Germany: Missing for 31 years, Petra B

The Petra B case went viral in 1984. From one day to the next, the German disappeared from his dormitory. Now she is telling me how I was in hiding for 31 years.

RTL brought together Petra and the then investigator Holkar Kunkel. Ever since her reappearance in 2005, the question of why the woman went missing has haunted him. “I think I have become schizophrenic. I believe that girls who have been abused in childhood are more likely to become schizophrenic. And I was very abused in the first five years of my life,” was her sad confession. The woman's confessions can no longer be verified. The crimes are already prohibited by law.

On July 26, 1984, Petra b. Went to his dentist. According to witness statements, he went to his parents' house but never arrived. Petra's trail is lost in a forest. He told RTL that he took some things with him, gave his roommate his keys and took 3,000 German marks from the bank.

A year ago, the body of a young woman was found in the same forest, which is why the police immediately searched for Petra. However, the investigations failed. The police also got nothing further in the case of the dead woman, which is why they turned to the public in the show “Case No: XY … Unsolved”. A witness reported a suspicious person.

The police arrested him for the woman's murder. Although Petra's body was never found, investigators believe the man killed her as well. Five years later, the case is closed, as investigator Holger Kunkel tells RTL.

In 2015, Petra B. Appeared in Dusseldorf – but not by accident, as he says. When his apartment was broken into, he had to tell the police his real name. For the past 31 years she lived as Susanne Schneider, working as a teacher and janitor.

Today, Petra is undergoing treatment. She enjoys everyday things. When she went into hiding, she couldn't do many things: “For example, go to a travel agency and go on vacation. I didn't go to the doctor. I didn't buy a car. It didn't work,” he tells RTL.

She doesn't have an internet connection because she would have to sign a contract for it. “I enjoy having access to the Internet. It's a beautiful thing. I can go to the doctor when I'm sick,” says Petra.