Wie ist das, wenn ein Kind spurlos verschwindet? In dieser neuen BILD-Serie schildern Angehörige, wie sie mit der Ungewissheit leben. Heute: Die Familie von René (Foto).
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Fifteen years ago, little René (6) disappeared in Aljezur, 33 kilometers from Praia da Luz - the Portuguese holiday resort where
Maddie McCann (3) also disappeared in 2007 .
The whole world spoke about the little British girl. A lot was written, a lot of speculation: kidnapped? Carried off? Or was it even the parents? René's disappearance was only an issue in his hometown Elsdorf (NRW), and there is only one theory that everyone believes:
René was kidnapped.
René's grandparents have been thinking the same thing since her daughter Anita (now 41) and her then boyfriend went on summer vacation with René in 1996 - and came back without him. It was June 21, the beginning of summer, when Anita called. "Mother, the boy is gone," she cried into the receiver.
Path? Just go away?
"She said they were on the beach, René had eaten squid and chips, and wanted to go to the water," says Irmgard Burbach. "He took off his shirt and pants, played in the sand, my daughter could see him all the time. When she went to him and went down the stairs from the restaurant, she briefly lost sight of him. And then suddenly his clothes were all there. "
Franz Burbach immediately got into the car and drove to Portugal. René had always been "his" boy, the boy had spent almost every afternoon with grandma and grandpa. The grandfather hung up hundreds of posters with his daughter. Interviewed witnesses on the beach. Hire divers. Argued with the police, who stopped searching after a few days.
"They said Anita wasn't paying attention, René had drowned," Grandma Irmgard recalls. “But he was terrified of the waves and would never have gone into the sea alone. In addition, his footprints stopped in the middle of the sand. "
The nightmare, at home it got worse.
Mother Anita could no longer work, could no longer love. The postman was on sick leave, later her relationship broke up.
Grandma Irmgard suffered a nervous breakdown and did not leave the house for two years. Grandpa Franz had five strokes, three heart attacks. The plasterer can hardly speak. And actually he doesn't want anymore.
In May 2007, hope blossomed briefly. "We thought that Maddie's disappearance would finally take us seriously and start looking again," says Irmgard Burbach. But the investigators focused on Maddie, nobody asked about René. The police did not report to the Burbachs once.
What remains is sad: Christmas is no longer Christmas, the Christmas tree is too reminiscent of René. Easter is no longer Easter, the egg hunt is too reminiscent of René. Every festival where you have to be happy reminds too much of René.
The Burbach family has nothing more to celebrate.
Anita still travels to Portugal every summer, following old traces. The rest of the year she tries to endure her life. She has withdrawn, lets her parents speak for her.
They say that their daughter only lives for their second son, whom she had three years after René's disappearance: Guido, now 12. "A dear boy," says the grandmother, "but not our Mupsi." René always got spinach with metal balls from his grandmother. "Guido doesn't have a favorite meal, he doesn't eat with us that often either."
René could do arithmetic before he started school. "Guido has a hard time concentrating." René's picture hangs in every room. “We don't need photos of Guido. We know what he looks like. "
It is not easy for Guido. The Burbachs prefer to continue talking about René.
There are a few memories that make Grandma and Grandpa Burbach smile before they both cry again. One of those:
April 1996, two months before his disappearance. René wore his colorful slippers, came to his grandmother's kitchen, hugged her tightly. "Granny, when you're old," he said, "I'll take care of you. Promised.'"
