Der rätselhafte Fall des 2 jährigen Felix Heger 

Today’s video is about one of the most tragic missing persons cases in Germany. Felix Heger, almost three years old at the time, disappeared in 2006 after a weekend with his father. His father’s body was found some time later, but there has been no trace of Felix ever since. His grandparents are convinced that the child is still alive and that there is more to Felix’s disappearance than the public prosecutor’s office assumes.
For 15 years, they have been desperately fighting in a race against time to see their grandson one last time before they die. Before we begin today’s video, I want to briefly mention that I now have a shop where you can order exactly one t-shirt: www.intershop.de. For every sale, I will donate one euro.
I asked in the community tab where we should donate the money, and I thought it would be a good idea to give the donations from the next two weeks to Felix Heger’s family. I will explain my reasons for this in more detail at the end of the video. And now to the video: Felix will be born on April 8th. Born in 2013 near Heidelberg, Felix’s mother Manuela and father Michael Heger appear at first glance to be a small, happy family.
His grandparents, Johann and Maria Schmitz, are also incredibly happy; they had almost given up hope of having a grandchild and are overjoyed when Felix is ​​born. In November of the same year, however, Manuela separates from her husband Michael. The two had been a couple for 13 years, but they had been experiencing problems in their relationship for some time, which they never made public.
Michael had wanted to become a teacher but eventually abandoned these plans. Instead, he only worked sporadically and spent a lot of time at home, sitting on the balcony and playing guitar. He had also been mentally unstable for some time. In 2000, he often contemplated suicide. After a failed suicide attempt, Michael is admitted to inpatient treatment but leaves after only three days.
Manuela is bothered by his unwillingness to take responsibility and his inability to control his life. This led to their separation in November 2003. The divorce became legally binding in June 2005. From then on, Felix lived with his mother in Oftersheim, a town near Heidelberg. Michael Heger moved out and lived in a one-room apartment.
Two-year-old Felix visited his grandparents almost every day, especially his grandfather Johann, with whom he had a very close relationship. The two were inseparable. His grandparents were like his own parents to Felix; he loved being with them. The cheerful two-year-old also brought much happiness and joy to Johann and Maria’s lives.
Michael Heger had obtained visitation rights in court. He regularly took Felix for a weekend, went for walks with him, or visited the playground. This was also the case on December 6, 2016, Epiphany, when Michael arrived punctually at Manuela’s to pick up his son. But Felix didn’t want anything. The two-and-a-half-year-old started to Felix cries and fights with all his might, refusing to go with his driver again under any circumstances.
Manuela is surprised; he’s never behaved like this before. Felix desperately wants to call his grandpa, and they do. The doorbell rings a few times, and his grandpa answers. Immediately, Felix starts crying again and angrily begs his grandpa to come and get him. Johann tries to calm his grandson over the phone, but that doesn’t work either.
The two-year-old hides in the apartment. Eventually, Felix’s mother manages to convince him. Somewhat sadly, he goes with his father. It should be the last time Manuela says goodbye to her son and the last time she sees him. Grandpa Johann has never forgiven himself for not picking up his grandson and helping him.
His guilty conscience is eating him up inside. When Michael doesn’t bring Felix back as agreed on the 8th, Manuela first tries to reach him by phone. When that doesn’t work and she does n’t find him at his apartment either, They alerted the police. Michael did n’t reliably adhere to his visitation rights and often arrived late or not at all to pick up Felix.
However, he had always brought him back on time. Because of this, and because there was no trace of Michael or Felix, the police only began their investigation on September 9, 2016. Friends of Manuela and Michael quickly came forward. They had met Felix and his father on January 6 at a barbecue hut in the Oftersheim forest and had even spoken briefly with him.
There was nothing unusual about this at first glance. Michael often went for walks with Felix, and the nearby forest was a favorite destination for the two of them. However, the friends described Felix’s behavior as strange. The boy seemed wary of them, even looking at himself. “Warming” is the term used when children of such a young age stare fearfully at strangers or sit stiffly, and this was unfamiliar behavior and didn’t fit Felix’s character.
The police subsequently searched the Oftersheim forest but found nothing. Then they opened In Michael Hecker’s apartment, on the bed, they find two conspicuously placed books describing suicide methods. The investigators are alarmed, especially due to Michael’s history and his failed suicide attempt six years prior.
A day later, on November 10, 2006, they find Michael’s Opel in Bühler Stahl. The town is 100 kilometers from Felix’s hometown and is located in the northern Black Forest. The car is parked right at the edge of the forest. Inside the car, there is some blood, which is later linked to Michael Hecker. On November 11, the police, with hundreds of officers and several helicopters, search the area.
A trail of blood drops leads from Michael’s car into the forest. The investigators follow the trail but have to abandon the search after some time because it gets too dark. On November 13, they find a hiding place in the forest about 400 meters away from Michael’s car. Inside, at a crevice in the rocks, is a sparse camp.
Footprints are found around the camp. In the snow, the police officers searched the hiding place more closely and found, besides a sleeping bag, a men’s jacket belonging to Michael, several empty liquor bottles, a pack of sleeping pills, Michael Heger’s ID card, his glasses, and a glove belonging to Felix. In the inside pocket of the jacket was a copy of Michael’s driver’s license.
On the back of it was a farewell letter addressed to Manuela. Michael began the letter with “Dear Manuela” and explained what he had always tried to do to meet her expectations, but his best was never good enough. He didn’t mention suicide in the letter, however. He ended the letter with the sentence, “And [ __ ], I love Felix way too much.
” For Felix’s grandparents, this formulation was a glimmer of hope. Michael wrote in the present tense; he loved Felix. They were certain that Felix was still alive because Michael placed great importance on correct grammar and was meticulous. If Felix had already been dead when Michael wrote the letter, he would have used the past tense.
There they were. The letter is presented to a psychologist, who says it is not clearly a suicide note. Heger never mentioned that he wanted to harm himself or Felix. The last sentence, however, also presents them with a puzzle: Michael loves his son too much, too much for what? While the police are still racking their brains over this, a witness contacts the investigators.
She says that on the morning of January 13th, she drove about 30 kilometers from the hiding place in the Black Forest across the French border. There, in the middle of nowhere, she saw a man with a small boy. Perhaps he is waiting for a vehicle to pick him and his son up, because according to the witness, there was no car nearby.
Two other witnesses make the same observation. The search is then extended to France, but without success. The search in the Black Forest also has to be paused on January 14th. Heavy snowfall has begun. Another witness comes forward: Sibel, Michael, and Felix on January 11th in a She had seen a man at a nearby supermarket and noticed that, despite his well-groomed appearance, he had very dirty hands.
The investigation stalled, however, and the next clue didn’t come until almost seven weeks later, on February 26, 2016. A couple went for a walk about 300 meters from the parking lot where Michael’s car had been found. Among the trees, they discovered a body. The body, especially the face, had already been gnawed by wild animals.
Nevertheless, it was determined relatively quickly that the deceased was undoubtedly Michael Heger. The area was searched extensively for Felix, and blood and cadaver dogs were also deployed. They found nothing that pointed to Felix. The ground and the rivers in the area had been frozen solid for weeks.

Michael could not have buried himself or thrown him into the water. Michael Heger’s body was examined more closely at the forensic medicine institute in Freiburg. It quickly became clear to the medical examiners that it was a suicide. The body shows some chest injuries. It is assumed that Michael fell under the influence of medication or alcohol and ultimately died from the cold and his injuries.
Other investigators later notice some inconsistencies in this theory. On 23, 2006, the police announce that they assume Michael Heger murdered Felix and then himself. Michael had never gotten over the separation from his wife and wanted to punish Manuela by taking away what he loved most, his own child Felix.
At the beginning of April, when the ground was no longer frozen, investigators searched the area again with sniffer dogs. It was possible that Michael had planned his act for a long time. Witnesses also reported that Heger’s car had been parked at the spot weeks before Felix’s disappearance. He may have even dug a grave for his son before the ground froze.
But this search also remains unsuccessful. The police are now searching less and less. After Felix’s disappearance, Johann and Maria Schmitt, assuming the boy could no longer be found alive, went to the Black Forest themselves. They were certain their grandson was still alive and wanted to see the area for themselves.
When they saw the spot where Michael Baar had hidden his belongings, they were sure Felix had never been there. Their gut feeling told them so, and some clues also pointed in that direction. The only clue suggesting Felix had ever been in the Black Forest was his glove, which was found at the hiding place.
The strange thing was that the second glove had been at the grandparents’ house for months. They thought the other glove, the one now found in the Black Forest, had somehow gotten lost. Why would Michael have given his son a single glove, and why would he have even taken a single glove with him? Had it been deliberately placed there to create a false trail? The blood, which led from Michael’s car to the hiding place in the forest, also suggested that someone else had placed it there.
The investigators were trying to lure the grandparents onto this trail. They think it’s possible that Michael gave Felix up to an unknown person abroad. The police, however, consider this extremely unlikely, because at the latest when registering the child for school, it would be noticed that there are no papers or documents for him.
Johann and Maria are not satisfied with the police investigation and hire a private detective. Detective Julius Engel has already been able to bring several missing children back to their families. They place great hope in Felix. Julius Engel believes that Michael handed his son over to a third, as yet unknown, person, and that Felix is ​​still alive.
He also doubts Heger’s supposed suicide. The detective learns that Michael moved in insect and esoteric circles at times, for example, for a few weeks in Portugal in 1997. Afterwards, his whole being changed, also in the Black Forest-Baar-Hegau region, probably in a sect, the so-called The Aquarius Center today bears the name Light Network Europe; however, there are many groups within it, and it was unknown which one Michael was in contact with.
What is clear, however, is that Michael was very familiar with the Black Forest. He also regularly attended esoteric fairs. While researching at one such fair, Julius Engel was approached by a woman who reported that she knew Felix was living with the Tamira sect in Portugal. Julius Engel then traveled to Portugal to search for Felix.
The police became aware of this and searched for the Tamira sect, but without success. There was still no trace of Felix. The police also questioned the private detective and found his behavior highly unprofessional. In the past, he had provided the police with several leads that only wasted the investigators’ time and led nowhere.
This time, too, the detective had no contact information for the woman who allegedly approached him; he hadn’t asked for her name or phone number. The police suspect that Julius Engel was close to the woman. invents clues to stay in business. The grandparents subsequently end their collaboration with Julius Engel.
However, by this time they had already paid him their entire savings, around 70,000 euros. When lawyer Alexander Moser learns of Felix’s disappearance, he agrees to take on the case free of charge. He, too, is convinced that Michael Heger did not kill himself. He also considers it unlikely that he killed Felix.
Although Heger was sometimes unreliable, neighbors and friends always described him as a loving father, as he only wanted the best for his child. The lawyer thinks that the books found in Michael’s apartment were deliberately placed there to start a false trail and make the world believe that Michael Heger was a suicidal father who took his son with him to his death.
The lawyer’s murder theory, especially the autopsy report, catches Alexander Moser’s eye. No traces of [unspecified substance] were found in either the blood or the urine. Alcohol could not be detected, and the chest injuries alone would not have been sufficient to explain Michael’s death. No clear cause of death was given at all.
Why would he, who lived so well in the Black Forest near Kassel, suddenly fall and die? Furthermore, animals had already noticed the body, and Michael had obviously been dead for several days. Why hadn’t search parties or helicopters discovered the body earlier? There were hardly any trees directly above the lifeless body, so it could have been seen from above.
In addition, it had rained and snowed in the days before Michael’s remains were found. However, the body was barely covered by leaves, pine needles, or snow, as if it had only been there for a very short time. Furthermore, the police had ignored the fact that Michael Hecker’s glasses were found in the hiding place in the forest.
Without these glasses, Michael was practically blind. He could not have moved several hundred meters along a rocky hiking trail only to fall. Felix’s family testified that Jäger would not have been able to walk five meters without his glasses. Another major oversight is a puncture mark on Michael Hecker’s wrist, which was noticed during the autopsy.
He could easily have been drugged or poisoned through this point. However, the forensic medical examiner did not order any toxicological tests to verify this. Therefore, the lawyer is demanding a subsequent toxicological examination. The public prosecutor’s office rejects this, arguing that one cannot pursue every figment of the imagination.
They remain convinced that Michael Hecker took sleeping pills and, under their influence, fell on the path and died from the fall. They still could not identify a clear cause of death. However, they are certain that Felix is ​​no longer alive, that he was killed by his father. But how likely is it that someone intending to commit suicide would stumble on the way there and die from the fall? Without glasses, with which one cannot see five meters ahead…
The lawyer Alexander Moser is seeking addiction help from a lung specialist. Together, they put forward a theory that is not so… It sounds unrealistic at first, but they assume that at least one third person was involved. One clue, which the police initially dismissed as meaningless, was a dog’s scent on November 11, 2016, when the police first conducted a large-scale search of the wooded area.
One of the dogs picked up Michael Heger’s scent and followed it for five kilometers through the forest. They came to the former Schindel Peter inn. The dog barked at the back door and led the investigators up to the attic, where there was a small, sparsely furnished apartment. It’s possible that Michael had stayed there alone with Felix, and thus with a third person, for a while.
Some internet forums suggest the theory that the Black Forest sect also frequently stayed at this inn. Perhaps they planned to hand Michael over to the sect or join the sect together with Felix. Some internet posts further describe how a few The sect group is also alleged to be involved in human trafficking and only outwardly presents the image of a sect.
Perhaps Michael also fell in with such a sect. Perhaps the sentence in his letter, “And [ __ ], I love Felix way too much,” referred to the fact that he had entrusted Felix with the mail to this sect. He may have changed his mind and wanted to abandon his plans, but the sect members got in his way.
Did they want to prevent Michael from revealing what he knew? He was a man who had struggled with suicidal thoughts in the past, just too easy a victim to get hold of a child. Here, I must emphasize that these are only assumptions and speculations, and that there is no further evidence for this theory. These assumptions are also not part of Alexander Moser’s theory.
However, the lawyer and the lung specialist also believe that Michael Heger was murdered. They suspect that Michael was poisoned through the puncture wound on his wrist and that his body was simply placed at the location where it was found. The murderers may have pushed him down a slope to make it look like a fall; it i
s also striking that the location where the body was found… The body was found directly next to a major road easily accessible by car. It’s possible a car drove along there, threw the body out, and drove on. The police still consider this theory unlikely and are n’t pursuing it further. Felix has been missing for over 15 years. The police have given up the search; for them, it’s clear Michael Heger killed his son and then himself.
But Felix’s family isn’t giving up. Manuela, Felix’s mother, is still deeply traumatized. Since Felix’s disappearance, she hasn’t spoken publicly because it’s too difficult to talk about her son and what might have happened to him. But Johann and Maria Felix Groß continue to fight tirelessly. They are certain that Felix is ​​still alive.
They believe that Michael handed his son over to an unknown person. Giving up and no longer searching for their grandson is not an option for them. In an interview almost five years after Felix’s disappearance, they say that a playroom still looks the same as it did back then. They haven’t changed anything. She always keeps some chocolate on hand in case her beloved grandson should come home.
But time is running out for them both; they are now 83 and 85 years old. Their greatest wish is to hold Felix in their arms one more time before they die. At the beginning of this year, in an emotional interview, they appealed again for anyone with information about Felix’s disappearance to contact them.
If Felix grew up in another family, they don’t want to take him away from that family; they just want to know that their grandson is doing well so they can finally find peace. Together with a charity, they created the website Felix – Infopunkt Netz (Felix – Info Point Network). On this site, you can find all the information about Felix’s disappearance and numerous pictures.
I was allowed to use a few of them in today’s video. The website also features a picture of Felix as he might look today at the age of 18. Please visit the site if you want to learn more about Felix’s disappearance, and because I find the story so heartbreaking. Since I still have some hope that the grandparents’ theory is correct, I’ve decided that one euro from every shirt sold over the next two weeks will go to the grandparents.
I asked in a previous post where we should donate the money; perhaps it’s a good idea to rotate the donation and give it to the families of the various missing or murdered people. That brings us to the end of today’s video. The disappearance of Felix Heger is, for me, one of the most tragic missing persons cases in Germany.
I sincerely hope that the grandparents find out what happened to their grandson and where Felix is ​​before they die. Their dedication is truly incredible and deserves great respect. Perhaps today’s video will help us to raise awareness about Felix Heger’s disappearance and to ensure that people keep their eyes open. Feel free to write your theories or your opinion on today’s video in the comments.
And if you liked the video, please leave a like, comment, and/or subscribe; this really supports the channel enormously. Thank you in advance, and many thanks as well. Thanks for watching, good night and see you later