Unfinished Adventure: Inga Maria Hauser

Welcome to Island Crimes and Mysteries. And now, it's time to join your host Nules for another episode. Hey guys and welcome to another episode of Ireland Crimes and Mysteries. I want to thank you for joining me today and if you're a returning listener, I want to say a big thank you for your continued support. If this is your first time listening to my podcast, welcome. It's great to have you on board. So without further ado, let's get started on today's story. The father of 18 year old Inga Maria Hauser flew back to Germany yesterday after identifying his daughter's body, detectives investigating what they've termed a particularly brutal murder. Now what to hear from anyone who thinks they might have seen Inga between Friday the 15th and last Monday, the 18th of April. Today's case takes us to Northern Ireland and to the spring of 1988, when 18 year old backpacker Inga Maria Hauser went missing. Inga had arrived on Irish shores that April, stepping off the ceiling, ferry at a learn on the 6th of April, after backpacking through Europe from the Netherlands by rail. Ireland was just another stop on her backpacking adventure, already haven't been to London, Bath, Air and Glasgow. While in Ireland, she had plans to visit Dublin and Belfast and intended on heading back to Wales on the 9th of April to meet up with a friend. It is understood she was merely a few hours in the country when she disappeared. Then two weeks later, a gruesome discovery in a forest in County Antrim would ensure the nightmare would continue for Inga's family. Inga's remains had been found and coincidentally, this discovery happened only three days after the discovery of Antennette's remains. I'll be covering her story in a future broadcast. But today we're telling Inga's story. There is very little online about Inga's early years. All I can tell you from what I've read is she was a student from Munich, born on the 28th of May 1969 to her parents, Almut and Yosuf Hauser. She had a sister named Fredrik and she was very, very close to her family. Inga Maria was considered an adventurous and independent young lady. And it was in 1988 in order to feed her adventurous spirit, she decided she wanted to explore other parts of Europe and to begin her solo trip of the lifetime. The snow had been falling in Munich when Inga set out on her journey. After traveling through Germany and spending a few days in the Netherlands, she set sail for the hook of Holland on an eight-hour journey to Harwich. Before making the onward journey to London on the 31st of March 1988. She loved London by all accounts. And this was reiterated in a post-courage she sent her a pair in saying, "I am totally entranced by London." Little is known about where Inga Maria visited while in the capital. I mean, it was pre-social media and posting regularly about your adventures on Instagram and TikTok was a concept that was still way out in the future. But by Sunday, the 3rd of April, Inga Maria was appearing to depart from London or destination Oxford, leaving on Easter Monday the 4th of April, heading north by train to Oxford. She wrote in her journal of her stay, "When to Oxford stayed at a Utah cell, ate too much. Decided to go to Bath and writing in another post-courage home. You probably could not imagine how much I like England. I would preferably stay a year longer and you don't need to worry about me. For the people here are so lovable and so ready to help. See you soon. Happy Easter, your Inga Maria." It appeared by all accounts Inga Maria was really enjoying her trip, blissfully unaware of what was to come, writing in her diary, "The day after tomorrow I'm going to Ireland, I'm looking forward to that the best." On the 5th of April, she left Bath, moving onto Cambridge, and then using her inter-real ticket, she caught a connecting train to Bristol that would bring her to Liverpool. While in Liverpool, she visited the Liverpool Docks and Matty Street, home of the famous cavern club which gave the Beatles and Cilla Black to name but a few, their start. Next stop on her whistle stop tour of UK was Preston, near Manchester, catching the night train bound for Inverness in Scotland. Wednesday, the 6th of April, Inga woke up in the Scottish town as described in another postcard home. Morning has broken in Scotland, breakfast in Inverness, nice town, have to see the Loch Ness monster one day. As well as sending regular postcards home, Inga would always ring home every day with updates on her trip. In yet another postcard home she eerily describes how the trip had so far gone without a hitch saying, "I have just arrived in Inverness at Loch Ness where the monster lives, but I have certainly not seen it yet. My journey has run without a hitch so far, and it really is indescribably beautiful. Unfortunately, my money is slowly running out." She does however cash £20 worth of travellers checks before leaving Inverness, before heading to Glasgow, saying in her diary, "Going to Glasgow now, snowy mountains, wild landscape. From Glasgow she travels to air on the west coast of Scotland. Her last diary entry on the 6th of April, 1988, saying, "When from Glasgow to air and then to Stranroir to get over to Ireland, the sea beautiful and mysterious. Before finishing, what would ironically be her final thoughts, wonder where I should stay tonight, need more money." Ingemaria would board the ceiling ferry, the Galway Princess from Stranroir to learn, leaving port at 7pm. She was last seen by two fellow passengers during the crossing, who were travelling together. They would later be able to describe to the police the dress Ingemaria was wearing, as well as the distinctively colourful badges that adorned Ingemaria's rugsack. They also stated that she had two white runners, a pair of white runners attached to the backpack, tied on by her shoe laces. This sounds insignificant, an insignificant detail, but it would be crucial later on when verifying that these were actually confirmed sightings. Darkness had fallen by the time the ferry doctor learned at approximately 9.40pm. Ingemaria, after leaving the ferry, would have to walk to learn her abour station to board the train to Belfast. Journey of approximately one hour by train. Judging by the arrival time of the ferry and taking into account the short walk to the train station, it was surmised that Ingemaria would have arrived in Belfast around 11pm. Not an ideal time for a young girl travelling on her own to arrive in a city that she didn't even know. Bearing in mind that this was 1988 and the troubles were in full swing, making Belfast even more dangerous than other cities of the time. Ingem did not know the city. We know from her last diary entry that she had no accommodation arranged. And at 11pm, there would have been very limited public transport. I mean, if any at all. As well as her large blue rucksack, Ingem was carrying a very distinctive green canvas bag on top of the rucksack. What made it distinctive was that as well as the green, it also had a lot of red, blue and yellow colouring with stars and circle motifs, as well as the letters USAF on it. She was also carrying a green shoulder bag. It is after her arrival in learn that the story becomes very sketchy. Ingem needed to get to Belfast, but how at this time of night, nobody witnessed Ingem walking the short distance to the station and not one of the passengers and crew on the ferry could recall seeing her disembark on foot. Her family and friends would say that despite her adventurous spurs and probably ill-advised trip to Northern Ireland at a time that would have been considered a dangerous time for a girl to make a solo trip, such as this to this part of the world. She was ultimately careful about how she travelled and who she travelled with. Normally, she would never get into a car with a stranger, but it is believed that given the late hour of the ferry arrived in learn, Ingem would have had no choice but to change her plans of taking public transport and maybe accepted a lift that could have been offered by her fellow passenger. Witnesses did say they saw her talking to a man on the ferry. If this is the case, it appears to be a decision that ultimately cost her her life. To anyone that looked into this case, it seems to be the only scenario that could have taken place as it's the only way she could have reached that forest known as Bally Patrick Forest, which was 40 miles and a one hour drive in the opposite direction from Belfast. Nevertheless, on the night of the 6th of April 1988, it was in Bally Patrick Forest Park near Bally Castle in County Entrum that Ingo would find herself, probably terrified and at her widths end as her killer or killers drove her deep into the forest to the furthest, most western part of the park. And it was here that as a detective described a ruthless, vicious assault on Ingo took place. She was severely beaten around the face and head and her neck was broken during the attack. Her remains would not be found for two weeks. Meanwhile back in Munich, her family were growing more and more concerned when they hadn't heard from her. She had, as we know, up till then, been staying in constant touch with them by phone and with regular postcards. It was only when she failed to make her appointment with her friend on the 11th of April that their fears intensified. Her parents immediately headed for Northern Ireland and alerted the police, and a full-scale search was launched, but there was no trace of anger until the 20th of April. Her partially-cloded body would be found in Balli-Patrick Forest Park by sheep farmer. It appeared that as well as the brutal assault, a sexual assault had been attempted. Balli-Patrick Forest Park is one of the largest parks in Northern Ireland, and is bisected by the main A2 road which goes from Kush Adal to Balli Castle. The A2 winds its way through the forest for 6 miles. Detectives surmised that whoever her killer or killer's were would have had knowledge of the forest, judging by the location where her body was found. She was located close to the exit from the park of the main road. There had been no attempts made to bury or even conceal her body. She had just been left there lying face down in some high-gore bushes. Her remains would not have been immediately visible from the roadway, however if you were walking through the forest it would have been very clear to see her. As well as making no attempt to hide her remains, no attempt was made either to hide her identity as her passport and her travel documents had been left strewn around at the scene. All her clothing and personal items were strewn around her body. Also found that the scene was a camera which still had the filuminit and was later developed. She showed pictures that she had taken while she was in Scotland but had no pictures from Northern Ireland. Suggesting she didn't have the opportunity to take any photographs. A forensic examination of the scene would find no trace evidence of the brutal physical or sexual assault in her head in George leading detectives to believe that she was probably killed somewhere else and then dumped in the forest. A postmortem examination would reveal that she had in actual fact been sexually assaulted before her death. A full DNA profile of the crime scene donor was obtained. This has yet to be matched to anyone despite one of the largest DNA screenings in history. The blunt force trauma to her head and face was consistent with her having been struck a number of times with an unidentified weapon and of course her neck was broken during the assault which was highly unusual. Given how unusual it was that her neck had been broken a clinical pathologist later remarked that such an injury would have had to have happened where the murder took place. Detectives surmise that her killer or killers may have been trained to inflict such injuries. And the suggestion that maybe it was a soldier or someone that worked in the military and was trained in the art of armed combat was considered. And it also been suggested that Inga may have met up with what was known as a squaddy. That been a British Army member who was returning to the north of Ireland on the ferry to resume their duties. But that line of inquiry didn't throw up any tangible leads. Plus her family were adamant Inga would not willingly go with someone she didn't know. Please have however kept an open mind as to whether the vehicle that she got into when she got off the ferry was the same vehicle that drove her to Belly Patrick Forest. But with this vehicle to travel over the dirt roads and the rough terrain it was presumed with some sort of off-road vehicle. Please it more or less outrood that Inga would have gotten into a lorry as a lorry would never have made it down those dirt roads. As well as the fact that lorry were also subject to being stopped and searched during this time of period in Northern Ireland so it would have been a very high-risk vehicle to Kidnapper in. The police investigation was leading nowhere basically. It was all theories and possibilities. What had happened to Inga that led up to her brutal assault and murder? Everything about the case was odd. There'd be no reports of anything unusual happening on the ferry, no altercations of note. She had been found as I said lying face down in the undergrowth just off one of the dirt tracks. Detectives sure from her location that whoever put her body there had a great knowledge of the area. The culprits are culprits showing a dizzying amount of arrogance to do this in a close knit heavily pleased rural part of the country. All her belongings, as I said, were strewn around with no attempt to hide her identity. Her passport, identity card, even her expensive camera all left behind. Not even a souvenir was taken by whoever perpetrated this crime. Bizarre really, when you consider her removed an area, they chose to dump Inga's body. When she failed to reach up on her pre-arranged catch-up with a university friend from Germany in Cardiff on the 9th of April and again failed to meet another friend in London on the 11th of April, it was then her parents back in Munich really started to worry and that ill feeling that something was wrong began to creep in. As I said everything about this case is odd, Inga had her train tickets so why wasn't she on the train to Belfast? No one saw her walking from the ferry to the train station after disembarking from the ferry or been picked up except for one suggested sighting of her getting into a lorry. If she did, this person has never come forward or been found. Inga was so excited to be embarking on her travels. From her journals documenting her experiences along the way we get a sense of her personality and a sense of romanticism she had for these countries by the way she describes them in her journal. If she was aware of the tensions in Northern Ireland at the time she certainly didn't show it or seemed to be unnerved by it. In the 1960s and the late 1990s British and Irish relations were at an all time low. This was a very difficult period in both countries history. These tensions regularly spilled out onto the streets with innocent people getting cut up in the violence. These times we now know as the troubles. During this time period when the troubles were at its height many were afraid to travel to Northern Ireland across any border but Inga seemed happy to be travelling to Northern Ireland and unaffected by all what was going on around her. From her journals she appeared excited that she was travelling there. Initially one of the leading theories was that maybe the killer had kept her alive some were for the two weeks before ultimately killing her and disposing of her remains. But this theory was soon dismissed after the autopsy. As the rate of decomposition suggested that Inga wasn't in fact killed very soon after she was more than lightly abducted either by someone she befriended on the ferry or by someone who picked her up when she disembarked. According to witnesses Inga did not hide the fact she was travelling alone and she did not hide the fact she was trying to mind her money and had said she was unsure where she was going to stay that night when she arrived in Northern Ireland. Investigators did track down everyone they could who was on the passenger list for the ferry for that crossing. The man she had been talking to on the ferry was soon ruled out as the person responsible for her murder. At the time this had been their biggest lead and now that too had led nowhere. Detectives theorized that maybe someone else on the ferry had overheard Inga talking about travelling alone and her worry about not having a accommodation sorted for that night. This statement if overheard would have put Inga in a very vulnerable position. A young girl travelling alone north to stay in a strange land. Write the fact that everyone who knew her said she would not accept a lift from a stranger. The fact that she was in such a predicament that night could have led her to make choices she would normally never have made. If she had done this then who would have offered her this lift. Detectives went back to the passenger manifestor and scoured through the names to see if any stood out. But before long it came to their attention that the passenger list was actually incomplete, meaning someone who was not recorded on the list could have been the one to give Inga the lift. Detectives were meeting dead end after dead end. In 1988 you obviously didn't have everything computerised like today so what seems inconceivable now today was not unusual back then. Eventually and through a much longer process all the passengers were tracked down in the interview but none of them appeared to be the person they were looking for. But all hope was not lost, they still had the DNA sample acquired at the scene. Remember I said earlier that detectives were under the assumption that it could have been a local, in their minds as no one outside the locality would have known the area where Inga's body was found. So with that in mind all local Balikassal residents were asked to volunteer at DNA sample, so they could be eliminated from the enquiries. There was a good uptake with many local men coming forward and more testing would be done over the years as advances were made in this field. As I said this ended up being one of the largest DNA screenings to ever been conducted in the UK and at the end of it all there was no match. Over the years plenty of online slutes perplexed by the case and the fact that it had not been solved started digging deeper into it. On top of all that rumours started doing the rounds online. She was killed by a person. soldier. She was killed by a female British police officer after she found out Inga was having an affair with her father. She was the victim of a serial killer. None of these were particularly helpful and certainly did not help progress the case. Before long 30 years had passed and on the anniversary DCS Marie made an appeal directly to anyone who might know what happened to come forward. He said, "I think there are people out there in the community who know exactly what happened. I think there are one or two people who are possibly involved in the aftermath of this killing. I think there is at least one of them who's finding that difficult to live with. I'm asking that person today. I'm asking them very, very specifically. I'm saying you need to go away and have a think. We're all getting older. We're all moving on. Is this something you want to take with you to the grave?" He continued, "We have a good strong hypothesis about what happened and all our investigations have not weakened that hypothesis. They have gradually strengthened it. We have a suspect in mind. Some people struggle and I think this person is struggling. It is not too late now to examine your conscience and come forward to the police. We are investigators and we keep an open mind. But the evidence, information and intelligence that we have to date has led us to focus on a very, very small number of individuals. Do not rule out the possibility that more than one person was involved in Inghamry's debt. I also have a report that a man in the rural area east of Bellymony was seen soon after the murder in April 1988 with scratches on his face and that there was concern in the community that he had some sort of involvement. DCS Murray went on to confirm that the individuals in question were still alive but wouldn't say if they still lived in the antrim area. He then went on to talk about the DNA of it and saying, "We have made huge strivings in trying to match that DNA. We've talked face to face with around 1,700 people but that DNA has not been matched to date and we believe that this is a very significant line of inquiry for us. There may be somebody out in the community who knows who that DNA belongs to. We're waiting for the results of further familial DNA testing that covers the entire United Kingdom literally. We're expecting those to be delivered within the next few days. Thank you very much for coming. This is an appeal to the public for help in relation to the murder of Inghamry's house which is probably one of Northern Ireland's most iconic murders amongst our total past. Thirty years ago, Inghamry's house was set sail on the ferry, the Galaway Princess ferry which is probably well known to many of us from a certain generation. She set sail on that ferry to come to Northern Ireland which she was very excited to do. She's very interested in culture she's very interested in music and Ireland was a place which she really wanted to visit but Ireland was a place which she would never leave for the hike. On the story of how much we were taking the opportunity to make a number of specific appaise to the public and I still believe that there are people like in the community we have information who will help us resolve the Inghamry's house of case. The case actually which we believe that we are still very close to solving. The first of these were both around Lauren. We know that Inghamry's house was on the boat. She's quite distinctive. She's wearing floral dress. She's carrying two rucksacks, one of the blue rucksacks and one of the smaller sleeping bags cover but it had a very distinctive badge. USAF, United States Air Force but it was just initials and that was so wrong. She was also carrying two white shoes which were tied to the rucksack as backpackers were tend to do. We know she was on the boat but we have never had a confirmed setting of our either getting into a vehicle on the ferry or coming off the ferry across the land bridge and into the ferry terminus. Another information to us would be extremely significant. Inghamry's house, it was going to go fast to Dublin but she ended up indirectly the opposite direction. She ended up north at the place of her motor at Bollywood Project Forest Park and we are appealing again for anybody who has any information about her movements and the ferry terminus to come forward. So we do know if she did not make it as far as a railway platform and that was her intended destination and the port. We said on the number of occasions that we have DNA evidence recovered from the scene. We have made huge strivings to try and march that DNA. We've talked face to face with around 1700 people. We have used cutting-edge science to try and march that DNA. That DNA has not been marched today and we believe obviously that that is a very very significant line of inquiry forced and the may well be somebody out in the community who knows who that DNA belongs to. We are telling open mind about it. We need to march it. We need to find out the individual and once we do then the context of that DNA was to come clear to the inquiry and I make that appeal again. Now we are still using technology and we're waiting for the results of further familial DNA testing which covers a whole of United Kingdom. Let's really expect them to be delivered to us over the next few days but I would make that appeal to the public. If you know, if you think you know who that DNA may belong to then please tell us. A short time ago I went across to Munich and I spoke to Fredricka who is Engel Maria's sister. Her father Joseph is dead. He died from cancer. Her mother is extremely ill. Her father died. Her mother and her illness still no pre-mortered her daughter when she came to visit our land. At a time actually when a lot of people wouldn't come she did and she ended up paying for that with her life. Fredricka shows clear signs of stress this very day about what happened all those years ago. It clearly has had a massive impact on her life and the thoughts of myself investigation team are with her. But it has a courageous and as we gather information about what has happened it actually the data bands have had an impact on other people's lives as well. We believe that many well have had an impact on the killer killers of Engel Maria's. We think that the lies of their family suffered in us as well. We think that the lies of their family continue to suffer to this very day. And we would say that this 30th anniversary provides an absolute ideal opportunity for those people who are involved in the killing or who are involved and cover up of the killing or who are involved in the fact that they know who did the killing but still haven't come forward to sit down and reflect and think themselves as a time the common humanity overcomes any misplaced loyalties that may exist. And we'd ask them to think very very carefully about that over the next two weeks. I'd like to finish this point of the period by thanking the community in North Antrum. The community in North Antrum have been absolutely fantastic in connection with this investigation and I cannot praise them highly enough. Thousands of people have come forward to try and help us. Thousands of people under help has brought us to the stage where we are today, which is probably not that far off actually coming to the final resolution of this case with the potential of bringing somebody before the courts. And I hope that this appeal on the study of the University provides us with that few final pieces of evidence that we need to make that around. But again, neither this appeal nor the DNA results yielded any new information that we know of to date. This must be so frustrating for the detectives and the families. Two arrests had already been made in 2018 following the 38th anniversary in connection with Inga's murder. One man aged 61 and another aged 58. In a statement, the North's public prosecution service had announced that these two individuals had been reported to them by the police service of Northern Ireland, the PSNI, regarding the circumstances of Inga's disappearance and death. A file had been sent by the police service of Northern Ireland to the North public prosecution services in June of 2019. And after carefully considering all the evidence, they concluded in respect to both suspects that the evidence did not provide a reasonable prospect of a conviction of any offense. DCS Murray said the decision did not signify the end of the inquiry. Indeed, he said, "We have had further in-depth meetings with the prosecution team at which we received the benefit of their thoughts on the case and the evidence to date. This has been extremely useful for me and my team going forward as we continue to investigate Inga Maria's murder. And we will now assess what is the best way to proceed." Inga Maria's father died in 2006, and her mother in 2019 never knowing who killed her beloved daughter, leaving her sister to carry on the fight for justice. The family have campaigned for years to find out the truth about what happened to her and finally, finally, in November of 2024, preliminary proceedings got underway at the coroner's court at Laganside in Belfast. Her sister Fredrick, listening over a video link, the barrister representing Fredrick saying to the coroner, "My client is very grateful for this decision to hold this hearing. The family have been waiting for decades and they placed their trust and considerable hope in this process. The coroner agreeing that the family had waited a long time before adding "We'll do everything we can to facilitate an investigation into this lady's death." He also said that there was a considerable amount of material that would have to be disclosed as part of the inquest. A representative for the house or family said that the inquest would be the first full examination of the facts in the tragedy of the murder. stating that the family, including her sister Friedrich and nephew Victor, were seeking justice and the truth. Stating since Engelsmörder in 1988, her family back in Germany had been desperate for the truth as what happened to her that night. Who inflicted this cruelty on her and why those responsible have not been brought to justice? Sadly, her parents are not alive to see this day. The pain that they endured in the aftermath of her death was indescribable and all-consuming. This inquest would be the first full public examination of the facts in the tragedy of her murder. He concluded that the family were grateful for the public support over the years and especially grateful to the late politician John Dalat for keeping Engelskase in the public eye, as the years went on and the case went cold. The family are grateful that this process is commenced, apprehensive and desperate for the truth. We are encouraged that the PSNI appear to be diligently pulling together materials for the coroner and this matter is next in for review on the 22nd of January. We hope that materials will be shared with the family so that this process can commence. The family just want the truth. They just want the people who are responsible for this brutal murder to be brought to justice. So, yes, at any stage, people can come forward and assist that process. The next review hearing is due to take place on May 2nd and I will do a short update podcast for you when it has concluded and we know the findings. This has been a particularly brutal case to cover and believe me, there have been many, many cases so far like that that I've covered. So as we close this episode on Inge Maria House or for now, we are reminded of the harsh reality that young women travelling alone can be especially vulnerable. It is a sad but undeniable truth that dangers exist even in places that seem safe. Inge was a bright adventurous young woman whose journey was tragically cut short and for decades her family have lived with unanswered questions. With the upcoming inquest, there is hope that long-awaited clarity will finally come, bringing them the answers and justice they deserve. No family should have to endure such uncertainty for so long and we can only hope that this step forward will bring them some measure of peace. So guys, that's it for today's episode of The Arling Crimes and Mysteries Podcast. Again, thanks for your listenership and don't forget to subscribe to the show and hit that auto-download so you never miss an episode. Until the next time, keep your eyes open and your mind curious. This podcast has been compiled from information gathered in the public sphere, like news articles, documentaries and open source material that can be found on the web. Everything in this podcast is alleged unless a conviction has taken place. You've been listening to Ireland, Crimes and Mysteries. Join NULES for another episode coming real soon. And keep up to date by following our social media sites, our YouTube channel and our websites. Ireland Crimes and Mysteries.ie