ZDF Program Features Cold Cases and Unsolved Crimes

The German television broadcast "Aktenzeichen XY ... Ungelöst" is turning its attention to several high-profile cold cases and unsolved crimes in an effort to uncover fresh evidence. Among the cases featured on the program is the disappearance of six-year-old Sven Hollstein, who vanished without a trace from Ludwigshafen, Germany, on April 15, 1985. Investigators last saw the child on the ground floor of his apartment building in the Pfingstweide district late in the afternoon, after which all traces of him vanished.

Despite extensive search operations at the time, authorities never determined what happened to Sven. Police arrested a suspect and prosecutors brought charges, but a court ultimately acquitted the man during the trial. The case remains part of the Federal Criminal Police Office campaign "Disappeared Without a Trace," which highlights children who have been missing for decades. Investigators in Ludwigshafen, along with prosecutors and federal police, hope that broadcasting the case again will prompt witnesses to come forward with forgotten details.

Show host Rudi Cerne acknowledged that revisiting such painful history can heavily impact the victim's family, stating that "a renewed emotional burden unfortunately cannot be completely ruled out," but added that the public appeal can reach individuals who may have observed something relevant years ago or learned details later. He emphasized that the production avoids unnecessary sensationalism or overly dramatic details.

Another decades-old case featured on the program involves Dagmar Knops, a 22-year-old social work student who vanished on the night of March 28, 1988, after visiting a local pub in Kempen. Although her body was never recovered, investigators from the criminal police department treat the case as a homicide. Authorities are currently searching for a group of young people who sat on a bench near the pub that evening, as well as the authors of two anonymous letters sent in 2005 and 2008 that claimed to reveal the location of her remains. Prosecutors in Krefeld and private sources have offered a combined reward of 10,000 euros for information leading to an arrest.

The broadcast also examines more recent mysteries, including the disappearance of 60-year-old Larisa Bender from Wehringen, who left her home on October 3, 2025, and never returned. Despite exhaustive searches by her sons, private detectives, and police—including combing nearby forests and rivers with specialized dogs and divers—no trace of her has been found.

In addition to missing person investigations, the program is reviewing a violent robbery that took place at a gold transport company in Mühlacker on March 27, 2025. During that incident, masked perpetrators disabled security systems, sprayed a staff member with irritant spray, and stole gold bars, scrap gold, and jewelry worth hundreds of thousands of euros. Investigators believe the culprits possessed insider knowledge and fled in a white van using stolen license plates. DNA left at the crime scene matched evidence from offenses committed in Austria and France, though the suspect remains unidentified.

Police departments across the respective regions have established dedicated hotlines and email contacts to field tips from viewers. Authorities emphasize that even seemingly minor observations from the public can prove vital in resolving investigations that have stalled for months or years.