In 1922, six people were brutally murdered on an isolated farm in Bavaria, Germany. Strange signs had appeared before the crime, the bodies were not discovered for days, and investigators even suspected that someone may have remained on the property after the killings.

In this episode of Traces of Truth, we explore the disturbing mystery of Hinterkaifeck, the unanswered questions surrounding that final night, the suspects, the theories and the clues that still haunt the case more than a century later.

Who killed the people of Hinterkaifeck and how did the murderer disappear without ever being identified?

In 1922, six people were murdered at an isolated farmhouse in Bavaria, Germany. Days before the crime, the family discovered mysterious footprints leading from the forest to their home but none leading away. They also heard footsteps in the attic, found an unfamiliar newspaper and noticed that a key had disappeared.

Even more disturbing, evidence suggested that someone remained at the farm after the murders, eating food, feeding the animals and keeping the fireplace burning.

In this episode of Traces of Truth, we investigate the strange warnings, the mistakes made at the crime scene, the principal suspects and the theories surrounding one of Germany’s most unsettling unsolved mysteries.

Was the killer secretly hiding inside the farmhouse or was it someone the family already knew and trusted?

In May 2010, twenty-eight-year-old Brazilian lawyer Mércia Nakashima disappeared after leaving a family lunch in Guarulhos. Eighteen days later, her car was discovered beneath the waters of a reservoir, revealing a carefully concealed and devastating crime.

The investigation focused on Mércia’s former partner, who allegedly refused to accept the end of their relationship. Phone records, conflicting statements, a witness near the reservoir and microscopic algae found on a shoe would become crucial pieces of evidence.

In this episode of Traces of Truth, we examine Mércia’s disappearance, the forensic investigation, the historic televised trial and the convictions that followed. This is a story about control disguised as love, a family’s relentless search for justice and the tiny traces that brought the truth back to the surface.