On July 8, 2014, Lars Mittank, a 28-year-old German tourist, was last seen fleeing the airport in Varna, Bulgaria. His actions were captured on surveillance footage that later became the key to one of the most mysterious disappearances in recent memory.
Mittank, an engineer by trade, was on holiday with friends, but what was supposed to be a routine homecoming turned into a mystery that captured the imagination of many people around the world. Described as a nice, normal newborn man by those who knew him, his strange disappearance after a series of strange events raised countless questions.
Despite extensive searches, interrogations and speculation, his whereabouts remain unknown, leaving investigators, his family and the public to grapple with one of the most enigmatic current disappearance cases in Europe.
A dream vacation turns into a nightmare
In June 2014, Lars Mittank, a resident of Itzehoe in northern Germany, went with a group of friends to the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Golden Sands.
Like many newborn men, Lars was on vacation to relax, enjoy the sun and take a break from his routine. Golden Sands is known for its spirited nightlife, affordable attractions and pretty beaches. However, what was supposed to be a carefree vacation took a gloomy turn.
At the beginning of the trip, nothing seemed amiss. Lars and his friends spent their time drinking, swimming, and enjoying the sights.
“The week went by really quickly,” he said Paul Rohmann, one of Mittank's friends, on German television in 2016. “We relaxed on the beach, swam in the pool, played football, went to clubs. He was relaxed. He was in a good mood.”
Another friend, Tim Schuldt, said Mittank didn't eat much and was given only a petite bowl of soup or a petite salad at a time. His friends didn't report any additional abnormal behavior from Mittank until the last part of the trip.
Injury and the strange decision to stay
On July 6, 2014, the day before he was due to return home, Mittank and his companions were at a bar in the city, where Mittank had an argument with other Germans about football. Mittank, a fan of the SV Werder Bremen football club, had differences of opinion with fans of FC Bayern Munich.
He then parted ways with his friends outside the restaurant after leaving the bar and disappeared for the rest of the night. Mittank showed up at the resort the next morning and told his friends he had been beaten by four men hired by the group at the bar with whom he had disagreed the night before.
As a result of the fight, Mittank suffered a jaw injury and a ruptured eardrum. He went to see a doctor, who advised him not to fly because of the injury and prescribed the antibiotic Cefprozil.
Mittank's friends wanted to stay with him, but he insisted he could manage on his own and told them to stick to their original travel plan and fly home on 7 July, which they did.
At first, his injury seemed manageable, but it soon became a key factor in the unfolding mystery. That's when Lars began acting strangely.
According to Lars’ friends, he became extremely paranoid after the fight. He insisted that they return to Germany without him, assuring them that he would follow them as soon as he was able to fly.
Alone in Bulgaria, Lars checked into Hotel Color Varna, a budget property near Varna Airport. Hotel staff later reported that he seemed nervous and agitated. He had been seen prowling the hotel lobby and acting suspiciously.
Hotel CCTV cameras captured him pacing up and down corridors, looking out of windows and hiding in a lift. He left the hotel at 1am, returning about an hour later.
It is not known what he did in the meantime. In the morning he called his mother, Sandra Mittank, again, telling her that the people chasing him were getting closer.
Strange events at Varna airport
On July 8, 2014, Lars Mittank's behavior became even more unpredictable. After a restless night at the Color Hotel, he took a taxi to Varna Airport to catch a flight back to Germany. He was still concerned about his ear injury, so he visited the airport doctor, Dr. Kosta Kostov.
According to Dr. Kostov, Lars seemed tranquil during the examination. However, the situation quickly escalated when an unknown construction worker entered the examination room, leading to a sudden and dramatic change in Lars’ demeanor.
“He saw the worker and immediately got scared,” Dr. Kostov later told investigators. Lars stood up, mumbling something about not wanting to die and having to leave. He shouted, “I don’t want to die here! I have to get out of here!”
He then ran out of the doctor's office and ran to the airport terminal.
This moment of panic was not an isolated incident, but seemed to reflect a deeper, more deeply buried fear that was building within him.
Surveillance cameras captured what became one of the most celebrated missing persons videos in history, showing Lars walking through the terminal and then suddenly breaking into a run.
He exits the terminal, climbs a fence and disappears into a nearby sunflower field, leaving behind all his personal belongings, including his backpack, phone and wallet.
Despite an extensive search, no trace of Lars Mittanek was found. The area around Varna Airport, including sunflower fields and nearby forests, was thoroughly searched by Bulgarian authorities and private detectives hired by Lars' family. However, no clues emerged suggesting what happened to him after he fled the airport.
There have been several alleged sightings of Lars over the years, both in Bulgaria and other European countries, but none of them have been confirmed.
One witness claimed to have seen him living among the homeless in Varna, while others claimed to have seen a man matching his description in Germany and Poland. However, none of these leads led to a breakthrough in the case.
Lars's mother in various Interviewsexpressed a mixture of grief and bewilderment. “It’s like the earth just swallowed him,” she lamented, reflecting the family’s ongoing pain over his disappearance.
Theories and speculations
Since Lars Mittank went missing, there have been many theories. Some speculate that his behavior was the result of an adverse reaction to antibiotics he was prescribed. Cefuroxime, while generally sheltered, can cause uncommon side effects in some people, including hallucinations and paranoia.
Others believe Lars may have suffered from undiagnosed mental health issues that were triggered or exacerbated by combat trauma and subsequent isolation in a foreign country.
Another popular theory is that Lars got involved in drug dealing or organized crime, given the well-documented presence of such activities in the region. Some theorize that he was being pursued by criminals, which could explain his increasingly paranoid behavior and belief that he was being followed.
Lars' mother has consistently dismissed theories of criminal involvement. She believes her son suffered a nervous breakdown due to a head injury and antibiotics that made him act irrationally. In interviews, she has remained adamant that Lars would not have voluntarily disappeared without contacting his family.
“There’s no reason for Lars to disappear,” she said in a 2016 interview. “He had his job, his apartment, his friends. He loved his life.”
It is also not known what happened to Mittank after his escape from the airport. Since the police were unable to determine the fate of Lars Mittank, Sandra Mittank hired a private detective, Andreas Gütig. He searched the hospital records for patients without identification, but found nothing.
It was as if he dissolved into lean air.
The disappearance of Lars Mittank remains one of those cases where every bit of information seems to raise more questions than answers. In an interview with German media in 2020, Sandra expressed her continued hope that Lars was still alive. “I will never give up on him,” she said. “I believe he’s out there somewhere and I believe we’ll find him.”
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