Das dunkle Nest (2011)

Pastor Dr. Gabriel Reinberg, a former criminal psychologist, took up a new post as the village pastor three months ago. His predecessor, Pastor Adler, died twelve years earlier, in 1999, when the rectory burned down. In the village, Pastor Reinberg befriends twelve-year-old student Lydia Gerblich, who serves as an altar girl, and tutors her in Latin. Soon, he is visited by Detective Esther Fromm: Anton Kretschmer, a child murderer for whom Reinberg had prepared an expert assessment in his capacity as a criminal psychologist, has reoffended. When Lydia vanishes without a trace, a search party sets out to look for her; her father, Mario Gerblich, eventually finds the girl dead in the woods. The forensic examination finds, among other things, injuries to her skull. Shortly after Lydia’s body is found, the local parish register from 1999 goes missing. Because of his profession and his friendship with Lydia, Pastor Reinberg soon comes under suspicion from the village community. Graffiti targeting Reinberg appears, his car is set on fire, and there is even an attempt to lynch the pastor. Detective Fromm arranges for DNA samples to be taken in the village, and Pastor Reinberg also participates. Reinberg’s DNA is found on Lydia’s body as well, but the match comes from a cross that Lydia had carved into his arm. A little later, Lydia’s father is arrested because a piece of clothing Lydia was wearing when she disappeared is found in his house. A rape complaint from fifteen years earlier counts against him. At the same time, Lydia’s mother, Maria Gerblich, confides in the pastor: Lydia was conceived through incest between Maria and her father, sawmill owner Wolfgang Pfänder. Meanwhile, it emerges that Maria had given the parish register to her boyfriend, Basti. Pastor Adler had made a corresponding entry in Latin, which Maria was able to translate. Afraid that the truth would be revealed, Pfänder had set fire to the rectory. When Lydia confronted her mother, Maria, with what she knew, they argued, and Lydia fell down the stairs. Wolfgang Pfänder disguised Lydia’s death as a sex murder and framed her father, Mario, for the crime.