Berlin, August 19th, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – When a child is reported missing, the alarm bells will be ringing rather quickly and loudly. In those cases, the German authorities will act swiftly and decisively. After checking with the kid’s friends and relatives, they will jump-start a big operation. This is what happened 26 years ago, on November 28th, 2000.
Sandra Wissmann was 12 years old. Since her mother was two days away from celebrating her birthday, she wanted to get her a present. So, the girl left the family’s apartment in Böckhstrasse, which is located in one of the nicer parts of Berlin’s Kreuzberg borough. It would take her some 10 minutes to walk to the Karstadt department store at Hermannplatz square. She told her mother she was going to be back by 4 p.m..
When Sandra did not show up, her mother had Karstadt, a multi-story establishment, make an announcement through its audio system. Still, Sandra was not found. The police started investigating. They did not find much. Now, this cold case is being looked into again.
165 Statements from Witnesses
Officially, the investigators do not know too much. On the day of her disappearance, Sandra walked towards her family home, but instead of entering the apartment, she kept on walking towards the channel and the Admiralbrücke, a famous little bridge in the neighborhood. After 4:30 p.m., when she was supposed to be home, classmates spotted her on Kottbusser Damm, an infamous street. But some 25 years ago, that area was probably safer than it is today.
Back then, the police also looked for an unidentified man who allegedly tried to lure another girl into an apartment. Whether the same man tried to make Sandra follow him as well, is unknown. While her parents must have gone through hell because of the disappearance of their daughter, the police released her photo and offered 5,000 Euro for clues. Those steps did not lead to any successes either, even though the investigators got 165 statements from potential witnesses.
Almost a year later, the Berlin Police Department did what it had to do: It sent a detective involved in the case on the German television show “Aktenzeichen XY”. On this broadcast, Sandra’s photo was shown and the story was told. Witnesses were asked to call. Still she was not found. By then, the investigators were pretty sure Sandra had become the victim of a crime.
Last Chance?
At the time of her disappearance, Sandra was 160 centimeters tall (5 feet 2 inches) and slim. Her long hair was dark blonde. She wore black jeans, a blue and black sweater, a blue winter jacket and black boots.
Twenty-six years later, more than a quarter century without useful information about Sandra Wissmann, the police reminded the public of this case on May 25th, which was International Missing Children’s Day.
Now, another three months later, they restarted the investigation into this cold case. Tonight, a detective will be on “Aktenzeichen XY” again (ZDF television, 8:15 p.m. CET), to discuss Sandra’s disappearance. This might be the last chance to find someone who knows what happened to Sandra Wissmann that day in the winter of 2000.
At this stage, the police are looking for fifteen persons who went missing in Berlin. Three of them are minors. In the case of Rebecca Reusch, who was 15 years old when she disappeared on February 18th, 2019, the police strongly suspect a capital offense. The 17-year-old Kebenu Alemu Girma has been missing since October 3rd, 2021. In this case, nobody knows what happened.
