Rebecca Reusch born in Berlin, Germany, has been missing since February 18, 2019. Only 15 years old and a fan of K-pop, the police have few clues about her whereabouts, so they never made significant progress in the investigations.
She used Tiktok a lot and especially Instagram, where she had more than 30,000 followers.
Rebecca has two sisters, including Jessica — one of the key pieces in this case, aged 27 at the time of Rebecca disappearance. They lived in the same neighborhood and were very close, despite living in different houses.
Rebecca used to spend some weekends at her sister’s house. Her parents always allowed this, since they were from the same family and Jessica used to be careful.
The Disappearance of Rebecca Reusch
On February 17, 2019 Jessica’s husband, Florian, would be at a party with co-workers. So the girls could spend time just between them.
Rebecca’s mother agreed that she could go, but only with the promise that she would be on time at school the next day.
After watching some movies, Jessica went to sleep in her room, because she had to work the next day, while Rebecca slept on the couch in the living room. The next day Jessica left early, because at 7 a.m. she had to take her baby to daycare.
Just before Jessica left, Florian returned from the party with his co-workers. For the next few hours there would be only Florian and Rebecca in the house.
At 7:15, Rebecca’s mother called to remind her daughter to go to school, but her phone was disconnected. She then called Jessica, who informed her that she didn’t know because she was no longer at home. She then called Florian, who informed her that Rebecca had already left.
At first, Rebecca’s family thought it was strange that she was no longer at home, because school only starts at 9:00 a.m., and 7:15 a.m. would still be too early for her to leave.
Rebecca’s mother sent her a message on WhatsApp. The message was delivered, but never read. This at least indicates that her phone was not turned off.
At first, Rebecca’s family was not desperate, because they did not believe it was something serious, they believed it was just a miscommunication, so they did not call the police immediately.
However, hours went by until they received a phone call from the school informing them that Rebecca had not shown up. At that moment the girl’s parents reported the girl missing to the police.
Beginning of the investigations
The police released some pictures of Rebecca and the family was not very happy about it, they claimed that the pictures used by the police did not represent well how the girl looked, and that if someone was looking for her based on these pictures, they would not identify her due to the filters used on social networks.
Some people began to suspect that Rebecca might have run away, but the police did not believe much in this hypothesis, since she was much loved by her family and would have no reason to do so.
Florian, the first suspect arrested
On February 28, 2019 the police arrested Florian, Rebecca’s brother-in-law and her sister’s husband. This arrest was a shock to everyone, especially Rebecca’s family. But now the police had a prime suspect.
The main reason for Florian’s arrest was his contradictions in his statements to the police. These were:
- At 10:45 a.m., on the day Rebecca disappeared, Florian’s car was seen driving to Poland, on a trip lasting about 1.5 hours. The car was seen again some time later making the same trip.
- Florian reported that he arrived home at 5:45 am and immediately went to sleep, but according to the data from the internet router in the house, Florian continued to use the internet well beyond this time. In addition, Rebecca’s cell phone remained connected until 7:46am on this same router, and Florian had received a phone call around 7:15am informing that Rebecca that she was no longer at home.
- The police also found Rebecca’s genetic material in Florian’s car, but this is inconsistent evidence, since this car was also used by Jessica, so Rebecca had ridden in it several times.
However, Florian was released shortly afterwards for lack of evidence. But the police continued to investigate Florian until they arrested him again on March 4. Meanwhile the victim’s family insisted that he was not guilty and that they were looking for the wrong person.
Now in his second arrest and under police pressure, he confessed why he drove to Poland on the day of Rebecca’s disappearance: to meet a drug dealer. And returned to Poland a few days later because he had forgotten his wedding ring.
The police did not believe this story very much, after all buying drugs from a drug dealer is not a job that would cause you to lose a wedding ring, but burying a body is a much more opportune job for someone to need to remove, and consequently lose this object.
Based on the suspect’s story, the police searched the entire area Florian had traveled to Poland, both with helicopters and boats, but nothing was found. Again he was released for lack of evidence.
A new suspect emerges, Max
Rebecca’s family, in an attempt to help the investigation, referred to a “Max,” a person she had met online who did not live in the same town. Rebecca had asked her parents for permission to meet Max a week earlier, and they refused.
According to reports, Max had identified himself as the same age as Rebecca, however there is a possibility that Max is actually a sexual predator, and used this identity to lure teenage girl.
After Rebecca’s disappearance, Max also disappeared. He deleted all his social media and the police were never able to identify him.
Some years have passed and the case remains unsolved. The victim’s family chose to distance themselves from the investigations, after receiving several criticisms from the police for their lack of cooperation in the case.
The case remains open.
This case is frightening
Where theres DRUGS, theres Crimes.. The brother in law Florian Owed Money, His sister in Law *Rebecca was traded for Drugs. He left his Ring as a Downpayment, she might of driven with him as he was Drunk, but, He drove with her to meet his Drug Dealers. What the hell is he doing Driving to Poland anyway, to buy Drugs, when he has a BABY & Wife at Home… Hes as Guilty as Sin. Trouble follows Drugs.. No matter how Kind an good the family thinks he is, DRUGS CHANGE PEOPLE. And he was in Trouble. Sad for the Sister, whose protecting this loser… Sad for the Family that they want to believe hes innocent, but hes NOT.. Sorry, he is directly Involved. Sorry to the Parents.
Do you know this? I am in America, hearing the story on youtube. It seems very plausible that the brother in law did this. Why isn’t he in trouble for the drugs? OmG, I hope he did not trade her for drugs, although, that is done all the time. How can the family be so sure it wasn’t him? The sister, Jessica, seemed kind of vague as well, in the version of the story I heard. The Max theory is interesting, but again, if the police know who he is, how are they so sure he didn’t do anything? Very sad, such a beautiful young girl.
Your theory sounds like a a very good possibility that this is what happened in my opinion.
I’ve been following crime, disappearances and mysteries for a little over 20 years and family ALWAYS say that their family member wasnt like that and/or they wouldn’t be mixed up in this or that. Most the time when the case is solved it turns out they did make the decision or make the choice everyone said they would NOT have made. It’s sad and it comes down to people, especially family beed to be more in the know of what their children and such are doing. Father of four here and I have failed myself so I’m not judging but speaking from experience.
School starts at 9 ( to be exact on 9:50) and it’ too soon for Rebeca to leave the sister’s home on or about 7 am but it’s so normal and out of any suspicious for her mother to start calling her on 7:15 to remind her to get ready for school? And when Rebeca hasn’t picked up she has called Rebeca’s sister! In all sources have been mentioned family members were very close , how close exactly when the mother of the family didn’t know the older daughter is at work so instead of calling her she’d better take a walk to said daughter’s house ( which was very very close according to the reports) and check for her little daughter by herself! Not waiting for her older sister to call her husband and so on!!!!
If my mother worries about me she will reach me personally if I’m in Mars and I’m not 15!
Then she text her on WhatsApp? OMG! You gotta be kidding me
I can’t go on and question the other Obscure points in this case! But I request and beg the police and investigators to stop accusing or checking or whatever that Florian guy for a day and start checking Rebeca parent’s house, phones, alibi, where they go on that date .. everything
I’m sure they’ll find out what really happened to Rebeca
What the hell? Where’s the cell phone data? Info should show location with pings as well as activity. Do the Germans not know how to decipher and read the cell data?
If Florian is in drug business how come police didn’t find any drugs and arrest him on drug charges?
Seems like they could’ve been able to corroborate or disprove his story of alibi.
The Max character could find out where that account was created and used…
Anybody with just a little knowledge can spoof a location, email address, and phone number.
Your theory sounds like a a very good possibility that this is what happened in my opinion.
I’ve been following crime, disappearances and mysteries for a little over 20 years and family ALWAYS say that their family member wasnt like that and/or they wouldn’t be mixed up in this or that. Most the time when the case is solved it turns out they did make the decision or make the choice everyone said they would NOT have made. It’s sad and it comes down to people, especially family beed to be more in the know of what their children and such are doing. Father of four here and I have failed myself so I’m not judging but speaking from experience.
I think her brother in law came home from the party after drinking and doing drugs, and saw that there was an opportunity to come on to her for some kind of sexual activity when her sister and baby left. When she resisted or threatened to go to her sister or parents, it enraged him and he killed her. Then he loaded up her body and buried her in Poland. Probably some place he was familiar with. He lost his wedding ring when he buried her and had to go back for it. Open and closed. They need to interrogate him to get him to break.
The police know that Florian was watching bondage and strangulation porn that morning which is one of the reasons they got the search warrant and were searching Florians flat for rope or something that may have been used to strangle Rebecca. Nothing he said makes sense, especially about driving to meet his dealer and the part about his ring. Unfortunately, people like him are predators and will commit this type of crime again and again until caught. Eventually he will be exposed but it will.come at the expense of another young girl. I cannot fathom how Rebecca’s family is still sticking by him. It is absurd to know they trust him as much as they do.