107 - The Day Trip: Bettina Poeschel

Mens Rea: A true crime podcast

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Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2022

⏱️ 69 minutes

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Summary

On 25th September, 2001, 28 year old German tourist Bettina Poeschel took a train from Dublin to Drogheda, Co Louth. She wanted to visit Newgrange - an ancient monument in the Meath countryside. She decided to make the 10km walk from the town to take in the countryside while there. But Bettina never made it to Newgrange. She had disappeared into thin air. ********* Join me at CrimeCon UK on June 11-12 in London 2022! Head to crimecon.co.uk and use the code MENSREA for 10% off (and to let them know I sent you!) ********** With thanks to our sponsors for this episode: Sign up for professional online counselling at betterhelp.com/mens and get 10% off your first month! ********* Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! Donate today to get access to bonus and ad-free episodes! Check out the Mens Rea Merch Store! ********* Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ********* Sources: “Gardai search for German woman” in The Irish Times(28 September 2001) p. 4. “River searched as worries grow for missing tourist” in The Irish Independent (28 September 2001) p. 1. Bill Corcoran, “Where is my daughter?” in The Evening Herald(28 September 2001) p. 1, 2. “Locals urged to search area for any trace of Bettina” in The Irish Independent (29 September 2001) p. 5 “Family fear vanished journalist accepted lift” in The Irish Independent (29 September 2001) p. 5. Elaine Keogh, “Gardai hunt for missing woman” in The Irish Times (29 September 2001) p. 20 Cathy Donaghy, “Search set to widen for missing German journalist” in The Irish Independent(1 October 2001) p. 9 “Trace part of girl search” in The Evening Herald(1 October 2001) p. 2. Elaine Keogh, “Missing woman appeal” in The Irish Times(2 October 2001) p. 3. Brendan Farrelly, “Gardai in search for tourist appeal to Newgrange visitors” in The Irish Independent(5 October 2001) p. 8 Paul Murphy, 'Please help me find my sister” in The Drogheda Independent (5 October 2001) p. 1 Ann Casey, “Bettina: Huge search now centred on Boyne Valley” in The Meath Chronicle (6 October 2001) p. 1. Grainne Cunningham and Richie McCullen, “Locals in fear over missing woman” in The Evening Herald(9 October 2001) Bernie O'Toole, “'Trace' team join search for Bettina” in The Evening Herald (15 October 2001) p. 6. Bill Corcoran, “Missing tourist's mum in torment” in The Evenign Herald (12 October 2001) p. 16 for a full list of sources, please see mensreapod.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Men's Raya podcast, and this is the story of Bettina Postal.
0:30.0	In September of 2001, Bettina Postal came to Ireland from Germany for a holiday here.
0:48.0	She was 28 and lived and worked near Munich, sharing a flash with her younger sister Cornelia.
0:54.0	Bettina worked for Abin Zaitung, a local newspaper, as their arts and culture corresponded.
1:00.0	Bettina based herself out of Dublin City for the holiday where she was staying with a family friend Holger Sirth,
1:06.0	and she planned to travel around the east of Ireland, seeing the popular tourist sites with an striking distance of the capital.
1:14.0	On Tuesday the 25th of September, the last day of her holiday, Bettina had decided to take a day trip up to Meath in order to visit Newgrain,
1:23.0	a neolithic passage tomb famous for marking the winter solstice through its light box lintel every December.
1:30.0	After taking the train to Drahuta in County Louth, Bettina had intended on either walking the 10 km to the ancient site,
1:37.0	or taking one of the shuttle buses from Drahuta to the rural area where Newgrain, along with other passage tombs,
1:44.0	nooth and death are located.
1:47.0	But Bettina did not arrive back to her friend's city centre flash that Tuesday night,
1:52.0	and she failed to return to his home the next morning, nor was Bettina answering her mobile phone.
1:58.0	There was no question that Bettina had had a sudden change of plans.
2:02.0	She'd been booked on a flight home for Wednesday morning at half past seven,
2:06.0	but she did not arrive for that flight.
2:09.0	Her tickets remained at Holger certs flat and Dublin, along with all her luggage.
2:15.0	On the morning of Wednesday the 26th of September, Holger rang Bettina's family in Germany,
2:21.0	and then reported his childhood friend missing.
2:25.0	Gherdy quickly began an investigation into the missing tourist.
2:29.0	They soon established that Bettina had gone to Drahuta and was seen at 10 past 10 that morning walking from the train station in the town
2:37.0	and heading in the direction of the bus depot.
	...

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