Bulgaria is a popular destination for young tourists from Germany, because of the beach
at Varna, a beach on the Black Sea, which they call the Golden Strand.
Think of it as Europe's "spring break" destination.
Varna is the seaside resort, where in 2014 went missing a handsome, healthy, single young
German man.
His name is Lars Mittank.
Lars Mittank had been working for seven years, at the coal-fired power plant in Wilhelmshaven.
He traveled to Varna with four friends.
One was a former high school classmate.
Their hotel was a posh resort, and they had all-inclusive reservations.
All food, and all drinks, on the house.
But Lars was eating very little.
He would completely skip breakfast, and have only soup or a salad, for lunch or dinner.
One night they ended up at the wrong saloon.
It was the summer of the World Soccer Cup, and Lars got into a confrontation, with a
group of German soccer club fans.
But Lars kept his cool.
He backed off, and the other side had no argument for that.
The soccer fans left the club shortly thereafter.
Lars and his friends were the last ones to leave the pub.
Then the_ five young men went to a fast food restaurant.
Lars was waiting for them on a bench outside the restaurant.
When his friends returned, Lars was gone.
They went back to the hotel, hoping to find him there.
When they awoke the next morning, Lars _had returned.
He said he was accosted by some local men, who were speaking either Bulgarian, or Russian.
During the scuffle his ear got hurt.
He said, these strangers were hired help... hired by the Bavarian soccer club fans, with
whom he had argued, in the saloon.
His friends offered to stay with him.
But Lars said no.
He would be okay.
He would take a later flight.
On leaving the hotel, they took separate taxis.
His friends left for the airport, and Lars for the hospital.
A specialist at the hospital in Varna, Dr. Boris Najdenow, diagnosed a serious eardrum
problem.
He recommended surgery.
Lars did not want his surgery performed in Bulgaria.
Dr. Najdenow wrote him a prescription for the antibiotics.
At a pharmacy down the street from the hospital, Lars picked up the prescription.
Still on foot, he went looking for cheap accommodations.
Unbeknownst to Lars, the area near the hospital had a reputation as a bad neighborhood.
He checked in, to the local Hotel Color.
The facade says, "Family" Hotel.
But one source describes it as a dodgy place.
Lars used his cell phone, to make calls to his mother, Sandra, beginning at 11:50 PM.
He said when he checked into the hotel, he was frightened by the clerk at the front desk.
He asked Sandra to cancel his credit card.
He told her, he was leaving the hotel "sofort"... immediately.
The hotel staff confirmed, that he left with all his luggage, in the middle of the night.
Sandra received another phone call at three A.M.
Lars refused to raise his voice above a whisper.
He said four men were following him.
He said he was hiding "above them".
Minutes later, he sent a text message to his Mom, asking her if she was familiar with the
antibiotics he was prescribed.
Two hours later, Lars was flagging down a taxi.
Another passenger in the cab, as well as the cab driver, both reported that Lars looked
like he was sick.
The taxi arrived at the airport at six A.M.
He called his mother again from the airport.
In her home in Wilhelmshaven, Sandra went online and bought return tickets for her son.
She also convinced him, to see the doctor at the airport, before he got on an airplane.
Minutes later, he called his mother back.
He told her that men were still after him, and that they might not let him leave by plane.
He feared they also might prevent him, from getting on a bus.
He was examined by Dr. Kosta Kostov.
The examination was interrupted, when one of the airport's employees came to talk with
the doctor, about pending renovations.
He was a construction worker, but he was wearing a uniform, that made him look like a security
officer.
Lars bolted from the doctor's office, leaving his luggage behind.
He ran out of the terminal.
Lars Mittank circled the property, looking for a way out.
He climbed over the fence, which was just over eight feet tall, and topped with barbed
wire.
He disappeared into the adjoining field, which according to witnesses, was filled with sunflowers.
And he was never seen again.
Learn more on Facebook, at Findet Lars Mittank.