Meiberger - Tod am See (2025)

At Lake Wolfgang, the body of a 22-year-old man is found on a boat, bound upside down to the mast of a sailboat. Chief Inspector Anna Grünwald and her colleague Kevin Ganslinger begin investigating. The victim, Peter Aidbichler Jr., was killed with an insulin overdose. He was a medical student and the son of state parliament member Peter Aidbichler Sr., who has the same name. The boat belongs to the Aidbichler family. At the Aidbichlers’ castle, Grünwald meets not only Peter and Susanne Aidbichler, but also criminal psychologist Meiberger, a family confidant. At Peter’s request, Meiberger is to accompany the investigation. Dean Andrea Breuer, who is having an affair with Meiberger, says that Aidbichler Jr. complained to her just the day before about the food in the university cafeteria. According to his professor, Aidbichler was his best student. At Professor Rost’s, Meiberger sees a depiction of the crucifixion of Saint Peter on a cross shaped like an inverted cross, in a position similar to the one in which the murder victim was found. The victim does not seem to have had close contact with his fellow students. In the victim’s apartment, Ganslinger finds a stack of love letters, apparently written by a man. Aidbichler had kept his relationship secret. He had actually wanted to study art history; he had chosen medicine only at his father’s insistence. Soon afterward, another victim, Herbert Seitner, the son of Marcus Seitner and his wife, is found crucified on a St. Andrew’s cross. According to his mother, Herbert had no contact with the Aidbichler family. The second victim was also murdered with an insulin overdose, and Meiberger fears there is a serial killer. An art print of Saint Sebastian is found at Aidbichler Jr.’s. Professor Rost, who shared Peter’s passion for art history, admits that the two were in a romantic relationship. Marcus had argued with his son about his drinking and had not seen him for a week. Josef Ramsauer’s son is also found murdered. The killer can be seen in outline in surveillance-camera footage, but cannot be identified from it. Professor Rost is admitted to hospital after attempting suicide. Grünwald thinks he is the murderer, but Meiberger sees no connection between Rost and the second and third victims. Aidbichler Sr. had supported Josef Ramsauer’s museum, and the two had once been close friends. Karl Huber is reported missing. His father was called by a woman who identified herself as Dr. Schallmeier from the state hospital, though no Dr. Schallmeier works there anymore. His son was supposed to be taken to the hospital by a female taxi driver, but never arrived. The composite sketch reminds Meiberger of the taxi driver who took him home after his visit to the Aidbichler family. The taxi driver, Inge Reiter, had been a patient of the former Dr. Schallmeier in the psychiatric ward. Thirty-six years earlier, Marcus Seitner had lost a friend, Max Riedl. At Riedl’s bachelor party, his companions—including Aidbichler Sr., Josef Ramsauer, and four others—followed a local custom and symbolically tied him to a cross near the shore. But the cross fell over, which the drunken friends failed to notice. Riedl drowned. Meiberger suspects that Inge Reiter wants revenge, and that the other four companions are also on her list of intended victims. Inge Reiter was the victim’s fiancée. The accidental death of her partner at the time was never avenged, and the perpetrators were able to carry on with their lives without punishment, while she herself ended up in a psychiatric hospital. Aidbichler’s campaign posters calling for “justice” stirred her long-suppressed thirst for revenge. The investigators eventually track down Reiter, and the police arrest her.