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- [00:00]
Hannah
Red Handed is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, Monetary magicians. These are things that people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. Chime is changing the way people bank. It's not just another banking app. Chime unlocks fee free and smarter banking that's built for you. Not the 1%. Forget overdraft fees, minimum balance fees and monthly fees. Chime turns everyday spending into real rewards and Progress. Features like MyPay give you access to up to $500 of your paycheck anytime and you can even get paid up to two days early. Earn up to 3% APY on your savings, seven times higher than a traditional bank. And the Chime Card is the newest way to unlock safer credit building and cashback all on one card with no annual fees, no interest and no strings attached. My younger self would really have benefited from something like this. Chime is not just smarter banking. It is the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. It just takes a few minutes to sign up. Head to chime.comredhanded that's Chime.
- [01:45]
Adrian
Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services A secured Chime Visa credit card and MyPay line of credit provided by the Bancor Bank NA or Stride Bank NA. MyPay eligibility requirements apply and credit limit ranges $20 to $500. Optional services and products may have fees or charges. See chime.com feesinfo advertised annual percentage yield with Chime+status only. Otherwise 1.0% APY applies. No min balance required. Chime card on time Payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score. Results may vary. See chime.com for details and.
- [02:19]
Hannah
Hello hello and welcome to Shorthand. Hello Mabel.
- [02:24]
Mabel
What's hello Mabel in Bulgarian?
- [02:26]
Hannah
Oh fucking hell. Let's look up hello in Bulgarian because that is where we're going to spend quite a lot of time today. Hello. Helpful?
- [02:35]
Mabel
Great.
- [02:35]
Hannah
It doesn't even want to do it in the translation. It doesn't offer me the option for a microphone in the Bulgarian. Okay, here we go. How to say hello in Bulgarian how to say hello in Bulgarian?
- [02:50]
Mabel
Hello.
- [02:52]
Hannah
What? All right, enough of you super cat.
- [03:01]
Mabel
We gave it a good go.
- [03:03]
Hannah
So, yes, to this week's shorthand where we will be spending quite a lot of time in Bulgaria. Because on 8th July 2014, 28 year old Lars Mittank was about to fly home to Germany after a lads holiday in Bulgaria. CCTV footage shows him entering the airport in Varna, Bulgaria. But it also shows that just a few hours later he sprinted out of the airport, climbed an eight foot fence and disappeared into the neighboring forest. And Lars was never seen or heard from again. The vanishing of Lars Mittank is definitely one of the most bizarre mysteries we've come across. And it's one that's left the police and Internet sleuths alike baffled for almost a decade. Why did Lars run out the airport like that? What happened to him and where is he now? How can a person in this day and age, because remember this happened in just 2014, simply disappear without a trace? Here's the shorthand.
- [04:06]
Mabel
As Saroo said, Lars was 28 years old at the time of his disappearance. He was born and raised in Germany. Lars worked at Wilhelmshaven for a coal powered plant about 90 miles from his hometown of Marne. Or Marne, I don't know, I'm not a German. Where his family lived. In 2012 his father suffered a stroke and needed round the clock care from his family. So whenever Lars had time he would go off home and help out. Lars was also super fit and avid sportsman. He loved football and his favourite team were Erda Bremen. When he did go on holiday he usually went on fishing trips, diving or sporting holidays. This is why his mum was surprised when he decided to go on a lads holiday to Golden Sands in Bulgaria. His friends had actually originally booked it without him, but they had a last minute dropout so Lars decided to go along. That's not gonna feel great.
- [04:57]
Hannah
No, I think it's main. They are like genuinely his friends. I think they just knew this isn't Lars. Cup of tea. Lars is not gonna like this. But then when they get the dropout they're like Lars and he explains this or like his mom explains it as like Lars was working round the clock. He was either at the factory working or he was helping his mum out with his dad at home. So he just needed a break.
- [05:20]
Mabel
And on 30 June 2014, Lars and five of his mates flew to Varna, Bulgaria, which is a port city just on the coast of the Black Sea.
- [05:29]
Hannah
The six of them stayed in the all inclusive, flashy four star HVD Viva Club hotel in Golden Sands surrounded by bars and a huge casino. And it sounds like my absolute fucking nightmare. Just. I know they're not Brits, but just Europeans abroad, burnt on the beach, hanging out, getting pissed, going to the casino. Kill me. Nope. And it gets even worse because when they went on this holiday, the World cup, the football World cup was on at the same time. And so the boys spent their evenings in bars watching the games. But unlike his friends, who'd then spend the day lazing around by the pool or sleeping, Lars would go out and play football on the beach with local high school kids. These kids later described Lars as a completely normal, friendly guy and were adamant that they did not notice anything strange about his behaviour at all. In fact, according to Lars friends, the only thing they could think that was a bit off about him was that he wasn't eating much during the holiday. But seeing as it was nearly 40 degrees outside, it's not that shocking.
- [06:39]
Mabel
You're lucky if you can get me to eat a fucking sandwich in 40 degree heat.
- [06:42]
Hannah
What? So at 11am on the 3rd of July, Lars and his friends went to the aptly named mystery Golden Sands Bar to watch the World cup quarterfinals. This bar was absolutely full of football fans drinking, cracking jokes, singing weird songs, no doubt doing all sorts of things. But things got a little bit Larry after a group of young Bayern Munich fans took issue with Lars Edda Bremen jersey. Now, I don't know that much about the Bundeslig, but I'm guessing they probably have quite a lot of. Quite a lot of things going on that we have going on here with clubs.
- [07:19]
Mabel
Yeah, exactly. It's like when you walk through Finsbury park and there's that pub called the Blackstock that has a sign in the window that says Home fans only.
- [07:27]
Hannah
Yeah. So things kick off in this bar and the two groups had a bit of a drunken shouting match, but that's kind of as far as it went. Lars and his friends stayed at the bar for the rest of the evening and were actually the last to leave at around 4am on their way back to the hotel, Lars friends decided that they wanted to go to a nearby McDonald's. But Lars, like we said, who was quite health conscious, said he'd go back to the hotel on his own, which is about a kilometre away. So. Not far. No, but far enough.
- [07:58]
Mabel
Far enough in drunk time.
- [08:00]
Hannah
Mm.
- [08:01]
Mabel
Nobody knows what actually happened on his way back. We only have Lars word for it, but he told his friends that he got into a fight with a group of Russians or Bavarians he said that he thought they'd been hired by the Bayern Munich fans at the bar because they told him, apparently it's not hard to hire someone to beat you up for a little money. His friends later said that they weren't sure whether Lars was telling the truth about what happened. What they did know is that Lars ear was really hurting, supposedly from a punch that he took during the fight. Lars called his girlfriend the next morning and told her about the incident and how much pain his ear was in. His girlfriend tried to convince Lars to go and see a doctor, but he refused. That same evening, the group all went out to the bars again and got drunk for the last time that trip because they thought it would be a good idea to take it easy over the weekend. Come Monday 7 July, they checked out of their hotel at about 12pm but by this stage, the pain in Lars's ear had become a lot worse. And quite rightly, he started to get a bit worried about flying, because it would be unbearably painful. So he reluctantly jumped into a cab with one of his friends and went to a local doctor. There he was diagnosed with a ruptured eardrum, and the doctor told him not to fly and referred him to a hospital in Varna. So Lars told his friends to go back to Germany without him and that he would wait in Bulgaria until it was okay for him to travel. His friends, as all good friends should, offered to stay with him, but he insisted that he would be fine on his own and that the insurance would cover his flight home.
- [09:33]
Hannah
At around 8.40pm, Lars visited the EMT specialist in Varna, and in a phone call with his mother, Sandra, Lars told her that the doctor had mocked him. He told his mum that the doctor refused to speak to him in English and refused any attempts to communicate at all, but still charged him a bill of 120 Leva, which is about €60. But whether the doctor refused to communicate with him or not, records do show that Lars did get a prescription for 20 tablets of the antibiotic Cefzil 500, also known as Cetprazil.
- [10:09]
Mabel
A question for Dr. Sariti Banner. Does one need antibiotics for a ruptured ear drum that is not a bacterial infection?
- [10:17]
Hannah
I mean, I have no idea what's happened here.
- [10:19]
Mabel
Preventative, maybe, but I suppose there's not much else you can do for a ruptured eardrum than wait for it to grow back.
- [10:24]
Hannah
Yeah, and maybe because the pain had gotten worse, maybe there was some sort of infection and that's why they give it to him. But also, you know, if the doctor's not even really speaking to him very clearly. You know what it's like when you go to other countries. Sometimes people just love giving you antibiotics.
- [10:38]
Mabel
That's true.
- [10:39]
Hannah
So no idea. In Korea they give it to you
- [10:41]
Mabel
as an injection in your butt. You can go in for literally anything. Depression, Antibiotics in the butt?
- [10:46]
Hannah
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [10:47]
Mabel
Get your infection straight in the butt.
- [10:48]
Hannah
Absolutely no. Same thing in India. What's wrong with you? Don't care. Bend over. So at around 9.40pm, so about an hour after he had been to the doctor, Lars took the same cab that he had used to get there to go to a pharmacy. But this pharmacy only had a pack of 10 Zephzil 500 in stock. So Lars got those and then went to a second pharmacy to get the rest. At about 10:05pm after this, Lars asked the cab driver to take him to a cheap hotel. And he ended up at the Colour Hotel, situated down a small side street in a fairly remote area far from the city centre. Hate that. Not a fan? No, thank you very much. In this room at the Color Hotel, a slightly panicked Lars phoned his mum to tell her that when he was checking in, the man behind the reception had copied down his credit card details. Alarm bells. That's bad news. I have told you this story before. When I was in Indonesia, this woman scanned my passport and then took a picture of my passport and like, had it for way too long and was writing things down. And I was like, what's going on? But when you're like, what's going on? They suddenly just pretend like they can't speak English and they just ignore you. And then obviously in an airport, when you ask, excuse me, what's going on? Or you're even slightly questioning, they're very much like, can you just take a step back? And I'm like, okay. But I have no idea why that woman was doing what she was doing with my passport. Oh yeah.
- [12:20]
Mabel
It's like when they wouldn't let me out of Norway.
- [12:24]
Hannah
Do I live here now? But yes, very weird. Took a picture of my passport on her personal phone from what it looked like. So that was quite strange. But anyway, getting back to this Lars, like I said, slightly panicked because his credit card details were noted down and he spotted this. Lars then took some of the antibiotics and called his mother again, this time asking her to add money to his phone. And this is 2014. But Lars had left his smartphone at home and was using like an old school brick phone on holiday just in case he lost it like we all did at the time. Lars then also asked his mum to call his health insurance company because he wanted to be brought home with patient transport rather than flying on a normal airplane.
- [13:13]
Sam
Starting something new can be exciting, but also terrifying. When we first started red handed, we had no idea if anyone would even want to listen to two strangers bang on about true crime. But here we are nearly a decade later and we were completely right to believe in ourselves and launch the podcast you're listening to right now. Despite the crippling fear, it also helps when you have a partner like Shopify on your side. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses all around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Gymshark and Mattel to those just getting started Want people to learn about your brand? Shopify creates email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling. It's like you've got a whole marketing team behind you, even if it's just you and your laptop. And if you get stuck, Shopify is always around to share advice with their award winning 24. 7 customer support sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com redhanded go to shopify.com redhanded that's shopify.com
- [14:12]
Hannah
redhanded chime is changing the way people bank. It's not just another banking app. Chime unlocks fee free and smarter banking that's built for you. Not the 1%. Forget overdraft fees, minimum balance fees and monthly fees. Chime turns everyday spending into real rewards and Progress. Features like MyPay give you access to up to $500 of your paycheck anytime. And you can even get paid up to two days early. Earn up to 3% APY on your savings, seven times higher than a traditional bank. And the Chime card is the newest way to unlock safer credit building and cashback all on one card with no annual fees, no interest and no strings attached. My younger self would really have benefited from something like this. Chime is not just smarter banking. It is the most rewarding way to bank join the millions who are already banking fee free today. It just takes a few minutes to sign up. Head to chime.comredhanded that's chime.com redhanded Chime
- [15:22]
Adrian
is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services a secured Chime Visa credit card and MyPay line of credit provided by the Bancor Bank NA or Stride Bank NA. MyPay eligibility requirements apply and credit limit ranges $20 to $500. Optional services and products may have fees or charges. See chime.com feesin advertised annual percentage yield with Chime+status only. Otherwise, 1.00% APY applies. No min balance required. Chime card on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score. Results may vary. See chime.com for details and applicable terms.
- [15:47]
Mabel
Shortly after this, Sandra called Lars back, and this time he sounded really stressed. Lars told her that he was leaving the hotel because he had a strange feeling about the fact they'd copied his credit card details. Then he told his mother to cancel all of his credit cards and said that he had enough cash in hand anyway. Understandably worried, Sandra booked a bus connection to Germany for Lars, since he wasn't allowed to fly. The bus was due to depart the following day at 11.30pm on 8 July from Varna bus station. At the end of the call, Sandra told her son to get some sleep because the journey home was going to be long and horrendous. And this is when things started to get really weird. Moments later, Lars phoned his mum back and said, there's something wrong with the hotel. He didn't specify, but Sandra recalls that Lars was behaving as though somebody else was listening in on their conversation. At the end of the call, Lars simply said, I have to get out of here, and hung up the phone.
- [16:42]
Hannah
And look, I'm not trying to be a hotel racist, but we've all seen Hostel.
- [16:49]
Mabel
Yep.
- [16:50]
Hannah
As we land. God. Where did the. Where was the original Hostel filmed? Because I. Oh, Bratislava. Bratislava. Because I went there and not to the hotel. I wanted to, but my friend was like, absolutely fucking not. Because you can stay in the hotel.
- [17:04]
Mabel
Yeah, you're asking for it there, if you're doing that. No, thank you.
- [17:07]
Hannah
And I just. There is a fear, right? Remote hotel, Eastern Europe on your own. And you phone up and you're like, there's something wrong with this hotel. I'm like, hostel.
- [17:16]
Mabel
No hostel or elevator game.
- [17:19]
Hannah
No.
- [17:20]
Mabel
Between 2:30 and 3:00am, Lars called his mum again and told her that he had left the hotel. In a quiet whisper, he told her that he was being followed by four men and that he was hiding.
- [17:31]
Hannah
Oh, God.
- [17:32]
Mabel
And then he said, I'm high up and could fall. And then he hung up the phone. At 3:06am, he texted Sandra Sefzil 500 what is this? And text her the same thing again 10 minutes later, but because she was worried he was still hiding from the men. Sandra didn't phone him back. Instead, she decided to book him a flight to Hamburg, which was scheduled to depart varna Airport at 4:20pm oh, my God.
- [17:55]
Hannah
I just can't even imagine. Like, you'd just be like, your child is so far away, you have no idea what the fuck is going on. And what can you even do? Call the police and be like, in. Where is he? In Bulgaria? And be like, go find my son. It's terrifying. And again, giving serious hostel vibes. Now, a private investigator who retraced Lars steps that night would later say that Lars may have been followed by men trying to rob him as he was carrying a large Adidas duffel bag and wearing a bright yellow T shirt, which made him stand out. A cab driver later reported that he saw Lars standing at the side of the main road waving frantically at him. And even though this cab driver already had a woman in his car, he stopped and picked Lars up and took him to varna Airport at 5am Top bloke. Yeah, I know. I mean, that tells you, I think, like, how panicked Lars must have looked for this cab driver to stop. But also, if I was in a taxi and a man was standing on the side of the road looking really, really frantic.
- [18:57]
Mabel
Yeah.
- [18:57]
Hannah
I would also be like, why are you stopping? I don't. What are you doing? Please don't let this man into the cab. Like, we don't know what's going on with him. So. Yeah, I know. I don't want to sound like a total dick, but I'd be scared.
- [19:08]
Mabel
Yeah.
- [19:09]
Hannah
So both the cab driver and the female passenger have reported that Lars pupils were very dilated when they picked him up. Now, this could have been due to the antibiotics. Fzil 500. It could have been due to the head injury he'd suffered when he got punched, according to him. Or it could just be because he was in a panic state at the time, thinking that he was being followed or because he was being followed. Once at the airport, Lars called his mother again and told her how happy he was to have made it to the airport. And I can imagine that, the relief, you think, oh, my God, I'm at this place. I'm gonna get home, everything's gonna be fine.
- [19:44]
Mabel
I'm at this place where there are police and security.
- [19:47]
Hannah
Yes, yes. And once you're through the gates, you'll be like, right, no one. No one's gonna come after me here just to rob me.
- [19:52]
Mabel
Yeah. Unless I'm Kim Jong Nam.
- [19:54]
Hannah
Quite. Don't let anyone touch your Face. Don't let any little Asian ladies touch your face. Unless it's me. So, yes, he's happy he made it to the airport. But he did tell his mother that his phone was about to die and he needed her to transfer some money to him using Western Union. Now, neither Lars nor his mother Sandra, had ever used Western Union before, but according to Lars, a Bavarian man that he met at the airport had explained to him how to use it. The man was no longer there, but Lars managed to explain perfectly to his mother how to carry out the transfer. And this particular detail is important because seeing as Lars was able to recall all of that information, it does suggest that at this point at least, he was thinking straight.
- [20:38]
Mabel
Lars's mother then gave him his flight details and transferred him €500. Sandra then told her son to go and see the airport doctor to make absolutely sure that it wouldn't be dangerous for him to fly with the ruptured eardrum. But Lars then told her, they won't let me fly or drive.
- [20:54]
Hannah
Why wouldn't they let you drive with a ruptured eardrum?
- [20:57]
Mabel
The only thing I can think is that you might have to pass through some quite high altitude areas on the way from Bulgaria to Germany.
- [21:04]
Sam
Possibly.
- [21:05]
Hannah
Mm. Mm.
- [21:06]
Mabel
Even still, though, it does seem extreme.
- [21:07]
Hannah
Yeah.
- [21:08]
Mabel
Lars told his mum that he looked dirty because of the hiding places he'd been in earlier. Sandra suggested that he go and freshen up in the bathroom and encouraged him that his ear couldn't be that bad, otherwise they would have admitted him to hospital. At around 9am, Lars entered the doctor's office at the airport where we had a consultation with one Dr. Kostov. That consultation lasted 40 minutes. Dr. Kostov took down Lars passport details, examined his ear and gave him some ear drops.
- [21:32]
Hannah
Why did that take 40 minutes?
- [21:36]
Mabel
The doctor then took Lars temperature, which was normal, which seems absolutely baffling to me for a man in a blind panic, and offered him some tablets, which Lars refused because of the bad experience he had with the Cefzil 500, we think. Then the doctor told Lars that he could fly, but made him sign a waiver and sent him on his way.
- [21:54]
Hannah
Now, according to Dr. Kostoff, Lars seemed pretty nervous when he was in his room going through this appointment, and he said that when a mystery man opened the door to the doctor's office, looked inside and closed it, Lars muttered something, quietly, told the doctor he needed to use the bathroom and left. Now, like I said, this is according to Dr. Kostoff, and we do have to mention that Dr. Kostoff did change his story a number of times when later questioned by investigators, which, look, people change their stories, people forget things. And like that is not immediately indicative of some sort of guilty something, but it's a literal closed room situation and a very specific incident. Like, why don't you remember what happened? It is strange, though. I don't know. And these are the stories that he goes through to begin with. Dr. Kostoff told the police that the man who had come to the door was an airline employee who was looking for Lars at 4.20pm but records show that it was only 9am when the man would have come to the door. So when Lars was in the appointment room, then the doctor said that the man was an employee of the airport, not an airline employee. But why would an airport employee just open the doctor's consulting office door without knocking? I mean, maybe it's too much of a stretch, but it does seem bizarre. And then finally, because Dr. Kostoff changes his story three times, finally, he said that the man who had come to the door was wearing a construction uniform and that he actually had no idea who he was. Those are three very distinct stories.
- [23:30]
Mabel
Yeah.
- [23:31]
Hannah
And even stranger is the fact that later, when Germany's lead investigator came to the airport in Varna, he was presented with a man he was told was the mystery employee who had opened the doctor's office door. So they're just like, here he is, this is the guy that came to the door. You don't need to worry about interviewing everybody and figuring out what actually went on. But the German investigator later found out that this man he was presented with hadn't even been in the country on the day in question. Furthermore, the identity of the actual mystery man cannot be confirmed by CCTV because there is actually a blind spot on the security cameras at the entrance to the doctor's office. So we don't know who it is, but somebody did come, because Dr. Kostoff says somebody did come. But did they? I don't know, because Lars never tells us because he's. Oh, no, he does tell his mum. I don't know. It's really weird. I don't know.
- [24:26]
Mabel
When Sandra realized that her son had not boarded his flight, she phoned the airport. But seems like absolutely nobody there was interested in helping her. So then she phoned the German consulate in varna at around 11pm and spoke to someone called Mrs. Miltrover and explained to her that her son was in trouble, he needed help. About an hour later, Mrs. Miltrover phoned Sandra back and told her that Lars had gone to the airport doctor, that he seemed anxious and that he left to use the bathroom. But he never returned. He left his travel bag, his ID, his phone and his backpack behind. The following day, 9 July, a missing persons report was filed in Germany. That same day, the power plant that Lars worked for commissioned a private detective and a Bulgarian lawyer from Varna to investigate Lars disappearance. Two weeks later, on 24 July, Sandra travelled to Varna and met with the lawyer and the two of them drove to Varna airport to watch the security footage of Lars. Strangely, she was told by staff that the footage of Lars entering the airport was unavailable. And the footage of Lars she was shown by the airport wasn't sent to the police until seven months later.
- [25:37]
Hannah
Now, the most disturbing footage that is out there was of Lars after he left the doctor's office. It's the one that we mentioned at the top of the show and it is out there on the Internet, so you can go watch it for yourself if you want to. In this video you can see Lars sprinting out of Varna airport before slowing to a jog when he suddenly seems to collect himself. Lars then checks his back pocket, which we now know had his passport in. He looks around and turns left about five metres away from some police officers. Then he begins to sprint again as fast as he can behind a reversing bus, jumps over an eight foot fence in seconds and sprints through a field of sunflowers towards the nearby forest. And that is the last glimpse of her son Sandra ever had. She later said that my feelings tell me that my son knows what he's doing. He's getting himself to safety. So let's go through all of the weirdness and the theories about everything we've just learned, starting with the strangeness with the security footage at the airport and Dr. Kostoff. In one short clip of Lars walking past a camera, he's holding food that he'd bought at the airport, but there's no footage of him buying it. And of course there's no footage of him entering the airport either because the airport just said that's unavailable. There is also no footage of Lars going to the bathroom where he went to clean up before he went to see the doctor. Somebody at the airport must have deleted this video or it must have been lost or mishandled or something. Also, and this is very important, all of the videos that Sandra was shown of Lars were cropped, so it's not like they just lost it all. Somebody seems to have made a significant effort to trim down what investigators saw. Another odd thing worth thinking about is why the lead investigator from Germany was told that the mystery employee who came to the doctor's office turned out to be a man who wasn't even in the country at the time. Why is the airport desperately trying to provide an answer here without just letting the investigator do his own digging?
- [27:55]
Mabel
And if that's not weird enough, how about the fact that a few days after Lars disappearance, the German Foreign Office released a notice warning tourists about doctors in Golden Sands, Bulgaria. They said there had been a number of cases where local private doctors had made complex, expensive misdiagnoses and unnecessary treatments. The doctors would then tell patients that failure to pay would result in the threat of being prevented from leaving the country and having their passports restricted. And we have to remember that Lars told his mother that they weren't going to let him fly or drive. As for the CEFSIL 500 Lars was prescribed, one of the private investigators spoke to both Bulgarian and German doctors. Bulgarian doctors didn't see anything odd about it, but German doctors felt that it was a questionable dose to prescribe Lars and mentioned that they rarely prescribe that particular antibiotic. Some experts do say that there could be a connection between the antibiotic and the strange behavior Lars exhibited before his disappearance, but it's a very rare side effect, and it would be dependent on whether he was mixing it with other drugs or alcohol. If he was doing that, it could potentially have led to hallucinations or a panic attack, considering he'd already had a fairly stressful night before telling his mum he was being followed by dangerous men.
- [29:15]
Sam
Starting something new can be exciting, but also terrifying. When we first started red handed, we had no idea if anyone would even want to listen to two strangers bang on about true crime. But here we are, nearly a decade later and we were completely right to believe in ourselves and launch the podcast you're listening to right now. Despite the crippling fear, it also helps when you have a partner like Shopify on your side. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses all around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Gymshark and Mattel to those just getting started. Want people to learn about your brand? Shopify creates email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling. It's like you've got a whole marketing team behind you, even if it's just you and your laptop. And if you get stuck, Shopify's always around to share advice with their award winning 24. 7 customer support. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.comredhanded Go to shopify.comredhanded
- [30:13]
Hannah
that's shopify.comredhanded Chime is changing the way people bank it's not just another banking app. Chime unlocks fee free and smarter banking that's built for you. Not the 1%. Forget overdraft fees, minimum balance fees and monthly fees. Chime turns everyday spending into real rewards and Progress. Features like MyPay give you access to up to $500 of your paycheck anytime and you can even get paid up to two days early. Earn up to 3% APY on your savings, seven times higher than a traditional bank. And the Chime card is the newest way to unlock safer credit building and cashback all on one card with no annual fees, no interest and no strings attached. My younger self would really have benefited from something like this. Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. It just takes a few minutes to sign up. Head to chime.comredhanded that's chime.com redhanded Chime
- [31:24]
Adrian
is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services A secured Chime Visa credit card and MyPay line of credit provided by the Bancor Bank NA or Stride Bank NA. MyPay eligibility requirements apply and credit limit ranges $20 to $500. Optional services and products may have fees or charges. See chime.com feesinfo advertised annual percentage yield with Chime+status only. Otherwise 1.00% APY applies. No min balance required. ChimeCard on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score. Results may vary. See chime.com for details and applicable terms.
- [31:45]
Sam
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- [32:43]
Hannah
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- [34:18]
Mabel
This, along with the fact that he was in a foreign country alone and the alleged fight that he was in on the way back and the copious amount of alcohol he had consumed could have cumulatively led to some sort of mental break.
- [34:31]
Hannah
Now there's also the theory that if Lars ruptured eardrum was a result of a blow to the head, Lars may have had a serious undiagnosed head injury which possibly could have caused some sort of aneurysm. Now these have been known to cause memory issues in people, which could explain why Lars hasn't returned home, if he is indeed still alive. And many believe that Lars may well be living on the streets of Europe somewhere, unaware of who he actually is, which is just some sort of horrible hell mess.
- [35:03]
Mabel
Unknown.
- [35:04]
Hannah
Ugh, God. So, since Lars disappearance, there have been multiple reported sightings of him around the world, which people post on the Facebook group that Sandra has set up through the page. There have been 15 missing Germans found, but no Lars. But the most promising sighting was in 2016, when photos of a homeless man in Brazil were posted. This man had long hair and a beard, but he did look very similar to Lars. So Sandro reached out to the Brazilian authorities, asking them to investigate, but they found that this man's blood type wasn't a match for Lars, but he was someone who was missing. Turned out that this man was a Canadian named Anton Palipa, who had run away from home when he got in trouble for a burglary in 2012. Anton also had schizophrenia and had actually managed to survive the four years that he had been missing with no id, living on the streets. And he had ended up in Brazil because he had managed to travel miles without a passport. Thanks to Sandra, Anton was reunited with his family, who had been looking for him for years. And obviously, a case like this only fuelled Sandra's hope that her son could possibly be out there in a similar situation somewhere.
- [36:18]
Mabel
A private detective known as Rayner, who was hired by Sandra, is apparently still to this day actively investigating Lars's whereabouts. Rainer said that they've done almost everything possible in their investigation. 100 volunteers had searched the entire area around the airport. They'd scanned it from above with a plane and even used a thermal imaging camera attached to a drone. They had a glimmer of hope when they found an improvised hut in the forest and gave a tracker dog one of Lars's jackets to get his scent. But Rainer said that although the dog did seem to be onto something, it lost the trace after a short distance. Pushed to utter desperation. Understandably, Rainer and Sandra even set up speakers in the forest and fixed a loudspeaker to a car broadcasting his mother's voice calling him whilst they drove around side streets, hoping that even if his memory was impaired, he might recognise her voice.
- [37:07]
Hannah
Oh, that's so sad.
- [37:08]
Mabel
Yeah. Then they contacted every TV station, radio station and newspaper to get their message out as far as they possibly could to look out for Lars. As for the Bulgarian police, Rainer said they were next to useless in the investigation. They not only refused to share any information with him, but they also refused to take on board any of his either. Rainer and Sandra firmly believe that Lars is alive out there somewhere, and they vowed to continue their search for him until they find him or his body.
- [37:39]
Hannah
After speaking to doctors in Berlin, PI Rayner believes that it's possible Lars is suffering from amnesia caused by the blow to his head. And Rainer cites an example of a 16 year old boy from America. This boy suffered a head injury which triggered amnesia, which caused him to forget his entire life. This boy then went on to begin a whole new life and grew up to have a wife and two children, but then, at the age of 51, suffered another blow to the head in a car crash. This suddenly caused him to remember his life up until the age of 16 and forget everything after it. Cases like this, Rainer says, are why he and Sandra still hold on to hope that Lars is alive and out there somewhere. And he urges people to keep an eye out no matter where they are. And if they see a homeless man resembling Lars, even if he has a beard and long hair which may hide his features, please to take a photo, note down the location, and to inform them via the Facebook page, because they will follow it up no matter how far away it is. It's crazy. I feel like in other cases of missing people, there's like something that kind of suggests what could have maybe happened. And of course there are many other cases where you're just like, what the fuck? But this is such a bizarre story. Lars was making every attempt he could to come home. It wasn't like he was trying to go out there and fake his own death. He had no reason to. He clearly had a stressful life because his dad wasn't very well, but he had friends, he had a job, he had an employer that cared enough to hire a PI and a lawyer for him. Like, there's nothing that really indicates that Lars was trying to vanish. And it's just so desperately sad. The video footage is what makes it so shocking.
- [39:23]
Mabel
Yeah, I think the most likely scenario is that he did just have some sort of panic attack and legate and God knows what happened to him after that.
- [39:31]
Hannah
And I feel like if he had died, like if he had run out onto a road and been hit, then there is a body that needs to be accounted for.
- [39:38]
Mabel
Yeah.
- [39:39]
Hannah
And also, presumably because his mum and the PI that she hired were looking so hard for him, there would have been notification of, oh, there's a person matching that description.
- [39:49]
Mabel
True. They're looking all over the world.
- [39:52]
Hannah
Quite. But yeah, it's a weird one. It's a weird one. And I think it is one of those bizarre ones. Right? That's just like in 2014 to just go on a lads holiday and to just vanish. Let's just always have an airtag. I know it sounds a bit like flippant, but I honestly, I'm just like, if I ever have kids, I'm sewing airtags into everything. Like, just what the fck. People can just go missing and you're just like a needle in a haystack. I'm like, no airtags on everyone. Airtags for everyone. Fuck it now. But, yeah, that's it, guys. That is this week's shorthand, not sponsored by Apple Airtags, but instead buy Amazon. Though you can buy Apple airtags on Amazon if you should choose to do so. So, I don't know, do one of those things and we'll see you next time after my brain stops being whisked by this mystery. Bye.
- [41:11]
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Hannah
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