Original subtitles

Police are looking for a suspected killer.

Investigators suspect murder.

The man drugged his victims, then robbed them.

This is the sort of case

that gave me the feeling we were dealing with a monster.

People are dying right now. Where is he? What's he planning next?

A particularly scary murder case in Berlin...

POISON KILLER COMA KILLER

For this area, you could say it's a once-in-a-century case.

That's what's so terrible about it, he did this consciously.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

I don't know what reason he'd have to stop.

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES

Nights in Berlin are

colorful, diverse,

STATE PROSECUTOR

and, from my professional point of view,

not totally safe.

Loud music, hedonism,

freedom, sexuality, vibrations, those low bass sounds.

I think it has a lot to do with Berlin's history.

This partition which also divided Friedrichshain...

After having been the location of a death strip,

it went on to become a lawless party scene.

It's like a sort of magic.

Getting high is part of human nature.

Some go out and party and have five beers,

others smoke a joint,

and others snort a line.

You have plenty of possibilities here, but at the same time,

this party scene has a dark side.

What's most terrifying is

how quickly your life circumstances

can be turned completely upside down.

It's actually quite scary.

BERLIN FRIEDRICHSHAIN DISTRICT

MAY 5, 2012

6:25 A.M.

It was just a typical Friday night, the kind we usually have here.

Guests were roaming around the place.

We were working the bar.

All the regulars were here.

It was pretty much business as usual.

FUCKING

The doorbell rang. My boss got me right out of bed.

He stood there and said, "Come to the bar with me."

All I knew then was we had a dead body at the bar.

I didn't know anything else. I didn't know who, why, what.

I remember my colleague who found him

didn't initially realize he was no longer alive

and basically just wanted to wake him up.

He placed a glass of water next to him, saying he'd be back in ten minutes,

then he had to leave.

His skin also changed color. That's when he realized what was going on.

First, I thought it might be a sex accident,

maybe too many drugs, too much alcohol, or a mix of both,

which can definitely also lead to death.

All I know is it wasn't clear from the beginning what had happened.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION BUREAU

Up until then, I didn't know what a darkroom was.

I wasn't really aware of these places where homosexual men meet

to have anonymous sex with each other.

So we did end up taking a closer look at what the place was like.

We did get the impression there was a sexual element.

It was inevitable. It seemed obvious.

It's the kind of place where you'd expect tons of evidence,

including DNA evidence...

There were tissues all over.

We saw the trash, lots of condoms in there.

Securing a crime scene includes a scan

so we can see the crime scene again on our computer later on.

This also includes taping,

meaning tape is attached to the body in a specific grid pattern

to secure DNA traces and fiber traces.

This is our only shot at this exact moment at the crime scene.

But we didn't find anything on the body that revealed their identity.

In that respect, this was initially an unidentified corpse.

FORENSIC MEDICINE

We found clues on the deceased indicating suffocation.

This manifests as point-shaped bleeding

in the eyelids and conjunctiva, on the outside of the eyelids,

on the facial skin, possibly the oral mucosa,

for which we initially had no explanation.

We couldn't find any evidence

during our initial examination with the police

that would have pointed to strangulation and explained our findings.

So after examining the body,

it was unclear what actually happened here.

But there was still an uneasy feeling.

It was obviously very important for us to establish the victim's identity.

And as early as Saturday, we got our first hints from the bar

suggesting a possible identity.

Specifically, one of the employees knew the victim worked at Metro Markt

in a managerial role at the checkout area.

One of my teams drove to Metro Markt with a picture of the victim

and fairly quickly obtained information from the staff as to who it was.

Nicky, who was 32 years old at the time.

Right from the start of that day, when I got up in the morning,

I already felt different. I sort of felt down.

I was in a bad mood. I don't know. I was... Yeah.

And then my phone rang.

A policewoman introduced herself.

"Your brother was found dead in a bar."

When she said that, I dropped my phone.

I totally panicked.

When I saw my parents, it hurt even more

than anything else.

It all hit at once.

I was in so much pain.

Gone, in a matter of seconds, minutes.

Snuffed out.

I still had so many plans with him.

Really.

My parents too.

Our parents.

It was too soon.

I was informed that investigations had been launched.

Given how little we knew at the time,

we initially investigated in all directions with an open mind.

And it would be a mistake to narrow things down too early.

My assignment was to drive to our offices,

then in our interview room,

I proceeded to interrogate the Grosse Freiheit barkeeper.

At that point, he was our most important source,

who could tell us about the location and the clientele.

I therefore had him describe all the guests to me.

Someone must have seen or heard what happened there.

I remember sitting in this room with at least five, six, seven officers.

My boss was there too.

It went on for hours.

Each of us was questioned separately.

Who did you see?

Who was getting it on where, with whom, how, in which booth?

They demanded to know in great detail what a darkroom is,

what happens in there, who does what with whom here.

So it was very...

It really wore me out.

That you're not just an employee at a bar where someone lost their life,

but also, for a brief moment,

being a suspect yourself.

There were clues suggesting a possible homicide,

so we simply assumed this was a homicide.

Nobody just lets themselves be killed quietly.

So I thought there must have been some groaning or screaming,

but nobody could say they had witnessed any arguments or physical altercations.

CHARITÉ BERLIN INSTITUTE OF FORENSIC MEDICINE

During the autopsy,

there were still a few question marks left.

We still couldn't rule out suffocation,

but we also allowed for the possibility of poisoning.

What irritated me was that there were no signs of a struggle.

When someone at this age has a physical altercation,

the situation is totally different.

At first, things just didn't line up.

They took substances, stimulants,

and these, taken in an improper dosage,

may have contributed to Nicky basically dying an accidental death.

That was definitely a possible scenario.

Of course, we also consider whether this is someone

who enjoyed taking certain substances.

We then bring this up with relatives, friends,

anyone who could provide us with information.

Nicky's always had two lives,

and we knew very little about his Berlin life.

When Nicky told us about Berlin,

like that he went to a Kylie Minogue concert

or this or that, he'd tell us about those things,

but never about going on dates in the evenings

or when he just... He never told us about that.

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY

He could actually be a woman with this wig.

He actually could.

He was wearing Mom's wedding dress, and Mom was very thin at the time.

And it fit as if it had been custom-tailored for him.

And then he put on high heels.

It's hard to believe,

but he walked around in them as if he wore high heels all the time.

And he had a lady's waist.

And what was I wearing? Dad's firefighter uniform.

It goes to show that assigning gender roles works really well.

Yes, totally.

I always protected him. That's how I always felt.

Yeah.

Until we got older, then the roles reversed.

Nicky was on this straight path, while I was drifting a bit,

and so he thought, "Okay, let's switch it up."

Village life wasn't for him. He always said that.

He was always dead set on moving to Berlin.

Although Dad did say one day,

"Berlin will be his downfall."

And Dad is usually right.

For Nicky M., we examined blood, urine,

stomach contents, and hair.

Alcohol was the only substance we managed to find.

We tested for 3,500 medical ingredients,

all known illegal drugs and prescription narcotics

and detected none of them.

That was really difficult

because we had no indicators whatsoever to explain the cause of death.

We found nothing on the body.

No wallet, no ID,

no cellphone.

We investigated further.

Did he have a credit card? A debit card?

How many? Were any withdrawals made with the credit cards?

And we were able to establish that the victim's credit card

was used after his death.

5:47 A.M.

BERLIN OSTBAHNHOF STATION

Through investigations at Deutsche Bahn, we were able to establish

that the card was used at around 5:46 a.m. and 5:47 a.m.

in two attempts to buy a ticket at a machine at Ostbahnhof train station

with the intention of going to Saarbrücken.

I imagine he was desperate to get away because he knew what he did.

But he was unable to buy a ticket because the card didn't work.

So my thinking was, did he use a different payment option?

Or maybe he successfully bought a ticket to Saarbrücken later on.

We inquired with Deutsche Bahn,

and, indeed, about an hour after Nicky's card had twice been used unsuccessfully,

another card was used

to buy exactly the same rail ticket to Saarbrücken

at the very same ticket machine that had been used earlier.

Of course, there are account numbers hidden behind it,

and it takes a little bit to get the information.

But we found out the card belonged to a certain Miro.

MAY 5, 2012

ONE HOUR LATER

My eyes open. I'm jolted awake.

I look around, not knowing where I am.

I look up and see a nurse there.

She asks, "Do you know where you are?" I say, "No, where am I?"

"You're in the hospital."

Obviously, the first thing you wonder is, "How did I get here? What happened?"

"Why was I here? Where was I anyway?" I didn't know which hospital it was.

Then, at some point around 6 p.m., 7 p.m., the doctor entered the room

and started off by cheekily asking, "So, what did you take?"

And I told him about the alcohol I had.

But he went on to say, "Well, you must have had something else."

Shortly thereafter, I remembered this encounter.

It was really the only explanation for why I'd ended up there.

I remember it was May 5th, 2012, just before 5 a.m.

I went to the late-night corner store to grab a beer

and a peppermint liqueur for the way home.

Warschauer Brücke was teeming with people on their way home.

People standing around outside the store, looking at timetables,

picking their route.

And then I was alone on this platform.

I was approached by a man. In his early thirties, if I had to guess.

We casually struck up a conversation about how the night was,

what bars and clubs we each went to.

He was also waiting for the train to Ostbahnhof.

So we got on the train together.

At some point, I took a sip from my peppermint liqueur,

and I grimaced because it's not exactly my favorite drink.

So he said, "Hey, if you don't like your peppermint liqueur,

you can have this schnapps I have here."

So we proceeded to swap bottles.

Then, as you do with these small drinks,

you clench it between your teeth and down it.

At that moment, it felt like my head would explode.

It wasn't long before we reached Ostbahnhof station.

He said he knew his way around Berlin well.

He knew which bus stop to take me to.

He would accompany me and take me there.

After a while, I needed help standing up, and I realized something wasn't right.

I touched my forehead. It was soaking wet. I lost my coordination.

The last thing I remember is being bent over forward.

He was still there, of course. And I remember he put his hand on my back.

I also remember he tried to put his hand under my shirt,

around my waist.

And he said, "Are you feeling unwell?"

How I actually got to the bus stop, that's the moment that's missing.

On Monday morning, I went to the police station in Wedding

and reported my credit card stolen

and also that my cash had been stolen.

It didn't even take an hour for the criminal investigators to call me.

I thought, "My God, they really want to find my credit card."

They stated they'd like to come and pick up the clothes I wore that night.

Then I thought, "Okay, maybe something else happened that night."

And the last question the investigator asked

was whether I frequently went to Grosse Freiheit 114.

I said I'd never heard of it.

But I kept thinking about it.

So, when I got back home after giving my statement,

the first thing I did was to look up Grosse Freiheit 114 on my computer.

And I noticed it wasn't very far from where I'd been that night.

The Grosse Freiheit website just had some black text on a white background,

"There was a murder here on Friday night."

And I thought, "Oh man!"

What was important to us was the information we obtained from Miro,

or rather from his hospital report,

in which the attending doctor had raised suspicions

that Miro had been drugged with or had been given liquid ecstasy.

So, what we're talking about here is attempted murder.

The perpetrator was actually intent on taking my life.

And...

I don't know how fortunate I must've been to escape the way I did.

And, of course, a lot pointed to GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy,

as the possible cause of Nicky's death.

I requested for Nicky's toxicological examination to be expanded,

as it wasn't part of the standard examination process at the time.

This substance really wasn't on our radar.

It's not part

of the standard screening procedure we used to apply.

The term liquid ecstasy

is misleading because GHB has nothing to do

with ecstasy or designer amphetamines.

GHB is also referred to as the ultimate knockout drug

to render a victim defenseless.

Only a tiny amount is required

to trigger a severe physical emergency situation

up to the point of death.

There is empirical data

when someone uses GHB as a recreational drug,

in terms of their blood concentration levels.

We also have empirical data regarding the blood concentration levels in people

who suffered severe intoxication through external influence.

So, in the case of Nicky M.,

we came to the conclusion that this was fatal poisoning.

So now we had the weapon, GHB, and this confirmed our suspicion

that the actual murder and attempted murder were connected.

We have two crimes,

a homicide and an attempted homicide,

which are very closely linked to when and where they happened.

Together with Miro, we walked the route he took

with the person who gave him the liquid ecstasy.

With that amount of liquid ecstasy, I shouldn't actually remember anything.

However, I could even remember which platform we arrived on.

I could more or less recall the time.

So we retraced the route

and, of course, they were able to get the surveillance footage.

For the first time, we knew who we were looking for.

Or we at least had an image of him.

The problem was, the images weren't that great.

It is frustrating

because you hope it will be a distinctive person

who will be far easier to describe and recognize.

But that wasn't the case here.

Like two people who've known each other for a long time

and are walking somewhere together.

Nothing would suggest to me

that these two only met for the first time five minutes ago.

Maybe this fits in with the perpetrator's ability

to apparently win over complete strangers in an instant

and to prevent any suspicions from arising in the first place.

He has a stooped posture.

A profiler would probably say he has a guilty conscience. I don't know.

Well.

Difficult.

He took him from us.

Just like that.

Boom, gone.

Yeah.

What we knew at that point was

one homicide was attempted, and one was carried out

within a very short time.

Even for an experienced prosecutor,

that's an extraordinary dimension that opened up there.

If he did this twice within one and a half hours,

then that might not be the end of it.

Yes,

that's me.

BASED ON ORIGINAL PERPETRATOR STATEMENT

I've always led a very normal life.

Determined. Honest.

I had clearly defined values.

At some point, something happened inside of me

that I could no longer understand.

I ask myself a lot of questions, and I'm searching for answers,

but many of these connections and processes are completely alien to me.

I'm in despair because I'm scared of my own actions.

Subtitle translation by: Kristopher Brame