He ran out of an airport terminal, terrified. CCTV recorded him. But he’s never been seen again—even though thousands of YouTubers and Redditors have attempted to crack the case
On July 8, 2014, just after sunrise, 28-year-old Lars Mittank arrived at an airport in Bulgaria to catch his flight home to Germany. He stepped out of a taxi, picked up his bags and walked into the departures hall.
Then, in a flash, he ran out of the terminal, without his luggage, as if someone, or something, were chasing him. He looked frightened, paranoid and possessed. He stopped at the main entrance for a brief second before he ran across the parking lot, climbed over an 8-foot barbed-wire fence and disappeared into the woods and into the blank.
He was never seen again.
Twenty-Four Hours Earlier
It was the final moments of Mittank’s vacation, the first time he’d been abroad. Mittank and his friends, five former schoolmates, all in their late 20s, had spent the previous week in Varna, a beach resort that sprawls along Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast (aka the Bulgarian Riviera).
But now, it was time to leave.
The group had booked a flight to Hamburg, Germany, 1,200 miles northwest of Varna, for later that day. From there, it was a short train ride to Itzehoe in the north of Germany where they all grew up, lived and worked. “The week went by really fast,” Paul Rohmann, one of Mittank’s friends, told German television in 2016. “We relaxed on the beach, swam in the pool, played football, went clubbing. He was relaxed. He was in a good mood.”
“I noticed he didn’t eat much,” added Tim Schuldt, who was also on the trip. “He’d have a bowl of soup or a small plate of salad, and that was it.”
Nothing else, however, struck them as odd.
By all accounts, Mittank was just a regular guy. He was a football fan. He supported his local team, Werder Bremen, the “Green-Whites.” He wore Adidas T-shirts and scruffy sneakers. He had plenty of friends, a girlfriend and a decent job at a local power plant. He always visited his parents. In fact, after his dad’s stroke, he’d help out around the house after work. Essentially, there was nothing unusual about him.
But after the group checked out of their hotel at noon, Mittank made an announcement — he’d changed his travel plans. He’d gone to the hospital earlier that morning. A couple of days before, he’d ruptured his eardrum during a night out. A change in cabin air pressure could’ve made it worse, so he had to stay put for a bit — doctor’s orders. It was no big deal, though, just a temporary setback. He’d been prescribed antibiotics (something called Cefuroxime 500), and he could fly home the following day. He told his friends to go on without him.
He said he’d be alright.
Mittank, however, needed a place to crash in the meantime. The problem was it was high season, and nearly every room in nearly every hotel was occupied. Eventually, he did find one place with vacancies — Hotel Color. An added bonus: The rooms were cheap, and it was close to the airport.