Overview

• A two-year-old cold-case unit uncovered cartons of investigative records during a basement cleanup at the Essen police headquarters, including dossiers on the 1971 abduction of Aldi co-founder Theo Albrecht
• Authorities called the find a “regelrechter Glücksfall” that could close longstanding research gaps in one of post-war Germany’s most notorious crimes
• The cache also contains unsolved homicide files dating back to 1927, most of which will remain closed to new probes and serve only historical interest
• Restoration work is already underway on the recovered documents and a data-protection review will determine which materials become publicly accessible
• Half of the record seven-million-Mark ransom paid for Albrecht’s 17-day captivity remains missing, a mystery future researchers hope to resolve