The strange circumstances surrounding teenager Mike Mansholts death
8 July 2016 Mike Mansholt, a 17-year old teenager from Oldenburg (Germany), travels to Malta. He has red hair, a muscular build and is 1.67 meters tall. It is his first holiday without his parents. He is described as kind, quiet yet fun-loving, conscientious and adventurous. His father, Bernd Mansholt, says that “Mike is not a danger seeker.” Bernd once climbed the Ceylonese gemstone regions of Ratnapura and owns a goldsmith shop. He instilled a wanderlust into his son from an early age, by taking him on far away trips, such as a two year sailing adventure to the Caribbean and the Adriatic sea, as well as the wild and desolated Yukon in Canada. When Mike was only six years old, Bernd took him and his brother Daniel and sister Maria on a 774 day long sailing trip across the world, from the North Sea through the Bay of Biscay, via the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. Near the Panama Canal they met Kuna Indians, and pirates lurked off the coast of Oman. Now that Mike is grown up, he still shares a love for adventure and traveling with his father, as well as a love for photography. His parent's divorce and the fathers' new marriage did not impact the strong relationship between Mike and Bernd. At the time of his departure to Malta, Mike has the comfortable knowledge of finishing the school year by being top of his class, and looking forward to continuing his apprenticeship with airplane builder Airbus, for which he had beaten hundreds of other applicants. He wants to build planes himself. He loves flying model airplanes with his father And next month, in August, Mike will travel to Iceland to run his first marathon together with his father, marking his 18th birthday. The young lad has a lot to look forward to. This includes visiting his girlfriend, with whom he will first spend some private time on Malta. She is also the reason why Mike now flies to this southern European island, situated below the Italian island of Sicily and also close to the coast of Africa, because she is studying abroad for a short time in Malta, doing a language course there. After spending some time with her in Valletta, the small capital of Malta, Mike decides to not fly back with his girlfriend to Germany, but to instead spend some more days, possibly up to a week, on the island alone, exploring the place. His mother is home in Germany at this moment, while his father is holidaying with his family in Croatia. By the way, I first uploaded this blog on July 16th of 2020. But because I like to keep the Kris and Lisanne case on the main home page, I had to put the date of publication of this blog post behind it. Hence why it seems I posted it already in 2019. 
On July 18th Mike is last seen Mike stays in a hostel in Sliema, in the east of Malta. Sliema is located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Northern Harbour District. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining and café life. The hotel is called the Astra hotel. CCTV in the hotel records Mike leaving on the morning of July 18th of 2016. He leaves his room (room 105) at 8:39 am. At 9:10 am Mike returns to the reception to pay for his stay. He goes back to his room then and stays there for a little bit, less than an hour, before locking his door and leaving the hotel through the lobby at 9:55 am. He can be seen walking away on the CCTV video footage of the hotel, wearing a blue T-shirt, his backpack slung over his shoulder and carrying his mobile phone in his hand. His black backpack contains his GoPro camera and valuables. It is a warm sunny day, the sky is cloudless. He walks to the harbour nearby and rents a mountain bike for a full day. It is of the brand Lombardo 270, and in the colours blue and black. Word is that he wants to go to the town of Rabat, which has famous underground catacombs with ancient tombs. At 10:11 am he sends a message through whatsapp. It is a voice message in which he tells someone (not sure who it was to) that he is renting a bike for the day to drive through Malta. However, the roads are very steep and in some parts he says he can only walk up the slopes, with the bicycle at hand. But that does not matter because he likes a sporting challenge. He also promises to make some photos along the way. His message word for word, translated from German: “Okay. I’m renting a bike and driving through Malta today. However, the roads are so steep. I’ll send you a photo shortly. You can only walk them up in some parts. With the bike it’s not possible. But it does not matter. It’s a sporting challenge, and I like that.” This is the last thing anyone hears from Mike..
What happens nextBecause Mike is such an independent and experienced traveler, his family and loved ones don't suspect anything to be wrong for quite some time. It is actually not until his mother and sister are left waiting at the airport of Bremen, four days later, on July 22nd, that they realize that something is wrong. It's 10:15 pm. Mike isn't on the plane, but even this realization comes late, as the plane Mike is supposed to be on, flight LH 360, is delayed for hours. Anxious his mother and sister keep waiting, until it is announced that the flight is cancelled entirely. They assume that Mike is stuck in Frankfurt, where he was supposed to change flights. She calls her son. Mike's phone is dead. His mother tries calling multiple times to no avail. After frantic attempts to reach Mike, his mother realizes he was never on the plane from Malta and declares him missing at the Oldenburg police at 2 o'clock at night. They declare him a missing person in the early hours of July 23rd and give the case a high priority immediately. While the German officer finalizes the details, he is suddenly struck by information from Malta. Officials there have been looking for Mike for the past four days already. Integrated police information mentions that Mike hasn't been seen on the island since the morning of July 18th, when he rented the mountain bike, which he did not return. The hotel manager of the Astra hotel had already declared Mike missing the day before. She waited four days before notifying the police. Four days in which Mike was not seen coming back to his room and police had already been looking around for the teenager in the area. But nobody has told the family in Germany about this... It also turns out that Mike never made it to the airport, to catch his flight. Things start to move now and the Bundeskriminalamt (the Federal Criminal Police Office, or BKA) takes over the case, and under this umbrella the entire international police work together. They have specialists for cases like Mike's in a unit known as SIRENE, a special team of investigators with access to names, biometric images, and fingerprints. Interpol is also active.
When Mike's father hears about the situation, while on holiday in Croatia, he takes the first available flight to Malta, early in the morning, together with Mike's brother Daniel. He talks with the airport police during a layover in Frankfurt about anything he can think of about his son, which they relay to the BKA. He tries to stay calm, despite his mounting fears. He tries to think of rational reasons for his sons absence at the German airport.. Maybe he missed his flight, maybe he lost his mobile phone, or was robbed. "A lot can happen. Mike will surely show up soon," he thinks, as he travels to Malta to help find his son. The fact that Mike's phone is dead, worries Bernd. He stays in close contact with the police and follows their every move as good as possible. He trusts them and remains hopeful. Bernd and Daniel also start helping the search groups in Malta. All of Malta's islands are searched and police check if Mike took any ferry's or local planes. Flyers are distributed everywhere and tips are traced. One man in hospital, hallucinating on medication, claims for instance to have seen Mike. "I thought I saw his face," the sick man says, before falling asleep again. But his claims are quickly ruled false. Another man says he saw Mike in a local drugs bar, but when not a single witness confirms this story, it is also quickly cast aside again. Bernd however follows up on every single lead and tip he receives. Police also try to keep Mike's mother informed about all the developments, but according to their written report she is overcome with fear and "too emotional to talk." On July 24, 2016, the BKA checks whether Mike has taken another flight home to Germany. It takes about an hour until results of the inquiry filter back: no flight movements. Mike remains missing.
On July 26th, eight days after Mike has gone missing, Maltese police receive an anonymous tip about Mike's bodyThe source has never been identified or made public. The tip-off leads investigators and Bernd and Daniel to 250 meter high cliffs on the islands west coast, named Dingli Cliffs. The dusty cliffs, overlooking the Mediterranean sea, are the highest point of Malta and are located close to Rabat, making it well possible that Mike did indeed first go to see the catacombs, before heading on to check the lovely see views at the cliffs. Search dogs and paramedics are sent to these rugged cliffs. When Mike's father arrives, TV crews with cameras are already waiting for him... Emergency crews and an ambulance arrive. Search dogs have already found something nearby but Bernd is told to wait nearby. A jeep with stretchers on its roof carefully dwindles down the gravel road. It takes hours of searching before the body of Mike is found at the bottom of the cliffs, hidden under some bushes and under the cliff overhang. The place can not be seen from above the cliffs. It is in this overhanging bush, some 30 meters above Mike's body, that his mountain-bike is found hanging. It has a flat back tire and the saddle is twisted. Police place the body in a body bag and investigate the bike. Mike's poor father does not allow to be sent away and at some point approaches the body bag and zips it open to look at his son. But due to the warm temperatures and the long time that has gone by since Mike's disappearance, he has been decomposing for quite some time and Bernd can not positively identify his son... He will later say about this moment that he felt numb, and that everything around him seemed to move in slow motion. The moment of horror felt endless.
Mike's shoes and sunglasses are found near the body. Mike does not wear his shoes. Mike's backpack is missing however. It can not be found anywhere, despite investigators knowing for a fact that Mike took it with him the morning of July 16th, as it was confirmed by hotel staff and CCTV. The content of the backpack is also missing, including Mike's black Samsung Galaxy Note, his GoPro action camera, his creditcard and several hundreds of euro's in cash, as well as his hat and phone charger (a power bank). Something that ís found next to the body however, is fresh hay, which was not affected by the sun yet.. The farmer who owns this piece of land is interviewed and Bernd asks him about Mike and the pieces of hay, but he denies to know anything about any of it. Mansholt says that the farmer from Dingli behaves strangely towards him when he asks about the backpack. He tells that to the police. As stated in the case files, there were three pieces of evidence identified and numbered from that location: a pair of sunglasses, a camera case, and Mike's Nike shoes. But not Mike's GoPro camera. When Bernd goes to the Astra hotel room 105, he finds that the room is already cleared out. They have given him a few of his son's belongings, including diving equipment. But Mike's treasured GoPro camera is missing. Mike loves taking photos and records virtually everything on the device (he also sent several video recordings to his father), and would with near certainty have recorded parts of his mountain bike ride on the day of his disappearance, the father reckons. Mike used to wear the camera in a case attached to his belt. Because Bernd hadn't seen the camera on his sons body either, he discusses it with the police and hears from a female officer at the scene, that she did see the GoPro camera's black case strapped on Mike's body with a belt when she was down on the beach below the cliffs. She guarded the body for a long time and declares in front of witnesses to have seen the case on Mike's body. Bernd really wants to see the camera and the footage on it, but then finds out that all the other police people deny that it was present on the body. They do not know where the GoPro camera is. And when he challenges the female officer, she suddenly denies to have ever said that she saw the case on Mike..
In this footage you can see the searches below the cliffs,
as well as Mike's poor father waiting and helping..
as well as Mike's poor father waiting and helping..
Police immediately suspect that Mike fell down the cliff and made a tumble with his bike. Even though the location of the body makes it hard to imagine that he took a straight fall. It would be impossible to end up where the body was found, hidden well under the overhang. Nevertheless, police right away rule it an accidental death and declare that Mike fell 30-something meters and rolled under the overhang. An employee of a doctor who is present tells Bernd that Mike's neck is broken in two places and that the lad would have died a quick death as a result. "The back of the dead man is broken twice", Bernd is told. "A quick death". Bernd Mansholt himself recalls black holes in the neck and left side of the dead man's face. But the body is already decomposing. And without any X-ray checks, it remains to be seen how a doctor could come to such conclusions based on sight and perhaps also touch alone, on a body which had been decomposing for quite some time already.. DNA testing later confirms that it is Mike, but Bernd Mansholt and the rest of the family have to wait 4 whole weeks for these results. Other findings from the autopsy in Malta, held at the Mater Dei Hospital, are that Mike has been dead between 7 and 8 days and that the state of the bike does not match a 30-or so meter drop from a cliff. The post-mortem held in Malta also concludes that the teenager had no broken bones, which contradicts the theory that he fell off the cliff. At the 8th of August, an employer of the local morgue also tells Bernd that strangely enough, they found no fractures of any of Mike's bones. She adds that this is unofficial information. This contrasts with the statement that was made by the doctor on site. On the cliffs they told him there was a broken back due to a possible fall. But now, suddenly, no bones are broken? Bernd Mansholt immediately calls the police officer in charge, but when he confronts her with his questions, she is evasive. Bernd grows more suspicious after this. Not only does he no longer get straight answers from them to his questions (how about the broken bones? What ever came of the investigation into that suspiciously fresh hay next to his sons body? Where did his backpack go?), but he notices that local officers also start to give off the vibe that they want him to leave Malta and the investigation, now that his son's body has been found. After he challenges the police about their changing statements about the GoPro camera, Maltese forensic department push an old fashioned digital Canon photo camera in his hand and usher him more or less to back off and leave them alone. The camera looks nothing like Mike's silver GoPro Hero 2 with 64 gigabytes and is much older. They also throw a destroyed memory card at him which they say went with the GoPro. Until this day, the real GoPro camera of Mike Mansholt has never been found and neither has his backpack or the other personal belongings in it; his Samsung Galaxy phone, his wallet, his credit card issued by the bank Sparkasse, several hundred euros in cash, his straw hat, and an extra charger for his phone. Mike's family are starting to have doubts about the good intentions of the Maltese police. Bernd also asks out loud who could have stolen Mike's belongings. But a Maltese policeman suggest to Bernd that the people of Malta would never rob a body of its belongings, and that tourists must have stolen the backpack therefore... They also find out that no new information is found from looking into Mike's mobile phone use. At this point, Mike's father is ready to level some serious accusations against the Maltese authorities. "Something is wrong here," he says. He wants to find out what really happened, even as he fears the truth. But for now, Bernd sees himself forced to return to Germany, to attend his goldsmith shop. 
The autopsyMike's body arrives back in Germany on August 17th of 2016. Three days later, on his 18th birthday, he isn't running a marathon in Iceland, but is laying in a zinc casket in Oldenburg. The funeral director is struck by several things when he is tasked with preparing Mike's body. Firstly, that the body looks completely sunken in. All the volume is gone. Secondly, that Mike isn't embalmed or prepared in any way. This is shocking, as the investigation into his death is still ongoing and by not embalming the body, Germany now have a very big problem doing a second opinion autopsy. It is immediately clear that the body smells of decomposition, and not of formaldehyde/formalin and other preservation chemicals. German police are informed, and share that they also were suspicious when handling the body at the airport, as it seemed way too light. Mike's remains only weighed around 16 kilo's (35 pounds) when it arrived in Germany. When German coroners do an autopsy on Mike, at the Medical University of Hannover, they find that his body has been undone of all the organs.... Everything has been taken out: the brain, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, adrenal glands, right kidney, bladder, prostate, stomach, small intestine and other organs are all gone. And only small fragmented parts remain of the left kidney, the diaphragm, spleen and colon. This explains why Mike's body was all sunken in.. It does happen during some autopsies that the major organs are taken out for further investigation, and that the body is either left as it is, or stuffed with other materials (I read about sawdust and cotton). But these organs are always put back in the end in the corpse, wrapped up in a bag sewn into the chest cavity, or accounted for in another way. A Maltese medical examiner then tells Bernd, that the organs were eaten from Mike's body before his body was found. Which seems ludicrous to Mike's family right away, as nobody who viewed Mike's body when it was found, after 8 days of having been missing, noticed any such thing at all. There were no visible wounds or bite marks to his body then and it also did not yet look deflated and shriveled as it does now. Mike was not an organ donor. Bernd is devastated and addresses this shocking situation in a letter to the Maltese authorities. "Please send me the rest of my son's organs," he pleads. The public prosecutor's office in Oldenburg confiscates the body. The missing person case is now a criminal case. A death investigation is initiated, assigned the file number 1201 UJs 52381/16. The coroners of the Medical University of Hannover are also unhappy: they tell Magistrate Marseanne Farrugia, who conducted the magisterial inquiry into the teenager’s death, that they were never given a copy of the report of the autopsy carried out at Mater Dei Hospital and neither were they privy to the findings. They complain that due to the missing organs, the second autopsy can only reach “extremely limited” results, which can not be compared to the results of the first autopsy. Bernd and his wife Susanne also file a complaint through their lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili. The Mansholts say that in an e-mail exchange with the medico-legal expert appointed by the Maltese courts, Mario Scerri, they had been told that their son’s organs had been attacked by rodents and that the brain had liquefied. The Holtmans call on the court to order an investigation into how Mike's organs went missing, why they had not been returned with the corpse and why it had been claimed that the body had been embalmed when it had not happened. According to Bernd there are also "indications of possible witnesses", but "the police investigation was stopped too early".
German public prosecutors start working on the case of Mike Mansholt, and immediately suspect that a third party killed Mike and also conclude that the Maltese pathologists did a poor job. The word "irregularities" is noted in the new report. They also order a new autopsy, done in Germany this time. Medical examiners are present to provide legal certainty. They find no bite marks on the body and no evidence of rodent bites, except for a bite on the neck and an abrasion on the forearm. They openly dismiss the possibility of rodents 'eating the organs'. It is also reconfirmed that Mike's body was intact when it was taken from the beach under the cliffs to the morgue in Malta, without wounds or bite marks. But the most important autopsy results are that the body was not embalmed in Malta and as a result, it is now too far decomposed to be able to determine a cause of death. "No perceptible formal smell" has been detected, as the report states. And that is also the reason why a cause of death can no longer be determined. A proper embalming of the body by the Maltese physician did not take place, so the last traces on the body to determine a cause of death have been lost forever. Another important conclusion from German investigators, is that nothing indicates that Mike died from the 30- or so meter fall from the cliffs. The Germans also find that there are no large wounds found on his skin. He has no broken bones, no broken ribs and no soft tissue damage or bruises. His spine was also intact. Internal bleeding can not be ruled out, as there are no organs to investigate, but researchers consider that possibility small anyway, as it would have been accompanied by bruises or damage of the outside of the body, which are not found on Mike. A fall is considered "practically impossible", especially since he didn't break a single rib. And because of the advanced decomposition of the remains, a third-party fault cannot be ruled out. But the Maltese stick to their story: Mike died in a tragic accident from a fall off the cliffs. When they did their own autopsy, three people were present, including a forensic doctor; the head of the forensic examination in Malta, Professor Mario Scerri. Scerri is a respected man in Malta and has won several awards for his work. Bernd Mansholt looks up information on the man, and finds a dated piece of TV footage, in which the doctor wears sunglasses and an open shirt and reports in front of the cameras about 29 autopsies he had just carried out on drowned refugees from the Mediterranean. He was present at the place where the body was found and examined it in the medical examiner's office, but when Bernd and journalists ask for extra information, he refuses to elaborate on anything. Only once does he reply to an email from Bernd: he writes back that the organs were already missing before the autopsy; they were eaten by rodents. He says that he shared this information with the head of the investigation in Malta. But upon inspection, he appears to have given differing statements: in one he mentions mice, in another rats. The German forensic scientist in charge contradicts this dubious doctor and states in writing that no bite marks were found on the body. And another detail from the creepy Maltese doctor: Mike's brain dissolved in the sun, he declares. This is also waved away by German investigators, as brains do not dissolve in the sun. And despite the 8 days out in the elements, even then at least some remains of the brain should have been found with a high degree of certainty. And another peculiarity: Dr Scerri has officially stated that the corpse had been embalmed... A lie. When Bernd emails him about it, Scerri answers that the Germans were wrong to state that the body wasn't embalmed and that his dissectors embalmed the body, using a formaldehyde solution as prescribed “to my satisfaction.” More lies.
Officially, the Maltese documented that Mike's body was found lying on its back. But German investigators do not believe that Mike died on the precise location where his body was found. They think that if he fell, he was still alive when he hit the beach, and managed to drag himself to a place of shade, under the overhanging cliff. Suffocation can also not be ruled out as a cause of death by the German investigators, because Mike's hyoid bone is missing also, which is a U-shaped bone in the throat which usually breaks during suffocation. It is all highly suspicious. Of course it is possible that the Maltese coroner was sloppy and careless and arrogant and took all Mike's main organs out to do autopsy on them, and then forgot or didn't care to put them back. He may have reckoned that after 8 days in the sun, Mike's body was so badly decomposed already that there wasn't much to embalm, and because of the smells he wanted to get the autopsy done ASAP, perhaps. It is also possible that the organs weren't put back because they showed a cause of death which the Maltese want to keep under wraps. The tourism industry is vital for the country after all, and any evidence of a violent crime would be something the Maltese officials would have wanted to keep out of the news. Short interviews with Mikes father and siblings
Return to Malta
In November of 2017, Bernd Mansholt returns to Malta. He looks for a dialogue with the police and investigators who ruined his sons case. But he hits a brick wall with them. He asks a judge to get access to all of the files of Mikes case, but is told that the judge is off sick. She has a reputation for issuing rulings slowly. "The file is in some closet", he finds out. This is how Bernds interaction with the police goes in this incident. He enters a bare room with high ceilings. Three policemen sit behind a counter. All three look up, but nobody says anything. “I would like to speak to Inspector Butters,” says Mansholt. “Inspector Butters is at the court,” replies a policewoman grumpily. “When is she coming back?” “You have to call ahead.” “Can you give me the number?” The policewoman rolls her eyes, then mumbles a sequence of numbers. “Could you please write me the number?” The policewoman rolls her eyes again. A colleague pushes a piece of paper without a word on the counter. But the number is useless, the police will not talk to Bernd Mansholt about Mike. No authority in Malta wants to talk about Mike. - In the end a German diplomat in Malta manages to get a hold on the file of Mike Mansholt, but to Bernds disappointment, the official file misses important documents, such as the autopsy results and photos of the official scene where Mike was found.... He drives around the island. He visits all the places again; he meets the volunteers from the days of the search. Together they drive out to the cliffs. He places a plaque on the place where Mike was found under the cliffs, as well as flowers. “Mike Mansholt,” it says, “You are loved and missed.” "I had the chance to be close to my boy once again," Bernd says. This is how he remembers the moment. For the first time after the death of his son, Bernd Mansholt feels a little better. He also offers a 10.000 euro reward for any information on where Mike's organs, backpack, GoPro and belongings are and the backpacks content. And on top of that, Bernd offers a 10.000 euro reward for whomever can prove how Mike has died. Bernd gets inundated with calls from about anyone who has a hunch where Mike's organs are, which lead to nothing. It burns Bernd out, emotionally. He even goes as far as writing letters to the head of police and to the president of Malta, looking for answers, finally. He wants full access to the file about his son's death. By 2018 the German authorities still keep the investigation into Mike's death open. Whereas in Malta the case has been closed soon after Mike's body was worked on by the pathologist...
But in January of 2018, the Maltese ambassador and government crack under the German pressure and reopen the case. Diplomatic efforts from the Foreign Office in Berlin pay off. The first documents arrive shortly afterwards in Germany, including some parts of the "Maltese file." Local media pick up on the story and politicians in parliament start to discuss the matter, and utter doubts are shared about the official findings. In April of 2018, Mike finally receives the entire file on his sons death, including the autopsy results and the photos. He views them all, difficult as it is. But he is disappointed with what he reads. Aside from a new 3D spatial analysis of the location of the body, there is only info about the day of the discovery. Photos are missing and explanations are lacking. Bernd is convinced that the Maltese authorities are on purpose not releasing the complete picture of the investigation. The story is still full of holes and contradictions. Even questions to minor details remain unanswered: What about his shoes? Why didn't Mike call for help on his mobile phone if he had an accident? It seems astonishing how adamant investigators, authorities, and doctors are to stay silent on practically all those questions.
A new Maltese judge also rules that Mike fell off a cliff and died. Malta considers any other scenario a conspiracy theory. Bernd is exhausted and demoralized at this point. German prosecutors rule that there are many inconsistencies in this case, but they also hit a brick wall and can do nothing more. The investigators in Germany, the public prosecutor's office, and the BKA have all been focusing on the case intensely until then. Through the liaison offices in almost 50 countries, the Mansholt case is relayed by the BKA to their office in Rome. Investigators there learn the body was lying on its back when it was found. But to this day there is no convincing proof that the place where the body was found is also the place of death. And in the end, even the Germans eventually come back on their earlier verdict that a 3rd party was involved. In 2018 they do a 180 degree turn, and suddenly conclude that they believe that Mike fell off the cliff, after all. But that his fall was broken and slowed by him hitting branches and trees. They can not explain the absence of Mike's backpack, and they also now state that Mike's organs were definitely in his body when Mike was found. But that sometime afterwards, they were removed and not put back. It contrasts the statement of the uncooperative and suspicious acting Maltese doctor who was on the scene when Mike was found, and who stated that his organs were "not in place" and that there were signs of rodent activity on the body. So yeh.... very conflicting statements. In the end even Germany seemed tired of the lack of facts. And without the organs and without a reliable autopsy finding, none of us knows for certain if there were marks on the body or not; if there were organs present or not; if there were broken (neck) bones or not. We do not even have all the photos of the scene. Bernd Mansholt recalls that on 26 July 2016 “masses” of photos were taken on the cliffs. The photos could at the very least prove that Mike was wearing the GoPro on his belt when he was found. But no such photos made it into the case file. Another dead end.. Other questions that remain are what the police have done exactly in the months after Mike's death, as there is no evidence of a search for a backpack, GoPro or missing organs. And whether or not they have further investigated the strange farmer from Dingli, for instance? Did they interview him or search his house? We also still, until this day, miss a detailed autopsy report in the file. There is only one single page, which summarizes the known statements: missing organs, animal feeding, cause of death unknown. And the file does not contain a single photograph of the site or the corpse...
And at the end of the day, we do not know the cause of death and whether or not Mike died from the impact of the fall or not. The only thing which everybody has ruled out, is suicide, as Mike was happy, full of plans, in love and without any signs of mental illness or depression. Almost anyone who goes through the contradicting, gap-ridden and sloppy case files, from diplomats and investigators to journalists, has doubts about the Maltese authorities' official verdict. But in the end, despite not believing the official reading of events, Bernd Mansholt decides to stop pushing for more answers and to focus on his family and remaining children instead. He thinks that we will never know for sure what happened to Mike. "I don't feel like listening to any more lies here," Mansholt says. The WELT AM SONNTAG did a lot of research in this case and found that hardly anyone from Malta wants to further comment on the case. The Maltese forensic physician, who would seem to have the most explaining to do, also remains silent. The policewoman, who repeatedly rebuffed Mansholt's quest, did not even respond. There was also no reply from the prime minister's office. The Maltese police announced later that 'objectively speaking, there was "no doubt about the fairness, independence, and objectivity of the investigations." Dr. Veronique Dalli, a former Maltese television journalist and lawyer, shares her suspicion about what the investigators did with the case of Mike Mansholt: “They put him on the shelf!” She has requested more investigation from the Maltese Chief of Police. In vain.
But in January of 2018, the Maltese ambassador and government crack under the German pressure and reopen the case. Diplomatic efforts from the Foreign Office in Berlin pay off. The first documents arrive shortly afterwards in Germany, including some parts of the "Maltese file." Local media pick up on the story and politicians in parliament start to discuss the matter, and utter doubts are shared about the official findings. In April of 2018, Mike finally receives the entire file on his sons death, including the autopsy results and the photos. He views them all, difficult as it is. But he is disappointed with what he reads. Aside from a new 3D spatial analysis of the location of the body, there is only info about the day of the discovery. Photos are missing and explanations are lacking. Bernd is convinced that the Maltese authorities are on purpose not releasing the complete picture of the investigation. The story is still full of holes and contradictions. Even questions to minor details remain unanswered: What about his shoes? Why didn't Mike call for help on his mobile phone if he had an accident? It seems astonishing how adamant investigators, authorities, and doctors are to stay silent on practically all those questions.A new Maltese judge also rules that Mike fell off a cliff and died. Malta considers any other scenario a conspiracy theory. Bernd is exhausted and demoralized at this point. German prosecutors rule that there are many inconsistencies in this case, but they also hit a brick wall and can do nothing more. The investigators in Germany, the public prosecutor's office, and the BKA have all been focusing on the case intensely until then. Through the liaison offices in almost 50 countries, the Mansholt case is relayed by the BKA to their office in Rome. Investigators there learn the body was lying on its back when it was found. But to this day there is no convincing proof that the place where the body was found is also the place of death. And in the end, even the Germans eventually come back on their earlier verdict that a 3rd party was involved. In 2018 they do a 180 degree turn, and suddenly conclude that they believe that Mike fell off the cliff, after all. But that his fall was broken and slowed by him hitting branches and trees. They can not explain the absence of Mike's backpack, and they also now state that Mike's organs were definitely in his body when Mike was found. But that sometime afterwards, they were removed and not put back. It contrasts the statement of the uncooperative and suspicious acting Maltese doctor who was on the scene when Mike was found, and who stated that his organs were "not in place" and that there were signs of rodent activity on the body. So yeh.... very conflicting statements. In the end even Germany seemed tired of the lack of facts. And without the organs and without a reliable autopsy finding, none of us knows for certain if there were marks on the body or not; if there were organs present or not; if there were broken (neck) bones or not. We do not even have all the photos of the scene. Bernd Mansholt recalls that on 26 July 2016 “masses” of photos were taken on the cliffs. The photos could at the very least prove that Mike was wearing the GoPro on his belt when he was found. But no such photos made it into the case file. Another dead end.. Other questions that remain are what the police have done exactly in the months after Mike's death, as there is no evidence of a search for a backpack, GoPro or missing organs. And whether or not they have further investigated the strange farmer from Dingli, for instance? Did they interview him or search his house? We also still, until this day, miss a detailed autopsy report in the file. There is only one single page, which summarizes the known statements: missing organs, animal feeding, cause of death unknown. And the file does not contain a single photograph of the site or the corpse...
And at the end of the day, we do not know the cause of death and whether or not Mike died from the impact of the fall or not. The only thing which everybody has ruled out, is suicide, as Mike was happy, full of plans, in love and without any signs of mental illness or depression. Almost anyone who goes through the contradicting, gap-ridden and sloppy case files, from diplomats and investigators to journalists, has doubts about the Maltese authorities' official verdict. But in the end, despite not believing the official reading of events, Bernd Mansholt decides to stop pushing for more answers and to focus on his family and remaining children instead. He thinks that we will never know for sure what happened to Mike. "I don't feel like listening to any more lies here," Mansholt says. The WELT AM SONNTAG did a lot of research in this case and found that hardly anyone from Malta wants to further comment on the case. The Maltese forensic physician, who would seem to have the most explaining to do, also remains silent. The policewoman, who repeatedly rebuffed Mansholt's quest, did not even respond. There was also no reply from the prime minister's office. The Maltese police announced later that 'objectively speaking, there was "no doubt about the fairness, independence, and objectivity of the investigations." Dr. Veronique Dalli, a former Maltese television journalist and lawyer, shares her suspicion about what the investigators did with the case of Mike Mansholt: “They put him on the shelf!” She has requested more investigation from the Maltese Chief of Police. In vain.
Theories about what happened to MikeOrgan theft
The absence of all these major organs makes some people suspect organ theft. Mike was killed for his organs, robbed of them, then stitched up and dumped, making it look like he had an accident. Problem with this theory, is that people have seen Mike's body under the cliffs, and it didn't looked like his body had been attacked or damaged at this point. Although the doctor on the scene did declare that Mike's body was in fact already damaged and eaten up by rats and mice, German investigators and Maltese locals at the scene contradict or flat out deny this... And after 8 days out in the sun, no coroner could have used his organs anymore after he was found.. Even in the theoretic scenario that his organs had already been taken at that point and his body was filled up with something else, there is the problem of how anyone could reliably remove organs from a person on a hot beach out in the sun, down a cliff without hospital equipment nearby. And why was the brain also taken then? Why would an organ harvester waste time removing useless organs? Maybe to illegally sell it to a hospital for autopsy students to work on? And why leave part of a left kidney behind, when kidneys are sought after on the organ market? Although incompetence can of course explain a whole lot of inconsistencies, in real life. I suppose it is still possible that Mike was alive and first taken somewhere else, had his organs taken and thén, after picking the organs, the murderers took his body, bike and shoes to the cliffs and arranged them there as they found them later. (Wouldn't professional organ traffickers just make the whole body disappear afterwards though..? Destroying any possible evidence? Although they may have wanted it to look like he had a bike accident..). And perhaps we shouldn't forget either that there was an anonymous tip about Mike's body... Pretty sketchy. However, you would assume that investigators would have noticed that Mike's organs were missing when they found the body, and also; organ trafficking is not something Malta is known for. And even if there were organ traffickers on the island; would they really go after a white, affluent looking European kid? Someone who's disappearance would for certain create a media buzz? I doubt it..
Crime
The absence of the backpack and valuables can point towards a crime. Mike may have been attacked and robbed of his belongings, then thrown off the cliff (no evidence on the body of a fall though), or someone placed his dead body under the rocky cliff ledge. It is also possible that he died from punches which damaged his organs, but not his skin. Or he may have had an accident himself and people went down to his body to rob him of his backpack*. By the time Mike's 'Wanted' posters were placed all over the islands, this person may not have dared to hand the backpack in, afraid of possible consequences. Or afraid to be charged with murder. Maltese journalist dr Veronique Dali believes that something sinister happened and that Mike was killed and his body was planted below the cliff. Police and forensic medicine specialists in Germany cannot rule out third-party fault causing Mike's death. And as you can read a few paragraphs down from here, Mike wouldn't be the first tourist to have been robbed and killed in Malta... But as for now, no evidence of lethal violence has been found. What has been ruled out however, is death through a projectile. His skull is not broken. He did not suffer any blunt force trauma or a gunshot wound to the head. But other causes of violent death remain all possible, especially internal bleeding or suffocation. Because the hyoid bone was missing, it is impossible to rule out if Mike was strangled. Mike's father believes that the only plausible scenario is that Mike met foul play. He believes there were at least two people at the scene — Mike and the person who took the backpack. German investigators have also said that the state of the found body was completely inconsistent with the event of a fall from the cliff. No bones were broken, not even a single rib, and the location of the body was not one which you would find if Mike had fallen from the top of the cliffs. Also, if it was an accident, Mike's belongings would have to be at the place where he was found. After all, he had them with him the morning of the day he died. *It must be added here, that Mike sometimes took his backpack off when he went out cycling, to be lighter on his bike, and he then hid his backpack somewhere and then later picked it up again. It is not known however if he would do such a thing also abroad, in a strange country while out alone.
Car crash
It is also possible that Mike was hit by a car and fell, or was injured and in order to avoid justice, the person who hit him then threw him and his bike off the cliff, to make it look like Mike had fallen. Problem with this theory is that no signs on the outside of the body support the sort of injuries which a car crash could give. And the body didn't have any signs of having fallen 30 meters either. Perhaps the car driver who was involved in this accident carried Mike's body down, but then the question arises as to why he chose such a strange arrangement with a bicycle and shoes. It could explain on the other hand, why Mike's backpack and the GoPro camera have disappeared.
Accidentally shot
The cliffs where Mike's body was found, is the scene of hunters. Between the rocks of the cliffs there are iron bars everywhere. The poles are screwed to stones. Food lies on the stones, to attract birds. Maltese like to lie in waiting, killing the birds who are attracted to the food. Bernd and others visiting the scene found cartridge cases from riffles on the ground and heard shots at times. However; Mike's body did not have shot wounds..
Suicide
The only thing which everybody ruled out, is suicide, as Mike was happy, full of plans, in love and without any signs of mental illness or depression. However, what if... His girlfriend had left the island as planned the day before. If he jumped off the cliffs, there is still the issue with the location of the body; he lay in a spot where he could not have fallen if he had jumped from any part of the cliff ledge. However, medication, poison or suffocation cannot be ruled out (or proven) because of the missing organs.
Accidentally shot
The cliffs where Mike's body was found, is the scene of hunters. Between the rocks of the cliffs there are iron bars everywhere. The poles are screwed to stones. Food lies on the stones, to attract birds. Maltese like to lie in waiting, killing the birds who are attracted to the food. Bernd and others visiting the scene found cartridge cases from riffles on the ground and heard shots at times. However; Mike's body did not have shot wounds..
Suicide
The only thing which everybody ruled out, is suicide, as Mike was happy, full of plans, in love and without any signs of mental illness or depression. However, what if... His girlfriend had left the island as planned the day before. If he jumped off the cliffs, there is still the issue with the location of the body; he lay in a spot where he could not have fallen if he had jumped from any part of the cliff ledge. However, medication, poison or suffocation cannot be ruled out (or proven) because of the missing organs.
Accidental fall
And perhaps the most mundane (and likely?) scenario is that Mike was tired or struck by heat stroke or dehydration (or an aneurysm or heart attack, despite his young age and fitness) or simply tripped and fell down the cliff himself. 30 meters. Because his organs were all removed, heatstroke or dehydration could not be proven during a second opinion autopsy. Maybe he fell from the top of the cliffs, or had driven with his bike to the beach and settled down in the shade, overcome by thirst or the heat. Mike was a young, athletic person however with no known health problems. Nevertheless: it is a theoretically possible scenario: Mike is completely exhausted from cycling around for a good part of the day, in the heat and the sun, with the steep roads he already described in his last whatsapp message. Maybe he was weakened by it all and had not enough water to drink (although he was in an inhabited area and could have asked anybody for water along the way or at the catacombs). If Mike had biked all the way up to the cliffs, he would have encountered from the summit a narrow path that winds down. It leads through a wide open gate. Left and right are cactuses. Mike may have driven down here. After a few hundred meters the trail ends in nothingness, but on the left hand, a second path snakes up, narrower than the first one. This second path ends in front of a rock face. There the police found Mike’s body, in a rock depression. Mike’s bike hung a few feet up in a bush, his sunglasses and sports shoes were a little farther down. He had probably taken them off. Maybe it is possible that he came down the road too hard, smashed his bike and endured internal injuries. Maybe he laid down in the shade of the rock, removed his shoes as it was hot. And then succumbed to his internal injuries. OR maybe he drove into the first dead end, then into the second. While hot, exhausted and dehydrated. He didn't know what to do: should he cycle all the way back? He already said in his whatsapp message that he walked parts of the ascend. Mike was an experienced climber, could he have had the crazy idea to climb the 30 meters with the mountain bike on his shoulders? Then fainted. But not before throwing the bike into the nearby bushes, which only slightly damages the bike. Does he take off his shoes to cool himself? Does he lose his orientation? He staggers down, lies down in the hollow. The sun burns mercilessly from over he sea. Here a boulder casts a little shadow. And then he may have succumbed to heatstroke or dehydration? I find it hard to imagine for a 17 year old super fit young man, but it is possible I suppose. This theory links to what a Maltese doctor uttered: that Mike may have tried to climb the cliff edges with the bike over his shoulder and fell. Although this climbing scenario is far-fetched, considering he must have been there in the heat of day and also taking huge risks climbing such a cliff.
Either way, if Mike did fall down, he most likely wasn't dead on impact and managed to drag himself to a spot of shade, far away under the huge rock ledge. But Mike’s bike was not badly damaged... It only had a flat tire, a misaligned seat and a few scratches and a dent on the frame. For some reason he wasn't wearing his shoes anymore at this point. And for some reason he never called anyone for help either (strange..) and his backpack was stolen, possibly by someone who stumbled onto his body at some point. Unfortunately there is no data about his phone. After growing speculation started circling around a suspicious of foul play, a court approved access to the data on Mike's phone. But it lead to nowhere. I wonder: did investigators trace the phone's location based on ping activity with cell towers? I don't know... There is no additional information on this available.. And why was his bike found stuck high up, in the bushes? With its seat twisted, its rear tire flat, but everything else almost intact? Mike's father does not believe that Mike had a 'pure accident'. He knows that Mike was conscientious, careful and an experienced outdoors-man. He believes that the only plausible scenario is that Mike met foul play. He believes there were at least two people at the scene — Mike and the person who took the backpack. The Maltese forensic doctors, who can examine 29 dead refugees in three days, then may have done a quick autopsy on Mike. He may have taken out Mike's organs for this autopsy and afterwards simply didn't put them back into the body. Or threw the organs away because of the decomposition state, or gave them to the nearby university. But the question arises then, why this pathologist didn't tell this to Mike's family? Why lie about it, then stonewall Mike's father? And worse even, why then also go as far as to claim that rats, mice or other animals consumed Mike's internal organs? Would you create such an over the top lie if you wanted to cover up your own incompetence? Or would you only go that far if you were to cover up a murder..? Either way, it makes it look all the more suspicious. And as if him and officials want to cover something up. Which is not that far-fetched to think of. In 2015, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who has since been murdered, reported on the Maltese doctor and parliamentarian Etienne Grech, who boasted that, as a medical student, he often took organs from the morgue home to study in peace. Mostly it were kidneys.
Either way, if Mike did fall down, he most likely wasn't dead on impact and managed to drag himself to a spot of shade, far away under the huge rock ledge. But Mike’s bike was not badly damaged... It only had a flat tire, a misaligned seat and a few scratches and a dent on the frame. For some reason he wasn't wearing his shoes anymore at this point. And for some reason he never called anyone for help either (strange..) and his backpack was stolen, possibly by someone who stumbled onto his body at some point. Unfortunately there is no data about his phone. After growing speculation started circling around a suspicious of foul play, a court approved access to the data on Mike's phone. But it lead to nowhere. I wonder: did investigators trace the phone's location based on ping activity with cell towers? I don't know... There is no additional information on this available.. And why was his bike found stuck high up, in the bushes? With its seat twisted, its rear tire flat, but everything else almost intact? Mike's father does not believe that Mike had a 'pure accident'. He knows that Mike was conscientious, careful and an experienced outdoors-man. He believes that the only plausible scenario is that Mike met foul play. He believes there were at least two people at the scene — Mike and the person who took the backpack. The Maltese forensic doctors, who can examine 29 dead refugees in three days, then may have done a quick autopsy on Mike. He may have taken out Mike's organs for this autopsy and afterwards simply didn't put them back into the body. Or threw the organs away because of the decomposition state, or gave them to the nearby university. But the question arises then, why this pathologist didn't tell this to Mike's family? Why lie about it, then stonewall Mike's father? And worse even, why then also go as far as to claim that rats, mice or other animals consumed Mike's internal organs? Would you create such an over the top lie if you wanted to cover up your own incompetence? Or would you only go that far if you were to cover up a murder..? Either way, it makes it look all the more suspicious. And as if him and officials want to cover something up. Which is not that far-fetched to think of. In 2015, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who has since been murdered, reported on the Maltese doctor and parliamentarian Etienne Grech, who boasted that, as a medical student, he often took organs from the morgue home to study in peace. Mostly it were kidneys.
******
What I think has most likely happenedI think that the absence of Mike's organs may be a red herring in this story. I think that Mike was robbed and that the perpetrator(s) caused him catastrophic internal injuries, through beatings and strangulation. Or drugged Mike and things went wrong and he had a bad reaction and died from it. The robber(s) placed his body down the cliffs, in a spot where tourists wouldn't see him from above, and they took his bag and valuables. I think the most likely course of action then, was that the Maltese officials instructed the coroner to get rid of evidence of this crime. In order to protect the tourist industry on the island. Hence why the brain was also missing. It's a common theme in these crime stories, but for good reasons, because there are some very corrupt countries on this planet, unfortunately, and most of Europe agrees that Malta is as rogue a state as they come within our continent. Mike's organs were taken out of the body, officially for autopsy reasons, and then on purpose 'forgotten' to be put back. This ensured the Maltese government that Germany would never find out the true cause of death. And it enabled them to stick to the accidental fall theory until this day. Despite not a single bone or rib in Mike's body having been broken. Except for this hyoid bone.. A bone which normally never breaks, unless someone is strangled. I mean, why else would Mike's hyoid bone be missing, as the only missing bone in Mike's entire body? It is impossible now to rule out if Mike was strangled because of that bone being gone. What reason could a coroner have to remove that bone, other than removing evidence? I cannot think of any other reason for removing the bone right now, as all the other bones were still in place when the Germans received Mike's body. Only mostly all of his organs were removed. It is shocking to read about missing organs and when I first read about this case, I instantly thought of organ harvesting and crime. But Malta isn't really known for these practices and it would have required a very smooth machinery in place; Mike must have been attacked then and taken to a location with the right equipment to take out his organs and to keep his organs alive. The beach was absolutely not the right location for this. And after several days in the sun, his organs were no longer of use to anyone, so it must have happened then on one of the first days of his disappearance. I don't know.. to me it sounds too far-fetched. Had this been Latin America though, I probably would have thought differently. The fact that the GoPro was missing is also suspicious. Like in the Kris and Lisanne case, it may be that the camera contained evidence of a third party or of Mike's last moments, which a 3rd party didn't want to become known.
What is Malta like?Malta is a small country in the Mediterranean sea, consisting of three islands, of which Malta is by far the largest. It takes one and a half hours by boat to reach it from the south of Sicily. It is densely populated, with 514,000 inhabitants living on 316 square kilometres. And they all have at least one car, which they use for every trip. The driving style of people is said to be 'mental'. Malta has its own distinct culture, language and climate. In summers, temperatures can be quite high. In the second week of July of 2016, when Mike is there, the day temperatures are around 32 degrees Celsius (90 F), dropping to around 22 degrees at night. Only after July 14th, the temperatures drop for four days to 26 degrees Celsius (79 F). The country was once a colony of the United Kingdom - although it regained its own distinct culture - but has been independent since 1964. It is a catholic country and relies on tourism and trade for its economy. Game of Thrones has filmed in Malta, on several locations. The country has traditionally low crime rates, but has been linked to significant corruption problems. Like many southern European countries, I must add.. Malta is also a tax haven, with millionaire yachts in its harbors and many European countries having business branches in the shape of mailboxes located on the island. Most people are said to be able to buy Maltese citizenship for 650,000 euro, which automatically buys them citizenship of the European Union... A loophole, as they call it. The corruption of the island is well documented, and saw a well known female journalist killed in recent years. In 2017, blogger and columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia (53) was killed by a bomb, placed under her car, when she did investigative research into corrupt government dealings. She specifically looked into links between Malta's online gambling industry and organized crime, Malta's citizenship-by-investment scheme and payments from the government of Azerbaijan. She regularly reporting of misconduct by Maltese politicians and politically exposed persons. She paid for it with her life, and a rich Maltese businessman is suspected of the killing. Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech, the owner of the Dubai-based company 17 Black, had previously been arrested by the Malta Police Force on two occasions, suspected of bribing members of the Maltese government. It is said in Malta that the country not only deals with a corrupt government, but also with local mafia.
The endOn September 4th 2016, Mike's ashes are strewn out in the Jade Bight bay of the North Sea, close to his hometown. His father Bernd hopes that Mike will now always be close to him, on every shore of this earth. Mansholt finds it increasingly more difficult to work in his goldsmith's shop, where customers keep asking him about his dead son. He barely goes out. In Oldenburg he is stigmatized as the man with the dead boy. He struggles with the loss of his beloved son. Mansholt first wanted to press charges against the Maltese forensic doctor for failing to embalm Mike. But in the end, he does not see it through. It would take too much of his being. He accepts that he did all he could in the past years. Instead, he thinks more and more about the future, his hopes, his way out — out of all this, out into the sea. With his ex-wife, Mike's mother, contact has broken off. When Mike told his father that he wanted to go to Malta for his first trip all alone, Bernd answered him: “Man, my first trip was a bikeride to camp in the neighboring village. You’re flying to Malta. What should come afterwards? Mars?” Now Bernd Mansholt often looks into the night sky, thinking about Mike having made his furthest trip ever. Without him. Bernd himself is thinking about broadening his horizons again. About new sailing adventures, away from the town where he lives. Take his new wife and young children away again. Sometimes he thinks that he would rather be up there with his child. Those thoughts frighten him. On good days, he talks about what happened: "Then the shadow is gone; things brighten up when I talk." Only his work can sometimes provide a small victory over the dark. "A win," he smiles. Gradually, normality returns. Mansholt laughs again from time to time, makes jokes, and talks about sailing. There are now new shores ahead.
But Justin Plette (22) died also under similar circumstances in Malta in 2015...
On May 9th of 2015, little over a year before Mike Mansholts tragic death in Malta, another young man was found dead on the Maltese rocks under similar circumstances. 22 year old Dutchman Justin Plette had been working in a casino in Malta as a gaming employee (iGaming), before policemen found his lifeless body in the early morning on the rocks of St. George's Cresta Quay, near Paceville, fully clothed and in the foetal position, facing the sea. There were scratches and blue spots visible on his face and hands. He was laying near some stones and a small beach house and the water. His family instantly suspected that the lively young man had been drugged and robbed that night. His wallet and mobile phone were missing from the body. Autopsy found that Justin he had suffered heart failure. But the cause of it has yet to be established. Until this day, his parents Erik and Margit insist that they are certain that his death was not through natural causes and that Justin was drugged before being robbed; the drugs caused his heart failure they believe. I write 'believe', because like in Mike's case, the Maltese autopsy left a lot to be desired...
Justin, who had been living in Malta for eight months at that point, was a happy young man who had just that afternoon received praise from his boss during a one-to-one interview. “He had moved to a new apartment, he had everything going for him,” said his mother. That Friday evening/Saturday morning, he had gone to a popular bar in Paceville with friends between Friday and Saturday. They went to a club together. Justin had had a few drinks, but wasn't drunk and hadn't used any drugs that night. When his friends wanted to use the restroom, Justin already went outside, waiting for them there. But when his friends came out of the club, soon after, they couldn't see Justin anywhere. His friend could not find Justin and assumed that he had gone home. His father told reporters that his son’s lifeless body was found the next morning, lying on a cement platform at the quay in the foetal position. “His eyes were open”, said his father, “like he was gazing at the sea.” The area where the body was found is only accessible through a hole in the rusty fence. “Justin wouldn’t have come here by himself as he didn’t know this spot and neither did his friends.” His wallet and mobile phone had been stolen. The family believe that Justin, their eldest son, had been drugged and robbed. They pointed to a similar incident, some days prior, involving a Spanish-Italian young man who had also been drugged. Luckily, that youth woke up and slowly recalled the events leading to his drugging. The parents said the young man had described being “like a puppet, with no will”. He is helping police in their investigation. His father said “I don’t think the people who killed him are Maltese, but I can’t accuse anyone at this stage, I hope they find out who did this because of the investigation and not because of another death." His family held a memorial gathering at the spot where his body was found, highlighting the many questions that surround his death. Their at that remembrance ceremony would be the last the Maltese public heard about the death of Plette, as no reports or public announcements by the authorities followed.
Justin, who had been living in Malta for eight months at that point, was a happy young man who had just that afternoon received praise from his boss during a one-to-one interview. “He had moved to a new apartment, he had everything going for him,” said his mother. That Friday evening/Saturday morning, he had gone to a popular bar in Paceville with friends between Friday and Saturday. They went to a club together. Justin had had a few drinks, but wasn't drunk and hadn't used any drugs that night. When his friends wanted to use the restroom, Justin already went outside, waiting for them there. But when his friends came out of the club, soon after, they couldn't see Justin anywhere. His friend could not find Justin and assumed that he had gone home. His father told reporters that his son’s lifeless body was found the next morning, lying on a cement platform at the quay in the foetal position. “His eyes were open”, said his father, “like he was gazing at the sea.” The area where the body was found is only accessible through a hole in the rusty fence. “Justin wouldn’t have come here by himself as he didn’t know this spot and neither did his friends.” His wallet and mobile phone had been stolen. The family believe that Justin, their eldest son, had been drugged and robbed. They pointed to a similar incident, some days prior, involving a Spanish-Italian young man who had also been drugged. Luckily, that youth woke up and slowly recalled the events leading to his drugging. The parents said the young man had described being “like a puppet, with no will”. He is helping police in their investigation. His father said “I don’t think the people who killed him are Maltese, but I can’t accuse anyone at this stage, I hope they find out who did this because of the investigation and not because of another death." His family held a memorial gathering at the spot where his body was found, highlighting the many questions that surround his death. Their at that remembrance ceremony would be the last the Maltese public heard about the death of Plette, as no reports or public announcements by the authorities followed.
Just like with Mike Mansholt, justice was not served for Justin. Five years after his death, his death is still unexplained and the Maltese officials have also here done very little to lift the mystery of his young passing. on May 11th of 2020, Justins mother, Margit Plette-Ter Veer, wrote a heartfelt sorrowful facebook update: "My Darling Son, my Justin, And here we are, 5 years later after you left this world. Much, much, too soon. The waxing moon was here, just like it was 5 years ago. Does it feel like 5 years? It really doesn’t, time stretches and shrinks, but the grief stays. Honestly? The feeling of missing you stays, perhaps even stronger now. Such a total encompassing love we have for you, always in our hearts. We love you so much. I’m sure you are still here with us, your marvelous smile, your humour, just you…. Terrible things happen to people that break their hearts. Yet, we must bear it and continue. Love and resilience will shine through its cracks. Our hearts will go on, love keeps it alive. When I close my eyes, I remember carrying you under my heart, the miracle of your birth, the first time they placed you on my breast, our strong bond, so strong. As a toddler you grabbed my leg and held on tight, You, leaning against me as a teenager, As a young man wrapping your arm around me, my head against your shoulder. What treasured thoughts to carry with me. You used to say: You’re so lucky mom, and I agreed, that was true, I was lucky, still am. The date you died is always difficult, the day you were born I keep in my thoughts. Such a proud mom I am, lucky to be your mom. You would have probably stopped me right here, with something funny to make it a bit lighter. Too long, my story, no laughter shared, just love. Meet you in my dreams…. Love you forever, my Justin, until we meet again. Your loving mom, Margit"
Johanna Boni
Mike Mansholts and Justin Plette’s cases are not the only fatal case of foreign nationals in Malta which, years later remain shrouded in questions. On the morning of January 5th, 2016, 27-year Johanna Boni was riding her motorcycle, a Kawasaki ER6N, to work down Labour Avenue in Naxxar, Malta, when she was suddenly hit from behind by a cement mixer. She was reportedly dragged along the truck for over 30 metres. Four years later, and her parents, Josephine Mifsud and Pippo Boni who live in Sicily, are still fighting a legal battle in the Maltese courts for justice for their daughter, for what they believe was an act of negligence. The Times of Malta reported that Boni’s body was given an undignified burial: she was buried naked in a plastic bag, while the clothes the parents provided were tucked in the corner of the coffin. The parents only discovered this by chance, three years later and prior to the burial of Johanna Boni’s grandfather who was to be interred in the same grave at the Mosta cemetery. Their intention was to clear the coffins but the burial assistants refused to open the bag as the body had not yet decomposed. She said she could not believe her eyes when they opened the coffin and realised her daughter had been buried in a plastic bag. “I cannot even describe how disgusted I was at seeing my daughter in a plastic bag. You wouldn’t even treat an animal like that”, Johanna's mother said to local newspapers. “Now we know why they advised us not to look into the coffin on the day of the funeral. We were told they had dressed up the body with the red dress we had purchased for Johanna and we also gave them a necklace and a pair of shoes but even these were placed in the corners of the coffin.” To make matters worse, the family also never received their daughters phone from police. It was said to have gone missing at the site of the accident. “We would have loved to see the images, videos and messages it contained. We had to plead for months to be given the clothes she was wearing on the day of the accident and now this. It’s just one big odyssey,” the distressed mother said. This has led to another long legal battle. Boni’s family “has been driven to the brink of insanity by the ineptitude of the Maltese legal system in the ensuing 4 years”.
Simon Morrison: after coma, no answers
In April 2018, an open-top double-decker City Sightseeing Malta bus filled with tourists was driving in Zurrieq when two passengers seated in the top deck of the bus were struck by low-lying tree branches and died on impact. Another 50 people suffered injuries. A Scottish tourist was left in a coma. He suffered a head wound, a broken arm and an eye injury. Two years later, and the Malta Police Force is still awaiting conclusions of an inquiry by magistrate Monica Vella before issuing any charges, according to a report in a Scottish new portal published in April. The Daily Record reported that the victims of the crash have been “forgotten” during their fight for justice. Morisson slammed the lack of action from Maltese authorities. “We haven’t had any contact from the Maltese government, police or courts, which is very frustrating,” he said. In February last year, the heirs of Elisaveta Danielova Avdala, one of the victims of the crash, sued the bus operator and Transport Malta for the damages.
What do other people think of the Mike Mansholt case
Dick Grech wrote in 2017: "This has echoes of the case involving the Italian family of the female motorcyclist who died in Naxxar nearly two years ago. They have also been treated very badly by Maltese authorities. How do people think Germans and Italians view Malta when they read these stories in their newspapers? It certainly isn't going to help the tourist industry. Look no further than the way domestic political turmoil has affected Turkey's tourist numbers: a once booming industry is now in decline. And this kind of thing doesn't just affect tourism. If you were a company, thinking of setting up an office or factory overseas, would you be happy to invest in Turkey?
Roderick wrote in 2017: "Thank you for sharing this article. It is very moving and I hope Mr Mansholt knows how many Maltese are embarrassed of this situation. Perhaps I missed something here. I believe the autopsy was issued (presumably with his organs intact before they went missing) so should the report not shed light on the "cause of death"? As for the best explanation as to what happened, sometimes the simplest and most logical is the answer. To me it sounds like the lad was robbed and he put up a fight resulting in his death whether directly or after being hit unconscious. The attacker placed his body in the spot to make it look like a fall, obviously not realizing that this would not be credible as the outer body and bones would show no evidence of this. There is no point trying to understand the logic of the robbery. There are drug addicts and/or desperate people out there who do things for reasons we cannot comprehend in our logic sense. As for the organs, clearly something went wrong in the morgue and it would be interesting to see if any refugees were in the morgue in the same week. There might be a (hidden) practice of organs being taken for research without the consent of families, where refugees are concerned, and perhaps strangely this young's man's decomposed body was mistook for someone else's. It could also be a case where another body had a donor card and the bodies were mixed accidentally [Scarlet; no the parents insisted that Mike did not have a donor card]. Either way the Maltese involved would rather let mystery reign then give the most plausible and embarrassing explanation that exposes their pathetic and amateur mistake as a result of a failed system of checks.
I look forward to a reply from someone as to why the autopsy report conducted in Malta (where Malta insisted that organs were existed) does not explain the cause of death."
Angela Galea wrote in 2017: "So very sad indeed. However, I find it impossible to believe "the animal-feeding" part.
1) This is Malta not an African/Asian jungle.
2) Unless scavengers no other animal feeds on corpses.
3) Animal-feeding is easily established in an autopsy."
Anita Keller wrote in 2018: "Although this might sound racist, Malta is just no place to go or invest without bodyguards from some other place. There is obviously no legal security and the Maltese seem to have a problem with common ethics - from what seems to be happening there continuously. - My own experience was with Catholic Maltese Sisters at whose convent I had been staying as a young girl in Fribourg and London in the early seventies - and those sisters cheated so much on their bills to my parents, that in London I changed place as soon as I found a family to stay with... And nothing seems to have changed since then - except that now their authorities probably seem to be regularly covering up for killers - for money as well probably."
Angus Black wrote in 2017: "So sad and especially Dr Scerri's involvement, putting his reputation on the line.... But one never knows.... Not if details go missing....evidence mysteriously disappears....one finds no cooperation from authorities, let alone answers.....not when one finds police officers at police stations exhibiting poor customer service and reluctance to hand a written phone number to Mansholt....not when we have police officers rolling their eyes in response to simple requests...not when we have a Commissioner of Police who refuses to conduct serious investigations regarding very serious matters....not when we have an AG who hides behind, 'Maltese law are secret in Malta, so there is nothing to say'.... Sad, isn't it? Unprecedented - and that's for sure. The rule of law has indeed gone to the dogs - literally!"
Joshua V wrote in 2017: "In the investigation file, one would also find the photos of the location of the body. Bernd Mansholt recalls that on 26 July 2016 “masses” of photos were taken on the cliffs. The photos could prove that Mike was wearing the GoPro on his belt when he was found." Not only that. The photos could also provide evidence of the state in which Mansholt's body was found. The missing organs. Why were there no photos of the location of the body in the investigation file? There are many questions to be answered on this case. However, the one above is crucial. Why would the authorities not show these photos to his father? We have become indeed a third world country."
Angus Black asked Francis Saliba MD in 2018: "I blamed the system not the doctors although truth be told, in such cases doctors are involved and who may have bowed to the broken [and corrupt] system. I ask:
1] Why was foul play ruled out?
2] Why were far fetched excuses [without evidence] such as 'rats eating internal organs' presented to cover up a botched up autopsy?
3] Why do the Police and AG refuse to provide conclusive evidence backing the autopsy? Who signed the autopsy? The AG? The police?
4] I have followed reports of dozens of foreigners losing their lives over the last several years, yet no such scandal ever arose. Were corpses embalmed before sent back, or not? Was this one rare accidental omission or an exercise specifically to make subsequent autopsies more difficult or impossible due to the deterioration of the remains? I hope you will by now have picked up that the 'bigger jigsaw puzzle' I tended to concentrate on, had quite a few pieces in the hands of doctors. I am sure that you would not have voluntarily participated in some sort of a cover-up as, in this case, some doctors may have!"
Francis Saliba MD replied to Angus Black in 2018:
1. Foul play would be "ruled out" by the police and by the law court, not by pathologists.
2. Please, first of all, prove that the autopsy was "botched up".
3, Doctors have no control over the Police, or the AG. They are "at their mercy".
4. If you do not know the facts, please, ascertain them, and, until you do, please do not brashly defame.
I have already explained that the doctors' involvement is only one minor piece in a bigger jigsaw puzzle being assembled by the police, the AG and the court of law. The doctors are only witnesses even if they are expert witnesses appointed by the court. You are only speculating that some doctors "may have voluntarily participated in (an undefined) some sort of cover up". I do not think that you are being fair.
P.S. In a previous incarnation of an MLP government, under Dom Mintoff, I proved that my professional integrity was not available to be sacrificed on Mintoff's altar of political violence. I paid a very heavy price for it."
Angus Black replied: "Esteemed doctor, explain 'fairness' to a grieving father of a young lad who died under dubious circumstances and unable to understand how he died, if someone had pushed him over a cliff - yet there were no broken bones sustained in the fall, was robbed, and a modern camera 'was switched' with an older obsolete one. I am sure the doctors didn't do it, the police didn't do it, and the AG surely didn't do it, as he spends most of his time in his rocking chair waiting for instructions from the PMO. I wish, someone who was involved would soon start telling what really happened, what they held back, why they are still holding back and who wants them to hold back. Unfortunately many people are involved in this 'mystery' and yet the young man's father is still in the dark. There must be a reason and one has the right to ask WHY? And lastly, you are 100% right, 'I do not know the facts' - who does?"
Francis Saliba MD replied: "I have no desire to make excuses for the police or the Attorney General. I do not want expert court witnesses (in this case, doctors) to be made scapegoats for the sins of others."
Angus Black replied: "I never intended to condemn doctors and I made it abundantly clear that doctors were mentioned due to the fact that they were, by necessity, party to the whole procedure, from autopsy to embalming [or not], to signing off the autopsy results... I made it abundantly clear that doctor(s) may have become complicit, not by their own volition but simply because of having to be involved in such circumstances. The reluctance of the Police and the AG to give credible answers to the young man's father regarding the circumstances leading to his son's mysterious demise, points to a cover-up which, unfortunately, draws doctors involved to the controversy. Besides, unanswered questions and making statements which do not add up by the police and the AG, raise speculation to new heights!"
Francis Saliba MD wrote: "Evidently the findings at autopsy are more authoritative than the inadequate opinion of a doctor who examines a corpse on site and hardly touching it. That is the point here and I have duly explained why. I have already submitted a comment clarifying that it is a widespread international practice, after a cadaver is released by the investigating magistrate for burial, for internal viscera to be removed and replaced by inert packing for air transport to other countries. You are assuming that there was proved malpractice in this case. In my opinion, that is not the case."
Gee Mike replied: "Well things do not add up, if the organs are always removed, why did the German pathologist expect them to be there? The Maltese said that their absence was because they were eaten by rodents. In which case, contrary to what you said they would have been present. So your statement "widespread international practice, after a cadaver is released by the investigating magistrate for burial, for internal viscera to be removed and replaced by inert packing for air transport to other countries." was the case in this instance. I did not assume there was proved malpractice. The fact that the organs were expected to be there but were not suggests it. The first question I asked is if this was normal practice, which you answer quoted above. When the Germans asked why the organs were not present, why did not the local authorities state that the norm was for " internal viscera to be removed and replaced by inert packing", and the case would have stopped there had it really been widespread international practice, but instead the came up with the rodent excuse. Your explanation has is illogical."
Francis Saliba MD replied: "No experienced pathologist would express surprise at finding body cavities filled with inert material after being transported by air when at the time there were no suspicious circumstances, even though he would routinely mention the fact in his report. Evidently what organ parts remained in the cadaver after a few days in the fields would show signs of being attacked by rodents. Nothing suspicious about that finding and it is not an "excuse", You DID insinuate that there was malpractice and you tried to camouflage your insinuation as a question when, clearly, it was a disguised malicious assertion."
Gee Mike replied: "Cheap try, you seem to be a selective reader, did you not see the line which said there was no evidence of rodent entry into the body cavity. Keep digging."
Francis Saliba MD replied: "It is NOT a cheap try. You are talking about a subject of which you know nothing. Things "do not add up" because you are using the abacus. There was no need to invoke rodents to explain the absence of internal organs. Every competent forensic pathologist, including Germans, would know that autopsied cadavers frequently have their entrails removed before sending abroad by air and it is not rodents that do it. They also know that the brains of cadavers left outside in hot climates liquefy."
Gee Mike replied: "It is evident that you read NOT the article! Your going around in circles. Read the article before commenting."
Francis Saliba MD replied: "I am going around in circles around your anonymous vacuous comments."
M. L wrote in 2018: "There were massive mistakes made in the autopsy because they took almost all the organs and apparently threw them somewhere instead of putting them back and then after these mistakes they tried to hide that by saying stupid things. Did the German youth jump or fall in that place? OR Was the German youth killed in a car crash and then brought to that place to hide that and make it seem he fell? OR Was the German youth killed in a robbery and then taken to that place to hide that and make it seem he fell? Was one of the thousands of migrants that have come to Malta through Italy and that live in despair with little money in cow sheds or garages involved in this?"
Francis Saliba MD replied: "It is oh so easy to ask questions. Intelligence is required to supply the answers. The answers to your questions are not supplied by an autopsy report so, please, forget all about your unfounded allegation of "massive mistakes made in the autopsy". A forensic autopsy is only a part of the much wider police investigation of an unexplained death."
Gorg Gatt replied: "This report is shocking. How on earth the Maltese authorities have made such a mess in order to hide what's behind the German youth's strange death. Inquiry after inquiry but nothing materializes."
Joe Bloggs wrote: "In any other country this would have caused a massive uproar since this smacks of a cover-up. Then again we are the only country bar Russia to have seen government officials try to wriggle away from Panama Papers outrage & resignations and the only country bar some outback banana republic where an anti-corruption journalist gets blown up in broad daylight and the very politicians that she wrote about, exposed and held to account are essentially ruled out as suspects by the Police. [..] I am talking about institutional failures."
Angus Black asked Francis Saliba MD in 2018: "I blamed the system not the doctors although truth be told, in such cases doctors are involved and who may have bowed to the broken [and corrupt] system. I ask:
1] Why was foul play ruled out?
2] Why were far fetched excuses [without evidence] such as 'rats eating internal organs' presented to cover up a botched up autopsy?
3] Why do the Police and AG refuse to provide conclusive evidence backing the autopsy? Who signed the autopsy? The AG? The police?
4] I have followed reports of dozens of foreigners losing their lives over the last several years, yet no such scandal ever arose. Were corpses embalmed before sent back, or not? Was this one rare accidental omission or an exercise specifically to make subsequent autopsies more difficult or impossible due to the deterioration of the remains? I hope you will by now have picked up that the 'bigger jigsaw puzzle' I tended to concentrate on, had quite a few pieces in the hands of doctors. I am sure that you would not have voluntarily participated in some sort of a cover-up as, in this case, some doctors may have!"
1. Foul play would be "ruled out" by the police and by the law court, not by pathologists.
2. Please, first of all, prove that the autopsy was "botched up".
3, Doctors have no control over the Police, or the AG. They are "at their mercy".
4. If you do not know the facts, please, ascertain them, and, until you do, please do not brashly defame.
I have already explained that the doctors' involvement is only one minor piece in a bigger jigsaw puzzle being assembled by the police, the AG and the court of law. The doctors are only witnesses even if they are expert witnesses appointed by the court. You are only speculating that some doctors "may have voluntarily participated in (an undefined) some sort of cover up". I do not think that you are being fair.
P.S. In a previous incarnation of an MLP government, under Dom Mintoff, I proved that my professional integrity was not available to be sacrificed on Mintoff's altar of political violence. I paid a very heavy price for it."
Angus Black replied: "Esteemed doctor, explain 'fairness' to a grieving father of a young lad who died under dubious circumstances and unable to understand how he died, if someone had pushed him over a cliff - yet there were no broken bones sustained in the fall, was robbed, and a modern camera 'was switched' with an older obsolete one. I am sure the doctors didn't do it, the police didn't do it, and the AG surely didn't do it, as he spends most of his time in his rocking chair waiting for instructions from the PMO. I wish, someone who was involved would soon start telling what really happened, what they held back, why they are still holding back and who wants them to hold back. Unfortunately many people are involved in this 'mystery' and yet the young man's father is still in the dark. There must be a reason and one has the right to ask WHY? And lastly, you are 100% right, 'I do not know the facts' - who does?"
Francis Saliba MD replied: "I have no desire to make excuses for the police or the Attorney General. I do not want expert court witnesses (in this case, doctors) to be made scapegoats for the sins of others."
Angus Black replied: "I never intended to condemn doctors and I made it abundantly clear that doctors were mentioned due to the fact that they were, by necessity, party to the whole procedure, from autopsy to embalming [or not], to signing off the autopsy results... I made it abundantly clear that doctor(s) may have become complicit, not by their own volition but simply because of having to be involved in such circumstances. The reluctance of the Police and the AG to give credible answers to the young man's father regarding the circumstances leading to his son's mysterious demise, points to a cover-up which, unfortunately, draws doctors involved to the controversy. Besides, unanswered questions and making statements which do not add up by the police and the AG, raise speculation to new heights!"
Francis Saliba MD wrote: "Evidently the findings at autopsy are more authoritative than the inadequate opinion of a doctor who examines a corpse on site and hardly touching it. That is the point here and I have duly explained why. I have already submitted a comment clarifying that it is a widespread international practice, after a cadaver is released by the investigating magistrate for burial, for internal viscera to be removed and replaced by inert packing for air transport to other countries. You are assuming that there was proved malpractice in this case. In my opinion, that is not the case."Gee Mike replied: "Well things do not add up, if the organs are always removed, why did the German pathologist expect them to be there? The Maltese said that their absence was because they were eaten by rodents. In which case, contrary to what you said they would have been present. So your statement "widespread international practice, after a cadaver is released by the investigating magistrate for burial, for internal viscera to be removed and replaced by inert packing for air transport to other countries." was the case in this instance. I did not assume there was proved malpractice. The fact that the organs were expected to be there but were not suggests it. The first question I asked is if this was normal practice, which you answer quoted above. When the Germans asked why the organs were not present, why did not the local authorities state that the norm was for " internal viscera to be removed and replaced by inert packing", and the case would have stopped there had it really been widespread international practice, but instead the came up with the rodent excuse. Your explanation has is illogical."
Francis Saliba MD replied: "No experienced pathologist would express surprise at finding body cavities filled with inert material after being transported by air when at the time there were no suspicious circumstances, even though he would routinely mention the fact in his report. Evidently what organ parts remained in the cadaver after a few days in the fields would show signs of being attacked by rodents. Nothing suspicious about that finding and it is not an "excuse", You DID insinuate that there was malpractice and you tried to camouflage your insinuation as a question when, clearly, it was a disguised malicious assertion."
Gee Mike replied: "Cheap try, you seem to be a selective reader, did you not see the line which said there was no evidence of rodent entry into the body cavity. Keep digging."
Francis Saliba MD replied: "It is NOT a cheap try. You are talking about a subject of which you know nothing. Things "do not add up" because you are using the abacus. There was no need to invoke rodents to explain the absence of internal organs. Every competent forensic pathologist, including Germans, would know that autopsied cadavers frequently have their entrails removed before sending abroad by air and it is not rodents that do it. They also know that the brains of cadavers left outside in hot climates liquefy."
Gee Mike replied: "It is evident that you read NOT the article! Your going around in circles. Read the article before commenting."
Francis Saliba MD replied: "I am going around in circles around your anonymous vacuous comments."
M. L wrote in 2018: "There were massive mistakes made in the autopsy because they took almost all the organs and apparently threw them somewhere instead of putting them back and then after these mistakes they tried to hide that by saying stupid things. Did the German youth jump or fall in that place? OR Was the German youth killed in a car crash and then brought to that place to hide that and make it seem he fell? OR Was the German youth killed in a robbery and then taken to that place to hide that and make it seem he fell? Was one of the thousands of migrants that have come to Malta through Italy and that live in despair with little money in cow sheds or garages involved in this?"
Francis Saliba MD replied: "It is oh so easy to ask questions. Intelligence is required to supply the answers. The answers to your questions are not supplied by an autopsy report so, please, forget all about your unfounded allegation of "massive mistakes made in the autopsy". A forensic autopsy is only a part of the much wider police investigation of an unexplained death."
Gorg Gatt replied: "This report is shocking. How on earth the Maltese authorities have made such a mess in order to hide what's behind the German youth's strange death. Inquiry after inquiry but nothing materializes."
Joe Bloggs wrote: "In any other country this would have caused a massive uproar since this smacks of a cover-up. Then again we are the only country bar Russia to have seen government officials try to wriggle away from Panama Papers outrage & resignations and the only country bar some outback banana republic where an anti-corruption journalist gets blown up in broad daylight and the very politicians that she wrote about, exposed and held to account are essentially ruled out as suspects by the Police. [..] I am talking about institutional failures."
Angus Black updated in 2018: "One slight disagreement with what Mr. Mansholt and many readers said in the above story, namely: 'Many comments wonder how a corrupt country like Malta ever made it into the EU'. They should be reminded that Malta became rampantly corrupt since March 2013 and not at the time it joined the EU. The present regime is as anti-EU today as it was since before 2003 and continues to circumvent EU rules as it abhors transparency and accountability. A regime which rejoices at the assassination of a journalist who sought the truth. is not only corrupt and dictatorial, but evil in many respects."
Michael A. Vella replied: "The public no longer has trust in the police. Any vestige of credibility in the Attorney General is long gone. Serious doubts now hang over the Justice system. All that happened to Mike Manholt could not have taken place without the resort to hospital facilities and personnel. Crooks everywhere you look - now including MaterDei. The situation is indeed desperate."
Marianne Saliba replied: "When Malta was accepted into the EU Malta was under the Nationalists Partly and lead by Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami. Malta was respected worldwide at the time. Sadly everything changed drastically when Josef Muscat and his corrupt regime came into power in 2013."
M.Galea replied: "Malta was always corrupt and will always be. Our perception that Malta became corrupt in 2013 or in 1987 is based on one's political affiliations, nothing less."
D M Briffa replied: "I am sure there are many thousands of Maltese citizens who are appalled by the government's lack of cooperation in this case. It certainly disgusts me. I hope the German authorities do everything possible to show their feelings for this country, provided they remember it wasn't like this before March 2013. Germany, please don't allow Mike Mansholt to have died in vain."
Jason King wrote in 2018: I have noticed over the years the number of more German and Dutch tourists. It is perfectly clear that there is a determine effort to attract this market because I see less UK tourists coming to Malta. I think they are getting the picture in Malta. Rip off and unprofessional regulatory authorities to rely upon should problems occur. Eventually the Germans and Dutch will finally also get the message."
George wrote in 2018: "Shhhh. Don't blame the police or they will feel victimized."
Jason King wrote in 2018: I have noticed over the years the number of more German and Dutch tourists. It is perfectly clear that there is a determine effort to attract this market because I see less UK tourists coming to Malta. I think they are getting the picture in Malta. Rip off and unprofessional regulatory authorities to rely upon should problems occur. Eventually the Germans and Dutch will finally also get the message."
George wrote in 2018: "Shhhh. Don't blame the police or they will feel victimized."
Callixtus wrote in 2018: "Are the police trying to protect someone who might have been involved in the death of this boy? Removing his organs certainly hinders German forensic pathologists from establishing the cause and manner of his death. It certainly seems as if there was a conspiracy by Maltese authorities to deny this boy and his family justice. Just as they have been trying to deny the Caruana Galizia family justice. The police have for ten months refused to investigate those with the strongest motives for murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia. Rule of Law in Malta has been turned on its head. The role of the state has become to protect the criminals and persecute the victims of their actions."
Eduard Azzopardi wrote in 2018: "Hard question.....did some " high " placed persons had any transplants in that particular time ? Can that be verified?"
Marija Brincat wrote in 2018: "Mike Mansholt's is not the only case like this... almost two years ago, a young Sicilian/Maltese girl lost her life in a car accident. Her family were not allowed to see her, her phone and a number of other personal items went missing, valuable witnesses were turned away by the police. Every month or so, her family in Sicily come to Malta for the court case....often to be told that the case has been postponed, or the defendant cannot make it, or whatever... Apart from the hassle and expense of coming over unnecessarily, these poor grieving parents have to be dragged thru this emotional pain every time...for nothing, effectively."
Alan Edward Dodds wrote in 2018: "When I lived in Malta I realised there was a culture of impunity and pure arrogance from a lot people - too many which was uncomfortable. To understand how things in Malta work you need to think in their terms which is "foreign" and "local". Quite simply, he was a foreigner. The police knew he wasn't local, so he "wasn't our problem", just another "tourist" - you know, just another "dead tourist". You only have to look around Malta, the smashed pavements, dead cats in the street, barking dogs everywhere, filthy streets, rubbish everywhere, buildings falling apart, the police, and most people how they rush about, shouting at each other - they simply do not care. Why? Because it's not their problem."
Callixtus replied: "The primary victims of Malta`s topsy turvy justice system are Maltese citizens. This case was given prominence because of a conscientious foreign embalmer who involved the police of a foreign state, and through them a foreign prosecutor and foreign press. Imagine how many crimes involving Maltese victims can be dealt with in a similar fashion without anyone being none the wiser."
JeanPaul Bailey wrote in 2018: "This case raises many serious questions. Is it true that certain internal organs were removed from the dead boy's body? If so, did the authorities investigate this? If the Maltese authorities did not investigate, why? I have had the heart-wrenching experience of assisting two close relatives during their final hours at Mater Dei and I am not in the least impressed by the "service". The lack of information, professionalism and complete absence of bedside manners of certain medical and nursing personnel there (certainly not all but the errant few were enough for me to lose trust completely in the system). At the time I was shell-shocked with the loss and grief and did not pursue official complaints with the relevant authorities. I will certainly not volunteer to donate organs though. I am not at all satisfied with the accountability of medical/healthcare personnel. I am sorry but the climate I experienced did not inspire professional trust at all."
Ellsworth Hildebrand Oats wrote in 2018: "The point that the father of the dead boy is making is not so much that the boy was murdered, but that the police investigation was laced with inaccuracies, shortcomings and, at some stage, inexplicable omissions which remained without a plausible explanation. In most countries on the continent, Germany included, the victim’s family is kept fully abreast of the police or judicial investigation practically without it having to ask for the information. In Malta, on the contrary, the police are at best uncooperative and at worst mendacious when information is sought which might put them into a bad light. The so called “judicial investigation” after an accident, murder, break in or whatever, apart from being entirely dependent on the police (magistrates do not have any independent body of officers or investigators to work with) is also technically a secret investigation, with only the police and the Attorney General being privy to the proceedings or the magistrate’s findings. Anyone who has been involved in a serious traffic accident which resulted in this so-called “judicial investigation” will know how difficult it is to obtain a copy of the magistrate’s findings from the AG, findings which in the end one often finds merely repeat what was known from day one!"
A Attard wrote in 2018: "The main question remains - why was Mike Mansholt's body returned to the family with many internal organs missing hence precluding further autoptic and forensic investigations?"
Summer Shade replied: "On reading this article where it is stated that organs went missing seemingly during the first local autopsy one wonders whether the authorities are trying to hide something or if those organs were used or even sold. I humbly believe an inquiry should establish this."
John Dale replied: "And they told the boy's family that the missing organs were eaten by rodents! what a stupid excuse! indeed they have turned Malta to a third world country SHAME!"
JeanPaul Bailey wrote in 2018: "This case raises many serious questions. Is it true that certain internal organs were removed from the dead boy's body? If so, did the authorities investigate this? If the Maltese authorities did not investigate, why? I have had the heart-wrenching experience of assisting two close relatives during their final hours at Mater Dei and I am not in the least impressed by the "service". The lack of information, professionalism and complete absence of bedside manners of certain medical and nursing personnel there (certainly not all but the errant few were enough for me to lose trust completely in the system). At the time I was shell-shocked with the loss and grief and did not pursue official complaints with the relevant authorities. I will certainly not volunteer to donate organs though. I am not at all satisfied with the accountability of medical/healthcare personnel. I am sorry but the climate I experienced did not inspire professional trust at all."
Ellsworth Hildebrand Oats wrote in 2018: "The point that the father of the dead boy is making is not so much that the boy was murdered, but that the police investigation was laced with inaccuracies, shortcomings and, at some stage, inexplicable omissions which remained without a plausible explanation. In most countries on the continent, Germany included, the victim’s family is kept fully abreast of the police or judicial investigation practically without it having to ask for the information. In Malta, on the contrary, the police are at best uncooperative and at worst mendacious when information is sought which might put them into a bad light. The so called “judicial investigation” after an accident, murder, break in or whatever, apart from being entirely dependent on the police (magistrates do not have any independent body of officers or investigators to work with) is also technically a secret investigation, with only the police and the Attorney General being privy to the proceedings or the magistrate’s findings. Anyone who has been involved in a serious traffic accident which resulted in this so-called “judicial investigation” will know how difficult it is to obtain a copy of the magistrate’s findings from the AG, findings which in the end one often finds merely repeat what was known from day one!"
A Attard wrote in 2018: "The main question remains - why was Mike Mansholt's body returned to the family with many internal organs missing hence precluding further autoptic and forensic investigations?"
Summer Shade replied: "On reading this article where it is stated that organs went missing seemingly during the first local autopsy one wonders whether the authorities are trying to hide something or if those organs were used or even sold. I humbly believe an inquiry should establish this."
John Dale replied: "And they told the boy's family that the missing organs were eaten by rodents! what a stupid excuse! indeed they have turned Malta to a third world country SHAME!"
Edgar Gatt replied: "And the authorities are upset when Malta is referred to as a MAFIA state."
John Jones wrote in 2018: "The people who handled the body are known. Had they done their job properly they would be responding to these stories, yet all we get is stony silence."
Angus Black also wrote in 2018: "This particular case raised questions which in previous similar cases were not required to be asked. The peculiarities of this case are several: 1] Why were organs missing from the deceased body? 2] Why was embalming, as required when bodies are flown back to countries they came from, not done? 3] Why are there no answers forthcoming from Mater Dei and the Police? 4] Does the silence from Mater Dei and the Police prove that there is a cover-up? 5] Did the surgeons conducting the autopsy botch up the procedure and tried to cover up by 'removing' organs which could possibly reveal the cause of death? 6] Do the Police know something which they do not want the public and the deceased young man's father to know? 7] Do they suspect foul play but were instructed to look the other way? The young man never died because of a fall, since no fractures associated with such an 'accident' were found when a proper autopsy was conducted in Germany. The AG, once more, is implicated in another cover-up which will not be let go by Mr. Mansholt any time soon!"
Its a Malta I never knew before wrote in 2018: "And if people speak up someone like Miriam Dalli tells us that we are harming the country's reputation."
Steve Fournier wrote in 2018: "Let us put politics aside (if you could that is), imagine the anguish of a father to learn, not only that his son died in suspicious circumstances but that allegedly smells of murder cover-up? I would say that this boy was allegedly murdered. Reason. He was found a few days later? That’s suspicious. Items missing and bike seems to have been thrown after the incident, that’s suspicious. Wrong and allegedly badly done autopsy? That’s suspicious. Sent with half his organs and no proper explanation, that’s suspicious. Police or Maltese authorities keeping quiet about the case, that’s suspicious? So what’s your conclusion?"
Albert Beliard Steve Fournier wrote in 2018: "There was probably a road accident where the driver had very good connections how to eliminate evidence to confuse an investigation. By connecting some dots, there could be a good explanation why his organs were removed, but the police and hospital are keeping silent without wanting to conduct a thorough investigation - because this is Malta. In a matter of a few hours, the organs that were removed would not be able to be preserved and used for transplant purposes into another body bearing in mind that his body was found 2-3 days later. For example, cases in the US and mainland Europe that come from accident victims, the organs such as a heart, liver or kidneys need to be stabilized very quickly in an ambulance or at an emergency center within about two hours if the organs are not receiving care inside an organ transplant carrying unit."
mygumbopot wrote in 2019: "This isn’t a defense for the Maltese authorities but I have some friends who work at Mater Dei Hospital in Malta and according to them, the story that was told and accepted is that the boy’s body was in such an advanced state of putrefaction after being left in the summer heat for a while that whoever was in charge of performing the autopsy must have disposed of the organs without documenting this. To be honest, we’re known for incompetence at the best of times, however it is widely believed that organ harvesting isn’t a viable lead. Edit: Also, with regards to the nurse’s unofficial comments: it’s pretty common for people in Malta to spread misinformation because we’re such a small island and everyone knows everyone. A case like this is unusual and therefore sparks interest. It should be noted that Maltese authorities and quite a few workers are not the most systematic or thorough - in fact it’s quite the opposite. Therefore, I don’t think we should ignore this information altogether because it is actually how this country works."
Tetradrachm wrote in 2019: "If anything is being covered up it’s just a botched autopsy, investigation and theft of the boy’s belongings. Don’t get me wrong, I feel terrible for the father, the boy and his family- but I think it’s much more likely that this investigation was botched and the death was accidental, rather than the police and coroner covering up for organ theft."
oneirista wrote in 2019: "I also don't buy either theory.. I wonder if the orderlies and porters and drivers that would have been involved in transport and handling of the body might have something contradictory to the official line to offer. It seems very likely that the organs were removed during the postmortem rather than before, so I also wonder some the organs showed some evidence of his actual cause of death somehow, and that cleaning house and not embalming was maybe a good way to take attention away from specifically which bodyparts were incriminating? But what motive would the coroner's office (or whatever the Maltese equivalent is) have to participate in a cover-up like this? I think the missing GoPro is very significant, as a quick look on their forums suggests that the image telemetry their devices record includes GPS data – and though I can't find confirmation I'd guess it likely does that as standard and makes you turn it off, rather than vice versa, as that has been my experience with all the other camera equipment I've used. So perhaps the GoPro had if not images of the crime or perpetrator then other clues as to where Mike went that day and what happened to him. If we are supposing that they might remove organs and purposefully obscure the COD then hiding or destroying an incriminating camera is going to be well within their scope. I hope one day that poor family get answers, even if they can no longer push for them personally."
Joseph Lawrence wrote in 2018: "Mr Mansholt, do not expect much from the authorities in Malta. As you must have learned the AUTHORITIES in Malta have a terrible problem tying their own shoelaces and have a big problem putting one foot in front of the other. Just look at the mess so far trying to solve the gruesome murder of one of our own, Blogger DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZIA. She was a threat to some very CORRUPT people in Malta and she was blown up to pieces because she was exposing some of the horrifying POLITICAL corruption that exists in our beautiful island. So if you need or want answers don't bother because MALTESE AUTHORITIES will give you very little. Oh they will give you answers but none of what you want to hear."
mygumbopot wrote in 2019: "This isn’t a defense for the Maltese authorities but I have some friends who work at Mater Dei Hospital in Malta and according to them, the story that was told and accepted is that the boy’s body was in such an advanced state of putrefaction after being left in the summer heat for a while that whoever was in charge of performing the autopsy must have disposed of the organs without documenting this. To be honest, we’re known for incompetence at the best of times, however it is widely believed that organ harvesting isn’t a viable lead. Edit: Also, with regards to the nurse’s unofficial comments: it’s pretty common for people in Malta to spread misinformation because we’re such a small island and everyone knows everyone. A case like this is unusual and therefore sparks interest. It should be noted that Maltese authorities and quite a few workers are not the most systematic or thorough - in fact it’s quite the opposite. Therefore, I don’t think we should ignore this information altogether because it is actually how this country works."
Tetradrachm wrote in 2019: "If anything is being covered up it’s just a botched autopsy, investigation and theft of the boy’s belongings. Don’t get me wrong, I feel terrible for the father, the boy and his family- but I think it’s much more likely that this investigation was botched and the death was accidental, rather than the police and coroner covering up for organ theft."
oneirista wrote in 2019: "I also don't buy either theory.. I wonder if the orderlies and porters and drivers that would have been involved in transport and handling of the body might have something contradictory to the official line to offer. It seems very likely that the organs were removed during the postmortem rather than before, so I also wonder some the organs showed some evidence of his actual cause of death somehow, and that cleaning house and not embalming was maybe a good way to take attention away from specifically which bodyparts were incriminating? But what motive would the coroner's office (or whatever the Maltese equivalent is) have to participate in a cover-up like this? I think the missing GoPro is very significant, as a quick look on their forums suggests that the image telemetry their devices record includes GPS data – and though I can't find confirmation I'd guess it likely does that as standard and makes you turn it off, rather than vice versa, as that has been my experience with all the other camera equipment I've used. So perhaps the GoPro had if not images of the crime or perpetrator then other clues as to where Mike went that day and what happened to him. If we are supposing that they might remove organs and purposefully obscure the COD then hiding or destroying an incriminating camera is going to be well within their scope. I hope one day that poor family get answers, even if they can no longer push for them personally."
Joseph Lawrence wrote in 2018: "Mr Mansholt, do not expect much from the authorities in Malta. As you must have learned the AUTHORITIES in Malta have a terrible problem tying their own shoelaces and have a big problem putting one foot in front of the other. Just look at the mess so far trying to solve the gruesome murder of one of our own, Blogger DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZIA. She was a threat to some very CORRUPT people in Malta and she was blown up to pieces because she was exposing some of the horrifying POLITICAL corruption that exists in our beautiful island. So if you need or want answers don't bother because MALTESE AUTHORITIES will give you very little. Oh they will give you answers but none of what you want to hear."
About the death of Justin Plette"people wrote under online articles:Ray Cam wrote in 2015: "Wouldn't be the least surprised at what this family is saying.This method has been used before in Malta .I hope the culprits get apprehended and handed down a harsh sentence. My deepest sympathy goes to this family in this hard moment of bereavement."
kukkanja wrote in 2015: "I don't like these 'gentleman's clubs' at Paceville as they are usually run by foreign and local Mafias. Only God knows what goes on behind the close doors and especially, the clandestine and illegal networks of women trafficking some of whom might even be under age. The worst things and illegalities -I am sure- do not happen in the 'clubs' but in clandestine premises. Labour should tackle this activity seriously ...and this activity should NOT be under the direction of the Police but under the direction of all Maltese stakeholders: representatives of families,members of parliament, women representatives, local business representatives with a clean record, and youth representatives as well. This is not about being 'dejjaq' its about seemingly legal business being run by 'Sopranos-like' criminals behind the scene.'"
Alex wrote in 2015: "These last five years Paceville was never safe,and tks to EU and this Schengen law,is worse. Wish they get this culprit."
John Azzopoardi wrote in 2015: "they should order a private autopsy to determine their son's dead. I hope they do."
Sources
Christian Schweppe, WELT, Was geschah Mike Mansholt
In English
Unknown Passage, Episode 25: Mike Mansholt - German Killed In Malta In 2016
Karsten Krogmann, How did the Oldenburger Mike Mansholt really die?
Justin Plette death
Johanna Boni’s death
Justin Plette death
Johanna Boni’s death
Hi, I just found on youtube this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giFh_GfG17M
ReplyDeleteAround 2 days ago I commented on another youtube video related to Mike Mansholt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmfY3BNotqs
Without excluding foul play from the Maltese authorities the following is my weird theory.
R.I.P Mike Mansholt and full sympathy with the Mansholt family.David Ruggier (Malta).
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The Malta Organ Thief (TRUE story)
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Happy Hour Podcast
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In 2016, a German boy named Mike Mansholt went missing whilst cycling in Malta. His body was discovered after an anonymous tip led police to the scene, but the post mortem revealed some rather shocking results...
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198 Comments
David Ruggier
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David Ruggier
Just now encountered this video.My theory may surprise you but its only my theory.I am happy living in Malta and never heard of any known organ theft.I done my research.I don`t think the Maltese authorities came down to my opinion cause its more weird.Why his bag with mobile and gopro went missing might be due that the body was found after eight days.I think the body was abducted and after eight days disposed of it which can lead that if someone was passing by and saw the bag can be stolen.If you need body organs why you need the brain?It make no sense.I recall that when his father saw his sons body he noticed two round black holes in his neck from which this led me to my weird theory....In many animals,mostly cattle mutilations holes are found in the neck
or breast of the carcass!This means that he very unfortunately Mike may encountered a chupacabra that sucked his organs included the brain like most strange cattle mutilations are found across the world.I am just sorry if this really happened to this young German boy.Due that the body was already decompsed,I read that it is more difficult for clear answers from the autopsy.About the chupacabra...in Malta never heard of any cattle mutilations and never seen one.However around 12 years ago while using my telescope in Mellieha a police car passed by and one of the police showed interest and had similar views about ufo`s,aliens etc.I remebered cleary that he told me of encountering a very strange creature like chupacabra while patrolling at Dingli cliffs.He told me that when the creature saw the torch light he jumped out very fast and disappeared in 2 seconds.He told me that no one will believe him.So, I ask myself why this creature (if its true) attacked a human?Normally this creature live on wild rabbits running around Dingli cliffs.Again its only my theory and because of the holes found in Mike neck and the police story led me to this chupacabra theory.