Sielaff repeatedly came across scandalous police failures. When Sielaff gained access to his sister’s files in 2003, he was shocked – all evidence had been destroyed. All investigations were then discontinued, and the case was shelved, because according to German law, dead people cannot be investigated.

But before police could question Wichmann about Birgit, he hanged himself in custody. At the time, cadaver-sniffing dogs struck all over the gardener’s property, and investigators found an entire car buried in the garden.

They come to realise that Wichmann may be the most dangerous serial killer in post-war German history. In the team’s sights is Birgit Meier’s gardener – Kurt Werner Wichmann – who they discover, has a long and brfautal criminal record, and that the police had already found his secret, soundproof room full of weapons in 1993. Together, over many years, they privately investigate and discover that Birgit’s disappearance is just the tip of the iceberg. In 2003, Wolfgang Sielaff retires and assembles a team of former companions and retired investigators – psychologists, forensic experts, lawyers. The 4-part Netflix Original Series, DIG DEEPER – DAS VERSCHWINDEN VON BIRGIT MEIER tells the story, as true as it is inconceivable, of a crime that could only be solved through the tenacity of a man who stood up to the failure of state police work. The missing woman’s brother – none other than the head of the Hamburg State Criminal Investigation Office, Wolfgang Sielaff – makes it his life’s mission to solve his sister’s fate. When Birgit Meier suddenly disappear ed in August 1989, her family began a desperate search that didn’t end until 30 years later.

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