ColdCaseDetective
ColdCaseDetective
Varna Vanishing: The Unsolved Disappearance of Lars Mittank
Lars Mittank, a compassionate and easy going young man, was a hard working engineer and overall fantastic family man of Itzehoe, Germany. His free-spirited personality and love of all things travelling was cut short by an unexplainable, unsolved disappearance in July of 2014, leaving all who knew him around Northern Germany and the entirety of the internet at large grasping for answers in a sea of evidence that drowned us all in doubt…
As a hope to provide more substantial reasoning built upon observable evidence and situational analysis, this is an examination of Lars Mittank’s unsettling disappearance at the Varna Airport in Bulgaria and the mysterious CCTV footage that was released soon thereafter...
This is Cold Case Detective.
Researched and written by TJ Ruesch
Episode narrated by William Earl
Music by CO.AG
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[CCTV Footage]
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Los mitts, Hank, a compassionate and easygoing young man was a hardworking engineer and family man of itself Germany, his free spirited, personality, and love of all things. Traveling was cut short by an unexplainable unsolved disappearance in July of 2014, leaving all who knew him around Northern Germany and the entire of the world at large grasping for answers in a sea of evidence that drowned us all in doubts as a hope to provide more substantial reasoning built upon observable evidence on situational analysis. This is an examination of law's Metanx unsettling disappearance at the Varna airports in Bulgaria and the mysterious CCTV footage that was released soon after this is cold case to tell Lawns, mid tank was born on February 19th, 1986, near Berlin, Germany from Berlin, a young law's and his parents moved to Mon where his mother, Sandra and her husband had resided alongside their families for decades. Not long after his family moved to Italy, Germany, the capital of the Steinberg district in Northern Germany. It's a hoe is a smaller town compared to major cities around North central Europe, featuring a population of just 31,000 as of 2019. It is a quiet place throughout most of the year. Aside from the first weekend in August, when commuters from the nearby Wacken open air, a heavy metal music festival held in Wacken Germany use it's a whole shuttles for transportation. Overall, the town has a gentle aura that made raising a small family, quite the easy endeavor for the mid tank. Couple, thus, as long as navigated childhood, he found it easy to make friends and always got along well with his classmates. He fit right into the soft-spoken low key nature of his fellow. It's a whole community and found much social and educational success because of it last loved outdoor activities. And as a teenager found a love for fishing and diving expeditions. He would often go on weekend excursions with his school friends, sometimes even vacationing outside of Germany to see what other European countries had to offer. Without a doubt though, Lars, his favorite pastime was cheering on his favorite football club, the hometown S V Virta Bremen green whites. Virta Bremen competes in the top tier of the German football league system. And while they aren't considered powerhouses of their league in the 21st century laws bled their colors and supported them. Nonetheless, he didn't care about championships and honors. He simply devoted himself to his favorite team and carried that fiery spirits wherever he went, when lost wasn't attending Virta Bremen matches with his friends or chasing adventures around it. So he was diving deep into his textbooks on studying to become an engineer foregoing. The traditional four year university course last went the route of a specific trade taking extra coursework and advanced training classes to become a power plant operator at a coal fired power plant laws excelled beyond expectation. And after receiving top marks in all of his courses, he found employment at the Villa helm, shaven power plants. This new job led laws 150 kilometers away from his family and friends back home in its a home,
Speaker 2:But he made sure never to forget them and kept in tight communication with everyone, a symbol of his devotion and love for those around him. That familial sacrifice was seen most drastically in 2012, when laws, his father suffered a stroke and needed special care moving forwards laws living near village shaven would go home on weekends between work shifts to help Sandra take care of his father while he could have been taking additional trips. So hanging out with his friends, he chose nursing his father back to full health. Instead he was always thinking of others, no matter what life threw at him outside of his ailing father lost his life was otherwise smooth sailing for two years. Following the stroke in 2014, he continued his sporting ventures and enjoyed a healthy relationship with his girlfriend off several years. Everything appeared to be going as plant. That is until one of his many vacations, took a turn for the worse. And after a bizarre set of events on the coast of Bulgaria,
Speaker 1:Lars disappeared,
Speaker 2:Never to be seen or heard from again. Now let's turn
Speaker 1:To the timeline of events that led up
Speaker 2:To Lars's disappearance in the early summer months of 2014, last midnight decides he needs a vacation from the constant stress of balancing work and tending to his father. He and five friends, three from childhood and two from school to sign, to plan a trip to Varna Bulgaria, a coastal city along the black sea. It's not the normal type of vacation for laws, but his friend's crew has an open reservation. And Lars jumps on board. The opportunity on June 30th later that season Lars and his friends flight Ivana and check into hotel Veeva, a full star lodge along golden suns beaches
Speaker 1:On the Bulgaria Riviera over the next few days of the vacation, law's breaks from his group of friends to play football with a group of high school graduates on the beach. His friends all stayed behind at hotel Viva to eat by the pool and party in their roots. But last links, the physical activity and is considered a pleasant guy by the other beach footballers at 11:00 PM on July 3rd, the fourth day of the vacation, Lance reconvenes with his five friends and they all attend the mystery of golden suns bar to watch Costa Rica and the Netherlands in the world cup quarterfinals match throughout the night and into the early morning hours of July 4th laws on his friends exchange flags of their home football clubs with others around the bar laws. Where's his Virta Bremen Josie proudly like usual and with a few drinks in both he and his friends, the flag trading with other patrons in the bar upsets a group of Bavarian high school graduates. These young men starts an argument with laws, whether it's for his hometown Jersey or ornery antics with the world cup flags is unknown, but Lars and his friends quell their bickering and end the nights on a positive note. Another few hours pass and at 4:00 AM on July 4th, Lars and his five friends of a lost patrons to leave the mystery of golden Sans bar. Just off the 4:00 AM. Two of laws, his friends, Tim and Paul suggests the cruise stop at a nearby McDonald's for food lawns, declines the offer, having little appetite for fast food and considering his athletic diet for sports and nutrition. He breaks off from the rest of his friends and starts the one kilometer Trek back to the hotel. However, not long after leaving the group, lawns is attacked and beaten by a gang of either Russians or Bulgarians. He escapes without any major injuries except for a torn eardrum due to a blow to the left side of the heads and returns to hotel Veeva to sleep it off. After a few hours of rest, law's wakes at noon on July 4th and immediately phones his girlfriend. He tells her of how he believes that the gang that attacked him was hired by the FC Bay in Munich fans that argued with him at the golden suns bar, remembering how they told him the night before that hiring someone to beat someone else up for money. Isn't that difficult in Bulgaria laws, his girlfriend pleads with him to get his ear checked out by a doctor. But last says he doesn't think there would be a medical office open on the weekend. He goes on to tell his girlfriend, he hopes his ear will heal naturally and ends the conversation that same evening law's rejoined. His friends wants more for a night of celebration and drinking in town. No further incidents occur. And everyone has a great time. The same good fortune continues over the weekend on both July 5th and sixth as laws and the crew relaxed at their hotel and the vacation winds down to an end on July 7th, just before 12:00 PM last checks out of the hotel, but still can't shake the pain he has in his left ear. From the fight he realizes flying with a hurt ear, could damage his hearing and slow him down at his job. So he hails a comp with one of his friends and visits a doctor's office between 12 and 1:00 PM. Lars is checked out by a practitioner who diagnosis him with a ruptured eardrum and tells laws. He cannot fly in his current state. Instead, the doctor refers large to the Saint Anna hospital in Varna for additional assistance before going to the hospital. However, law's returned to hotel Viva on Rhonda[inaudible] with his friends later that afternoon at 5:00 PM, lawns implores everyone to fly home without him saying, he'll find a way back to Germany after treatments via travel insurance. A few hours later at around 8:00 PM, a shuttle bus picks up laws is find friends from hotel Veeva and takes them to the airports laws, waves, goodbye, and climbs into a separate tab of his own that transports him to Saint Ana hospital. Amir 40 minutes passed by before. Lars is examined by an ear nose and throat specialist in St. Anna at 8:40 PM. However, in a strange twist, there is a communication debacle between the ENT specialist on laws. Thus laws is never admitted to St Ana, but does receive a prescription for 500 milligrams of SEF. ProSal a common antibiotic used for ear infections and 9:41 PM. Law's exit St. Ana and finds the same cab that dropped him off. Still parked outside the hospital's entrance last claims inside and asked the driver to take him to the nearest pharmacy. The pharmacy in question, isn't carrying enough SEF ProSal tablets to fulfill laws, his prescription. And so he asked the cab driver to take him to a second pharmacy at 10:05 PM. Lavs finally receives his full order of SEF ProSal and asked the cab driver to take him to one final destination, a cheap hotel. The cab driver informs large that due to the popular summer season, almost all of the hotels in the area would be booked. However, he knows of one possibility and drives loss to the hotel color Varner, a small lodge in a poorer area of the city. Five minutes later at 10, 10:00 PM, Lars arrives at hotel color and pays his cab driver with a hefty tip. He thinks about grabbing water at the convenience store across the street, but notices a few men dressed in dark clothing, milling a bounce and thinks better of it. Instead last checks in at the front desk of hotel color and pays for his room with a credit card between this time and 11:00 PM logs ventures down to the hotel bar and fills up on water. They're both to quench his first. And so he can take the SEF resil tablets just after 11 laws. His behavior begins to change and he calls his mother Sandra from his cheap cell phone because he left his new smartphone back home in Germany. His lesser phone needed minutes charged to it's to make outgoing calls. Lars asked Sandra to put money towards the phone minutes to which she agrees. This is where Lars finally informs his mother about the weekend's events. He tells her about the arguments in the golden suns bar, the fights with the soccer fans, the ruptured eardrum, and how the ENT doctor mocked him and refused to speak to him in English, laughing him out of St. Ana. Sandra is understandably perturbed about her son's stories, but she tells him she'll file a claim with foreign health insurance to secure a patient transports back to his home in Germany, a few minutes passed by and Sandra calls law's back. She tells him about the health insurance claim, failing to which laws responds with more cryptic behavior. He tells Sandra that he needs to leave because there was something off about hotel color. He goes on to ask Sandra to cancel his credit cards because apparently the front desk clerk had copied his credit card upon check-in and that bothered him as he had never witnessed that process at a hotel before Sandra double checks with the bank to make sure she can cancel the cards and unblock them later. But the bank assistant tells her it's not possible. Nevertheless, laws pleads with his mother to cancel them anyway, claiming to have enough cash on hand. Another couple of minutes go by and Sandra books, laws, a bus out of Vanna for the following night at 11:30 PM. On July 8th, she implores her son to get a good amount of sleep and rest up for the next day's journey before the clock constraint, midnights. However, last call Sandra wants again, this time more paranoid than before he goes on about something being wrong with the hotel, but it doesn't go into further detail acting as if his room was wiretapped and someone is recording his every move. Sandra tries to comfort her son, but laws' ends the call saying he needs to get out of that sometime between two 30 and 3:00 AM. Law's called Sandra wants more whispering to her that he is being followed by four men who wants to kill him. Laws sounds more frightened than ever before, but hangs up soon after calling at 3:06 AM laws' texts. Sandra asking her what's quote, SEF zil 500 is he repeats the text again, three 15, apparently confused by his SEF Brazil tablets. At this point, Sandra knows the situation is more dire than originally thought. And books, laws, a flight out of Varna airport for 4:20 PM. Later that day on July 8th, a couple of hours later at around 5:00 AM law's is spotted waving at a new cab driver on the side of the road. The driver picks Lars up and takes him to Varna airports. The other female passenger in the cab reports last pupils to be severely dilated after arriving at the airport later that morning laws meets a man inside of the terminal, who explains to him how to send and receive money through the Western union banking system. Last calls his mother again, careful not to burn through his cell phones battery and ask her to send him money via Western union. Sandra is confused as neither. She nor Lars has ever used it before, but she agrees to send him 500 euros per his request. Sandra also gives laws the information regarding his flight that evening, but also asked him to check in with the airport's medical office to make sure he is safe to fly in the event that the doctor suggests. Otherwise. Sandra also gives laws. The info for the bus ticket sheet, bought him on the previous night as well. Last week comments that they won't let him fly or drive. And that he looks to shoveled from her hiding around earlier that night, Sandra suggests cleaning up in the bathroom and calling back when he has new information. A few minutes later after setting up the Western union transaction, Sandra calls laws again, but after hearing only on unintelligible whisper from last, the call shuts off. This is the last point of contact Sandra makes with her son. She attempts to call again, but law's never answers at around 9:00 AM. Lost. Finally makes it to the airport's medical clinic and meets with a doctor cost down over the next 42 minutes. Dr. Costell studies lines, his passports gives him medicinal airdrops and clears him with a normal temperature of 37.2 degrees Celsius. Dr. Castello attempts to give him more pills as well. But last refuses regardless Dr. Castile lets laws. No, he is healthy enough to fly. He'll just need to sign a waiver laws signs this waiver, and then asks to use the restroom whispering under his breath about coming right back. It is at this time around 10:00 AM on Monday, July 8th, 2014, Los bolts from the medical clinic, flees the terminal and runs away from the airports. He climbs a fence escapes into an adjacent meadow and disappears into a sunflower field along Bulgarian highway 82. This is the last confirmed sighting of laws, Mitt Hank, over the next couple of hours, Sandra mid Hank attempts to locate her son after losing all communication with him. She calls the honorary consulate in Varna and speaks to Ms. Metova at 11:00 AM informing her of the situation and hour later at 12:00 PM, Ms.[inaudible] returned Sandra's call and informed sir of laws, his frantic escape from the airports. She says law's left all of his belongings behind and hasn't been seen since the following day on Tuesday, July 9th, a missing person's report is filed on behalf of last Mitt, Hank in Germany, the Vilma shave and power plant hires, a private detective and lawyer based out of Varna. And the investigation into laws is bizarre. Disappearance begins nearly seven years later, despite countless search and rescue operations and a few potential sightings. Lars mid tank is still missing his family and friends, scouring Europe for any remaining clues, despite the time passed without any credible evidence coming to the surface. Not long after the missing persons report was filed. Bulgarian officials brought in Sandra mid sank to show her CCTV footage recorded at Devonna airports. The morning Lars arrived and subsequently ran out just prior to vanishing. Some of these clips were eventually released to the public as well as in all cases regarding missing people. Security footage is our best tool to tracing that final steps and getting a best glance at their situation. You can find a link to this footage in the show notes in the footage, we see lawns recorded walking through the airport, terminal with his luggage under normal circumstances. He looks as if he's simply walking from point a to point B. However, after he looks over his shoulder and enters the CCTVs blind spots, the tape cuts to a later point in which last sprints back in the opposite direction without luggage and exits the tonal altogether, then outdoor cameras capture loss, completely abandoning the airport property itself, supposedly scaling the fence in these clips. We don't see anyone explicitly tailing or following laws, or really any suspicious figures at all. What Lars is running from isn't concrete. And the video's only adds to the mystery. They do confirm that law's was quaint, obviously troubled on whatever he was dealing with during those final few days in Varna, wasn't just real, but very severe to the only anomaly reported about the CCTV clips is that Sandra mid tank was actually shown different footage to what the public has access to in the interviews. Following the investigation, Sandra told reporters that she saw additional security footage of Lars outside the airports in these clips. One can see laws navigate around two police cars as if he was avoiding capture. Sandra went on to say that judging from these clips, Lars was acting in a stable frame of mind and was operating with a plan. She said his actions were stealthy, moving behind buses on piles of sand before running towards the fence. Again, we do not have access to this portion of the CCTV files, but if Sandra and other investigators do have this information available to them, it does put a different perspective on Lars activity. It does not answer the question
Speaker 2:Why, but it does give us some information in a case with precious little. Now let's turn to the most prominent theories in answering the question of laws, mid tanks, unsolved disappearance, when dissecting the strange case of law's mid-pack many people wonder if laws wasn't imagining the,
Speaker 1:Was it men following him in the final hours of his movements around Varna, but the four men who assaulted him on July 4th were indeed stalking him as he finished up his vacation. The big question, however,
Speaker 2:Is why, why would these men continue to follow laws? Even after inflicting severe pain on him and letting him go? Some people wonder if Lars had actually escaped. The initial first fight had said something to the four gangsters as he ran off and thus coax them into further retribution. It would explain why laws only had a ruptured eardrum and nothing more permanent. And also why he'd be worried about
Speaker 1:The four men finding him in the first place, because he said something he regretted and felt like it put his life at even greater risk. The Forman would have then eventually found him, waited for his friends to leave and then followed him to the airport where they met him in the bathroom.
Speaker 2:After his pre-flight checkup. At first, this may sound like a plausible theory, but it doesn't make much sense when you consider Larose's actions. Following the scuffle, he still went out with his friends the next couple of nights after July 4th and would have put himself in the public side where the gangsters could find him show. Maybe he felt protected in a group of people, but he would know that
Speaker 1:The gangsters could just follow him until he was alone. In addition, no one besides Lars ever reported, seeing suspicious men follow him or around him after July 4th. In fact, even last himself was acting usual up until his friends flew back to Germany, outside of not eating much, which can be linked to the incredible heat
Speaker 2:Laws was being laws. There was no reason to think he was being stalked by a nefarious crew of criminals. So if Lars wasn't running from a gang of hireable, guardians want, could he have been paranoid about, there are those who believe laws was actually in cahoots with a group of men, all parts of
Speaker 1:A larger criminal organization, helping them to pedal drugs. It is possible that if laws was dealing narcotics, it was against his own will. And not necessarily by his design. These theories suggest that after laws was roughed up by the full Bulgarians, on the way back to the hotel on July 4th, they gave a proposition help them, would their drug operation or suffer worse consequences than a busted eardrum, not having much of a choice. Laura's agreed to the deal and went back to hotel Viva under the pretense that he had simply been beaten up a little by the Bulgarians, after his confrontation at the golden suns bar. And that it was no big deal. This would explain why laws was hesitant to go to the doctors are suggested by his girlfriend because he didn't want to alert anyone else of the situation or bring suspicion upon his motives laws then acted like his usual self for the remainder of the vacation and used his ear as an excuse, not to travel home with his friends. It was after his friends left and he realized he was alone on stuck in a horrible situation. That loss felt overwhelmed. And it's the conversations with his mother on the phone and his paranoia regarding his credit cards may be the night he was supposed to drop off. The alleged narcotics was the night he spent at the hotel color and was captured by the hotel CCTV, meandering aimlessly in the lobby almost as if he were distressed. People also like to point out that laws was using the same cab driver the night of July 7th and suggest that he had maybe been sent by the Bulgarians to escort laws or keep an eye on him. As he made the drop for whatever organization had threatened him. The most intriguing points to the drug cartel theory is the revelation made by reports of the airport, CCTV footage, capturing laws, avoiding detection by police, as he disguised himself, running away from the terminal. It's possible that the airport itself was a drop points. And after last fulfilled his part of the plan, he took off into the distance. Careful not to be arrested, fearful that he was a fugitive of the law. It would explain Lance's bizarre moves and give reason as to why someone would completely change their personality and behavior in the blink of an eye. However, if laws did enter some sort of pact with Bulgarian drug peddlers, there isn't very much physical proof outside of circumstance laws, his suitcase and luggage were recovered at Vaughn's airports, and there were no illegal substances or any other drugs amongst his personal artifacts. Not only that, but the question must be asked if laws was forced to get involved with the drug trade at the request of a few street gangsters. Why wouldn't he just tell the police he'd have the busted eardrum was proof of coercion, as well as witnesses who saw the confrontation with the Bavarian football fans at the golden suns bar and heard their verbal threats about hiring muscle to assault laws himself. It is not as if no one would believe him. The area he wound up in on July 7th was a poorest section of Vanna and well-known for both human trafficking and higher crime rates. It's within the realm of possibility that laws into trouble, but also totally plausible law enforcement would be sympathetic to his situation and get him back to Germany safely. There are those who wonder if laws wasn't threatened to do this, but rather got in on a drug transaction for the money, pretending not to want McDonald's on July 4th. When in reality, he was meeting up with people in a pre-planned event. The problem with this line of thinking is laws had never engaged in criminal masses before, and it seems unlikely he would put his steady job on flourishing relationship in jeopardy, all for an incredibly crime, hundreds of miles from home. I didn't know anyone in Varna nor did he speak either Bulgarian or Russian. He never showed signs of living a double life and breaking bad on a random summer nights during a relaxing vacation. Doesn't make sense. So if lawns wasn't running from gangsters or involved in a drug ring, was there anyone else who could have been responsible for scaring laws away? One suspects, a few theorists have pointed out is the doctor who treated Lars at the Varna airport right before he disappeared. Dr.[inaudible] Dr.[inaudible] now changed his statements over the course of the initial investigation and made interesting claims about who exactly was in that examination room. When laws run outs, cus Dow's first testimony claimed that a man in an airport uniform unexpectedly entered the office while laws was being treated, which spooks laws and led to his escape from the medical station. This man was described as an employee of the airline that laws was using to fly home to Germany and was actually looking for laws at that moment. The next statement Kusto gave mentioned an airport laborer walking into the examination room, not an airline employee. Finally, in the third claim, cussed out, told investigators that he did not know who the intruder was and that he did not recognize him as either an airline employee or a separate worker when investigate eight is attempted to locate this man from the third statement, they were introduced to a man who was said to have bead in this mysterious, however, after exhaustive facts checking, it was, I learned by police that this man wasn't even in Boulder area, the day loss disappeared, only clouding the entire airport's predicament. Not only this, but there are holes in doctors because style's first two statements as well. Laws visited the airport medical site at around 9:00 AM, but his flight wasn't scheduled until four 20 and there were no travel alerts associated with that specific flights. So why would an airline representative be looking for a passenger so early on, how would they know loss was with the doctor or the fact that he was even at the airport so early in the first place? Similarly, if the intruder wasn't an airline employee, but rather a maintenance worker or other labor for the airports, why would they just walk into an examination room unannounced? That would be a pretty large breach your privacy on very abnormal. If it was true, if someone did barge into the doctor's office while laws was getting checked on, it's not out of the question that being in a vulnerable States of mind, laws panicked and ran outs, thinking this intruder was out to get him. However, not even that scenario lines up with official reports. Remember when Sandra called the honorary consulate, they told her that loss had asked to use the restroom. And Dr. Castile gave him permission, believing that laws would return and collect his luggage. So in this scenario, that was no third man and laws didn't make a run for it until he was out of the office, who is telling the truth was Dr. Castile really involved, or authorities have ruled him out as a suspect. And there doesn't seem to be any motive for him wanting laws out of the story. Anyway, it just doesn't make sense as to why he would lie. Could it be an honest mistake? Absolutely. But that would be four separate misspoken testimonies. And that does lead one to see Dr. Casto in a suspicious light, was he paid off to change his story while it is unlikely, but plausible regardless, we'll never have definitive proof of exactly what happened in that examination room as airport CCTV cameras do not capture the entrance to the office space, making it a blind spots without the downs, the most popular theories surrounding laws, Metanx unsolved disappearance revolve around the idea that loss suffered from an unfortunately timed mental health crisis or similar psychological break. Some people are quick to blame the medicine prescribed to laws by the physician on July 7th, just after last checked out of hotel Veeva with his friends, the medicine in question SEF ProSal wildly popular antibiotic in Bulgaria is not as widely spread a drug in Germany while it's highly effective against ear and other bodily infections. German health officials are wary of its possible side effects, including but not limited to hallucinations and potential drug induced psychosis. It should be mentioned that these types of side effects are extraordinarily rare, basically never happening at all. But experts have warned that SEF ProSal taken with other substances, such as alcohol can exacerbate the drugs, various ill fated effects. It is a known fact that laws was drinking alcohol with his friends on the vacation prior to receiving the SEF ProSal and it is possible he was taking other pills to prescription. No recreational, thus laws could have suffered a reaction to the SEF ProSal the alcohol or other drugs and fallen victim to drugs, powerful side effects. It is also important to recognize that laws is dosage of SEF. ProSal 500 milligrams was higher than most prescriptions of the same type, and could also have played a role in creating a stronger reaction to the negative aspects of the antibiotic. Not only that, but it seems as if Lance himself was wary of the drug the night in which his paranoia began, he sent two texts to his mother, Sandra asking her what's quote, SEF zil 500 walls, maybe as a reaction to feeling the strong antibiotics, affecting him in an unsettling way. Not only that, but these side effects in combination with being alone in a foreign country. And after experiencing a potentially traumatic events at the hands of the Bulgarians could have tipped the scales and left laws to deal with new anxieties, panic, and hallucinations without the appropriate care to handle him spinning off this theory, our questions of laws, his mental health in general, and potential risk of developing schizophrenia laws. His age at the time puts him right on the point of the demographic who are most likely to see an onset of schizophrenia prior to age 30. His symptoms also line up with those often seen in schizophrenia patients who are early on in their diagnosis, such as the feelings of being followed, losing control, imminent death. And of course, hearing voices, seeing things that aren't there and physical sensations that's do not exist. Everything laws had dealt with leading up to that moment could have triggered his own psychosis and thus left him afraid and paranoid. It should be stated, however that no one in the[inaudible] family has ever displayed a history of schizophrenia, no was lost, considered at risk by medical professionals back home lawns did have some water, a stressful life with his demanding job and his father's ailing health not helping matters, but again, there were no warning signs or previous diagnoses. That's a, from the speculation that loss was dealing with the onset of schizophrenia. So if it wasn't a mental disorder, could laws have been dealing with a deeper physical issue than just a ruptured eardrum. Some theories detailing a much more complex problem, figuring laws to be suffering from repeated brain aneurysms, leading to retrograde amnesia and the inability to create new memories. This may explain why laws seemed confused and at odds with everyone around him, he may have continually forgotten why he was where he was. This alone would spin anyone through cycles of emotional and psychological distress, potentially unlocking further panic and unrelenting terror while a more severe brain injury is certainly in the cards. Remember that Lars had been checked three separate medical professionals. All of whom told him he was only suffering from the eardrum rupture. Maybe Lance was convinced there was something worse happening inside of his head, developing symptoms of hypo Candelaria. And when the doctors continue to tell him, no, he lashed out and ran away. Maybe this is why last had that awkward encounter with the ENT specialist at St Anna's. And while he ran away from Dr. Costell, because he believed he was dying, but was being told, he wasn't of course, this may have been an issue in of itself and not necessarily the effects of a traumatic brain injury, but it would explain the bouts of confusion. Also, it should be stated that Lars was lucid enough to call his mother multiple times, engage in conversation with others, navigate complicated bank transfers and credit card functions and travel around Europe. So whatever he was dealing with, it wasn't 100% debilitating. If loss was totally incapacitated, he wouldn't have slipped through the cracks. So seamlessly, despite the countless abnormalities surrounding largest case, there is still hope he is alive while the summer's in Vanna, Bulgaria can get incredibly hot. Lars was an experienced outdoorsman and theoretically could have survived. The elements, the facts he ran off without his belongings, his wallet, cell phone, and any other necessities do not increase his chances of survival, but certainly don't guarantee death like all major missing persons cases that have been countless sightings of laws made by the general public in the seven years, since he vanished into the sunflower fields around Varna airports, one truck driver saw a man eerily similar to Lars his physical description hitchhiking along a Varna highway. About a year after he went missing. Another sighting, alleged loss was living as a homeless man in Poland. While one person posted their supposed meetup with laws in Canada on Reddit three years ago, while none of them have been confirmed. There was one testimony that led investigators to believe they had actually found laws in December of 2016 or authorities in Porto Velo. Brazil discovered a homeless man bearing a very strong lightness to laws walking along a highway, the man was barefoot disoriented and disheveled. When police asked who he was, he was unable to remember where he came from or even what his own name was. He carried no idea
Speaker 2:Densification and was confused as to how he got there. Law enforcement took him to a nearby hotel and a photo of the man sleeping, circulated around the internet like police people.
Speaker 1:This man was law's mid sank thinking it was him hiding behind him,
Speaker 2:The massive beard and matted hair ultimately, or authorities.
Speaker 1:This man was in fact not lost, but another missing man, a Canadian humanitarian worker
Speaker 2:Named Anton[inaudible] who had disappeared in 2011 while it didn't end up solving laws is mystery. It did give hope to the fact that finding laws alive and breathing is not out of the question. He'd probably be found in a similar state to Anton confused and unaware of his situation. It's also proof that no matter how long we go between someone's disappearance and discovery, we cannot give up hope because unless evidence proves otherwise, they could still be out there alive and desperate to return home. Before we divulge our hypothesis, we want to make it known that our conclusions presented in cold case, detective are purely logical speculation based on evidence circumstance and factual subtext. We are only privy to the same information presented in each episode. And we do not attempt to promise certainty or an expert guarantee on the findings we reach in closing, we simply observe research and report in the case of laws, Metanx on solved disappearance. We believe there is not just one single reason to blame, but rather a collection of ideas pulled from the popular theories. We've just discussed first and foremost, the chance that laws went into the vacation with already accumulating stress is higher than what a lot of people think. You have to remember that last spent the last year and a half commuting between work and his hometown on the weekends to help his mother take care of his father. This combined with balancing a relationship and the pressure of operating a power plant could have created a bubbling foundation of untapped anxiety. He was only 28 years old and took on a lot of extra challenges at such a young age all while maintaining a sense of normality to his friends and family. This anxiety only worsened on July 4th when loss was attacked on his way, home from the bar in the middle of the night in a country foreign to him while he managed to survive and continue on with the vacation as if everything was normal, this facade only forced the building stress and anxiety deeper. Then when his eardrum caused enough pain to force him to stay behind in Varna, as his friends all flew back home to Germany, he was suddenly isolated
Speaker 1:Loan again in a place he wasn't used to an event
Speaker 2:Like that in itself is incredibly stressful. So when you compound that with unchecked anxiety and a traumatic incident, only a few days
Speaker 1:For a break in mental wellbeing
Speaker 2:Is not surprising. The volcano of anxiety and panic burst at the seams. When laws attempted to go home via foreign health insurance, but was hit with a snack and unable to drive home right away. Plus with the communication struggles with medical experts and having to stay in a shadowy section of Varna, it's no laws began
Speaker 1:To experience elongated periods of panic and paranoia. It is well-known that the walls at the hotel color are incredibly thin and everyone can hear everything from their roots. Lars was probably hearing muffled conversations are never ending noise, causing him to believe he was being recorded or that other people were listening to him too. It's an unbelievably chaotic situation would only make someone susceptible to a panic attack, feel even worse once the panic and paranoia set in and without the proper mental health parameters or resources to help ease his anxiety loss was simply out of options and reacted out of ballooning fear. We do not think he was being followed by gangsters or hunted by the Bulgarian government, but rather was running from his own anxieties, struggling to accept his foreign situation. The SEF ProSal tablets would not have made things better either. There were only three tablets missing from the prescription, meaning that he couldn't have taken that many pills. So we don't believe they were the root cause of the problem. However, their side-effects could have been exacerbated by the alcohol. He had consumed that night in hotel color. And if he did receive a mild brain injury, that would almost certainly only worsen the anxiety attacks and paranoia. What happened to Lars after he ran out of the hotel, isn't discernible. But we do want to say that while the events at the Varna terminal are bizarre, we don't believe there was any foul play. Dr. Is ever-changing story is frustrating, but it could just be the by-product of a bizarre investigation and intense circumstances. It is unfortunate that we don't have access to the entire CCTV tapes and that the doctor's office entrance was a blind spot for the cameras. But whatever happened inside was likely a result of laws is worsening psychological condition. And whoever that intruding third-person was probably wasn't out to get loss, despite not knowing exactly what occurred. There we are all in agreement with Lance's mother, Sandra, there is still a very reasonable chance that Lars is still alive while he may be scared or fearful or forgetful of his previous life. There is no proof that he is debt and hope must linger. If we are to bring him home safe and sound until that day arrives, it's important to highlight the fact that Lars mid tank was and is a human being above all else. Yes. The CCTV footage from the airport that fateful July morning has made its rounds on the internet and led to Lars being named the most famous missing person on YouTube. But it's important not to glorify these images and mystify. What is a tragic case of someone suffering? A mental breakdown laws was dealing with some of the most stressful and terrifying factors. One can encounter
Speaker 2:On what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. He had thoughts and feelings and dreams like the rest of us, and should always be thought of with respect. The videos of law's running away can be a tool to help aid his discovery, but they shouldn't be the only story. The story that remains is that law's mid tank was a compassionate, empathetic, and hardworking man. He gave so much to the people around him without ever expecting anything in return. And in response, we will give the same effort to finding laws, to spread the word so that one day he might return and carry on his legacy of potential and love. This is cold case. Detective, Thank you for listening to this episode of the cold case detective podcast, should you wish to delve deeper into the mystery? You can follow the case file link included in the show notes, which contains important photographs, documents, maps, and further reading relevance to the case. If you would like to support the show you can do so by leaving a five star rating wherever you listen, it really helps us expand our reach and bring awareness to the cases we cover. If you would like us to investigate a specific case, perhaps even one close to home or that of a loved one, please fill out the submission form in the show notes. Thank you for listening. And I'll see you in a fortnight with a new episode.