Season 57

A confused, 16-year-old girl is found in Dresden at night with a blood-stained scalpel. She reports that her father has kept her and her sister Jana imprisoned in a cellar for life, and that Jana is still there. Detective Winkler believes the traumatized teenager, while Schnabel has his doubts. Investigations and forensic examinations uncover evidence of family bloodstains – and suddenly Amanda herself is under suspicion of murder.

In the Black Forest, Detective Friedemann Berg discovers a frightened nine-year-old girl (Eliza) hiding in a clock case. Shortly afterward, her father's body, weighed down with stones, is found in a forest lake. His colleague Franziska Tobler and a child psychologist investigate, while Berg tries to help the selectively mute child overcome her trauma and find the missing mother.

During the final rehearsal of Haydn's "The Creation," a member of the props department is found shot dead at the opera house—posed as if in a stage production. A weapon from the costume department is missing. Ballauf and Schenk's investigation initially leads them to the singers, but soon a second murder occurs.

A toddler is found dead, his brother has disappeared. Stuttgart detectives Lannert and Bootz take up the investigation. At the center of the case is a family with a public past, whose internal conflicts increasingly come into focus.

Bremen detectives Moormann and Selb are investigating the death of a law student who was pushed down a flight of stairs near a nightclub. Their investigation focuses on her conflict-ridden shared apartment, a homeless suspect with her cell phone, and the immense pressure she was under to perform. The investigation uncovers a web of stress, family secrets, and shattered hopes.

On the edge of a Berlin industrial wasteland, the body of a homeless man is found with distinctive bite marks. Initially, a wolf attack is suspected. However, the investigation by Susanne Bonard and Robert Karow reveals a violent crime. While Bonard follows a wilderness instructor, Karow uncovers connections within the survivalist and prepper community.

Businessman Emil Feidt is found murdered in a village on the German-French border. The Saarbrücken investigative team, led by Chief Inspector Esther Baumann, investigates the case, which takes them to Baumann's hometown of Hohenweiler. They quickly suspect that the murder is connected to the unsolved death of Feidt's daughter five years earlier. Their investigation leads them into a web of long-standing feuds, guilt, and unspoken truths, further fueling the spiral of violence in the village and raising the question of whether evil is rooted in the individual or the community.