The Disappearance of Lars Mittank

It's common to see someone running through an airport, they’re most likely trying to catch their flight. It’s however highly unusual to witness someone running out of an airport and to disappear forever. Unfortunately, CCTV footage shows that's exactly what Lars Mittank did. He ran out of Varna Airport, Bulgaria to never be seen again.

28-year-old German citizen Lars Mittank from Itzehoe, Germany vanished on July 8th, 2014, in the vicinity of Varna Airport in Varna, Bulgaria.

Let's look at his strange story to find out what happened to him and why he ran out of the airport.

With five of his friends, all in their 20s, Lars went on vacation to the seaside resort town of Golden Sands, Bulgaria on June 30th. Lars was said to be a generally kind man with a girlfriend and a large social circle. He got along great with his parents and worked at a power plant.

After a night of drinking on July 6th, Lars got into a fight with four other German males. Lars, a supporter of a soccer team called Werder Bremen, disagreed with supporters of a soccer team called Bayern Munich. After the disagreement Lars left the bar alone, and got beat up by four men. The morning after he told his friends that the men that beat him up, were paid by the Bayern Munich supporters to beat him up. The fight resulted in an injured jaw and ruptured eardrum.

The altercation occurred on the day before Lars and his friends were set to fly back home to Germany. Because of the ruptured eardrum, a doctor advised him not to fly since the change in cabin air pressure could aggravate it. He was given an antibiotic called Cefprozil and was referred to a hospital.

Lars’ friends wanted to stay with him and fly home together as a group, but Lars told them he’d be fine and would fly home on July 8th. So his friends flew back to Germany on July 7th.

Since they had only booked the hotel for a week, and it was the end of their trip, Lars had to find somewhere to stay. Since it was peak season, every room was booked. He did find a room at Hotel Color Varna. It was close to the airport and the rooms were reasonably priced.

At this point, when he was by himself at his new hotel, his behavior started to change. He contacted his mother Sandra Mittank from his room and asked her to cancel his credit cards. Additionally, he claimed to be being followed and that he was looking for a place to hide before hanging up. He texted her later that evening regarding his medication, which are commonly prescribed by doctors for ear infections.

Police checked the hotel's surveillance footage after he vanished from the airport. He was seen roaming the lobby, looking out of windows, and hiding in the elevator. He left the hotel around 1:00 a.m. for an hour before going back to his room. Nobody knows where he spent that hour. He called his mother again the following morning, telling her that the persons pursuing him were getting close.

Lars arrived at the airport on July 8th, shortly after sunrise to catch his flight back home to Germany. He got out of the cab, got his baggage, and entered the departure hall. He still needed the airport doctor's approval before flying.

He entered Dr. Kosta Kostov's office, put his baggage on the floor, and sat down on a chair. Kostov stated it was a routine exam, but Lars was acting strangely and was quite tense. Kostov examined Lars' ear, and found no problems. Lars could fly home to Germany.

Even though he was cleared to fly, his paranoia persisted. He didn't trust the medication that was prescribed for his ear. Looking back, Kostov thought the entire situation was strange. Since the terminal was being renovated at the time, a construction worker entered the room. Lars began to shake, and he whispered something under his breath. Then he yelled, "I don’t want to die here. I have to get out of here."

He got up and fled the terminal without his luggage. He briefly stopped at the main entrance of the airport, as if someone or something were pursuing him, before he continued running across the airport parking lot. He climbed over an 8 foot high barbed wire fence and vanished into the woods. Lars has never been seen again.

His luggage had his passport, money, and cellphone still in it. All Lars had on him were the yellow t-shirt, denim shorts, and white sneakers he was wearing, when he ran out of the airport terminal.

Police used cadaver dogs and drones to explore the area where Lars was last seen, but they were unsuccessful. His mom hired a private investigator. The P.I. repeatedly viewed the airport footage and got in touch with hospitals and homeless shelters in Bulgaria. He even went to Varna to hand out missing person flyers.

A trucker claimed to have seen Lars hitchhiking on a desolate road close to Varna a year after he vanished. There was a homeless man in Poland who looked just like Lars. On Reddit, someone claimed to have seen Lars in Canada. In 2016, people in Brazil thought they found Lars. It turned out to be another missing person from Toronto, Canada, who had been missing for 5 years. In 2019, a German truck driver claimed to have given Lars a ride out of Dresden, Germany. In 2020, Lars’ mother received a picture of a young homeless man in Dusseldorf, Germany that resembled him. It was confirmed by authorities that the sightings in Brazil and Dusseldorf weren't Lars, the other sightings authorities were unable to confirm if it was or wasn’t Lars.

Is it possible that Lars planned his disappearance or maybe perhaps he simply wanted to start over. It’s more likely that the antibiotics messed him up and made him extremely paranoid. Maybe he overdosed and his body is out there, and it just hasn’t been found yet.

His friends said that he was fine until he was alone; it is possible that the beating he received that evening caused a concussion. Doctors in Germany and Bulgaria, as well as Lars' mother, have speculated that Lars' unusual behavior could’ve been a reaction to the antibiotics. Which is a cephalosporin, which is known to cause hallucinations and paranoia as well as other psychotic side effects.

Kostov stated that Lars had not been taking his medication, though. "He didn’t take the antibiotics. He didn't even fill out his prescription, according to Kostov. Therefore, that couldn't have been the cause of his behavior. I'm at a loss for words as to why he left my office in such a panic. “I'm still confused” Kostov said

According to his mother, he had no prior history of mental illness. It has been suggested that a mental breakdown brought on by an unidentified mental disease could be the cause of his actions.

As of 2023, Lars is still missing and no one knows if he’s dead or alive.

If you would like to see the CCTV footage of Lars’ weird behavior in the hotel and airport you can go on YouTube and type in Lars Mittank CCTV.