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The original was posted on /r/unresolvedmysteries by /u/malihafolter on 2024-01-11 11:08:28+00:00.
Rosemarie Nitribitt grew up in poor conditions and was admitted to a children's home before being fostered. At 11-years-old, she was raped and the rape was covered up in the small Eifel village.
When Rosemarie became a teenager, she started to sell sex for money and was in and out of trouble with the law. She eventually settled in Frankfurt where she learnt English and French in an attempt to attract the more prosperous clientele. She soon reaped the benefits of her wealthy clients and started to drive an Opel Kapitan and was gifted with lavish holidays to the Mediterranean.
Rosemarie soon became very wealthy; she traded her Opel Kapitan for a black Mercedes with red leather upholstery. Her routine was to drive down the Kaiserstraße and past Germany's most expensive hotels. When she spotted a well-dressed gentleman, she would get his attention. As she became more notorious, she would book appointments over the phone, but only if the person on the other end of the line knew the password, "Rebecca."
On the 1st of November, 1957, Rosemarie was found murdered in her apartment. She had been strangled to death with her own nylon stocking. Around 18,000 marks was stolen but nothing else - all of her expensive clothing and jewellery remained untouched.
The investigation was a shambles from the start; evidence found at the scene was destroyed and eventually, the police files vanished. The investigation did, however, led to many prominent figures in Rosemarie's life. In Rosemarie's apartment, police found a photograph of a man so famous that he still hasn't been publicly named today... Many of these infamous men were questioned by investigators but none were ever named as suspects.
As there is a stigma attached to sex workers, some started to tarnish Rosemarie's reputation. Rumours started to circulate that Rosemarie was a blackmailer. According to rumour, Rosemarie kept a tape recorder which she used to record secrets she obtained from prying businesses and customers. Investigators, however, found no evidence of blackmail or a tape recorder in her apartment. Furthermore, none of the 40-60 clients of Rosemarie ever mentioned blackmail.
The prime suspect soon became Heinz Pohlmann, a personal friend of Rosemarie who had been bragging around the city that he was the only person to have a key to Rosemarie's apartment. It was soon discovered that following Rosemarie's murder, Pohlmann managed to clear a number of debts and even purchase a new car. When questioned, he claimed his influx of money had come from thefts and embezzlement but not from Rosemarie. A witness came forward to tell police that Pohlmann had almost ran him over while speeding away from Rosemarie's apartment around the same time it was believed she was killed. Moreover, police found a pair of Pohlmann's trousers that were stained with blood.
Pohlmann was eventually charged with the murder but was subsequently acquitted when the prosecution failed to find enough evidence against him or link the blood on his trousers to Rosemarie. Interestingly, Pohlmann had threatened to release the name of Rosemarie's clients. Many have long speculated that high-ranking persons involved with Rosemarie have thwarted the investigation in an attempt to protect their reputation.