Overview
- The long‑running ZDF program Aktenzeichen XY will air on Wednesday, July 29, to re‑present the disappearances and violent crimes so investigators can gather fresh public tips.
- Cases shown include the 1997 murder of Lieselotte Hohlmann in Essen where two unknown DNA traces were recovered, the 2015 disappearance of five‑year‑old Inga Gehricke, an April 2024 masked home invasion near Bamberg that used a Taser, and a Karfreitag 2026 homicide in Breitenbrunn that prompted the formation of Soko Waldrand.
- Police and prosecutors say the broadcast is a tool of Öffentlichkeitsfahndung and hope viewers will provide witness accounts, timelines or physical evidence that can reopen stalled lines of inquiry.
- Investigators stress they face legal limits on forensic investigative genetic genealogy in Germany, where police comparisons are restricted to close kinship links and use of commercial ancestry databases is largely prohibited.
- Aktenzeichen XY has a track record of solving cold cases through viewer tips, so families and special units involved in these files expect the TV exposure to trigger renewed searches, new leads and possible re‑examination of existing DNA and witness material.