The Phantom (Sky): Norman Volker Franz kills five people, escapes from prison twice and has been a fugitive for 25 years.
Halle (Saale)/Dortmund – Kills within two years Norman Volker Franz Five people, escapes from prison twice and has been on the run for an incredible 25 years. His ex-wife, his son, investigators and accomplices have their say in a new documentary. And there is a hot trail abroad!
Photo from earlier: Sandra with Norman Franz, who has been wanted for 25 years. © private/Sandra C.
When he was in his mid-twenties, Franz embarked on a criminal career with his Dortmund gang, which, after robberies and weapons smuggling, culminated in the murder of two enemy Poles in May 1995.
According to his own statements, accomplice Stefan K.* (name changed) threw a hand grenade into the VW Golf from the Sky documentary “The Phantom – On the Hunt for Norman Franz”. Wojciech P. had a burst chest after the explosion. “The agreement was that Norman and everyone else would get out and see that no one was alive and give them all another bullet in the head so that they really weren’t alive anymore.”
And further: “Norman then went over, put the pump gun on his forehead and shot his whole head off.”
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Two months later, Norman Franz was arrested in Osnabrück. “He told me that he was just driving the car and didn’t shoot,” recalls his partner at the time, Sandra C.
A lie. He is sentenced to life imprisonment. “It was terrible to see him like that. But I also knew at that moment that it wouldn’t be long before we would be together again.”
A member of Norman's gang at the time commented on the criminal activities between 1990 and 1995. © Mateusz Smolka/Argon film
Pregnant woman Sandra C. about double murder: “For me that was the sign that both were dead”
Investigator Carsten C. Philipps from the Dortmund Police Department. © Mateusz Smolka/Argon film
After saw blades were found in his Wuppertal cell, he was transferred to Hagen. Sandra also smuggled hacksaw blades into this prison, which her husband used to remove a bar from a gate in March 1997 and he managed to escape. According to many contemporary witnesses, an accomplice must have helped climb onto the roof.
“I would do everything again exactly the way I used to do it – that was out of love,” says Sandra today. The two of them are going to the new federal states. In Weimar, Norman attacks a cash transport and shoots a security guard.
The next crime took place in Halle (Saale) in July 1997: Sandra, who was now pregnant, was present at the double murder of two money messengers at a Metro market: “One was lying on the floor with a neck injury, the other was sitting on the seat with a shot in the head and open .” Eyes. To me that was the sign that both were dead.
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The couple flew to Portugal with 500,000 euros. Norman Franz was arrested in Albufeira in 1998. In 1999 he managed to escape from prison again. There are speculations that he may have fled over a garbage truck and possibly been crushed to death.
Sandra C. became an accomplice. © Mateusz Smolka/Argon film
Did Norman Volker Franz escape to Johannesburg, South Africa?
Norman Franz with his son Mike. © private/Sandra C.
However, the latest research, including by a Portuguese investigative journalist, shows that the now 54-year-old could have fled to South Africa, more precisely to Johannesburg.
Investigations into this are currently underway. Regardless of his possible whereabouts, ex-accomplice Stefan K.* even believes that the criminal “would have the operation to change his appearance as a woman” in order not to get caught.
Carsten C. Philipps from the Dortmund police did not believe that Sandra C., as she herself claims, has not heard from her husband since the escape. “I can't imagine that he didn't contact Sandra. A father wants to know what will become of his son.”
This man, Mike F. (26), now lives with his mother in a three-room apartment on Borsigplatz in Dortmund. Both still hope that their father and partner will show up one day.
Mike about his father, of whom he probably has hardly any memories: “Anyone who is able to kill several people in a row must have a certain level of cold-bloodedness.”
Norman's son Mike F. (26) today. © Mateusz Smolka/Argon film
The police are still searching for Norman Volker Franz with these photos from 1998. © LKA North Rhine-Westphalia
Information leading to the capture of the five-time murderer will be rewarded with 25,000 euros. All information about this can be found on bka.de.
You can watch the exclusive 90-minute Sky documentary “The Phantom – On the Hunt for Norman Franz” at any time on demand on Sky or the WOW platform.
