The case reads like a crime thriller: A man from Kiel is said to have faked his death in the Baltic to defraud insurance companies. Months later, police drag him out of boxes.
His wedding ring is his doom. On May 7, police officers spent two hours looking for a suspected fraudster in an old town villa in Schwarmstedt, Lower Saxony. Then an officer shines around with his flashlight in the attic. “He saw a flash in the process,” says one of the investigators police Keel.
“Upon closer inspection, the colleague recognized that it was a wedding ring on one hand.” A few moments later, police arrest 52-year-old Kiel. Crouching in a corner, behind cardboard boxes in his mother’s attic, the North German dives in the seven months after his supposed drowning Baltic Sea back on.
Attempted insurance fraud
The Kiel prosecutor’s office is investigating multiple attempts to defraud. “A dozen life and accident insurance policies had already been taken out by various insurance companies for the accused in 2018,” said Chief Prosecutor Axel Bieler. The total amount is more than 4.1 million euros. “We were quick to believe that the only thing that was faked was death in order to collect the insurance sum.” In the event of death, it should be paid to the woman and mother.
Flashback: On October 7, 2019, the man breaks out of Kiel with a small motorboat at a very late hour Denmark on. The weather is not bad. Three days later, his wife reports that he is missing. A large-scale search is unsuccessful. On October 11, a witness discovered the capsized boat in front of the village of Schönberg, northeast of Kiel. The bow still protrudes from the water, the boat can be seen from the beach. There is no obvious damage, life jackets and rubber dinghy are missing.
Investigators are becoming skeptical
The Kiel police encounter inconsistencies in the investigation and quickly become skeptical. It is the first missing person case for a 23-year-old investigator. He only completed his training a few months earlier. “The investigation was like a puzzle,” he says.
A surveyor finally finds manipulations on the boat. “That ruled out an accident for us,” says the investigator. There is further evidence. “For example, the wife’s behavior had questions,” says one investigator. She allegedly had no knowledge of everyday things in her husband’s life and “made a missing person report quite late”. In addition, several insurance companies apply for inspection of files.
The accused remains silent
“The plan was well thought out and well prepared,” says the investigator. “There was a lot of work behind it.” The police assume that the man, his wife of the same age, and the Kiel’s 86-year-old mother worked out the plan together. The wife has been in custody since the end of April. Her husband is silent on the allegations, as is his mother.
Police officers are standing in front of a house in Lower Saxony: Investigators have found a 52-year-old man from Kiel, seven months after his supposed drowning in the Baltic Sea. (Source: M. Schäfer / HannoverReporter.de / dpa)
The application for the payment of the money has already been made, says chief prosecutor Bieler. A six-month period applies to marine casualties. Otherwise, a person could only be declared dead after five years. The 52-year-old is no stranger to the public prosecutor: he has already been convicted of credit fraud in Kiel, but the verdict is not final.
Similar case 26 years ago
The current case shows clear parallels to a Hamburg crime. On the night of April 29, 1994, the former operator of a Hamburg diving and sailing shop sits on the Elbe his 18-meter cutter on fire and disappears to pretend his death. With the help of his wife, he wants Life insurance of around a million marks.
He is not declared dead, however, and life insurance does not pay. Finally, in March 1999 Berlin found in front of his father’s house. 2001 convicted the district court Itzehoe the then 50-year-old businessman on probation for fraud at 13 months on probation. The judges are convinced that the motives are high debts and maintenance arrears.
Prosecution is being prepared
In the spectacular Kiel case, the investigators have so far only heard the wife. “We have evidence that the man stayed with his mother for a long time,” says the investigator. However, these findings are not certain. The nationality of the in is also unclear Germany born Kieler. It is also unclear what job he last pursued. “We have various statements and information,” says the chief prosecutor. The trio is to be charged this year.
The Association of the German Insurance Industry has no figures on cases in which people attempt to defraud insurance by faking their death. However, a spokeswoman assumes “that this phenomenon occurs very rarely”.
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