Im Schatten der Angst (2019)

Carsten Spanger is a well-known architect who has abducted a young woman. Forensic psychiatrist Karla Eckhardt is appointed as an expert witness in criminal trials to assess whether defendants are fully responsible for their actions or legally insane. Her assessment therefore determines whether they go to prison or to a secure psychiatric facility. She is assisted by her intern, Niklas Teubert, while Sandra Hinzey and Axel Stauf investigate on behalf of the police. Eckhardt concludes that Spanger has a personality disorder. She also suspects that he is a repeat offender. Hinzey finds three murder victims in the files who match the profile they are looking for. The first victim was killed after Spanger’s mother died. When Eckhardt suspects that another victim, Antonia Weiland, may still be alive in a hiding place, she tries to gain Spanger’s trust in order to save her life. Spanger’s case puts Dr. Eckhardt’s abilities to a severe—and deeply personal—test. For example, Eckhardt admits to Spanger that as a child she was locked without reason in a dark pantry by her mother, Ursula, a tavern keeper known as “Uschi,” and has been afraid of the dark ever since. Her mother refuses to discuss it with her. Antonia Weiland, the missing victim, is eventually found dead. Judging by the state of decomposition, her body had been in the water for at least two weeks. Traces are also found on the adhesive tape, matching traces found on the tape used on Spanger’s last victim. In a photograph of the first victim, Eckhardt notices the same ring Spanger wears. Now, partly on the basis of Spanger’s earlier statements, she suspects that a child may have resulted from their relationship. Spanger promises to take her personally to his daughter Elisa, and Eckhardt manages to smuggle Spanger out of the facility. Teubert and Hinzey pursue them using the GPS data from the mobile phone, but temporarily lose their trail. Spanger takes Eckhardt to a hut on the Danube, where she finds Elisa alive in a room beneath a trapdoor. Eckhardt wants to take Elisa to a hospital, but Spanger refuses. He wants the three of them to stay together as a family forever. Hinzey eventually overpowers and arrests Spanger. In court, Eckhardt gives her assessment that Spanger is not legally responsible for his actions, and he is consequently committed to a facility for mentally abnormal offenders.