Marie Brand S01E29 - Marie Brand und der Tote im Trikot

Cyclist and Olympic hopeful Stefan Lürs has been missing for two years. His body has now been found in the immediate vicinity of his training stadium, based on an anonymous tip. For Commissioner Marie Brand, the question immediately arises as to why the notice came now? No missing person was reported by the family, as it was assumed that Stefan wanted to escape the pressure to perform and start a new life abroad. His last signs of life came from Barcelona .

The following investigations lead Brand and her colleague Jürgen Simmel to the dead man's stepfather. The family situation is a bit tense, because after the death of his wife, Joachim Novotny raised his stepsons alone from the age of 10. Although Sebastian and Stefan were twins, Sebastian was always in Stefan's shadow and didn't have a very close relationship with his father. Stefan's former trainer Ralf Krieger confirms to the investigators that his protégé really wanted to get away from his stepfather, who only felt he was being exploited because he consistently turned fame and success into money. The autopsy revealed that the victim suffered from severe coxarthrosissuffered, which would have ended his sporting career at some point. So that this doesn't happen too quickly, Stefan had been given strong painkillers. He was able to avoid the sporting controls because his twin brother had always submitted the urine samples for him.

Brand and Simmel find another potential for conflict in the network of relationships between Stephan, his trainer and Sybille Reif, who maintained Stephan's website. She had always had hopes for Stephan, but then had to realize that her idol was obviously gay and had entered into a relationship with Ralf Krieger. Krieger declares that he has a family that he didn't want to jeopardize and that he didn't want to continue the affair. But he could never have done anything to Stephan. Brand finds out that Julia Krieger knew about her rival. Another suspect is Tharde Rickling, who had to end his professional sporting career abruptly after a training collision with Stephan.

During the investigation, Sybille Reif is found dead on the banks of the Rhine. The commissioners cannot tell whether she jumped off a bridge voluntarily or was pushed. However, since she obviously gave the police information about where the body was found, a suicide is not conclusive for Brand. After Stefan's disappearance, Reif turned to his brother, but always saw only Stefan in him, which put a strain on their relationship. It was not lost on Brand that the boy seems to be under a lot of psychological pressure. She wants to talk to him and comes over just as Sebastian is freaking out and is threatening his stepfather. So emotionally agitated, he speaks for the first time about the events two years ago. He would have been so disappointed that Stefan wanted to let him down, after which they had a massive argument. Suddenly Stefan fell over and stopped breathing. He didn't know what to do and would have called Sybille Reif. She then told him to bury the body. Since Sybille had been asking more and more of him lately and he was supposed to be more and more Stefan, he would have pushed her off the bridge in the argument.