Meiberger - Mörderisches Klassentreffen (2021)

At an idyllic castle, forensic psychologist Thomas Meiberger celebrates his 30-year high school reunion. The castle is managed by Melanie Berger, who was class representative at the time. When Martin Mars, an unpopular former classmate, turns up, old conflicts resurface. Martin has since become a famous magician, making his career in Las Vegas. Several former classmates stay overnight. The next morning, Martin is found dead near the castle. The victim has bruised ribs and a broken neck; he was also bound and gagged. Detective Anna Doppler of the criminal police begins the investigation, assisted by patrol inspector Kevin Ganslinger and forensic scientist Ulla. Doppler suspects that Martin was murdered by one of his former classmates. That makes Meiberger himself a suspect, as he had a motive just like the other guests. Meiberger wants to prove his innocence by solving the murder himself. Detective Doppler thinks Meiberger may have killed Martin because he was jealous of his career as a magician. Meiberger denies it. Melanie Berger had been romantically involved with Martin back then. Martin had put intimate photos of her up all over the school and taunted her with them again at the reunion. One of the filming locations: Laudon Castle in Vienna-Penzing. The claustrophobic Hans, who lives with his brother, was bullied by Martin back then. Martin would lock him in a cupboard, among other things, and call him “Wheezy Hansi” because of his asthma. Meiberger observes that Hans has changed considerably since then. Hans says he has lost a lot of weight. Meiberger also notices that Hans can no longer remember how long Martin locked him in the cupboard. According to the company register, Hans is a partner in a pharmacy run by his brother Georg. Hans stopped going to school in his final year and did not graduate. At the reunion, Martin Mars bullied him again. However, Hans has an alibi for the time of the murder: because of his claustrophobia and his anger at Martin, he spent the whole night outdoors, as confirmed by the surveillance footage. Vanessa Meinhardt was a rebel back then and is now a school principal; she had little contact with Martin. Eva Prinz has a criminal record, and according to Doppler, in 90 percent of cases the person with the most prior convictions is the culprit. The year after graduation, Eva was committed after attempting to murder Meiberger. She suffered from a perceptual disorder that impaired her ability to distinguish dreams from reality while waking up. Eva believed Meiberger was a pursuer from her nightmare. Franz Gruber works in financial services. He had sought Martin’s approval and managed his financial portfolio. After Meiberger exposes Franz’s alibi as a lie and discovers that Franz was not in his room at the time of the crime, Franz loses control and physically attacks him. Meiberger remembers overhearing an argument between Martin and Franz during the night. An email on the victim’s phone reveals that Martin had fired Franz as his portfolio manager. Franz’s father-in-law was his boss, and the bank had discovered that Franz had embezzled money from Martin. Shortly afterward, Franz falls from a first-floor window of the castle, hits his head on the ground, and dies. In the room from which Franz fell to his death, Meiberger and Ganslinger encounter Eva. She says she can no longer remember what she was looking for there. Doppler suspects Eva may have suffered a relapse and, as 30 years earlier, mistaken Franz Gruber for someone else. Hans says he overheard Franz call Eva a “psycho from the loony bin” and accuse her of murdering Martin. When the police go looking for Vanessa, Meiberger finds her in the attic. However, she refuses to give a statement. Hans had earlier seen Melanie slap Vanessa. Melanie says it was because Vanessa was hysterical. Eva has another breakdown and believes she killed Franz and Martin, after waking up in the morning not in her own room and being unable to remember how she got into the room from which Franz fell. Meiberger cannot rule out that she really is the culprit. The laboratory report on the throat swab taken from Martin Mars identifies the fabric used as the gag. The gag itself is never found. Meiberger remembers that someone had lit a fire in the fireplace on the night of the murder. Meiberger and Doppler confront the classmates Vanessa, Hans, Melanie, and Eva with the theory that Franz killed Martin because he had lost money investing Martin’s funds, and then killed himself, since Meiberger believes he probably had borderline personality disorder. Meiberger suspects Eva heard the noise from Franz’s room and went to investigate. Because the incident was traumatic for her, she cannot remember it. However, Thomas observes that Franz seemed relatively relaxed in the morning, which, combined with his borderline personality disorder, argues against him being Martin’s killer. Meiberger notices that Vanessa’s silk scarf is missing and suspects it may have been the murder weapon. Melanie says it would be impossible to recover any DNA evidence from a burned gag. But the investigators had never mentioned a gag. That leaves Meiberger with just one question: whether Vanessa or Melanie murdered Martin. On the night of the crime, Melanie and Vanessa tied Martin up and gagged him. Melanie took intimate photos of Martin with her smartphone to get revenge. Martin lost consciousness, and Melanie and Vanessa then transported him outside in a wheelbarrow. They collided with a tree while moving Martin’s body, and he suffered a broken neck. They then threw Martin into the castle pond and burned the silk scarf in the fireplace. Vanessa and Melanie are arrested by the police. Hans gives Thomas Meiberger a ride to Salzburg in his car. At Hans’s apartment, Meiberger notices that Hans uses an elevator, which should be impossible given his claustrophobia. He also has not used his asthma inhaler in the last few days. As Meiberger leaves Hans’s apartment, a nurse calls Hans “Georg.” Georg explains that she constantly confuses him with his brother. In fact, the real Hans has been bedridden and paralyzed ever since an attempted suicide prompted by Martin, all those years ago. Georg has cared for his brother Hans for 30 years and confesses that, at the reunion, he poisoned Martin with potassium chloride through his inhaler, a method that is very difficult to detect. After confessing, Georg also poisons Meiberger with potassium chloride. Meanwhile, the paralyzed Hans has triggered the emergency call from his bedside. The emergency responders who arrive are able to save Meiberger’s life. Georg is arrested for Martin’s murder and the attempted murder of Thomas. Vanessa and Melanie had only disposed of Martin’s body after he had already been poisoned.