Voices for Justice · Sarah Turney

Lars Mittank Re-release

November 20, 2025·50 min·4 clips
Lars Mittank runs for his life out of Varna airport, leaving everything behind except his wallet and passport.
At 11 p.m., Lars calls Sandra. He is in a foreign country, in a sketchy hotel, and the copied bank card has him on edge. The host gets why that would scare him. She also slows down to explain, from her own work experience, that a copied card can look bad even when there may be a normal explanation. Lars has a burner phone because, according to Sandra, he wanted the trip without smartphone distractions. The credits are almost gone, so the first call home is practical: he needs his mother to add money so he can keep using it. Then the calls keep coming. Lars tells Sandra about the fight, his ear injury, and what the host describes as a terrible visit with the doctor. He wants help getting home. Sandra calls the travel insurance agency, submits a claim, and tells him it is done. His panic keeps rising. He says he cannot stay in the hotel, and the copied bank card becomes another reason nothing feels safe. Sandra contacts the bank. They cannot put the exact hold Lars wants on the card, but they can cancel it. Lars agrees. The host does not act like she knows exactly what is happening in his head, which is the right move here. This part of the case is built from fear, partial information, and rushed phone calls. By the end, she points listeners to the family's Facebook page, episode resources, and ways to follow or help without turning Lars into only a mystery.

As heard by us

A careful, human account of panic turning an ordinary trip into something far more alarming.

This Voices for Justice episode follows Lars Mittank through a night that keeps slipping out of control. Sarah Turney focuses on the small, specific details that make the case hard to shake: the hotel desk, the burner phone call, the bank card copy, the medication issue, the low…

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Why you'd press play

You want to feel one alarming night abroad unravel in slow motion.

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