For almost three years there has been no trace of Rebecca Reusch from Berlin.
Now the family of the missing schoolgirl appears in a documentary.
Brigitte and Bernd Reusch publish previously unknown details.
Berlin - Hardly any criminal case has moved Germany as much in recent years as the disappearance of student Rebecca Reusch.
In February 2019, the then 15-year-old disappeared from Berlin, her family now speaks in a multi-part documentary about the disappearance of her "Becci".
Can the case still be resolved?
Missing Rebecca Reusch: family appears in documentary - mother reports that the call was pushed away
In the RTL Plus documentary, both the parents of the missing student, Brigitte and Bernd Reusch, and her older sister Vivian have their say. In episode one, the family shows old videos of the then 15-year-olds: Rebecca happily dancing in her room, Rebecca laughing happily at the camera. "The house was alive, there was a lot of movement in the house with her," says Brigitte Reusch, describing the teenagers' cheerful demeanor. “She was a fun-loving, but also thoughtful person,” her mother continues, while the TV documentary shows a funny video of the then 15-year-olds with her mother. "And suddenly she was gone."
Rebecca Reusch spent the night before her disappearance from February 17 to 18, 2019 in the house of her older sister in Berlin Britz.
Investigators still assume that the then 15-year-old could not have left her sister's house alive.
The two sisters spent the evening together, both of whom had ordered pizza.
Her sister Jessica's husband, Florian, was at a late Christmas party at the time.
Missing Rebecca Reusch: The mother's call was pushed aside by the brother-in-law
The two sisters are said to have gone to bed around 11 p.m., Rebecca slept on the sofa in the living room, her sister Jessica in the marital bedroom on the first floor. As the TV documentary shows in a film that was shot afterwards, the teenager's brother-in-law came home slightly drunk at around 5:45 in the morning. There Florian R. lay in bed next to his wife. Jessica left the house with her little daughter at around 7 a.m., and she hadn't seen Rebecca again before.
As Brigitte Reusch further explains, she tried several times in the morning to reach her daughter.
However, Rebecca was not available.
Then Brigitte Reusch called Florian R.
Her son-in-law initially pushed her away the first time she called.
“He just pushed away.
Then I thought I'd just drive off, ”said Brigitte Reusch in the documentary.
When Brigitte Reusch was about to leave to check on her daughter, Florian R. called her back.
With Brigitte Reusch on the phone, he checked in the living room, but Rebecca had not been there anymore.
She was sure that her daughter was already on the way to school.
Missing Rebecca Reusch: Family reports new details
Around 4 p.m., the disappearance of her daughter was noticed, Rebecca had not turned up at her older sister's as agreed. The 15-year-old's cell phone was also switched off. At around 5 p.m. Bernd Reusch drove past the school and searched the nearby shopping center for Rebecca. “Then I knew something was wrong. Something happened there, ”continues Brigitte Reusch. Phoning friends and acquaintances did not help either. The family immediately turned on the police.
“She would have contacted me, she would have said what was going on,” says Bernd Reusch, describing his daughter's unusual behavior.
The entire family has gathered in the parents' house.
“I was paralyzed,” said Brigitte Reusch, summarizing the mood in the evening.
Sister Vivian has put together some photos, and the family also wanted to follow the online behavior of their Becci via Instagram and Facebook.
The family is disappointed with the behavior of the investigators.
In the documentary, the family describes that two days after the disappearance, for example, the 15-year-old's cell phone was still not located.
Missing Rebecca Reusch: Wasn't the family initially taken seriously by the police?
Brigitte Reusch describes the behavior of the police in the documentary as follows: “I already found what I experienced there ... So I was told how much work there was on the table. I might like to come over and see how much paper is on the desk. That he had much more important cases than mine. And I could complain ”. Martin Steltner, public prosecutor in Berlin, also has a say in the documentary. He explains: “I can only say that the work here was highly professional, and that it was also worked quickly. In this respect I want to reject the criticism ”.
The family also commented in the documentary on the very conspicuous photo of Rebecca, which was used in the search.
Brigitte Reusch says that all the photos made available to the police were too small.
You then referred the police to your daughter's Instagram profile.
“And then this picture came and we didn't know it ourselves.
And then I thought, this is actually not my child, ”the mother continues.
Former detective inspector Peter Schnieders says in the documentary that, from his point of view, the photo may have been chosen deliberately.
Since the photo would be conspicuous, an extremely long range was achieved.
Missing Rebecca Reusch: Was the student detained?
The family then turned to the press, disappointed with the investigators' behavior. Bernd Reusch explains that the family deliberately sought out the public. “We just saw that the police intervened too late for us”. For investigators, however, it was established relatively early on that the girl could not have left her sister's house alive. The cell phone activity in the house was registered for the last time.
The family also reports on another incident in the documentary. Brigitte Reusch explains that she was said to have been questioned very carefully and carefully by an investigator herself. However, it was different with the sister of the then 15-year-old. Jessica was "yelled at", it had been slammed on the table. Brigitte Reusch heard this while she was waiting at the door of the interrogation. "Why is Jessica getting so messed up?" Asked the mother of the three daughters. The brother-in-law of the then 15-year-old was also questioned for around two hours. The family does not believe that the young man is guilty. "For Becci it was her big brother," says Brigitte Reusch, describing the relationship between the family and Florian R. "He is fully integrated," says Bernd Reusch.
Since the end of September there has been no trace of 11-year-old Dustin, the student disappeared on the way to school.
Now there is a turning point.