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The sensational discovery of the murder weapon, found hidden behind a kitchen unit in an apartment in the town of Olten almost 30 years after the crime, not only renewed the investigators' hope but also raised a multitude of new questions. Once the registered owner was identified, the police initiated an international manhunt, but the results were less than promising.
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What is Swiss Murder Mysteries?
Uncover Switzerland’s most enigmatic murder cases with our riveting investigative true crime podcast.
About a year after the murder, the police had reduced the personnel working on the case to a few men. They mostly collected, followed, and verified still incoming reports and observations, but did not actively investigate new leads any more, simply because they did not get any. 1 of the investigators remaining attached to the case was Max Jaeggi.
Missing Persons Officer:In December 1976, we closed the office in the restaurant in Saven and transferred everything to Zolotern where we were allocated our own office. I myself was involved in the case on a daily basis until 1983. I didn't do anything else. We continued to conduct interviews mainly in the Basel area. I got to know the town very well, but we didn't really gain any new insights.
Missing Persons Officer:We verified and filed information that came in, but every month, the number of leads decreased until in the end, practically nothing new came in.
Narrator:The investigators, of course, were criticized, but gradually, the case slipped off the tabloids and lost the interest of the public. That is until October 1996 when a sensational discovery moved the case overnight once again into the spotlight. A sensation occurred that rightfully was considered a real game changer and gave the investigators new hope that finally the murder would be solved. This is lead number 9424, episode 4 of the Seewen murder mystery. An investigative true crime podcast by Playground Media Productions.
Narrator:Produced, written, and hosted by me, Rudolf Eisler. The presumption of innocence applies. The town of Olton, with a population of around 20,000 inhabitants, is a picturesque medieval city situated on the river Aare about 30 kilometers southeast of the murder site. After a period of decline, it grew rapidly in the 19th century as a major railroad hub in Switzerland, conveniently located at the junction of the main lines Zurich, Basel, Bern, and Lucerne, all of which are within 30 minutes' reach by train. On Monday morning, September 2, 1996, 20 years after the murder, Marco Sembinelli, 49, an employee of a local construction company, was on his way to work.
Narrator:Today's job was nothing new or extraordinary. He had to clear out an apartment in Olton to get it ready for a subsequent ground up renovation. Having dismantled the kitchen cupboard and sink, he reached around the back panel to disconnect the electricity and drain pipes. And as he reached into the cavity, he discovered a plastic bag and pulled it out. Sembinelli has meanwhile passed. But here is the audio of an interview he gave for a documentary produced by Swiss Television in 2001.
Missing Persons Officer:5 years ago, we were in Olten at Ritterweg 1 with a renovating job. We had barely gotten started when we discovered a green plastic bag in the space behind the kitchen. Among other things, it contained a gun plus other materials such as maps, letters, and so on. At the time, I had no idea what this was all about. If someone had offered me $50 for the gun, I would have sold it straight away.
Missing Persons Officer:But then I took it to a local gun dealer. I put the bag on the table and said, have a look at this. He inspected the gun for a minute and then called the police. A few minutes later, a policeman turned up and asked where I had found it. I told him and said, you do with this what you want, but I have to return to the construction site.
Missing Persons Officer:I still have work to do. Hardly had I returned when 3 investigators showed up and we immediately stopped working.
Narrator:There are 2 things that are a bit odd about his recollection. Firstly, according to the police report, and we can assume they be correct, he had found not only 1, but 2 bags. The first one contained a Winchester replica, more exact an Uberti, model 1886, yellow boy, caliber 38 special. Its butt was sawn off and the barrel shortened. Instead of its original length of approximately 90 centimeters, this shortened version was only about half as long, approximately 46 centimeters or 18 inches.
Narrator:If it took the arms dealer a minute to link the rifle to the unsolved murder from 20 years ago, it took the investigators a few seconds. The second bag, it was said, contained various documents, but more on this in a minute. Secondly, in his account he mentions the name of a local arms dealer, a certain Mr. Kellerhals. During my research and effort trying to locate this man, it turned out that Zambinelli actually took the rifle to a long established arms dealer by the name of Forter Arms.
Narrator:It was the owner, Mr. Lienhardt, that then examined the rifle and contacted the police, and not Kellerhals. Did Sembinelli just mix them up, or was there more behind it? Kellerhals was described to me as a somewhat shady character, more of a wannabe arms dealer than a certified weapons expert. It could therefore be possible that Zambinelli first showed his find to Kellerhals and only then went to see Furter Arms, either because Kellerhals wasn't interested or did not want any contact with the police assumed he made a connection of the weapon to the murder.
Narrator:It is also of interest to know that when the rifle was found, the then 20 year statute of limitations had been reached, meaning that the case was officially closed. But this did not prevent the police to further continue their investigations. The reason being that if the perpetrator had committed another crime during these 20 years, be it in Switzerland or abroad, and should he have spent time in prison, this time span would have had a suspending effect. Meaning that the 20 year statute of limitations would have been prolonged for the duration he had spent in jail. Hence, the police opened a new file, lead number 9,424.
Narrator:The rifle was immediately sent to mister Hartle at the scientific laboratories in Zurich. The same expert that 20 years ago examined the bullet casings found at the murder site and proclaimed that they came from a Winchester, another handgun. After having test shot the rifle that Sembinelli found and compared the cartridges to the ones found at the murder scene, his assessment was finally confirmed. The Winchester Sembinelli had found was without a shred of a doubt the rifle that was used to kill the 5 people at the cabin. Finally, the police, albeit by coincident and not active investigation, had made a breakthrough.
Narrator:All that remained was to find out who the rifle was registered to. It took them little effort to do so. The Winchester was legally acquired from an arms dealer in Zurich in 1971, Registered in the name of a certain Carl Arnold Bernard Doser. Now, let us quickly return to the other plastic bags Sembinelli had found. Oddly enough, recollections about its content vary greatly and are, until this day, a reason for endless speculations.
Narrator:Every one agrees that one of the items it contained was Dose's expired passport. But some sources, press reports, or testimonials also mentioned the following items. Two pairs of glasses. A photograph of Doze's father wearing a Swiss army uniform. A letter signed by none other than Adolf Hitler, addressed to Doser's father.
Narrator:Furthermore, a map like sketch with a plan of Sabin and the cabin. Now let's listen in on the second part of Sembinelli's statement, when the interviewer asked him specifically about these items.
Missing Persons Officer:The expired passport had a lot of stamps in it from various, mainly African countries. There were also letters, and this should be interesting for someone who deals with these kind of things. Among the documents was a letter signed by Adolf Hitler. The letter was addressed to Carl Doser's father and dated August 15, 1936. I didn't make any connection with the Seewen murders at the time. It was only when an official turned up 3 days later telling me that the Winchester I found was the weapon used to murder the 5 people 20 years ago. That was the moment I had to sit down and take a deep breath.
Narrator:After having repeatedly listened to his testimony, I noticed a few things that seemed odd. Even more so when, according to another source, Sembinelli might not have submitted the rifle and documents to the police the day he found them but a day later. This could be substantiated by the Kellerhals variation mentioned earlier. Maybe he only brought the rifle and the passport to the arms dealer and held back the other documents. After all, finding a letter signed by Adolf Hitler is not a discovery without significance.
Narrator:Such a document, even back then, must have had a considerable value. Furthermore, it struck me that he remembered that the letter was dated August 15, 1936, this, by the way, being the Saturday before the official end of the Summer Olympics held in Berlin. As to the content of the letter, he did not make any comment. But it is said that it contained some sort of acknowledgment from Hitler for those whose father's activities. Zambinelli also remembered that the passport had expired and showed several stamps of African countries.
Narrator:All of this means that at one time or another, Zambinelli must have carefully examined and read the documents. When I asked retired investigator, Mark Ziecki, recently about these documents, he explained that he did see the passport, but never a letter by Hitler or a sketch of the crime scene. I would have certainly remembered that, he said. The annoying thing about the whole matter is that these inconsistencies could be clarified relatively easily and reliably if the public prosecutor's office would grant access to the files and archives. It would be of great importance to verify the content of the second plastic bag and being able to read these documents.
Narrator:Unfortunately, even today, 50 years after the crime, they still don't give access. At least, not to me. At the time I wrote this episode, I had submitted a very detailed written request to the prosecutor's office rules. The prosecution had issued a special set of rules some 20 years ago, trying to minimize requests in connections to it. According to those, they had to decline my request because, a, I had no legal education or background and, b, my interest is of a private and commercial nature.
Narrator:I could have asked the practising attorney to file a follow-up request, But that still would not have solved the prosecutor's second condition. Once again, just like in the case of the crystal cave murders, covered in season 1 of the Swiss Murder Mysteries, the prosecution, even though in a different canton of Switzerland, seems not to be eager to support independent journalists to investigate unsolved murder cases, even if they occurred more than 40 years ago and are not time barred. Do they shy away from additional work? Do they have something to hide? I have no clue.
Narrator:But it does not make sense. But now let us return to the investigation, and let us take a closer look at the registered owner of the murder weapon, Carl Doser. Carl Doser was born on August 8, 1948. At the time of the murders in 1976, he was 28 years old, unemployed and living in a single room in Basel. He was described as a solitary, withdrawn character and arms freak.
Narrator:He often wore rimless glasses, not because he had poor eyesight, but because they made him look smarter. He grew up as a single child with his mother, Rosa Maria Laederer in Alton, but bearing the name of his father, Arnold Doser. Not much is known about him. All I found out is that he mostly lived separately from Karl and his mother And referring to the earlier mentioned letter from Adolf Hitler, he must have been, to put it carefully, a supporter of the Third Reich. It is assumed that he died in 1974.
Narrator:Of course, the police immediately set out to get a hold of Karl Doser. Only they could not find him. No matter where they looked or to whom they talked, Carl Dozer was nowhere to be found. What became apparent, though, because of the stamps in the expired passport, was that Dozer had often spent time in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The last time he was seen was, according to a neighbor, when he left his home in Basel with a bicycle and remarkably little luggage in spring 1977.
Narrator:That is half a year after the murders. From then on, Carl Doser had disappeared. The next thing the investigators did was to compare his name to the list of 3000 Winchester owners they had questioned 20 years ago, and, to their profound astonishment, found his name in the records. Doser, believe it or not, had been questioned 2 times shortly after the murder in 1976. Two investigators had visited his 1 bedroom apartment in Basel and questioned Dozer about the Winchester being registered in his name.
Narrator:Doser politely cooperated and voluntarily even presented 2 additional handguns he owned Colt Gold Cup Caliber 45 and a Derringer Roehm Caliber 30 8 Special.
Narrator:Both were legally acquired, and without hesitation he presented the certificates and proof of ownership. But with regard to his Uberty Winchester replica, yes, he did own one, he said, but he had, after having it made dysfunctional, sold to an unknown person at a flea market some time ago. This seemed a bit odd. And to verify the police set out to visit a friend of Dozer's.
Narrator:But the questioning of this man did not yield any useful information. Then the 2 policemen drove to Alton where Doser's mother lived, Rosa Maria Laiderer more precisely to Ritterstrasse 1, the very same address, where, 20 years later, Sembinelli found the rifle. Her flat was on the first floor of her mother's apartment building. Dozer and his mother had moved there in 1975. He got along very well with his mother, and even when he later acquired his room in Basel he still came by regularly to see her.
Narrator:The investigators were welcomed, asked the mother a few questions, looked about the apartment, maybe even briefly stepping into the kitchen. But the mother knew nothing about her son's rifle. Not having a search warrant, there was little more they could or wanted to do. Satisfied with the result of their interrogation, the policeman shook hands, thanked her for the cooperation, and left the apartment, unaware of their most likely immediate proximity to the murder weapon behind the kitchen panel. As a consequence, Doser was not further questioned about his Winchester.
Narrator:His flea market story was duly accepted. Without a doubt his flimsy answers should have set all alarm bells ringing for the officers. Doser was not even questioned about his whereabouts at the time of the crime. This was certainly the first of many major mistakes made by the police, who, according to Robert Siegrist, had acted sloppily and highly unprofessional throughout the investigation. Carl Doser's mother, Rosa Lederer, a seamstress, remained in the apartment for 3 more years, until she died as a pedestrian involved in a road accident in 1980.
Narrator:Carl, her son, was smart enough not to attempt a funeral. If she knew about the Winchester and the hiding place in her kitchen is speculation. Fact is that after she had passed the flat was cleaned and painted but not renovated. Therefore, the rifle remained undiscovered. A new lodger, also a single woman, moved in, unaware that in her kitchen, under the sink, behind the wall, lay the murder weapon of the Sabin murder mystery.
Narrator:Now before we jump back to the discovery of the weapon in 1996, let us remain in 1976 when Dozer came up with the flea market story, which, as we know, was an obvious lie. During my investigation, I was confidentially given a handwritten 10 page document. Its author, a retired police officer, that has passed in 1996. He was personally never involved in the Sabin murder case but was part of the missing persons department in Basel. The document contains 2 sections and is entitled The Sabin Murders, A Personal Recollection.
Narrator:For the time being, I would like to concentrate on section 1 of this document. It deals with his experiences when he was dealing with a normal missing person report. Unfortunately, the author is a bit vague as to when exactly the following happened. But knowing that Dozer was questioned in July and afterwards had paid 3 months' rent in advance, this brings us to November 1976. After that, he did not settle the rent anymore, which raised the suspicion of the landlord a month or 2 later.
Narrator:So section 1 of this document must refer to late 1976 or early 1977. 2 things are important to remember. A, the police officer who wrote down these recollections was part of the missing persons bureau of the Basel City Police and, as such, had nothing to do with the murder inquiries. And b, when the following happened, no one had brought Carl Dozer in context to the murders. He was just another missing person.
Missing Persons Officer:Shortly after the disappearance of Carl Dozer, I was given the specific task of tracing his whereabouts. Normally, only the relatives of the missing person can apply for such a report card. Doser, however, had no relatives in Basel. He lived in a modest room in an old dormitory. As the rent for his room was overdue, mister Fiorese, the owner of the dormitory at Florastrasse 16, contacted the police.
Missing Persons Officer:At that time, each investigator was assigned 6 or 7 such dormitories to supervise. 16 belonged to my district at the time. I got in touch with mister Fiorese. Together, we visited the room of the missing dozer. It was on the ground floor and part of a 3 room flat with a kitchen.
Missing Persons Officer:The 3 rooms were rented out to individuals. Doser's room was disorganized. Military effects were lying on the bed, and a Swiss army assault rifle was leaning against the wall. Together, mister Fierse and I searched for useful items, such as documents, a farewell letter, valuables, and the like. But nothing was to be found.
Missing Persons Officer:Somehow, I managed to get a hold of a photograph of him, which I filed away. It showed Dozer with a short stubbly beard. His hairline was already tending towards a bald forehead. Mister then asked me for advice. He wanted to know what legal steps he was entitled to take.
Missing Persons Officer:I advised him to vacate the room after a month or so, and store Dozer's effects in the cellar. I was then informed that Dozer had no work, but was in debt. Hence, he could not pay the rent for the room anymore. His flatmates knew practically nothing about Dozer and described him as a loner. There were no friends or even a girlfriend.
Missing Persons Officer:Only his mother who lived in Olten could be located. A telephone inquiry about the whereabouts of her son was also unsuccessful. She knew nothing about Carl. All she said was that usually, she had received a postcard that informed her of his location. But, surprisingly, this had no longer been the case in recent months.
Narrator:Doser had vanished. But as there was nothing to suggest that he had committed a crime and there wasn't any record that linked him to one, there was nothing else to do but to register Dozer as a missing person. Had even the slightest reference been made to Dozer being questioned in relation to the murder case, the whole investigation would have taken a completely different path. Then, of course, Dozer could have been held responsible for his involvement in the homicide, and an international arrest warrant would have been issued. That this did not happen was due to an obvious lack of information exchange between the different departments of the police force of Basil and Solothone.
Narrator:This was undoubtedly the second significant mistake by the police. But, despite all justified criticism of the police, it must be conceded, for the sake of fairness, that those who could never be proven to have committed a criminal offence at the time of the crime that he had no criminal record whatsoever, and could not be connected to any of the victims, neither to the seagrists nor to the Westhoyser family. The obvious conclusion is, that shortly after having been questioned by the police about his Winchester, those who got cold feet had decided to disappear. Here, then, is the second part of the missing person's investigator's testimony.
Missing Persons Officer:About a month after we had inspected his room, mister Fiorese telephoned me again. While clearing his room, he had found something that might be of interest to me, and he wanted to hand it over to me personally. I immediately went to Florestraza 16, where mister Fiorese was already waiting. Without saying a word, he led me into Dozer's bathroom, opened the cupboard, and took out a Smith and Wesson model 59 9 millimeter pistol stashed behind the shaving mirror. Furthermore, there were 2 boxes of ammunition, 50 rounds of 9 millimeter and 38 special.
Missing Persons Officer:I took these and filed them away and found out that the gun was correctly registered in his name. Today, it seems to be clear. He had not taken the weapon with him because he most likely fled abroad. Carrying it over the border would have been too risky. But, anyway, since no criminal offenses were pending against him, I stored the weapon and later handed it over to his stepbrother living in Rheinfelden in return for a receipt.
Missing Persons Officer:All of this was recorded in writing in the files of the missing Carl Dozer.
Narrator:Even after having found additional hand guns in his abandoned apartment, still no one made a connection between Dozer and the saving murders neither the missing persons officer, nor his department, nor the investigators that were in charge of the murder case, simply because the relevant information was not shared. Adding to the police incompetence was that at no point in time, not even 5 or 10 years later, did they follow-up on Dole's flea market story. After all, it was still an open lead. But because nothing the like happened, Dozer was simply listed as a missing person for 10 years. When he still did not turn up, he was declared lost and the missing persons investigators' records and files went into a cardboard box, which disappeared in the police archives.
Narrator:This, then, brings us back to 1996, when the Uberti Winchester replica was discovered, and the investigators finally wanted to access those missing person files. Now here then is my informant's final testimony regarding that part.
Missing Persons Officer:After the weapon was found and still before the name Carl Dozer had been made public, I got wind of it and contacted the relevant department. They were astonished when I pointed out the name Carl Dozer, which was still being kept secret. I explained my involvement and briefly recounted the events described earlier. I then recommended that they look at the missing person files. But to my great astonishment, it turned out that these files could no longer be found or had been destroyed. I found that very surprising and highly questionable.
Narrator:In the weeks after the murder weapon had been found on September 2, 1996, the investigators were keen on keeping the information a secret for a while, hoping to resolve the murder quickly and secretly, probably also discovering a few mistakes they had made earlier. But despite their ensuing hectic activities, they still could not find a clue as to those whose whereabouts. What was certain is that he had a new passport issued in 1975, 1 year before the murders. But it was not known whether he had his passport renewed somewhere abroad later. Because there was no centralized passport register in Switzerland at the time, around 180 Swiss representations abroad had to be contacted, to inquire about the possible processing of Doze's passport.
Narrator:All the replies that came back were negative. Finally, on October 28, 1996, almost 2 months after the discovery of the weapon, the investigators called in a news conference. The prosecutors, head of investigators, and of course, Max Yackie, sat behind a white desk and faced the press. Confidently they proclaimed having found the murder weapon. Max Yekki and robbed a corpus delicti, not much larger than a hand gun, stood up, held it proudly in his hands, presenting it to the audience and cameras.
Narrator:He then operated the lever, pointed the rifle toward the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The rifle clicked. The audience gasped. Yackie smiled. The Solothorn Cantonville police, being the investigative authority, reported about the discovery, and that they had identified the owner.
Narrator:They were now hoping that, with the support of the public, new leads would come up that would guide them to the arrest of the owner.
Police:At the time, there were absolutely no indications that Karl Doce could be the perpetrator. Today, of course, things look different. Doce has made false statements about his weapon. He stated at the time that he had sold it at a flea market. This is evidently not true.
Police:The weapon was found in his mother's apartment. It must be assumed that Dozer had hidden it there.
Narrator:The man they were looking for but unable to locate, was a certain Carl Dozer, born August 1947. Swiss citizen and reported missing since 1977. There was absolutely no doubt that this man was connected to the murder. But was he the murderer? Or did he only provide the weapon?
Narrator:Or were there even 2 or more people involved in the murder? Specifically, they asked the public the following questions: Who knows our new Karl Dozer? Who can provide information about his current whereabouts? Who grew up in Olton and lived or worked in Basel between 1972 and 1977? Who had contact with Karl Dozer in Switzerland or abroad after 1977?
Narrator:Who can provide information about people who were in contact with Cardozer? Who can provide further information in connection with the murder weapon? Together with the questionnaire, the police provided the press with 2 photographs of Carl Dozer. These monochrome portraits depicted a mildly smiling young man, attired in a small jacket and tie, one featuring him with a pair of Harvard glasses, the other without. Both photographs can be seen on our website at the Swiss murder mysteries dot com.
Narrator:The press conference ended with a more than confident statement by the investigators.
Police:We now have all the pieces of the puzzle. All that remains is to put them together.
Narrator:Make sure to tune in to episode 5 of the Saving Murder Mysteries, The Fugitive. When we'll try to find out if their assessment was correct, who this elusive man was, and when a surprisingly new theory appeared with, for the first time, a possible motive. Now this was Lee 9,424, episode 4 of The Savin Murder Mystery, an investigative true crime podcast by Playground Media Productions. Produced, written, and hosted by Rudolf Weisler. Available on Apple Podcasts or any platform of your preference.
Narrator:Please do visit our website at swissmurdermysteries.com for additional information, including maps, rare photographs, and details on how to support the producers of this podcast.