News from the World of Private Investigation

Infidelity is one of the most common reasons for breakups worldwide. In Germany alone, around one in four people admits to having cheated on their partner at least once. The topic is omnipresent in TV and media, and shows that would once have been unthinkable – such as RTL2’s Temptation Island – enjoy great popularity. It’s hardly surprising that more than half of all people admit to having doubted their partner’s faithfulness at some point.

There are many ways to deal with a situation in which trust in one’s partner is lost. Independent of any possible psychological manipulation attempts, private investigators such as those at Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig (+49 341 6970 4082) act objectively and factually. Their investigations provide clients with the missing certainty – for better or worse. Perhaps you yourself have experienced being falsely accused and had to fight to win back your ex. Uncertainty can stir up powerful emotions and lead to irrational actions that one may later regret.

Finding out whether one’s doubts are justified can be extremely difficult without outside help. Most cheaters deny their affair even when confronted directly. Worse still, some manipulate their partners in order to avoid the consequences of their actions. One common technique – “gaslighting” – is briefly explained below by our Leipzig private investigators.

Gaslighting as a Form of Psychological Abuse

It’s undeniable that many unfaithful partners act honestly by admitting to a one-night stand or affair, either voluntarily or when directly asked. Others, however, try to escape responsibility through lies. Gaslighting goes a step further: the victims of this psychological manipulation are made to question their ability to perceive reality correctly. The goal is to sow self-doubt about memory and perception in order to completely unsettle the partner. The result is an abusive power dynamic between the manipulator and the victim. Often, small remarks like “You’re being completely paranoid!” or “Everyone warned me you were difficult” are enough to begin this process. According to our Leipzig investigators, gaslighting is committed far more frequently by men, although many women also use such tactics, particularly outside romantic relationships. In some cases, there isn’t even a conscious intent to cause long-term harm.

Victims of gaslighting are told that their perception of reality is wrong, their accusations are ridiculed, and their self-confidence is systematically eroded. Manipulators twist the situation so that the supposed guilt lies with the victim. They often do this so convincingly that even friends and family begin to doubt the victim’s account. Not every victim gives in, but many find themselves isolated and uncertain of their own judgment. In such cases, the private investigators of Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig can help.

That said, it is a recurring challenge for us to assess whether a potential client is truly being psychologically abused or is suffering from pre-existing psychological issues such as irrational paranoia. Our credo: We listen to every story carefully and then make fact-based, case-by-case decisions about whether and how we can help. This can occasionally lead to delicate situations – for example, in 2019 one of our Dortmund investigators met with the later perpetrator of the Hanau shooting to discuss a potential investigation.

What to Do If You’re a Victim of Gaslighting

Let’s hear from one of our clients, 42-year-old Ms. M. from Dresden (shared via thank-you email): “I didn’t trust myself anymore. Every time I confronted him about his affair, he turned it around so that I ended up being the crazy one.” For her, hiring a private investigator was the turning point: “Seeing the evidence in black and white was an incredible relief. Finally, I could be sure I wasn’t losing my mind.”

Seeking professional help to obtain clear evidence of a partner’s manipulation can empower victims of gaslighting to break free from abusive relationships and regain self-confidence. The evidence gathered by our Leipzig detectives is admissible in court and can be used in civil or criminal proceedings against the manipulator. For a confidential consultation, please contact our Leipzig office at +49 341 6970 4082.

Did You Know?

The term “gaslighting” originates from Patrick Hamilton’s play Gas Light, which first depicted this manipulation technique. Gaslighting occurs not only in romantic relationships but also among coworkers, roommates, and even in politics.

For instance, U.S. President Donald Trump can be described as a mass gaslighter: his media strategy revolves around labeling all negative reports as “fake news” while simultaneously producing falsified “facts” himself. This deliberate confusion blurs the line between truth and fiction. Reality becomes secondary to ideology, which is superimposed upon it like a filter. The consequences for both governmental credibility and public awareness are potentially devastating.

Disclaimer

The Kurtz Detective Agency does not guarantee the accuracy or applicability of information found on linked third-party websites.

Editor: Patrick Kurtz

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Private investigator Patrick Kurtz from Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig in a short interview with the city magazine Leipziger Leben for the special issue “Extraordinary Professions.” The following text is a summary of a conversation with Maria Posselt and not original quotations.

"The Shadow Man: Patrick Kurtz, Kurtz Detective Agency"

Patrick Kurtz: “Even though I have to be patient from time to time during my observations, I experience many exciting things every day. However, I don’t cut holes in newspapers or glue on fake beards.

Investigating whether someone is being unfaithful in a relationship is just as much a part of my work as investigations in the field of business fraud.

I also go on the trail of thefts, custody cases, or missing persons.

When I reach a dead end, I withdraw and look for a quiet place to think – I learned that from Sherlock Holmes.”

Note

The emphases (bold text) and links are not from the original article but were added by Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig.

Source: Leipziger Leben Issue 3/2019

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Following the publication of our chief investigator's interview with Lea Albring from VICE Magazine Germany, the article "Ten Questions You Always Wanted to Ask a Private Investigator" has subsequently also been published on VICE UK. As is typical for VICE, the questions asked are informal, at times quite nonchalant but also amusing and interesting. Unfortunately, there have been a couple of translation mistakes and omissions in comparison to the original version which is why the article is not fully comprehensive throughout.

The Kurtz Detective Agency Germany has provided a copy of the full published interview below:

Private Detective in Germany – an occupational profile

How to make sure your partner never discovers you’re cheating on them, and other tips by PI Patrick Kurtz. If you want to call yourself a private detective in Germany, then go for it. There are 1,200 PI agencies in the country, but no recognised training facilities for private investigators. You can just declare yourself one and get going.

"So as you can imagine there's quite a few crooks in the scene," says Patrick Kurtz. He manages an agency that employs 28 detectives [note: translation mistake by VICE, it's 28 offices], who operate across Germany, and according to him, they are all professionals. He says this while puffing away at a pipe – a habit he maintains he developed long before he was a gumshoe: "I have been a passionate pipe smoker since I was 14."

Patrick first had the idea of becoming a private investigator during his gap year. He had just completed his BA degree and was taking some time off before starting an MA, when he saw an ad in the paper for an PI internship that promised a salary of 1,700 Euros [about £1500] a month. "I realised one could make real money if they proved to be capable in this industry." The ad turned out to be fake, but Patrick's enthusiasm had grown to be very real. "As a good detective I can earn 3,000 Euros [about £2600] a month and as someone who runs a detective agency, I really could not complain about my income," he says.

Private enquiries tend to cover four main areas: alimony payments, child custody, affairs and tracing people. Sometimes companies also approach Kurtz's agency to find out if their employees are skiving or not, although they aren't officially allowed to do that since the German Labour Court decided that it was illegal in 2015 [note: false information due to translation mistake by VICE].

According to Patrick, three quarters of the time the suspicions of the client are confirmed. He says that he has rarely sympathised with the people that he's investigated.

Usually it's Patrick's job to obtain information, but now it's his turn to dispense it. I met with him to ask 10 questions.

VICE: "Isn't what you do technically just stalking?"

Patrick Kurtz: "There are some similarities, in the sense that both a detective and a stalker are watching people in their private sphere. But a stalker wants to make contact, while a detective is there to observe and maintain boundaries. If I witness something very intimate, that's only because that act takes place outside somebody's home. If someone is cheating on their wife in a car parked in a layby, then it's my job to observe it. Stalkers spy because they're obsessed, private detectives spy because we're hired to do so.

There was this one time, when my agency was actually hired by someone's stalker. This client had fabricated an infidelity scenario to convince us to tail their victim. Fortunately, as soon as we started looking into the case, we figured out the client was a stalker, and we were able to come clean to the victim."

What's the raunchiest thing you have witnessed?

"I'm hardly working on a porn set – we always keep our distance and there are lines we don't cross. Looking back, I think one of the most risqué scenes I've had to observe from a distance, was part of this one case in Hannover – an employer suspected that one of his salespeople wasn't using his work hours to knock on potential client doors. We observed him for five days and from the first day, we realised that he would spend some hours driving around aimlessly, then work for a few hours and then would go home early. He would park his car a short distance away from his garage, so people wouldn't notice he was home. 

But on the last day of our investigation, after he left home in the morning, he picked up a young man and the two of them drove to a secluded area. It was pretty clear they were having sex in there for a couple of hours [note: two] – the windows were all steamed up, the car was rocking and you could hear everything. The sex part wasn't anyone's business of course – he was fired because he was getting paid, while not doing any work. But you asked about a salacious anecdote, so there you go."

Have you ever fallen in love with someone you were investigating?

"No, and I wouldn't let that happen. It did happen to a couple of colleagues however. They got involved with people they met through work but they were both clients, not those being investigated. One affair started after an investigation into infidelity – it was proven that the client's partner was cheating on them, and then the client and my colleague dated for a while. It didn't last though.

However, the second pair are still together. A woman who worked for a city council claimed she had been threatened by a co-worker a few times, and grew suspicions that the local government had bugged her phone. She hired a colleague to look into that and it turned out her suspicions were false: No one was monitoring her conversations. Still, somehow she and the detective who worked on her case got in a relationship, and they've been a couple ever since."

What's the most common reason clients approach you?

"We get a lot of female clients who suspect that their husband is cheating on them with another man. Roughly, out of 100 investigations into suspicions of infidelity, we'll find maybe two men who are hiding their sexuality from their wives. I've never discovered a secret lesbian relationship, though.

I think men find it more difficult to come to terms with their sexual orientation because of obvious social pressures. I've never come across the cliché case of a man living a double life, having two families. But we did once investigate a guy who turned out to be cheating on his wife with several women at the same time. And he was renting apartments for all of them."

What do you do all day? Do you just sit in your car, waiting for something to happen – like in the movies?

"Obviously, each case is different but yeah, it can get boring when you're following someone to see if they're cheating on their partners. That's like it is in the movies – you're just sat in a car, waiting outside someone's house. It's surprisingly exhausting to watch a driveway for hours on end.

When I get tired I put on some hard rock to stay awake, like Metallica or Soundgarden. I also just listen to audiobooks to kill the time – like Edgar Allan Poe and, as basic as that makes me sound, Sherlock Holmes. About 70 percent of observation is waiting, 30 percent is action. And if you're following someone around, you really need to focus and concentrate."

How do you manage to follow someone without them noticing?

"My investigators and I have a couple of textbook tricks that help us conceal our profession. When neighbours notice us, we'll always have a story ready – or a "legend", as we like to call it. So, for example, I'll often say that my wife has just thrown me out of the house. For that reason, I always have a thermos and blanket in my car and keep my hair messy – those props help sell the story usually.

So far we have only been found out once, because we hadn't taken into account the difference in location. We were investigating someone living in a rural area, where everyone knew everyone. We had been hired to find out whether a farm worker was actually doing his job. A colleague and I parked our cars at about 700 metres from the property, but a passing farmer noticed us and told the subject of our investigation about it. He then turned up at our car and said we should stop spying on him and leave. It all turned out alright in the end, we got what we needed. The most important thing is to make sure to be ready to change our strategy swiftly, if we think a subject is on to us."

Do you ever have to break the law in order to do your job?

"The problem is that we often operate in a legal grey area. The laws we deal with are often unclear or there are simply no laws regarding our profession in Germany. What is allowed and what's not can only become clear after a specific case going through a judicial panel.

For example, GPS trackers are currently illegal in Germany [note: false translation; Patrick Kurtz said that they are considered illegal by many], but paying for information isn't. But again, it's a grey area. Is it really okay to pay a waiter to tell you if Person X was eating with Person Y between times A and B? At my agency, we don't employ those kinds of techniques just to be on the moral and legal side of things, but we do make up stories to get information. For instance, we'll claim that our investigators are family members or business partners of the people we're investigating. It's certainly a lie, but it's not a criminal offence."

Some people think private detectives are just failed cops. Is that true?

"I do employ plenty of ex-coppers as investigators. A small group of those people [note: ex-coppers in the business], were dishonourably discharged from the police. A lot are on police pensions and want to supplement their income. Others saw no chance for a promotion, or fell out with their superior officers – things like that. But I believe all the people I manage are more than capable at their jobs.

So far, I've only hired the wrong person once. He was a Police Chief Inspector, who took over an investigation for my detective agency. I knew the client personally [note: false translation; Patrick Kurtz did not know the client personally but was on very good terms with her during and after the investigation]. Because of the personal relationship, it didn't take long for us to realise that something wasn't right. Eventually, it came out that the investigator I had put on the case had faked his observation logs. He was meant to infiltrate a company to investigate bullying. But it turned out that he had worked for that company only one day for four hours. He then called in sick. On his account and in his report, he claimed he had worked at that company for five days, eight hours each day. I reported him for fraud and sued for damages."

If I wanted to cheat on my partner, what's the best way to do it without being found out?

"I'd say to avoid putting anything in writing – don't text, email or chat online. Only deal with each other face-to-face – and never in public. If your partner suddenly turns off their mobile phone for a while [note: false translation; if your partner hides the mobile], that could be an indication that they could be cheating. And if you don't want to be found out, make sure that you don't change your behaviour in any obvious way. Don't suddenly start going to the gym or the hairdresser more often than normally, for example. Those are clues that'll give you away [note: false translation; that are frequently described by our clients]."

And if I wanted to make myself disappear, what's the best way to go about it?

"If you're an EU citizen, stay in Europe to avoid leaving any traces at borders. Don't ever take a plane or a train, because that normally means your journey will be registered – plus there are cameras everywhere at train stations and airports.

The most important thing is to be prepared to leave your old life behind. Many people who disappear successfully at first, are later found because they couldn't let go of some of the comforts of their old life. They'll keep using old credit cards for instance or will look for a flat using their old name. Few people are willing to go all the way and get a new identity and get fake documents made. That's why we fail at only 15 percent of the missing person cases we take on – and when that happens it's usually because the budget we have at our disposal doesn't allow us to continue our search."

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Continuous property crimes over several years?

The owner of an organic supermarket in Zwickau, whom we’ll call Mr. Colditz, had long suspected one of his long-term employees of cash register embezzlement. To explain the case in more detail to our detective agency in Zwickau*, he invited one of our corporate investigators to his home. After a very cordial welcome, Mr. Colditz reported that the suspected employee had, in all likelihood, been committing property crimes against his business for two to three years; only the legal proof was missing. To obtain this, he contacted our private detectives in Zwickau (+49 341 6970 4082).

Suspected method of the perpetrator

The target person was suspected of logging into the register system either with his own employee ID or with those of colleagues and then committing fraud in two ways:

1. Fake deposit returns: Nonexistent bottle deposits were faked digitally, and the corresponding cash amounts were removed from the till.
2. Fake product returns: Supposedly opened groceries and/or cosmetics were entered as returned by customers due to “wrong purchases.” Again, the respective cash refunds were taken.

To avoid immediate detection, the target person created receipts reflecting these fictitious withdrawals and placed them in the register for accounting. This made it impossible for our client to notice the fraud right away. Only after several internal audits and stock counts were the discrepancies detected.

After the entire situation was clearly and credibly outlined at the client’s private residence, our detective in Zwickau and Mr. Colditz decided to initiate a direct on-site surveillance in the supermarket to observe and legally document another theft by the target person. This could potentially require several days of observation.

Observation at the register: Transactions without customers?

The surveillance setup turned out to be unusually convenient: there was a café directly across from the store with a clear view of the cash register area. Thus, our private investigator didn’t have to spend hours waiting in a car in scorching heat or freezing cold but could instead observe comfortably from a café table — coffee and cake included. This assignment aimed to provide legally sound evidence of commercial fraud and embezzlement, for which the perpetrator faced up to ten years in prison (§263 German Criminal Code, Fraud).

After only 20 minutes, our corporate detective in Zwickau saw the target person performing multiple register entries — even though there were no customers present. Five minutes later, the same happened again. The investigator and Mr. Colditz discreetly agreed that the business owner would check the register log via the computer system. If unauthorized transactions appeared, Mr. Colditz would signal this to our detective with a previously agreed nonverbal sign.

Confrontation – Notarial acknowledgment of debt?

Once Mr. Colditz gave the signal, he and our investigator confronted the target with the observed offenses. The detective led most of the conversation, as he had extensive experience in interrogations and mediation and often successfully obtains notarized acknowledgments of debt. These documents can vary in content but usually offer leniency if the perpetrator admits guilt and agrees to compensate for the financial damage.

The exchange followed a familiar pattern: initial denial, then confrontation with solid evidence, and finally the presentation of the remaining options — either signing the acknowledgment of debt or facing criminal and civil proceedings. In most cases, offenders choose the first option to avoid imprisonment. This case was no exception. The employee confessed to having stolen between €50 and €150 weekly for several years. To conceal the theft, he fabricated bottle deposit and product return receipts and placed them in the till for reconciliation.

Damage assessment and termination of employment

After the confession, the three parties reviewed the suspicious transactions from recent years for several hours. The total damage was determined to be €10,000, which, in the opinion of our private investigator in Zwickau, was quite lenient. Finally, they agreed on an immediate termination of the employee’s contract and issued a one-year ban from the premises.

All names and locations have been changed to fully protect the privacy of both client and target.

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Solving Two Murders of Women in Leipzig-West

In early December, the Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig conducted a mantrailing operation in the missing person case of Anja Bareinz, summarized here in shortened form. Mrs. Bareinz had been missing since November 29, 2016. Yesterday, on February 28, 2017, the worst fears were confirmed: the mother of a two-year-old daughter is dead – murdered.

When confronted by the police with a search warrant, the perpetrator confessed. He was also responsible for the murder of Maria D., a Portuguese woman whose body was found in the Elster Basin in April 2016. The home address of the murderer had been passed several times by the tracking dogs of our Leipzig private investigation team during their trail, and the complete results were provided to the police. Nevertheless, it took almost three more months before the body was discovered.

Trailing Results Near All Relevant Locations

As already described in December, the mantrailing operation on December 5, 2016, was hindered by various unfavorable factors. Nevertheless, the trail from that time strongly correlates with the police investigation results presented yesterday and allows conclusions about the course of events.

The starting point was the last known location of the victim – Bar 55 at the Lindenauer Markt. From there, the scent trail led through the pedestrian zone to Gemeindeamtsstraße and then to Merseburger Straße, where at the corner of Demmeringstraße the dogs showed increased alert behavior. Only a few meters away lies Apostelstraße, where the body was later found. From Merseburger Straße, the trail turned into Demmeringstraße and continued up to Odermannstraße, where the tracking dog turned around and followed the route back. Exactly on this stretch – on Demmeringstraße between Merseburger Straße and Odermannstraße – is the murderer’s residence. Without deeper insight into the police’s investigation progress – in which neither we nor the family were substantially involved – it cannot be ruled out that the body was not yet located at the later discovery site in Apostelstraße at the time of the trail. At present, the relatives, the public, and our Leipzig detectives are awaiting further police information on this matter.

Second Tracking Dog Confirms Initial Trail

Verification of the first trail by another mantrailing dog covered a slightly wider area that encompassed the first trail entirely, showed alert behavior at a residence on Angerstraße, and also passed through Demmeringstraße.

A third scent-tracking dog examined the Elster Basin, where the perpetrator’s first victim had been found in April, but showed no alert behavior. Thus, it is not surprising that – unlike the first victim – the body was not found in that area.

Lack of Cooperation, Lack of Recognition

It is to be assumed — because anything else would be grossly negligent — that the results of our mantrailing operation were incorporated into the official investigation and provided potentially decisive clues toward solving the case. However, this fact was not mentioned in the publications by the police or the public prosecutor’s office. Instead, authorities pressured the victim’s family — despite initial promises of cooperation — not to initiate further private investigations, repeatedly changed internal case handlers before taking meaningful action, and failed to provide the family with relevant updates on the investigation’s progress. The pursuit of the leads indicated by the trail began only after a significant delay.

Unfortunately, the State of Saxony still shows considerable prejudice against the use of mantrailing dogs, which have repeatedly contributed to solving murder cases in Brandenburg and Berlin — and, notably, using the very same dogs. We experienced similar resistance years ago in another case, which was also reported by RTL.

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Appeal for Information in the Missing Person Case of Anja Bareinz

After three years of consistently successful mantrailing operations, during which, among other achievements, a young man was prevented from committing suicide, our previously perfect success rate of 100 per cent has unfortunately been broken by the missing person case of Anja Valyiah Bareinz from Leipzig. Ms Bareinz, mother of a two-year-old daughter and resident of Grünau-Ost, has been missing since 29 November 2016. Below, Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig explains the circumstances of her disappearance, as far as known, and the details of our mantrailing operation.

We are grateful for any information that might help locate the missing woman. Please contact either our detective agency directly (Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082, Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de), the responsible Leipzig-Southwest Police Directorate (Tel.: +49 341 94600), or the Criminal Investigation Department (Tel.: +49 341 2552 573).

Mantrailing as a Forensic Method for Locating Missing Persons

The client of our Leipzig detectives is the family of the missing person, who are currently taking care of her young daughter. According to information provided by our clients, the last known location of Anja Bareinz on the evening of 29 November 2016 was Bar 55, at the corner of Marktstraße and Lindenauer Markt in 04177 Leipzig. The young mother’s mobile phone has been switched off since approximately 9:45 p.m. that evening.

The family of the missing woman contacted Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig and were advised by our specialist consultants about the usually very effective option of mantrailing. In this form of missing person search, highly specialised human-scent tracking dogs are deployed, which can follow the last trails of a sought person on the basis of scent carriers. The abilities of these dogs are remarkable; successful trails even weeks or months later, sometimes through extremely challenging environments such as flowing water, feature in the record of our mantrailing expert – accordingly, the success rate is high. The clients of our Leipzig detective agency agreed to the mantrailing operation, and thus our expert met on 5 December 2016 at the Leipzig-Southwest Police Station to discuss the case with the clients and the responsible police officers. Although police accompaniment during the trail was not planned, we were assured of their support in the event that the dogs indicated the need to enter houses or flats.

Difficulties in Securing the Scent Carriers

The first step in mantrailing is to secure an appropriate scent sample. Based on the scent molecules that every person “loses”, mantrailing dogs can pick up trails and retrace the path of the sought individual by following those molecules. Securing the scent sample in the case of Anja Bareinz proved problematic. Ideally – and in most cases easily obtainable – are objects that contain sweat or sebum, even in small amounts (for example, through contact with the fingers, where both substances are secreted via the relevant glands). Such scent carriers include, for instance, used pillows, blankets, towels and handkerchiefs, or worn socks, blouses, trousers and shoes. It is also important that the scent carriers have not been contaminated by other human – and, to a lesser extent, animal – scent sources, as this would result in the scent traces of several persons being present, which makes it difficult for the tracking dogs to follow the trail of the sought person exclusively.

Indications in Two Locations within the Immediate Vicinity

The actual trail, following the securing of the scent carriers, was intended to last almost six hours and was fully recorded using GPS devices. For the purposes of cross-checking and to relieve the dogs in case of fatigue, three mantrailing dogs were deployed alternately. Unfortunately, the operation did not yield a conclusive result – but neither did it provide any clear indication of a violent crime. The main issue in this mantrailing operation was probably the quality of the scent carriers. Regrettably, it could not be verified beyond doubt that the items genuinely belonged to the missing woman and that they had been used by her alone. In the interest of our clients – the missing Anja Bareinz, her young daughter, her partner and all others close to her – we hope for a swift clarification of this case. We are all extremely grateful for any tip-offs from the public.

Update of 1 March 2017

Unfortunately, two days ago a body was discovered which, according to yesterday’s statement by the public prosecutor’s office, is believed to be that of Anja Bareinz. Further information can be found here.

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

A Tip Raises a Terrible Suspicion

Mr and Mrs Leisnig had been married for twelve years and had two children together. Mr Leisnig’s best friend, Mr Nossen, had served as best man at their wedding and continued to maintain a very close relationship with the family: they went on holidays together, met regularly after work and at weekends, he looked after the children when his help was needed, and he was also their godfather.

The weekend before last, Mrs Leisnig went to a professional training seminar on the island of Rügen, while Mr Nossen allegedly spent the weekend with his cousin’s family in Göttingen – or so they both claimed. The following Monday, however, Mr Leisnig was stopped after work by an acquaintance who, visibly uncomfortable, had something to tell him: she had spent the previous week with her partner on holiday in the seaside resort of Binz on Rügen, where she had seen Mrs Leisnig and Mr Nossen walking arm in arm along the promenade. Mr Leisnig brusquely dismissed her – that was an outrageous accusation and could not possibly be true! Yet in the days that followed, the matter would not leave his mind. His best friend and his wife, the two people who meant more to him than anyone else apart from his children, betraying him in such a perfidious way? That could not be! Or could it? Had he overlooked the signs because he could never have imagined such a thing? Searching his memories, he recalled situations that other husbands might have found odd and questioned. Eventually he could no longer bear it and therefore commissioned our detective agency in Chemnitz* to investigate his wife.

Unremarkable Daily Activities During Surveillance

The surveillance began at Mrs Leisnig’s workplace, the hospital where she was employed part-time. The client of our private investigators in Chemnitz wished to determine whether she really met a friend for coffee after work, as she claimed, before returning home to prepare dinner for the children. The suspect’s statements proved accurate: the friend collected her from work, drove with her to a café, and later dropped her off at a dental practice. Mrs Leisnig then walked home alone, without any contact with Mr Nossen that day.

On the second day, the investigators observed a visit to a savings bank and a stay at a sports centre.

The outcome of the third day’s personal surveillance by our private detective agency in Chemnitz would, taken together with the previous findings, almost have led to the end of the assignment, as the target person’s activities remained inconspicuous: a hairdresser’s appointment, a few errands at a DIY store, and some shopping at a supermarket – all alone, with no sign of the suspected lover. Mr Leisnig was audibly distressed, as it appeared that he had falsely suspected his wife and his best friend. At the same time, he was angry with the acquaintance who had planted the idea in his mind. He was not completely at ease, however, and – as a final safeguard – decided to check his wife’s mobile phone.

Mobile Phone Findings Raise New Doubts

Although no suspicious messages were found in the chat between the two target persons on Mrs Leisnig’s smartphone, there was a photograph hidden in a family holiday album showing a male genital organ that did not belong to Mr Leisnig. Moreover, the call log revealed an exceptionally high number of calls between his wife and his best man – many lasting only a few seconds, others up to two hours, the longer ones always occurring when Mr Leisnig was not in the same building as his wife. Accordingly, he decided to continue the investigation.

Interestingly, Mr Nossen was due to visit the family the following day to spend time with the children and play a few rounds of skat in the evening with Mr Leisnig and another family friend. When our detective team in Chemnitz observed Mrs Leisnig that day, she went straight home from work for the first time without visiting any other place. The time was evidently well used, for shortly after her arrival at the detached house, Mr Nossen also appeared – on foot. Our private investigators found his vehicle parked several streets away. The children were due home from school at about 2:45 p.m., but Mr Nossen left the house at 2:32, walked to his car, waited there for about fifteen minutes, and then drove back to the family’s property, this time parking directly in front of the house before going back inside – a very suspicious sequence of events. However, our private and commercial detective agency in Chemnitz could of course not provide concrete proof, since a person’s own home constitutes an inviolable private sphere, making both visual observation and photographic documentation by our detectives absolutely prohibited.

Strong Indications vs. Remaining Doubts – Continued Assignments

In the following weeks, at Mr Leisnig’s request – who was naturally even more convinced of his suspicions after the previous observations – the investigators carried out occasional spot checks of his wife’s activities. Twice more they documented Mr Nossen spending time alone with Mrs Leisnig in the house before the children returned from school, once for just over thirty minutes and once for almost fifty. To assume there was no affair at this point would have bordered on naïvety, though these observations still could not entirely eliminate the residual doubt that there might be an innocent explanation. The client of our detective office in Chemnitz pondered the matter day and night, coming up with various alternative explanations – for instance, his milestone birthday was approaching, and it was conceivable that his wife and best friend were secretly planning something special. But why, then, did they conceal it so determinedly from the children, and why did Mr Nossen park his car so conspicuously inconspicuously? All the speculation was in vain; proof was needed, and so the investigation continued.

Unfortunate Circumstances Put to Good Use

Certainty was soon to come. Some weeks later, Mr Leisnig’s mother suffered a fall in her Dresden flat, breaking bones in both arms. She required surgery and considerable assistance, meaning that our client travelled repeatedly to Dresden, often staying overnight to support her. For him this naturally meant additional emotional strain and stress, but for our detective agency in Chemnitz it presented an opportunity, as it was now more likely that the two target persons might dare to meet outside the house in the husband’s absence.

Indeed: on one of those evenings, Mrs Leisnig, after consulting with her husband, hired a babysitter because she said she was going to the cinema with a friend. This friend, however, had a noticeable three-day beard, short stubbly hair, and a clearly visible Adam’s apple – it was Mr Nossen. The two targets met in a car park in the Adelsberg district, greeted each other with kisses on the mouth that were clearly not platonic, and then drove together to a cinema in Limbach-Oberfrohna. They had probably chosen that location because they feared being recognised by friends, relatives or acquaintances in a Chemnitz cinema. During the screening, which they attended under the observation of one of our Chemnitz private detectives, they cuddled closely and occasionally kissed. After the film, they went to a short-stay hotel, spent just under an hour there, returned to the car park in Adelsberg, and finally said goodbye with kisses.

Separation Including a Fresh Humiliation

When Mr Leisnig learned of the results of that day’s investigation, he did not appear devastated – he had long seen confirmation of his suspicions coming. Nonetheless, he seemed disillusioned and was understandably deeply saddened, having lost both his wife and his best friend. After the separation, which our client initiated immediately upon his return from Dresden, Mrs Leisnig moved in with Mr Nossen – another heavy blow for the betrayed husband. Both admitted that the affair had been ongoing for six years, though they assured him that the children were definitely his. Our client now plans to apply for custody.

For discretion and to protect the personal rights of clients and target persons, all names and locations in this case report have been altered beyond recognition.

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Magnifying glass, pipe and trench coat – these types of detectives exist only in novels. Or do they? Our guest, private investigator Patrick Kurtz, tells us how one actually becomes a detective and how much of Sherlock Holmes can be found in him.

Presenter Paula Drope in conversation with Private Detective Patrick Kurtz

What does Patrick Kurtz think of modern film adaptations? How much does he really have in common with Sherlock Holmes? Is the detective blog the new detective format? And just how devious is Leipzig, really?

The answers to these questions – and more – can be heard in this interview (German only):

A shabby back room in an office building, shown in black and white, a large leather armchair with a heavy desk in front of it. This image comes to many people’s minds when they think of a detective’s office. The corresponding detective has a cigarette at the corner of his mouth and a glass of whisky in his right hand. Or imagine the British counterpart Sherlock Holmes with a pipe, trench coat and magnifying glass. But how much of that is fiction and found only in novels?

We explored this question in the long interview M19. For that purpose we invited Patrick Kurtz, owner of Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig, into the studio. After studying psychology, comparative literature, German studies and provincial Roman archaeology, he devoted himself entirely to the profession of private investigator.

What does a detective’s everyday life look like?

Many imagine a private investigator sitting in a dimly lit back office until a beautiful young woman walks in asking for help solving a murder – that’s how it goes in detective fiction, at least. Patrick Kurtz explains that the modern private investigator spends a great deal of time at the desk, especially as the owner of an internationally operating detective agency, and occasionally carries out surveillance work or undercover investigations. Today’s detectives make use of modern technology and scientific research methods. Some investigators employ lie detection and behavioural analysis to help solve crimes. But above all, Kurtz emphasises the importance of teamwork.

“I play the guitar, not the violin.” – Patrick Kurtz

While Sherlock Holmes might not be quite as successful today as a lone wolf, Patrick Kurtz remains an avid fan. He appreciates not only Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels but also the various film adaptations. Sherlock Holmes has enjoyed quite a resurgence in recent years – most notably in the Hollywood films starring Robert Downey Jr. and the BBC television series Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch as the modern-day Holmes.

This article was written by Caroline Bernert and originally published at:

http://mephisto976.de/news/detektivarbeit-ist-heute-teamarbeit-50949.

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig

An article by Anja Falgowski, published in the Leipziger Volkszeitung on 28 January 2014 (German only):

Kurtz Detective Agency Leipzig | Germany
Beuchaer Straße 10
04318 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 341 6970 4082
Mobile: +49 163 8033 967
Email: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de
Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-leipzig.de/en
Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-leipzig