What remained of him was his jacket. His Baseball Cap. Of The Scarf. The keychain and the card, the health card and the vehicle registration certificate for the old green Golf with the Rolling Stones sticker on the bumper. Everything was on the pedestrian bridge, including the trough flowed.
he Had placed the items there himself? Or all of them should be led astray? The police, the friends, the parents?
“New Beverly Hills”
Susan and Dirk Morgenstern not know it. Your son has left you a lot of puzzles. The mystery of his Disappearance. The mystery of his death. Yes, even the mystery of his life, they thought, to know it. Up to that night that changed everything, the night of new year’s eve on new year’s day.
Since then, the parents try to find answers, to bring light into the darkness. For your son, you do, “we owe him”. And in order to remain in an endless cycle of torturous thoughts hanging. Their biggest concern is that the police and the public Prosecutor’s office may close the file, without that it would be clarified what is happening in front of four and a half months in the small Saxon town of Leisnig. How Christian died. And above all: why.
in December 2018. Christian comes four days before Christmas eve, home. His father is the managing Director of a construction company, the family house stands on a hill, called in Leisnig “New Beverly Hills”, the parents are generous. Since the autumn, and they Finance the 20-Year-old a two-room apartment in Bernburg, where he studied landscape architecture and environmental planning. It makes him fun, the fellow students are so loose on the ball as he is.
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The small town of Leisnig, in the river Mulde, across the river to the pedestrian bridge. Here on 1. January 2019 jacket and papers of the student Christian Morgenstern found.
©Thomas Victor
Christian has barely arrived in Leisnig, as he whizzes ahead to Dresden to be his Cousin, you go to a concert, to a day of skiing on wedge mountain in the Czech Republic. Christian sent via Whatsapp, snapshots of his family. Two grinning boys in the snow.
On the 23. December, he is back, adorned with his siblings Sarah, 22, and Elias, 14, the Christmas tree. He is cheerful, relaxed. “My brother and I were very close. There was nothing in those days for depression, or that he has problems,” says Sarah. “He was not changed and has not withdrawn from us. Not even in the weeks before.”
Goodbye
As a cool, funny and full of life, his friends describe him. Even if he was one of the Quieter among them have been. Of he spoke only if it was his favorite topics, the environment and politics, or philosophical questions. Helpful he had been, empathic. And Single. “This was because he had very high demands with regard to women,” say the friends.
The time between the years. After the festive family celebration of Christian lets it rip. 28. December, he grabs the PC Tower out of his nursery into his car. And the office chair. He wants to celebrate a couple of Hundred metres with eight other guys on a multi-day LAN Party. The party rooms are adjacent to the house in which one of the young men lives with his family. “Bye,” calls the Christian to his parents. It is the last Time that Susan and Dirk Morgenstern see her son alive.
The next three days, he and his friends are sitting almost round the clock in front of their computers: Call of Duty, Payday, a mafia game, strategy games. The boys listen to Hip-Hop, Indie and Funk. Get Pizza and kebab, drink Desperados, vodka, banana and coffee drinks. Drugs? Not an issue, say the friends.
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inflatable boats, firefighters and sniffer dogs were used to find Christian
©Sven Bartsch
The night before new year’s eve you are going through, shortly after eight o’clock in the Morning, drive to McDonald’s, then put spaces on the dormitory in addition to the Party. You want to in the evening, celebrations continue with even more people. It is 12.16 am, as Dirk Morgenstern, his son writes a message: “Hello Christian, do you want to come in the summer holiday? Greeting Dad”.
around 18 o’clock, Christian brings his computer stuff home. He’s in the shower and makes up for the new year’s eve party ready: dark pants, black T-Shirt, a sweater from Lacoste, that includes a baseball cap with the inscription “What Happens On Earth”, the words from K. Dot, the Rapper. Over the sweater he pulls a jacket with a thickness of the work. He uses the break to call his father, with the mother on the go. It is 18.31 PM.
Sudden departure
Dirk Morgenstern doesn’t hear the call, he will return later. Since Christian is already back to the celebrations. He says: “I ride with in the summer holidays.” 21.03 at it is there. Seven hours later, he will be gone.
The new year’s eve night. 25 people in it are you now in the Party, Christian center. You will hear House and Techno, to play society games. “Werewolf” and “murder in Palermo”. Shortly after 23.30, you run to the marketplace. They have firecrackers and fireworks, and at midnight, they toast each other with champagne little red riding hood. Christian kisses one of the girls, an old friend.
about two o’clock the group will go again. At the height of the Church square, you will encounter an old married couple, the man does have a hard time with the Run. Christian and the friend to offer the two to accompany you home. You bring it across the pedestrian bridge that leads over the pit. The woman’s Christian five euros as a thank you, and the young people run back in the direction of the Party.
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The sports bag, which must have placed her son at home before he disappeared
©Thomas Victor
The star signs for the seniors Christian as a “very cordial and cheerful that night, not drunk.” And also the friends describe him as “slightly intoxicated”, but “absolutely sane”. Five or six bottles of beer he had drunk in the course of the Evening. There had been no dispute on the Ceremony, Christian has been good on it. The only thing Striking: his sudden departure.
at about 3.45 am he is with his bag in the doorway of the party venue. One of the friends asks, surprised: “you are not Sleeping here?” Christian says: “no, I’ll go home now.” Three girls with whom he actually wanted to go to a piece of the path, not waiting for it. He seemed, as he would be under pressure of time, says one of the party guests.
The bridge over the Mulde
Seven to eight minutes ‘ walk away from the Ceremony up to Christian’s parent’s house just prior to four, he must have his sports bag in the Carport provided. Then his trace is lost. Only one thing is certain: He has to leave the property again .
The new year’s morning. At about eight o’clock it is light, on the pedestrian bridge over the Mulde firecrackers radicals are. And almost in the middle – a work jacket. Against nine it is perceived to be of a stroller for the first time. At about 11.30 PM a local resident picks it up, noticed that she is very wet, though it rained in the night. The man with the jacket and the items he finds and puts them in his hallway.
at about 12.30 PM, Dirk sees the morning star, the black sports bag for his son, with the neon trim in the Carport are available. Exactly where he puts you, if he comes from the Sport. No one else can have you in the night placed on, the property is fully secured with wall and fence, in addition to Bo, the dog would have to beat, in the case of Strangers. Christian is up, and sleeps, thinks the father.
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Susan and Dirk Morgenstern does not believe in suicide
©Thomas Victor
at about 12.45 PM, the phone rings. A man says that he had found Christian’s papers on the pedestrian bridge. The parents go into his room, the bed is unused. You trying to make your son a call. Mailbox. Are you looking for him in the house, in the garden, in the gazebo. Nothing. Susan Morgenstern, the mother of the friend calls, the new year’s eve party took place: “Is Christian with you?” No, he is not.
Dirk Morgenstern goes to a friend of Christian, who has elsewhere celebrated. Fail display. The mother runs up to a vantage point where her son was often. Nothing. Finally, the parents stand on the bridge over the hollow. The residents have described exactly how he has Christian things found: the cards scattered on the floor, the jacket spread like a blanket. The folder with the car documents and the bunch of keys stuck in the outside pockets. The parents immediately: The Christian’s wallet, his debit card and his black iPhone 7 with the red dragon on the cover is missing. Is Christian been invaded? Or kidnapped? There was a dispute, he was pushed into the water? A Jealousy Story? Even from the bridge the parents to choose the emergency call.
missing case
The mother: “suicide, I castle in the Moment is nigh. Who takes off his jacket and sorted his cards before he commits suicide? And to choose a bridge that is not particularly high, if next door is the railway line that runs along and in close proximity of steep rock walls?”
The father: “I have briefly considered whether he could have taken time off from work, even though I could not imagine why. But on the other hand, spoke of the identity card and the health card were on the bridge.”
The mother: “The way of the storage of the stuff seemed weird to us, kind of bogus.”
When the officers from the police station Chub arrive, do not take the place of the eye, the jacket was found, the forensics will call you. Thus, it is unknown whether there has been traces of blood on the bridge, fingerprints or wear on the bridge railing, fiber traces. The police treat the Disappearance of the young man as an ordinary case of Missing.
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Christian and his sister Sarah were close. Assured that he had not worked before his Disappearance, depressed. The photo shows the two at the technical College in 2018.
©hfr
his cell phone does not leave places, a so-called radio cell query in the mobile providers you can. With the help of which you could have the traffic data of all the phones that were switched on during the time in question in the area. For the query, a judge would have been more resolution is necessary for this, in turn, is the suspicion of an Offense and the initiation of an investigation. However, the police sees no concrete suspicion of a criminal Offence.
The phone locating results: The last location of the device was actually in a radio cell, which also covers the bridge. Time: 4.21 PM. The police searched the banks of the trough, or up to about 350 meters away from the water works with the military.
state of emergency
The mother, a trained nurse, explained the officials in the examination of witnesses, Christian seemed neither depressed nor sad, there is nothing to show for you to suicide. After the dramatic events in Christian’s end asked life only for the unexplained death of a friend last August, a hit-and-run. At 20.15 PM Susan writes Morgenstern to her son: “We are very concerned about You. No matter what, we are here for you … We ask and pray that You live. In Love, Your Mother.”
at the beginning of January. The search goes on. Helicopters, divers, boats with Sonar, fire are in use. Sleuths are trying to find Christian’s scent. The police say, nothing speaks against suicide or an accident. The parents and friends say: Nothing speaks for a suicide.
Dirk and Susan let Morgenstern 2000 Flyer printing and consider whether your son might have been knockout drops administered. Whether he was drugged with Chloroform, and somewhere is recorded. Even through the organ trade, you think. Head to the cinema around the clock. And a family in a state of emergency.
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In the house of his parents to remember photos and a large portrait of Christian
©Thomas Victor
is evaluated As the Christian’s Computer, found nothing that would validate the suicide theory of the police. Christian has neither in forums nor suicide methods googled. Browsing history, email, documents, everything unspectacular.
At 7. January set the morning star a criminal complaint because of “suspicion of a Crime against life and health of Christian Morgenstern”. You want to reach, finally, an investigation is initiated. The competent public Prosecutor’s office in Chemnitz, Germany, assessed the situation differently than the parents. Nevertheless, there are now “pre-investigation”, and the police in Chemnitz is to be included.
uncertainty
The parents of the found pieces of clothing from the police to get back. In a cardboard box. Now you have the jacket, but still not your child.
in mid-January. The police will continue to look for the Missing, in parallel, investigations for the banks to run. It turns out that, of the 10,500 Euro, the Christian in 2016, according to the resolution of the training account could have, for only 1.30 euros are available. The surprised parents. Christian was to be economical, and you paid him money every month. He has lent someone a large sum? What if he wanted this until new year’s day?
star crime A girl from Iceland you thought your city was safe. But then came the night und then the ship
came On the account of Christian’s phone, the father discovers that it is on 1. January has yet to be given to 7.32 PM, there is a data connection. That is, the cell phone had to about this time, a working Internet connection through the mobile provider, and you may not have at the bottom of the trough is located. Christian still alive?
Elias, the little brother, writes in a message on the Desk of the Missing: “Christian, I hope you’re healthy and not dead.”
The police insisted, however, on the suicide or accident theory, looking for Clues to mental health problems. Susan and Dirk Morgenstern see no. You are exhausted. The uncertainty wears you down.
15 km down the river from Leisnig
6. February. Against 10.30 a.m. boat from a body of discover scuba divers out of a hose, the face down in the water, 15 kilometers downstream of Leisnig. He has in Branches snagged. The face is wrapped in seaweed. In the case of the dead you find a mobile phone, the cover shows a dragon motif. After a DNA comparison is final: It is Christian.
The parents know the next Morning in the police station Leisnig, that Christian’s watch, were not found his debit card and his wallet. And that there is externally no evidence of foul play. Of the law practitioners observed death time period, 1. to 2. January, passe to his Disappearance. In the police report it is said to this day, there was “no acceptance for a criminal act which has led to the death of the young man. Rather, nothing speaks against a suicidal Action.”
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The parents ask, but: Would a Christian’s body must not exhibit in a fall from 7.30 meters high bridge in a 2.40 to 2.80 metres deep, the flow of significant injuries? The bridge was really the place of death? He would have had to be found already in the first days, between the bridge and the Weir? High water can rinse it over the Weir, or the so-called fish ladder would have, there was only less than two weeks after his Disappearance.
On demand of the star of the Prosecutor’s office says on 25. February: “There are currently no new investigative approaches. The autopsy revealed no evidence of a Crime. He had a little bit of alcohol in the blood, no drugs.” But the parents have the feeling that there is something, you know, still can’t grab. And new puzzles are added.
funeral service
About the replacement SIM card of the dead, which is until today the police, the older Text and voice found the news, in those of narcotics, the speech, by Ott and Herb, names for marijuana, “10 euros per gram” and “super sharp stuff for the 8-course”, “Cookies” and “Dutch rolls”, of “high” and “super silver haze”, but also of customers and trips. Between October 2015 and March 2018, the drugs are in irregular intervals between the Christian and any other Person*. Over the drugs the other Person is talking, mostly, and Christian responds.
The questions, the shocked parents, as they speak with the police: Was your son in something that is deadly for him, it ended? He knew too much, he wanted to get out? Or was needed in the Messages, only the talk of drugs for their own, possibly for a few well-Known? The small amount of information in the news might suggest. Sarah told their parents that Christian had smoked up to the beginning of his studies, occasionally. The more you do not know. Whether it is in terms of drug investigations? The parents don’t know it. The police covered.
at the beginning of March. Almost 400 people come to the funeral service in the St. Matthäi-Kirche in Leisnig. Many of the wines. The concern is doing the parents a good, in your Acknowledgements, you write: “The great confidence placed in esteem gives us the courage and strength to continue searching for the truth.”
The truth. She seems further away than ever, as Dirk and Susan can Morgenstern take your solicitor a few weeks later, finally, insight into the act. You know, that on 1. January has short reset attempts after ten o’clock an unknown Person, the password of Christian’s Apple Account and to get access to their entire communication. At a time when did not know the family that he is missing.
Open questions
Even more incredible: Apparently, already in January, the police has determined that Christian’s cell phone at 2. and on 7. January for a short time in the reception area of the family’s own WLANs has found. That someone with the cell phone of the dead, which was concluded a month later with him out of the river, has resided in the vicinity of your house. How can that be? Who was that? And the phone, then came back later to the body?
Dirk and Susan Morgenstern’s hope Christian’s rescue from the water, sheltered in a phone to. That the access data by Cybercrime specialists can be recovered, and the police then to all Whatsapp messages from the time around new year’s eve passes. Whether the parents finally got answers?
*for legal reasons cannot be named Name and gender here.
