral a witness noticed the peculiar and somewhat unnerving presence
he described to quote neglected figures at the service unshaven and unkempt men donning parkers that no one knew
personally he said that they were the type of people that he didn't want to meet in
the dark [Music] despite the possible psychiatric ward lead diana pavlenko's murder investigation
reached the same conclusion as the others and was soon relegated to the cold case
files it seemed as though authorities were always one step behind the phantom but were unable to
catch a break by the end of 2008 the phantom of heilbronn had been on the run for over 15 years her dna was linked
to nearly 40 major and minor crimes ranging from small burglaries to murder including that of police officer
michelle kizavata the phantom's crime spree spread across central europe with germany her most popular location
to strike but she had also been linked to over a dozen crimes in austria another one of her frequent destinations
officials were left scratching their heads while they had uncovered some leads in
her transient lifestyle drug use and possible psychiatric treatment there was only one certainty the head of
the upper austria state criminal police claimed the only hypothesis we're going to use
is that it has to be a woman several men had now been arrested in relation to crimes involving the phantom
but their involvement was the tip of an iceberg minute strands of male dna had been
uncovered at multiple crime scenes suggesting the phantom had accomplices from albania
croatia france iraq poland romania serbia and slovakia the same male dna was never found twice
the phantom had a different accomplice for each crime she carried out in an article about the violent fugitive
the sydney morning herald noted the phantom of hyobron picks up and discards helpers with the
same casual abandon with which she kills [Music] highly regarded viennese psychiatrist dr
kurt kletzer had profiled many disturbing and dangerous individuals in his time he was quoted in the mirror as saying
the phantom is able to project an aura of normalcy while being anything but she is
compelled to murder to feed her drug habit thus reducing the victim to the status
of a worthless object these psychopathic traits would have been formed at a very
early age i would venture that the police are looking for someone from a damaged home life
perhaps a foster child or orphan a child who was abused or whose carers were addicts
what doesn't fit at all is the murder of the policewoman and the attempted killing of her partner
unless they thought that they would have drugs the act may be seen as the ultimate lashing out at authority
by early 2009 800 suspect women had been dna tested but all were ruled out as being the
phantom the cost of the investigation had reached over 12 million euros the reward for information leading to
the identification of the elusive figure was now at 300 000 euros she had become as the international
media dubbed her germany's most wanted criminal in march 2009 badly burnt male corpse
was discovered in france along the french german border disfigured beyond recognition french
authorities thought that the body belonged to an asylum seeker who had been missing for seven years
they attempted to identify the man by matching his fingerprints to those on his asylum application paperwork
but his fingers were so burnt that his prince could not be obtained alternatively authorities swabbed his
asylum seeker paperwork hoping that minute traces of dna from his fingertips would still be present on
the paper they were in luck the paper contained to dna allowing for a comparison to the burnt
remains the results were startling the only dna extracted from the paperwork was female it was a match
to the phantom of heilbronn given that the asylum seeker who made the application
was definitely male this revelation forced investigators all over europe to rethink
the phantom of heilbronn case [Music] until this point they had failed to realize that the answer had been staring
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south of heilbronn is the production plant for grinder bio1 the bioscience company specialises in
the development and production of high quality laboratory products during the period that the phantom of
heilbronn was wreaking havoc greiner bio1 was busy manufacturing cotton swabs for use in laboratories all
over europe they were also used by certain police departments to collect a dna at crime scenes a 71 year old woman
worked in the grana bio1 production plant in germany a long-term employee her job was in the
factory packaging the cotton swabs of eastern european descent this woman was the phantom of heilbronn
however she was completely innocent of any crime unbeknownst to her and everyone else
she had been contaminating the swabs with her own dna this discovery was made in 2009
when investigators realized that the phantom of heilbronn's dna only showed up at crime scenes where the
grinder bio1 cotton swabs were used crime labs who had used swabs from other sources
never had a case attributed to the phantom an investigator explained the contamination to the built
newspaper the things were double packaged we thought they were the mercedes of cotton swabs
the swabs were marketed as being sterile and they were they had been processed to
remove all germs fungi and viruses but the process did not destroy dna they simply weren't designed for
collecting genetic material hence forensic technicians across three nations had for years
found the same dna at scores of crime scenes because they had brought it there on the
sterile swabs they carried griner bio1 international expanded on this they announced that the swabs which were
sterilized with ionizing radiation and were sterile for medical purposes were never certified for use in dna
analysis as any existing contamination could not be removed by sterilization the revelation that the phantom of
heilbronn was no more than an unsuspecting elderly factory worker proved a huge embarrassment for
investigators a member of the berlin association of lawyers told the times that dna analysis
is a perfect tool for identifying traces what we need to avoid is the assumption
that the producer of the trace is automatically the culprit dna evidence on a crime scene says nothing about how
it got there there is good reason for not permitting convictions on the basis of dna circumstantial
evidence alone upon learning that the phantom of heilbronn didn't exist dozens of crimes across europe needed to
be re-examined while detectives had been chasing a literal ghost the real perpetrators were getting away
with murder [Music] in 1963 the american comedy film the pink panther was released
it follows the story of a bumbling inspector named jacques cluso as he hunts down a jewel thief
known as the phantom before he can get his hands on a priceless diamond called the pink
panther the film was an international success and inspired a spin-off cartoon series
of the same name two years after the phantom of hyobron had been identified the police were still no closer to
solving the many murders falsely attributed to her including that of police officer
michel kizawata in early november 2011 a number of german media outlets received a dvd
they placed the disc into a player and a recognizable cartoon character popped up
on screen the pink panther as reported in the guardian the dvd started with the pink panther
strolling through an unknown city with the show's iconic music score playing in the background
the pink panther then bombs a grocery store suddenly real news footage taken in 2001
of a shop being bombed in cologne germany flashed on screen the disturbing video continued with the
pink panther watching television as horrific images of real murder victims and the associated crime scenes were shown
one after the other just before the conclusion of the dvd the pink panther could be seen reclining
in a chair as he watched media footage from the funeral of police officer michel kizawata
then the image of a firearm appeared on screen it was michelle's service weapon stolen
from her by her killer immediately after her murder the dvd ended with an exasperated pink
panther pointing to a sign on the screen that featured the words national socialist underground
[Music] over bernhardt and uva muntelos grew up in the city of vienna 300 kilometers northeast of hyobron
as reported in the guardian yena had a long been a heartland for those with radical far right views
the youth club where bernhardt and muntelos met as teenagers served as a location where young people
could find others with extremist right wing views when biato shaper became a member of the same club
she and uva muntelos quickly fell in love on her 19th birthday shaper met uva bernhardt and developed strong romantic
feelings for him also initiating a love triangle between the group together the trio founded the neo-nazi
terrorist group the national socialist underground or nsu they spent the 90s getting into
fights with left-wing groups on the streets both bernhardt and muntellus shaved to
their heads and dressed in a tyre befitting of the neo-nazi scene at the time as reported in the guardian they visited
the buchenwald concentration camp memorial dressed in homemade ss uniforms and invented a board game
in which the winner was the person who had sent the most to jewish people to concentration camps
[Music] bernhard muntellus and chapa all came from well-respected families their parents treated their children's
interest in neo-nazism as a passing phase but it was far from a hobby it consumed every aspect of the three
teens lives they even worked in a store that sold nazi paraphernalia under the counter the nsu
were just getting started in april 1996 bernhard hung a dull torso with the word
jew and a star of david off a motorway bridge connected to the doll were wires leading
to a cardboard box that read beware of the bomb although a hoax bernhard's fingerprint
was found on the phony bomb device enabling police to make a quick arrest bernhardt already had a long rap sheet
including offenses for endangerment of road traffic resistance to a law enforcement officer
extortion dangerous bodily harm sedition and violation of gun laws yet he was acquitted for the bomb hoax
incident while it could be proven he handled the box there was nothing to prove he had knowledge of the hoax
he was still put away serving just over two years in juvenile detention for possessing three right-wing
extremist cds he intended to sell this coupled with his criminal history was enough to get him off the streets
temporarily two years later in january 1998 police in yena received a tip-off and
searched bernhard's garage inside they found 1.4 kilograms of tnt enough to cause a major explosion
however by this time the three members of the nsu bernhardt his friend muntelos as well as
their girlfriend chaper were already on the run they hid out in an apartment 85 kilometers away
and used fake ids and aliases to avoid recognition while german officials were hunting the
phantom of heilbronn bernhardt and mutlos went on a murderous rampage unrelated to any of the phantom's crimes
harboring an intense hatred for turkish immigrants the two men targeted the turkish
population with chaper assisting in the planning of the attacks on september 9 2000 they shot and killed
a florist as he sat in his work van in nuremberg police fabricated a motive for the crime
involving the turkish criminal underworld despite the victim's wife denying this theory
police were staunch in their opinion when three more turkish nationals were found shot dead soon after
the police were certain it was all gang-related meanwhile the nsu continued their string
of attacks they sent a bomb disguised as a christmas present to a grocery store owned by a turkish family when the store
owner opened the gift the bomb detonated nobody was killed in the blast but the store owner's daughter was
seriously injured following this the nsu went underground for three years they resurfaced in
february 2004 to kill the manager of a kebab restaurant four months later they placed the nail
bomb on a busy shopping street in koipstrasa cologne an area with a high turkish population
the blast injured 22 people over the following two years three more turkish men were murdered
police were well aware of the pattern but were adamant it was an internal conflict
another shooting in june 2006 was believed to be related but as the victim was of greek german
heritage investigators could not be certain all of the shootings committed by the
nsu were the same in that they were all done in an execution-style manner the victims were shot in the face while
looking directly at their killer the firearm used was a cz-83 semi-automatic pistol
police efforts to narrow in on the offenders were hampered by their ongoing assumption that they
were members of the turkish criminal underworld they maintained this belief despite
evidence of the contrary two of the murders took place near police stations something the underworld would avoid at
all costs witnesses reported two men of german or eastern european appearance fleeing the
scenes of the shootings on pushbikes furthermore the murders took place when the victims were breaking their regular
routine implying they were opportunistic not premeditated although a right-wing terrorist group
was briefly suspected by the police it wasn't until the pink panther dvd emerged
when the perpetrators were formally identified as the national socialist underground
on november 4 2011 over bernhard and uva muntelos donned gorilla masks and attempted a robbery in the easter
german city of isenac robberies were the pair's means of funding dnsu their efforts failed and the pair were
forced to flee on their bicycles they took shelter in a caravan bernhard had rented
where they'd wait until the heat died down the two men were completely unaware that
they had been covertly tailed from the scene of the botched robbery to their current whereabouts
upon realizing they were surrounded bernhardt and muntelos made a pact after setting the caravan on fire
monteluz shot bernhardt fatally in the head before turning the gun on himself in the remains of the caravan police
uncovered a number of guns including the firearm issued to police officer michel kizawata
a check of the caravan's registration revealed that it was one of the vehicles identified in the police dragnet
shortly after michelle's murder biata chaper learned of the suicide of both her lovers
later that day at 3 05 pm she emptied a 10 litre canister of gasoline throughout the apartment the
trio used as a hideout chaper then made a hasty exit with her two pet cats in cages
she also had with her 15 copies of the pink panther dvd the group had edited together as she
walked away the apartment wall exploded and flames engulfed the building chaper approached a woman walking by and
placed the cages containing her cats at her feet she asked the stranger to look after her
animals for a minute chaper then ran away inside the wreckage of the apartment investigators found
several newspaper articles about murders committed on turkish immigrants several thousand euros in cash and
checks a caesar pistol and a pair of handcarves the handcuffs had belonged to officer
michel kizavatar german authorities were confident that uber bernhardt and uva muntelos were responsible for
michelle kizawata's murder testing of the cz pistol revealed it was the murder weapon used
in the other nine murders attributed to the nsu meanwhile biata chaper was on the run
traversing germany via the railway system sometime during her travels she posted
the copies of the pink panther dvd to various media outlets the dvd and the confessions from the nsu
soon made national headlines [Music] november 8 2011 marked four days after the deaths of ulver bernhardt
and uva muntelos local police in yenar where the nsu was founded received a call
when a police officer answered she was greeted on the line by a female voice biada chapa here i'm the one you're here
for the local police department was not aware that biata chaper was wanted for the nsu crimes
and the officer terminated the call however chaper soon turned herself into authorities
biata chaper was charged with all the crimes attributed to the nsu this included the shooting murders of
the nine turkish men the two bombings the attempted murder of officer martin arnold
and the murder of his policing partner officer michelle kizawata four men were also charged as
accomplices and ordered to stand trial with chaper on the grounds of procuring weapons for
the nsu and for being accessories to the bombings of the four men only one a former
neo-nazi showed a genuine remorse for his role in the murders the failure of the german police to
acknowledge that the spree killings of turkish nationals could be anything but an internal
conflict within the community's criminal underbelly prompted outrage from the public
german police were even accused of turning a blind eye to right-wing extremists this level of ignorance enabled the nsu
to function unabated for 13 years in response to the criticism the president of the federal intelligence
agency as well as several other high-ranking security officials resigned from their positions
the informal title of the investigation into the crimes the kebab murders was also criticized
for being deeply offensive to the turkish community only two of the victims worked at kebab
shops and even so the racial and comical undertones of the name were obvious it did little to depict the
seriousness of the crimes and the grief of those impacted causing an overall dismissiveness of the growing
threat by the mainstream media and those of other creeds the trial against beater chaper and her
four accomplices began in 2013 overseen by a panel of judges only neo-nazis packed the courtroom and
loitered outside with publication the new republic commenting that it gave the trial a
menacing presence chaper barely spoke leaving her attorney to communicate on her behalf
through lengthy pre-written statements those called to give evidence on behalf of the defense
attempted to slow proceedings as much as possible victims families who had hoped for some
answers as to why their loved ones had been targeted were left largely in the dark
in closing arguments biata chaper's legal team argued that she had once been a nazi but
had changed her ways shortly after the nsu began their attacks therefore she was no longer a part of
the national socialist underground when uber bernhard and uva uvamuntlos began their crime
spree against the turkish community rather she was just their roommate as german law required at least three
consenting people to form a group the defense argued that their client could not be held responsible for the
actions of two people if she didn't associate with them as a group the prosecution argued that chaper knew
exactly what she was doing and was always an active member of the nsu stating the motive of
all these crimes was a far-right ideology the fever dream of a country free of foreigners
and the intention to shake this free friendly country in which we live to its core in order to
prepare the ground for a disgusting nazi regime the trial lasted 437 days and involved 73 separate lawyers and
hundreds of witnesses all defendants were found guilty sentences for chapis four accomplices
ranged from two and a half to ten years prison chaper received a life sentence with
particular gravity this means she can apply for parole after serving 15 years jail time
but will be unlikely to receive it although it couldn't be proven that chaper had been at any of the crime
scenes the judges concluded that she was aware of and contributed to the killings that
were designed to spread fear and insecurity among immigrant communities not everyone was convinced that the
deaths of uva bernhard and uva muntelos and the imprisonment of biata chaper marked
the end of the national socialist underground the nsu watch an alliance of anti-fascists and
anti-racists dedicated to tracking the nsu movement and imparting knowledge about neo-nazis
commented the court is desperately maintaining that the nsu is a thing of the past
that right-wing terrorism no longer exists the results of the main hearings the inquiry committees
and our own research show that the nsu is a network it still exists and it was not a group of three loners
we will persist until the families the public and we all know the identities of all
the nsu supporters and until they've been held accountable we want justice lawyers for beyotted shaper lodged an
appeal which has yet to commence the reason why the nsu targeted police officers michelle kizerveda and
martin arnold remains a mystery the notion that they were targeted for their service weapons
or seized drugs although readily accepted in the beginning lost traction over time
one other theory has since emerged that helps shed a lot on why the offenders stepped out of their typical
racially motivated mo and targeted two police officers michelle kizuwada had a cousin named
anya who was also a police officer as reported on the world socialist website in 2014 anya told a parliamentary
committee that her daughter who was michelle's cousin might have had ties with a neo-nazi group
named blood and honor anya also admitted having links to the far-right scene in the past
including supporters of the nsu she stated that her father who was a police officer
and her husband a security officer also had ties to neo-nazi groups the inquiry concluded that perhaps
michelle kizerveda knew too much about the workings of the nsu it was also established that at least
two of the ten authorities including the lead investigator assigned to the michelle
keyservatic case had once belonged to the white supremacist group the ku klux klan
this prompted speculation that the police were intentionally turning a blind eye to the attacks carried out by
the nsu in 2016 an international standard was finalized to minimize the risk of human dna
contamination in products used by authorities to collect forensic material this came about largely due to the
errors caused by the phantom of hyalbrong case known as iso-1838 the guidelines provide advice to
manufacturers police forces and laboratories worldwide on steps that can be taken to avoid
similar incidents from happening in the future many of the murders attributed to the
phantom remain unsolved [Music] in july 2016 a man gathering mushrooms in the woodlands near rhoda her bruin
central germany found skeletal remains that had been partially uncovered by wild animals
they belonged to a nine-year-old girl named peggy canoblock who went missing 15 years prior while
walking home from school and dna samples from a small piece of cloth found at the scene matched to those of
deceased national socialist underground member ulva bernhardt the finding shocked investigators
news publication dw reported that the finding might open a new chapter on the nsu's
shocking murder spree discovery led to the implementation of a special police force
tasked with going back through unsolved homicide cases involving children to see if any others
could be attributed to hoover bernard and the nsu a year later investigators concluded that bernhard
had nothing to do with peggy's death his dna had been transferred accidentally onto the cloth uncovered at her burial
site this occurred via equipment that had previously been used to examine evidence
from the burnt out caravan that contained bernhardt's remains marked yet another dna contamination
blunder despite the lessons learnt in the phantom of heilbronn incident a reef sardic was a survivor of the 2004
nail bomb blast carried out by the national socialist underground he is still coming to terms with the
attack that seriously wounded his daughter but has since revealed that what he faced in the aftermath
was worse than the actual explosion in an interview with dw a reef stated i said that i think neo-nazis were
behind the attack the officer then just held his finger to his lips and he didn't seem to want to hear
anything more about it fear became my constant companion i could not even talk to my wife about
it until five years later [Music] a reef speaks at events about the consequences of racism and xenophobia
he continues to spread awareness about the far-right terrorist extremists who he believes are
still operating today at one conference a member of the crowd asked a reef how his family were coping
with tears in his eyes he said i won't stay silent that i have learnt as long as you say nothing nothing
changes [Music] you

Case 178: The Woman Without a Face

Between 1993 and 2009, over 40 crime scenes across Germany, Austria, and France were linked by DNA from one offender. It belonged to a woman of eastern European descent...

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research – Holly Boyd Writing – Jessica Forsayeth Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn

SOCIAL LINKS

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-178-the-woman-without-a-face

Brief Summary

The phantom of Heilbronn was a DNA contamination case, falsely linking an innocent woman to numerous crimes including murder.

Key points

The Woman Without a Face. A mysterious woman linked to multiple murders and crimes across Europe.
Michelle Kizawata's Murder. A police officer is shot dead in a brutal attack, leading to a major investigation.
DNA Links to Phantom of Heilbronn. DNA from the phantom of Heilbronn is found at multiple crime scenes, raising questions.
Diana Pavlenko's Mysterious Murder. A psychiatric nurse is found dead, with ties to the phantom of Heilbronn.
The Phantom's Crime Spree. The phantom of Heilbronn was linked to nearly 40 crimes across Europe, including murder.
The Cost of the Investigation. The investigation into the phantom's identity cost over 12 million euros.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The creature can never be caught, changing shape as it pleases.

2:08WatchJun 5, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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