21 Years Later: DNA Database Solved Göhrde Murders

Shots in the Dark

In September 1986, Brunon Prokopic, 42, was found shot at a remote forest parking area near Rullstorf in Lower Saxony. A week later, Dutch tourist Marijke Claassens, 34, was killed at the Hohenzollernring parking lot. Three years later, in the summer of 1989, more victims emerged: Ingeborg B. and Heinrich K., both 62, were discovered under similar circumstances.

All four were surprised and shot by an unknown perpetrator. All crime scenes were located at desolate forest parking areas in the Göhrde region between Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The award-winning NDR documentary series "Manhunt" recounts not only the brutal facts, but also the psychological toll the case placed on investigators. Criminal police officer Uwe Müller from Lower Saxony's state crime bureau remained stuck without leads for decades — until technology changed the rules.

700,000 DNA Samples Without Results

Between 1994 and 2001, authorities launched a massive DNA screening program: 700,000 saliva samples were taken from men across northern Germany — approximately ten percent of the entire male population in the 18–45 age group. The project cost 20 million Deutsche Mark, an enormous sum at the time. Yet the perpetrator was not among them.

The years became a nightmare for the victims' families. No answers. No justice. Forensic pathologists like Volker Stockhe explained in the documentary which technical limitations made it impossible to do more back then. It was not a lack of will — it was a lack of tools.