THE DROST NOTTHOFF CASE: FAKE SUICIDE, REAL MURDER | Enquêtes criminelles | W9

It’s a fantastic case, a “cold case” whose mystery was cleared up three years after the events. It all begins in September 2011 when Drost Notthoff, a wealthy German business magnate, is found hanged in the garden of his luxury residence in Eze, near Nice. At first sight, the man killed himself… However, there are several details that intrigue investigators: why would this jolly man, who appeared to succeed in all he did, want to end his days? Even more worrying is a letter in which the business man leaves his entire fortune to Gritt Topfer, his ex-companion, with whom, however, he no longer entertained any relationship! It’s all highly suspicious, but there’s no witness and the autopsy confirms death by asphyxiation. Gritt and her new companion, Georges Pierru, a 45-year-old painter, can now live the high life…

The case could well have rested there, but two and a half years later, an incredible twist turns the case upside down: the State prosecutor requests a handwriting analysis. This leads to the conclusion that the will was not written by the victim. And then the gendarmes realize that the businessman could not have tied the knot that strangled him by himself. Finally, the two lovers are placed at Eze on the day of the claimed suicide. Inevitably, on Thursday January 22 2015, the heiress and her companion are arrested. So does this bizarre suicide conceal a murder? Did the two accomplices hatch an diabolical plot to sweep the jackpot? And who killed the millionaire?