Erzgebirgskrimi - Verhängnisvolle Recherche (2022)

Chief Inspector Robert Winkler and Inspector Karina Szabo investigate the murder of journalist Kirsten Reichenbach, with the help of forester Saskia Bergelt. Reichenbach disappeared shortly after a phone call with Winkler and was later found dead. Together with artist Harry Drechsel, the journalist had been active in a citizens’ movement opposing plans by the Marienberg-based carmaker Uhlig to establish a large-scale hydrogen-technology production site in the Ore Mountains. The investigation is conducted from Wolkenstein Castle Hotel, where the investigators are also staying. Winkler discovers that Prof. Kathrin Rothe, Uhlig’s head of research, was also the driver who caused the 1994 car accident in which he was injured and his girlfriend was killed. When he visits her in her office, she admits to fleeing the scene. He angrily reproaches her for not helping him and his girlfriend at the time and then remaining silent for 27 years, so that he himself came to be regarded as responsible and also felt guilty. After the conversation, Winkler returns to the hotel and drinks himself into a stupor out of despair. The next morning, the professor is found dead. Winkler is now not only personally compromised but also a suspect himself, though the castle hotel’s proprietress initially clears him. He is taken off the case, which is handed to Chief Inspector Müller, but Winkler continues investigating on his own. Shortly afterward, Senior Public Prosecutor Osthof, who is friends with businessman Lothar Uhlig, takes over the cases because of the high level of public interest. Winkler is suspended from duty. Karina Szabo is caught in a conflict of loyalty. On the one hand, she would like to help her colleague; on the other, she now has to investigate him too and does not know whether to believe him. Suspicion of Winkler grows when it emerges that he actually has no alibi for the time of the crime; because he was drunk that night, he himself cannot remember anything. Forester Saskia Bergelt believes Winkler is innocent and goes to see Harry Drechsel. He confesses that he accidentally killed the journalist during a scuffle. But he has an alibi for the professor’s murder. Gregor Uhlig, the son of businessman Lothar Uhlig, tells his father that he argued with Professor Rothe shortly before her death. She had wanted to leave the company, which would have meant its financial ruin. Lothar Uhlig believes his son is the killer and asks his friend, Senior Public Prosecutor Osthof, for help keeping him out of prison. Osthof is willing to pin the crime on Winkler, who is already under suspicion. Winkler continues investigating to prove his innocence, but now by illegal means: together with Saskia Bergelt, he breaks into the Uhlig company’s premises to reconstruct what happened there. He finds the investigation file from 1994. Shortly afterward, Müller has Winkler placed under arrest at the hotel after a piece of evidence incriminating him is found. The forester manages to convince Lothar Uhlig to tell the truth. During Winkler’s interrogation the next day, Uhlig testifies that Kathrin Rothe had worked for his company since 1994 because he had helped her conceal her hit-and-run offense at the time. The current Senior Public Prosecutor, Osthof, had removed all indications that she was the driver from the files back then. Osthof admits to perverting the course of justice and explains that he was young and an outsider in the region, and that, wanting the locals to like him, he had granted Uhlig’s request. He also confesses that he was present when the professor died. After Winkler’s accusations, Kathrin Rothe had in fact decided to make her hit-and-run public and had informed Osthof of her plan. He went to her to stop her, and a fatal accident occurred during their argument. Afterward, he tried to frame Winkler and planted the piece of evidence on him. After his confession, Osthof is led away, and Winkler is completely exonerated.