Andres Voges In ‘Crime Scene Berlin’: How Did He Catch The Darkroom Killer?

Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer is the latest Netflix documentary that takes us back to 2012, when a serial killer was on the loose and the law enforcement authorities were having a hard time finding clues and the motive of the perpetrator. This individual was a sociopath, and there came a time when, because of him, the reputation of the entire gay community was tarnished, and there was a lot of fear in society. Berlin is a city that is known for its nightlife, but the atmosphere of terror not only hampered business but also had an adverse impact on the lives of a lot of people.

Andres Voges (the senior homicide investigator) and his colleague Monika Laschke knew that they would have to find this man before he killed more innocent people. One thing that was established very clearly was that the killer had no intention of stopping, but the problem was that in a crime where the motive cannot be established, it becomes very difficult to make a breakthrough. So, let’s find out how Andres Voges and his team caught the infamous Darkroom Killer. 

What Did Moroslaw Wawak Tell The Police? 

The first incident happened in Friedrichshain district on May 5, 2012, at a bar named Grosse Freiheit. The body of a man named Nicky was found in the darkroom of this bar. The people working at the bar didn’t know if he had been strangled, if he had been poisoned, or if he had just died because of a self-induced drug overdose. Nicky was 32 years old, and his family was immediately informed about the incident. Even Nicky’s sister, Anka, couldn’t decipher why her brother would be killed when he was not the sort of guy who had enemies. Andres Voges and his team found out that the victim’s credit card and his mobile phone were missing. They got to know that the credit card had been used once at Ostbahnhof train station to buy a ticket for Saarbrucken. Then, transactions were declined, and so the perpetrator used another credit card immediately to do the same. That credit card belonged to a man named Moroslaw Wawak.

On further investigation, it came to be known that Moroslaw Wawak was also a victim who had been drugged by the Darkroom Killer, but somehow, fortunately, he survived. Moroslaw met the killer at the station, and then the latter offered him a drink. As soon as Moroslaw took a sip of it, he started feeling uneasy. Later, he woke up in a hospital, not being able to understand how he got there. Moroslaw knew that he was one of the lucky ones, as the perpetrator never left his victims alive. For Andres Voges, a few things about the modus operandi of the killer were established after Moroslaw gave his testimony. The darkroom killer used a drug called GHB, which was known as a party drug but was far more lethal. Only a few drops of the drug could kill the person. Probably, the killer would have thought that Moroslaw also wouldn’t survive. Also, the darkroom killer wasn’t doing the act for any material gain. Yes, he was stealing the credit cards and mobiles of their victims, but he never used them, and according to the investigating officers he was doing it for sheer thrill. 

The major breakthrough came when Andres and his team, based on Moroslaw’s testimony, were able to find the CCTV footage from the train station, though the only problem was that it was not very clear. Andres arrested a few suspects, but it was very hard to say for sure if they could be the killer. Andres decided that he would make that CCTV footage public, and the very next day all the newspapers around the country and all the channels showed it and asked the people to approach the authorities in case they recognized that man. Andres didn’t know if it was the right move to do so at that moment, but it paid off for him. 

How did Andres Voges catch the Darkroom Killer? 

Andres and his team got to know that even before Nicky the Darkroom Killer murdered a man named Alexander. The victim’s grandmother, Regina, read in the newspaper about the Darkroom Killer, and she remembered that even her grandson told her about a friend who stayed in Saarbrucken. Up until then, Regina didn’t know that even her grandson had been killed by this sociopath, but she just felt that she should inform the authorities of whatever she knew. Andres Voges struck gold when he checked the call records of Alexander, and he came to know that just before his death, he had contacted a man named Dirk. It was not hard for the Berlin police to find out the whereabouts of the man, and surprisingly, he came and confessed to his crimes. Dirk actually had no specific motive behind killing the people, and the criminologists made the deduction that he did the act just because it gave him an adrenaline rush.

At the end of Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer, Dirk was sentenced to life imprisonment and a few days after that, he took his own life in his cell. It was one of those cases that the investigating officers could never forget. Andres Voges, Monika Laschke, and all the other people on board could never really ascertain why he did what he did. Yes, the criminologists had theories in place, but it could never be proved for sure what went on in the mind of the sociopath when he gave his victims the lethal drug. The investigating officers still get shivers down their spine when they think of how the perpetrator came and confessed to his crimes. Dirk talked as if it was the most natural thing to kill people, and his calm and composed attitude left the investigating officers shocked. The families of the victims could never get the closure they needed, and what they were left with were fond memories of their loved ones and a deep-rooted regret that they knew they could never get rid of.