Case Nr 11-011

Zeki Kirdar (see first image) was a succesful, Turkish born German hotel owner who was recently found burned to death in his car, in the forests adjoining Borgwallsee, south west of Stralsund. In the seat next to him was an unidentified man, who had also been burned to death.
Zeki's wife Claudia has become frustrated with the official investigation undertaken by the German Federal Police which she describes as superficial. She has taken matters into her own hands and hired Dyson and Hahn to find out why Zeki died, and who was in the car with him. 


Claudia Kirdar (nee Hamann) was born in Hamburg in 1964 (making her now 49 years old). She grew up in Verden, Lower Saxony and after finishing college, at the age of 24, she married Zeki. Zeki came from an affluent middle class Turkish family and at the time of his marriage to Claudia he was 28 and had just taken over ownership of the Hotel Oriental in Munich. The couple settled down to a comfortable life and Claudia gave birth to three daughters; Annita, Alexandra and Ayla. Claudia is a graceful, determined and very wealthy woman. She says she will spare no expense to solve the mystery of her husband's death and she is prepared to fund a full investigation, for how ever long it takes. Even if she has to sell her hotel to pay for it. Her lawyer, Gunter Anzengruber (third picture) is less sanguine about the cost of the investigation and since all communication with the Kirdar family are to go through him, he has specified that the investigation can, under no circumstances, exceed eight weeks in duration.




Summary of the forensic examination carried out by the Federal Police Investigation, as submitted to the Kirdar family, via Gunter Anzengruber.

Male victim 1. Identified by dental records as Hr Zeki Kirdar of Munich. The body was extensively damaged by combustion and very little of the exterior remained. The skeleton was intact and showed no signs of trauma. The victim was seated in the driving seat of the car and was still wearing the safety belt. Death is believed to have been instant and a mechanical wrist watch on the right arm had stopped, indicating the time of death was 00:45.

Male Victim 2. Unidentified. Dental cast remains on file. The body was extensively damaged by combustion and very little of the exterior remained. The skeleton was intact and showed no signs of trauma. As with victim 1, the victim was still wearing the safety belt. Forensic examination indicates he was a young male, probably some where between twenty and thirty years of age, of Northern European/Scandinavian ethnicity, and with red blonde hair.

The automobile was a white, 1983 3.6 liter Jaguar XJS. According to the victim's wife (corroborated by her local auto-technician) it was something of a collectors item and kept in pristine condition. It is highly unlikely the car burned due to a technical fault, though the car's electrical systems were all burned out and showed signs of a massive electrical surge. There were no impact marks, bullet holes, blast scorching or other indicators of an external source.

The area immediately around the burned out vehicle, extending roughly ten metres outward, showed curious signs of damage, inconsistent with heat. The forensic technicians were unable to account for this damage which they described as 'a subtle change in the biochemistry of the surrounding vegetation leading to discolouring'. A biologist from the University of Rostock was consulted. Dr Marie Schlessinger examined several samples taken the site and found the cellular structure of each sample showed signs of electruction damage.

Local witnesses described having seen a flash in the sky over Borgwallsee, at around the estimated time of death. Asked if lightning could have caused the damage seen in the samples, Dr Schlessinger replied that although she was unable to provide a plausible explanation she did not believe lightning was the cause.