Looking back on 25 eventful years as a forensic expert, I reflect with a half-smile on the many challenging cases that have kept me up day and night. However, as of January 1, 2025, with a few exceptions, I will no longer accept new expert reports from the German judiciary. This decision has not been easy, but it finally opens up the space I desperately need for my research, my family, and the completion of my specialist book on person identification.
It was a foggy winter morning as I trudged through the thicket of a dark forest with a police officer, the leaves crunching under my boots. The world seemed to be sunk in a gloomy silence, only the distant rustling of the wind in the tree canopies breaking the stillness. Suddenly, I stopped. A strange smell wafted into my nose – not just damp earth, but a mixture of decay and something metallic. My heart began to beat faster, and my gaze fell on a pile of leaves that were oddly disturbed.