Erzgebirgskrimi - Mord auf dem Jakobsweg (2024)

Matthias Langer, a sawmill owner from Dresden who has set out on a pilgrimage along the Saxon section of the Way of St. James, is found hanged beneath a bridge. What initially looks like suicide soon turns out to be murder. Commissioners Winkler and Szabo question the pilgrims who had been traveling with the victim, right there at the hostel in Stollberg: Langer’s wife, Maike; his friend and former employer, Felix Uhlich from Zwickau; and Benedict Wagner, an apparent chance acquaintance from the pilgrimage route. Flashbacks reveal that the interviewees are not always telling the truth. With the help of forester Saskia Bergelt, the commissioners uncover the lies. Wagner wanted revenge because his son died after an accident at the Dresden sawmill. Maike’s marriage was in ruins. She and Peter Siepmann, both co-owners of the sawmill, are rumored to be having an affair. Langer had also grown unhappy with Siepmann’s aggressive business practices and planned to expose them publicly and leave the company. He also wanted to reconcile with his Catholic father, from whom he had become estranged because of his career choices. Desperate, Uhlich blames Siepmann’s unfair business practices for the decline of his own sawmill in the Ore Mountains. He first goes after Siepmann, then turns on himself, but the commissioners just manage to prevent the worst. The teenager Lara, who has run away from home, camps in the woods and steals from pilgrims, briefly comes under suspicion, as does her boyfriend Sven, who has a criminal record. Further investigation shows that every suspect has an alibi except Maike and Siepmann. In a fit of anger, Maike struck her husband unconscious with her walking stick and then called Siepmann, who subsequently killed the injured man without her knowledge. The romance between Winkler and the forester is left unresolved. She criticizes him for not getting in touch after their night together. He avoids committing to a relationship and prefers to make a pilgrimage of his own along the Way of St. James.