Hubert ohne Staller - Season 9

Barbara Hansen is the first to notice it in disgust: the bone her singing teacher Schilling's standard poodle is chewing on. After Hubert takes a closer look, it becomes clear that it is a human femur.

The detectives and their boss, Sabine Kaiser, must assume that an entire skeleton lies at the site where the male bone was found. With the help of the dog, they begin searching and, after a few detours, are led to a grave at the Wolfratshausen cemetery. But no man is buried in that grave—and the discovered skeleton also shows signs of an accident. Now they must solve a crime that dates back 15 years.

But where should they begin their investigation? With the official owners of the grave plot, with the woman who fainted at the sight of the skeleton in the cemetery, or with the dog's owners?

There are plenty of possible leads, and at times Hubert is annoyed by the feeling that he has to pursue them all on his own. His colleagues Riedl, Bayer, and Girwidz have secretly been given a special assignment by Sabine Kaiser: to make Hubert's 35th service anniversary a very special day. The fact that the three of them are taking singing lessons from the dog's owner—so they can serenade their colleague—may unexpectedly prove helpful in solving the crime.

A routine patrol by Hubert and Girwidz comes to an abrupt end when a fallen branch blocks their path. As Hubert moves to clear it away, he discovers the body of physiotherapist Frank Albrecht. Apparently, Albrecht had fallen down an unpaved embankment with his bicycle.

Before Dr. Fuchs arrives, Girwidz is supposed to secure the initial evidence at the scene, but he twists his knee and ends up in the emergency room of the Wolfratshausen district hospital. He refuses to take sick leave and, despite his limited mobility and against Hubert's wishes, continues to take part in the investigation. During the autopsy, Dr. Fuchs determines that the fatal broken neck could not possibly have been caused by the fall.

The prime suspect in Albrecht's murder appears to be Joschi Breitenbichler, who had arranged to meet the victim at the time of the crime. In the Bavarian Oberland, he is known as the "bone breaker"—able to detect blockages and tension simply by touch. However, he has been legally prohibited from practicing his craft on people and allegedly now treats only horses and other livestock.

Had the victim discovered that the bone breaker was continuing to treat humans despite the court order? While Girwidz, with his injured knee, finds himself increasingly impressed by the bone breaker's healing skills, a second suspect unexpectedly emerges: Girwidz's own attending physician, the surgeon at the Wolfratshausen district hospital, Dr. Wilfried Söderling.

Riedl's service bicycle has been stolen. The son of stud farm owner Georg Dausinger is identified as the thief by Riedl's neighbor. While searching for the heavily intoxicated Jens Dausinger, Hubert and Girwidz discover the body of his father, Georg, in the hayloft of the stud farm. The murderer has impaled him against the wall with a pitchfork.

Jens quickly falls under suspicion of murder. One possible motive appears to be his unconventional hobby, which his father strongly criticized—just like the rest of Jens's life. Together with the disabled Jasmin Forchhammer, Jens teaches children and young women hobby horse riding. The activity, known as "horsing" in Finland, allows children from low-income families to practice equestrian sport without owning a real horse.

As the noose slowly tightens around Jens Dausinger, Dr. Fuchs discovers during the autopsy that the victim had sexual intercourse shortly before his death. Armed with saliva test kits, Hubert and Girwidz pursue the trail of what may be a crime of passion—and once again stumble upon Jens Dausinger's co-trainer in hobby horse riding, Jasmin Forchhammer…

The rampaging boar Kurt is wreaking havoc in Wolfratshausen, throwing residents into fear and panic. Hubert and Girwidz are tasked with stopping the animal—by force if necessary. But despite not holding back on ammunition, the culprit escapes into the forest.

While searching for it, Hubert and Girwidz stumble upon the body of district forester Ulf Gröschel, with a gunshot wound in his back. Police Councillor Kaiser concludes that Hubert and Girwidz must have shot the forester during their wild boar hunt and promptly confiscates their service weapons. Although it turns out that the forester was already dead before the officers found him, Hubert and Girwidz are still ordered to undergo firearms training.

The first lead points to farmer Xaver Vogel, who had been seriously at odds with the forester. The problem: instead of controlling the wild boar population and maintaining the forest fences, the forester preferred to feed the animals—who were causing extensive crop damage. But Resi Gröschel, the victim's wife, also comes under scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Kaiser decides to take down the troublesome boar herself. Just as Hubert and Girwidz are close to solving the murder, they are suddenly shot at from ambush. The gunman escapes. Courageously, Hubert and Girwidz give chase—without considering that the suspect is armed, while they themselves are left with empty holsters.

Hubert and Girwidz originally just want to settle a dispute between bathers at the lake, when a passerby calls them over after discovering the body of a cyclist. Even at the scene, Dr. Fuchs realizes that the cyclist did not die from the fall alone—he had also been beaten.

For Chief Inspector Kaiser, who has just taken delivery of a new electric patrol car for the precinct, the case is particularly sensitive. For months, an unknown individual has been terrorizing cyclists at Lake Starnberg.

While Riedl and his colleague Christina visit some of the previous victims to learn more about the suspect, Hubert and Girwidz face a very different problem. During a test drive with the new electric vehicle in the station parking lot, Girwidz damaged the charging station—a mishap he does not want to confess to the boss, especially since he was not even allowed behind the wheel without a driver's license.

When the two finally return to collect the victim's bicycle from the scene and take it in for forensic examination, they discover that it has been stolen—except for the front wheel, which was still chained up. A lead eventually points to young Patricia Wagner, who had lost her unborn child some time ago after colliding with a pizza delivery cyclist.

Hubert and Girwidz are called to a luxury hotel to investigate property damage; apparently, someone went on a rampage that morning. The guest staying in the room is a beard model who was planning to enter a contest. But now he's lying dead in the bathroom.

The murder weapon is quickly found: a straight razor engraved with a name. But it's Girwidz's name, of all people! He explains that he recently ordered the razor from the blacksmith Heiko Geiß. The blacksmith apologizes for the mix-up. He accidentally gave Girwidz's razor to the Dutch barber Wim van Dijk, one of the judges for the upcoming competition. But the barber is currently on a raft trip down the Isar River. Riedl is to take up the pursuit in plain clothes.

Meanwhile, Hubert and Girwidz question the other judges. Markus Schafbauer, head of an advertising agency, explains that the competition is a farce because, at the request of the client Kimberly Pfeiffer, the winner had long since been decided: the dead man.

When it turns out that Riedl had been walking around all day wearing—of all things—the victim's bathrobe, the investigators finally get on the trail of the mystery.

Hubert and Girwidz find a body in the Wolfratshausen Mühlbach and, next to it, a plastic bag containing 60,000 Deutschmarks. When Dr. Fuchs determines the cause of death to be murder by poisoning, the investigation gets underway.

Chief Sabine Kaiser tasks Hubert and Girwidz with tracing the origin of the money, while she and Riedl investigate the deceased's background at his home, a retirement community. At first, their efforts are unsuccessful, but much to the delight of Riedl's great-aunt Maria, who sees Sabine Kaiser as the perfect new woman for her nephew. A misunderstanding that Riedl clears up a bit too hesitantly, much to Kaiser's chagrin.

Hubert and Girwidz, on the other hand, are following a spectacular lead: The old D-Mark bills come from a kidnapping that kept Wolfratshausen on edge 35 years ago. However, since the police continue to hit a brick wall—both with the kidnapping victim and in the vicinity of the retirement home—Girwidz has to step in. He moves into the retirement home incognito as a sprightly retiree to find the missing link between the two crimes.

Hubert and Girwidz had actually planned to take it easy on the terrace of the Rattlinger Bakery during the annual speed camera marathon in Wolfratshausen, had it not been for the car of real estate tycoon Max Hofmann, which suddenly plowed into their mobile speed camera. Apparently, Hofmann collapsed over the steering wheel while driving.

Dr. Fuchs's examination suggests that the real estate mogul may have died from a fatal infection. While Girwidz believes he has been infected, Hubert pursues a second possibility: Hofmann was threatened by an unknown person via a voice message.

Since Dr. Fuchs cannot rule out poisoning, Hubert, together with a sickly Girwidz, tries to track down the unknown caller who made the threats. It is only after the Tropical Institute performs an autopsy on the body that Girwidz is given the all-clear.

As Hubert suspected, the victim was poisoned. Judging by the symptoms, the poison was ricin, which is undetectable. It must have been administered to real estate tycoon Hofmann 72 hours before his death. To identify potential witnesses, Hubert and Girwidz try to determine Hofmann's whereabouts from 72 hours earlier and end up on the terrace of the Rattlinger Bakery.

Shortly before the end of her shift, Ms. Kaiser receives a visit from a well-groomed but pushy man with whom she apparently shares a past. The conversation makes the police captain uncomfortable, and she eventually shows the man the door.

Shortly afterward, as she is about to leave the precinct herself, she is overpowered by a masked man. The next morning, her colleagues search in vain for their boss. The testimony of Girwidz, who had seen the visitor arrive, and a court summons for Ms. Kaiser ultimately fuel the suspicion that she has been kidnapped.

In fact, Ms. Kaiser is scheduled to testify soon as a witness against her former Munich colleague Christoph Lukas—whom Girwidz immediately recognizes as the visitor from the night before. When Christina discovers that Christoph Lukas has checked into a hotel by the lake, her colleagues want to move in immediately.

Before the raid, however, Girwidz seizes the opportunity and puts himself back in charge of his team: After all, in the boss's absence, he's the only one on the team with leadership skills! But despite his leadership skills, the operation turns into a disaster: Thanks to Riedl, Christoph Lukas ends up in the hospital and falls into a coma—before he can tell them what he did to Ms. Kaiser. While Riedl blames himself, a race against time begins for the colleagues …

During a patrol, Hubert and Girwidz meet Lea, a hitchhiker. She's on her way to Wolfratshausen to the district hospital where her mother works. Hubert, concerned for the hitchhiker's safety, wants to give her a ride despite Girwidz's objections. But before they head to the hospital, Lea needs to stop briefly to use the restroom.

She heads into a wooded area, from which she never returns. When Hubert and Girwidz go to look for her, they find the body of Leopold Zirngibl. He had fallen from his hunting blind and landed on Lea. An ambulance takes the unconscious Lea to the hospital.

It turns out that the medical examiner, Dr. Fuchs, is the hitchhiker's mother. Lea is a medical student who had come to Wolfratshausen for an internship. While Girwidz haphazardly secures evidence at the crime scene, Hubert drives an agitated Dr. Fuchs to her daughter's hospital bedside.

Lea testifies that she heard an argument between the victim and another man. She believes she can identify one of the two voices. Hubert and Girwidz investigate the victim's circle and narrow it down to two prime suspects.

As the senior partner at the Zirngibl Quality Butcher Shop, the victim had not only had a dispute with one of his meat suppliers; the company's junior partner, his stepson Lutz Heinrich, also seemed to interpret the term "quality" in the company's name rather loosely. But both voice samples from the suspects turn out to be a dead end …

Hubert and Girwidz find the body of the elderly art patron Irmgard Kühne next to her car. Pathologist Fuchs suspects food poisoning caused by contaminated milk. But Irmgard Kühne had only drunk milk from her own goat, which lives on the farm of dairy farmer Johann Auzinger. It has since been determined that colchicine, the toxin found in autumn crocus, was the cause of death.

Hubert and Girwidz therefore suspect that the milk was poisoned after it was milked. Initially, Auzinger's father, Alfons, comes under suspicion; many years ago, he had been engaged to Mrs. Kühne but was subsequently rejected.

However, Mrs. Kühne's daughter Tanja—a herbalist who lives with her husband Frank in a dilapidated building next to Mrs. Kühne's villa—would also have a motive. The couple feared they would end up on the street, as the elderly lady was about to move into a luxury retirement home in Munich. But the Wiesers have an alibi for the time of the alleged crime.

The investigators come up with a new line of inquiry: What if the goat itself was poisoned and the poison got into the milk? Hubert and Girwidz take the goat to the police station. Riedl is supposed to watch it until it passes a stool.

Hubert and Girwidz discover the body of a strangely dressed, bearded man at the edge of the forest; he has no identification on him. A public appeal for information reveals that he is the renowned attorney Fabian Fritz, who lives by the lake with his wife, Eva Fritz.

When Hubert and Girwidz try to break the news of his death to his wife, however, they discover that the couple has sold their house and transferred their money to the Children of the Five Lakes. Investigations reveal that this is a cult-like community that also owns the forest where the body was found. So did Fabian Fritz want to leave the group, and was he killed because of it?

A visit to the Children of the Five Lakes reveals an idyllic, small world. The widow, Eva Fritz, accepts her husband's death with surprising detachment, arguing that since he wanted to leave the community, he was doomed to die anyway.

It soon becomes clear that the cult, led by the charismatic guru Noah, is preparing for the end of the world. Hubert, of course, considers Noah a charlatan and his followers completely insane, but after returning to the precinct, he finds a handwritten plea for help in his jacket pocket—someone at the farm must have slipped it to him...

A tour guide found beaten to death in the luggage compartment of a tour bus, a bus driver on the run, and Riedl, who thinks he's fallen in love with Dr. Fuchs in an anonymous chat room: Hubert and Girwidz have their hands full, but they're certain they've solved the heinous murder right away.

After all, by fleeing, the bus driver has already confessed to the cold-blooded crime. When they catch him, however, the situation turns out to be a bit more complicated, because his alibi for the time of death is airtight.

Sabine Kaiser and Girwidz take over the investigation into the victim's personal life, while Hubert and Riedl examine the bus company. At first, there seems to be no lead regarding the murder. The deceased tour guide was universally liked and had no enemies. But why was he hoarding 18,000 euros in his apartment, and what role does the company's senior partner play, given that exactly this amount is missing from his accounts?

The police investigation uncovers mafia-like criminal activity surrounding the dead tour guide, making it all the more surprising that the actual motive for the murder was love...

Hubert and Girwidz are initially just supposed to disperse a group of young people gathered in front of the property of a certain Peter Weber. But upon arrival, the officers discover that the youths are masked and making rather bizarre demands. Then a fire breaks out—and in the ruins, the fire brigade discovers a body, apparently that of the homeowner, Peter Weber.

Back at the station, Christina Bayer fills them in: Peter Weber was an eccentric internet personality who dressed up as the fairy-tale King Ludwig II and streamed daily cooking sessions online, strongly polarizing his audience. In fact, most of his viewers were "haters" who tuned in mainly to mock him. For Hubert and Girwidz, this is unfamiliar territory, so Christina is sent out with Hubert to take a closer look at the late "Kini's" fans.

Meanwhile, Riedl has to step into the role of the deceased internet cook and produce replacement content so that the audience—and potentially the killer—doesn't drift away. It soon becomes clear that someone hiding behind the alias "Freiherr von Lutz" had been particularly aggressive in inciting hostility against Peter Weber…