Season 56

Paul is kidnapped in the street. An attentive neighbor is killed by the kidnapper before she can give a statement. The parents receive a ransom demand, but detectives Lena Odenthal and Johanna Stern determine that it is a diversionary tactic. The case is strikingly similar to a kidnapping nine years ago, in which Swen, who was nine years old at the time, was released after months of captivity, apparently unscathed, but the perpetrator has not yet been identified. Swen seems to have survived the terrible experiences of his childhood. But he still cannot help the detectives, even though Johanna Stern manages to build a good relationship with the unstable young man. The detectives realize that Swen is being haunted by ghosts from his childhood experiences and that he is still traumatized. They need his memory to find the way to the kidnapper.

Collecting debts is his job. And Fabian Pavlou is very good at it. He is considered one of the most successful field staff at the international company Correct Inkasso. But now Pavlou was brutally attacked on his way home. When the inspectors Max Ballauf and Freddy Schenk arrive at the crime scene, there is no trace of the victim. Did one of the debtors the debt collection manager recently dealt with take revenge - or did he see no other way out? For example, there is the tax clerk Stefanie Schreiter, who is facing a wage garnishment because of her ex-husband's debts. Or the completely indebted masseur Timo Eckhoff, who can no longer pay his electricity bill. Or the married couple Monika and Jost Lehnen, who are facing the foreclosure of their home... Then the colleagues from the manhunt call in. They have located Pavlou's cell phone. At a motorway rest area near Cologne. But the point on the map is moving. Max Ballauf immediately starts to pursue him...

In a rental property in Kiel, Klaus Borowski and his colleague Mila Sahin find 40-year-old insurance clerk Andrea Gonzor shot dead on her bed. Andrea Gonzor had apparently invited people to an erotic party that evening. Numerous traces of semen around the dead woman indicate that the victim had apparently had several sexual partners that night. There are traces of alcohol and tranquilizers in her blood, but there is no evidence of a sexual crime. Borowski and Sahin delve into the world of sex and love addicts. The only key to solving the problem seems to be Andrea's friend Nele. She discovered the dead woman.

Sebastian Bootz is among the guests at a film premiere in Stuttgart when the screen suddenly goes black and a man and a woman threaten the audience with guns. Panic breaks out, several people manage to flee, shots are fired - and a security guard lies dead on the ground. When Sebastian Bootz grabs his gun to stop the hostage takers, he is threatened and shoots the man. But the perpetrators are not deterred. Bootz is disarmed and, along with the remaining guests, becomes hostage of the two unknown men. Because he managed to contact Thorsten Lannert unnoticed, he is one of the first to start work in the operations center. He and the members of the crisis team are working feverishly to find out who the hostage takers are, how they can be stopped and further deaths prevented. Much depends on the cooperation between the two inspectors and this must now prove itself from a distance.

Saarbrücken, deep in the night. An explosion shatters the silence. Sleepless Chief Inspector Pia Heinrich is the first on the scene: a security guard was killed in a brutal robbery of an armored car. When Chief Inspectors Leo Hölzer and Adam Schürk arrive, they are presented with a disturbing scene left behind by a massive explosion. What does the number sprayed on the street mean? Does a trail lead to an internationally wanted criminal gang in neighboring France? Chief Inspector Esther Baumann activates her contacts with the French police. Or does the surviving security guard know more than he admits? The team has barely begun their investigation when events take a dramatic turn and Pia is in danger...

Janusz disappears during a high school graduation party. Marlin, a classmate, calls the police to report him dead before he himself is run over on a country road. Since evidence suggests a violent crime, Leonie Winkler, Karin Gorniak and their boss Schnabel from the Dresden Criminal Investigation Department begin searching for the student and investigating. His classmates remain silent - no one claims to have seen or heard from Janusz again.

In broad daylight, a man is shot dead from a great distance by a sniper in the center of Berlin, near the Friedrichstrasse subway station. Susanne Bonard and Robert Karow are under pressure - and under observation: Preparations are underway for a major state visit to Berlin and the Senator for the Interior is worried about the murder. Public Prosecutor Taghavi demands that the matter be clarified as quickly as possible.

An unknown dead woman is found in a derelict military vehicle. Leitmayr, Batic and Hammermann discover that a vehicle is missing from a nearby army base. The dead woman was obviously employed as a "civilian on the battlefield" for a NATO maneuver that is currently taking place. Together with Military Police Officer Jennifer Miller, the detectives not only find the crime scene, but also another dead person on the premises. Given the maneuver, the police have little time to solve the murder case. They therefore decide on an unconventional investigative method: "embedded investigation".

Techno, ecstasy and party, party, party: In the 1990s, Christian, Meike and René were part of the scene and celebrated above the rooftops of Cologne in the legendary "Colonius". It has been around 30 years since the three last saw each other. Now they are brought together by inspectors Ballauf and Schenk after their former friend, the former scene photographer Alex Schmitz, was found murdered in his apartment. He was also a regular at the "Colonius" - has his past caught up with him? A trail on the Internet leads the investigators deep into the old party world and to their former companions. Christian's daughter Svenja also becomes the focus of the investigation. Her mother Gina disappeared without a trace after a night of partying...

With only days left until his retirement, Borowski uncovers a chilling case linked to a dark house. As he investigates, he's stalked by a killer who anticipates his every move, all while racing against time before his career ends.