Buried Secrets
Episode 3 of Criminal Germany begins with a woman in the interview room with multiple scars on her hands and humming to herself. While Schultz discusses the next course of action with the other Inspector, the woman throws a chair at the glass. Schultz then heads into the room and shows her a map with pictures of girls dotted around it. He takes one and asks her where Melanie Weiss is buried. Keller arrives soon after and we find out that the accused is Claudia Hartman, Mark Kreutzer’s ex who is known for the Spreewald Murderers (the first of post-GDR serial killers). Keller is not happy that Schultz is interrogating her as she has already been prosecuted 20 years ago and has been taken out of her cell. Claudia then tells Schultz that she wants to make an offer – she wants to see her daughter in exchange for the location of Melanie’s body. During a break, Keller berates Schultz for taking Claudia out of prison but he fights back. He has been on that case for 21 years and has invested a lot of time into it. He explains that he has been in touch with Melanie’s Mother all along and has watched her suffer for years. All the inspectors meet to discuss the interview and we find out that Claudia gave birth in prison but gave her daughter up for adoption. However, they have no idea where the girl is living now. Keller decides to carry on with the interview and uses her pregnancy in her favour. She tries to understand why Keller did the things she did and wants to know if she killed those girls or if it was her partner. Having killed himself in prison, she was convicted for everything he did – the rape and murder of all six girls – as he wasn’t prosecuted before he died. Claudia then starts to tell the story of how they met and that’s where we find out that he had a thing for virgins and became violent. She explains how they conducted their first kidnapping of Melanie and as she recalls the gruesome details, Keller asks her if she realised what had just happened. Claudia explains that she took pity on him and they had a special bond that no one understood. Still desperate to find out anything about her daughter, Claudia asks if she is doing well. Keller lies and tells her she’s doing better than she would ever hope but that Melanie’s mother has a right to give her daughter a place where she can be loved. After more lies from Keller about her daughter’s life, Claudia looks like she is about to reveal the location. However, she asks for a picture first. Keller then asks her why she gave up the baby so quickly when she could have had 3 months with her in prison. She replies that she was talked into it by Schultz and child services. Keller then changes tactics and tells her that they’ve been lying and have no idea where her daughter is. She continues by saying that she knows that Claudia has no idea where Melanie is buried because she thinks she was in shock during the first murder. After this revelation, in a fit of rage Claudia pushes the table and it hits the pregnant Keller in her stomach. The police then burst in to her aid and handcuff Claudia. Schultz tries to convince Keller to go to hospital but she refuses as she feels her baby is fine. Schultz then goes back in to the interrogation room and reveals that he has been keeping an eye on her daughter ever since, showing Claudia a picture of her. Finally able to see what her daughter looks like, Claudia agrees to show where Melanie is buried. She takes the butt of her cigarette and burns a hole in the map, finally revealing the location. Afterwards, Keller congratulates Schultz and leaves on good terms, with the promise of coming back after her maternity leave. As she head out to the elevator, the episode ends with Keller suddenly clutching her stomach. As we wrap up Criminal Germany, we are left again with more speculations. While the main story of the episode is concluded in a relatively decent manner, with Claudia revealing where the body is buried, the episode still ends with a cliffhanger when it comes to Keller and her pregnancy. Is she going to lose her baby? Going back to the end of last episode, with lawyer Marquart mentioning to Keller that there is more to Schultz that she is aware of, we are left to assume that it was probably his personal involvement in the murder of Melanie. Criminal Germany has definitely been an emotional ride, both in and out of the interrogation room. Schultz and Keller have a very interesting dynamic between them and it’s nicely developed throughout the 3 episodes, giving us enough drama and intrigue to make this German instalment worth watching and just as entertaining as the other entries in Criminal.
