The Unsolved YOGTZE Case
A mysterious death and a cryptic riddle that left police baffled.
Also referred to as the ‘Autobahn riddle,’ the YOGTZE case is one of the most cryptic unsolved cases in German history.
In 1984, a man named Günther Stoll from Anzhausen in Germany suffered from bouts of paranoia. Previously a food technician, he later became unemployed.
Stoll concerned his wife as he would frequently tell her he was being followed by people who wanted to kill him. He would talk about ‘them,’ telling her ‘they’ were coming after him, but would never specify who ‘they’ were. At first, it seemed to be a classic case of paranoid schizophrenia. His wife never believed anyone was actually coming after Stoll.
On the night of the 25th of October, 1984, Stoll sat quietly with his wife in the living room of his home. He abruptly jumped to his feet, declaring ‘Jetzt geht mir ein Licht auf!’ In English, roughly translating to ‘now I get it’ or ‘now I understand.’
On a piece of paper, he wrote down the phrase ‘YOGTZE,’ a random string of letters that are meaningless in both English and German. He left the house not long after — and his wife never saw him again.
