Nele Neuhaus - Murder Mysteries

In their latest case, Taunus detectives Oliver von Bodenstein and Pia Sander find themselves dealing with a serial killer who always kills his victims on Mother's Day.

When the body of Theodor Reifenrath is found in Mammoshain, Taunus, the first and most obvious question is: Was it an accident or murder? Given that the safe is open and empty, Pia Sander and Oliver von Bodenstein suspect the latter and start investigating.

In the dog kennel at the front of the house, Pia makes a grisly discovery. Along with a near-starved dog, she finds human bones buried in the ground. The forensics team subsequently unearths the bodies of three women.

Who are these murdered women? The dead man, Theodor Reifenrath, and his late wife Rita had used the large house on the lake as a kind of children's home and had raised many foster children here over the years. But it comes to light that the couple were far from loving foster parents. Furthermore, Rita herself has been missing for many years. Suicide was assumed but Rita's body was never found. The detectives focus on the foster children, who have all since grown up and have their own lives. The somewhat shifty but obviously traumatized couple Ramona and Sascha Lindemann point the finger of suspicion at Fridtjof Reifenrath, the biological grandson of Rita and Theo, who now works as a top-level executive. IT specialist Joachim Vogt, who was Fridtjof's best friend as a child, seems to be the only one upset by the death of his foster father. No connection is found between him and the dead women.

The murderer's striking MO finally leads to a breakthrough in the investigation and to further unsolved murders: Pia and Oliver are dealing with someone who always kills on Mother's Day. And Mother's Day is coming soon.

Pia's involvement in the case becomes personal when her sister Kim disappears. Pia and Oliver follow the murderer's trail back into the past to when the Reifenrath's villa was the scene of horrendous events that traumatized the foster children living there.