Lars Mittank disappeared after running out of a Bulgarian airport in 2014.
On June 30, 2014, Lars Mittank, 28, traveled to Golden Sands, Bulgaria, with friends. The resort town is a popular destination for young Europeans. The group stayed at HVD Viva Hotel and planned on heading home on July 7.
On July 6, Lars got into a fight with four other men over sports teams. Lars was hit in the ear and suffered a ruptured eardrum. A local doctor who examined him told him he could not fly home the next day as planned (some reports say he was allowed to fly, but Lars told his mother he was not or that he chose not to fly home) and prescribed Lars the antibiotic Cefuroxime 500. His friends wanted to stay with him, but Lars insisted he would fine by himself.
Lars’ friends flew back home while Lars rented a cheap room at Color, a local hotel near Varna’s center. That night, he called his mother in Germany and told her he was being followed and did not feel safe staying at this hotel. He claimed four men were following him who wanted to know what the tablets were. He wanted to cancel his credit cards and stated here was something strange about the hotel.
His mother booked him an airplane and bus ticket for home on July 8, 2014.
On July 8, Lars headed back to Varna Airport via a taxi, hoping that an airport doctor would allow him to fly home.
This is where the case gets freaky.
Lars is seen on the airport security cam walking into the airport with a red and black backpack and carrying a large duffel bag in his right hand. He’s wearing a yellow short-sleeved shirt and jean shorts. Lars stops to talk to a woman, and it appears he’s asking her something, perhaps how to get to Medical Services. After he arrives at Medical Services, he spends approximately 45 minutes there.
An unknown male walked into Medical Services dressed like a construction worker. When Lars saw this man, he became anxious, mumbled something to the doctor, then sprinted out of the airport, leaving his luggage and backpack behind. He lightly jogged across the parking lot and scaled a fence. He continued running out of the camera’s view. Lars disappeared after and has not been seen since. Lars had no history of mental illness.
Theories and Unconfirmed Sighting
The internet is rampant with theories about what happened to Lars Mittank — everything from organ trafficking to Lars being a drug mule to Lars having a bad reaction to the antibiotic to a head injury from the fight. However, there is no evidence to suggest either of these things occurred.
There was an unconfirmed sighting of Lars around Easter 2015 (April 5). A truck driver claimed he gave a young man a ride who matched Lars’ description. However, it is not known where he took the young man.
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
There are discrepancies in reports that I did find on this case. For example, one piece said Lars was with a tour group, and others say he was with friends. So, not sure which is true. Maybe he and his friends went with a tour group.
Some reports also say he got into two fights. The second fight happened after he disappeared from his friends while they were at a McDonald’s. They did not see him until the next morning. They did not believe him when he told them he got beat up by a Russian or Bulgarian who was paid by the four men he fought with earlier. It was after this when Lars went to the doctor over his ear. But if he did disappear from his friends, where the hell was he all night? And why did he leave the group?
I also read that Lars left Hotel Color after talking with his mother about being scared there. This was sometime in the middle of the night, and he just went into hiding. Then, he took a cab early in the morning to the airport.
Some reports also say that he was allowed to fly home but chose not to. Well, if this is true, why did he even bother with the airport doctor? Why didn’t he get on the airplane?
So, I’m not sure what’s true and what isn’t.
Lars had no history of mental illness, so his behavior that day was not like him. Maybe he was taking drugs, and people close to him were unaware of it.
When I first saw the video and noticed his bags were not with him after he sprinted from Medical Services, I immediately thought of drugs. I thought he had drugs in the bags, panicked, dropped the bags, and that’s why he sprinted out of the airport. The drug mule theory does make sense. But that does not explain why he keeps running and then scales the fence and is never seen again. Also, the bags he left behind were checked, and there was no evidence of drugs inside them.
We know Lars made it to Medical Services because the doctor there confirmed that. At some point, Lars took off his backpack and put the duffel bag down. He is seen on video without these things, but he reaches into his left shorts pocket and grabs something after he’s outside of the airport. I am assuming it’s his cell phone, but of course, I can’t say for sure. If it was his cell phone, did he make a call to someone? If so, who? What about cell phone records? Did he use his cell phone after he disappeared?
Who was this mysterious construction worker, and was he seen on any of the airport video footage? The above footage is a condensed version of what happened, so I’d like to see the full version. I did not see him on the video above.
It would have made more sense for Lars to stay at the airport where many people were around. I highly doubt someone would take a chance and harm him in such a busy place as an airport. So when he decided to run, that didn’t make any sense to me.
There doesn’t seem to be anyone following Lars after he leaves the airport, so that’s weird. As fast as he was running out of the airport, I expected someone to be following him.
I checked out Hotel Color on TripAdvisor, and it received many good reviews. That surprised me because when I brought it up on Google Maps Street View, I thought it looked like a place I would never want to stay in, lol. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if illegal activities were going on in this neighborhood. Maybe Lars witnessed something he should not have.
Part of me thinks that Lars set this whole thing up to start a new life in Bulgaria. A bit extreme, I realize, but I don’t get why he fled the airport leaving all of his belongings behind. Fear? Hell, if that was the case, he should have stayed at the airport among people where it was safer. And why did he insist his friends go home? If that had been me, I would have wanted them with me. Safer in numbers, plus it was just one more day.