It flowed in happy days in Switzerland. A 75-year-old German man was found in the canton of Schwyz in central Switzerland in early January when he had been missing since 2004 and his family believed him dead, tells 20min.ch.
It was the German daily newspaper Südkurier that uncovered the affair. At the time of his disappearance 18 years ago, the man and his wife had then emigrated to Spain to set up a car business. The 56-year-old German, who had left on a business trip to Munich, had not given any sign of life since September 21, 2004.
The man was found in 2008
The German police responsible for the investigation at the time searched his hotel room in the city of Constance on the Swiss border, La Dépêche du midi notes. All of his personal belongings were found except for his identification papers. The investigators then consider suicide.
The case first took a turn in 2008, when the Swiss police stopped a German resident of the canton of Schwyz. After examining his identity papers, the police discovered that he was a man who had been missing in Spain for four years and warned the Spanish authorities.
But confusion on the other side of the Pyrenees means that the Spanish police fail to warn their German counterparts or the missing man’s wife. For them, the mystery remains.
A “cold case” finally solved
It was not until 2020 that a “Cold Cases” unit of the German police finally took over the case and resumed the investigation. By searching databases for the man’s DNA, they eventually contact the Swiss police, who then confirm that the man is still on Swiss territory.
He is married and has several children with his new partner. The man did not want to give details of the circumstances and reasons for his sudden disappearance, he only authorized the investigators to tell his ex-wife that he was not dead.
But no risk of punishment for him: “If someone leaves their old life behind, it’s none of our business, it’s private and we don’t ask any questions,” the German investigator explained to the Südkurier.