S1.E4 ∙ The Ties That Bind

The story of trade unionist Guido Rossa, killed in 1979 by Riccardo Dura, a member of the Red Brigades.

On January 6, 2021, the assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump caused the death of five people, including a policeman, and provoked astonishment. Described as an insurrection, a coup d'état, a putsch, it marks a break in American history. Tracing the facts with precision, here is an analysis of the consequences of this attempted coup de force on American democracy. Nearly a year after this violent intrusion, many Republicans in Congress continue to support Trump, and his candidacy in the 2024 elections is not excluded. Is the ongoing U.S. congressional investigation helping Americans overcome the trauma or, on the contrary, increasing their dissension?

A small, idyllic town near Bremerhaven. Katja Winzer, who runs her own practice as a physiotherapist, lives here with her eight-year-old son Tobias and her partner Jürgen Behrendt on a former farm. Tobias is a bright, independent and reliable boy who has a very intimate and trusting relationship with both his mother and Jürgen. When he couldn't come home from playing one evening, Katja started a round-robin campaign among friends and drove the boy's way home - with no result. Finally she turns on the police. Since the girl Levke was murdered by an unknown person in the region just a few months earlier, a large contingent of officials and volunteers immediately set off a sensational search. The desperate Katja is placed at the side of Chief Inspector Roman Maartens: The experienced police officer and family man has psychological training to look after family members in such cases and to seal them off from the sensational press. Days go by without Tobias being found. Days become weeks - between waiting, hoping and self-reproach, Katja's life is slowly but surely turning into a nightmare. While Jürgen tries to cope with the situation with alcohol and his suspicious behavior is targeted by the investigators, Roman Katja stands by her side. He even threatens to neglect his own family through his commitment and compassion. After the largest search operation in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, weeks after Tobias' disappearance, remained unsuccessful, the police command had no choice but to abandon the search. Katja feels betrayed and disappointed. It wasn't until the sex offender who also murdered little Levke was caught that Roman came across a hot lead. He succeeds in persuading the emotionally unstable man to make a confession. For Katja this turn seems too late: she no longer sees any meaning in her life. She doesn't want to go on living without her son.

Jean-Francois Abgrall, today the head of a private detective agency, was just a simple provincial gendarme back in 1989 when he was assigned to investigate a murder on a beach. Instead, his investigation put him on the trial of one of France's most terrifying serial killers, Francis Heaulme, who for eight years wandered the country committing some of the most brutal murders in the annals of modern crime. This is the true story of that manhunt, a tale of terror, suspense and determination.