Witse

- Season 1

(2004)

Investigator Witse of the Federal Criminal Investigation Department is after the killers of a jeweller. In between he wrestles with a private problem: his boss has an affair with his wife. After a heavy collision with him, he is promoted out of the department. He is appointed as Chief Constable of the Federal Criminal Investigation Department at Halle, where he will lead the murder section.

Dennis Falkenhofer, sailor on the ship 'Bonami', is found murdered along the canal. The gruesome way he's killed with a knife, they think he was murdered for passionate reasons. A case for Witse. His first case under the command of his highly skilled and stunning captain Ilse Van de Casteele.

A child is run over and killed and the driver didn't stop. The evening before the funeral he phones anonymously to the parents to declare his regrets. So he might come to the funeral and that's why Witse and his team keep a look out during the ceremony.

Charlotte Brabants is a spicy 35-year old woman and pollster for several firms. Through a dating agency she got in contact with Jan Duckart but rejected him after a while. The man doesn't takes this easily and stalks her. On a morning her body is found in her car at the parking of a tavern.

Patrick Gijsbrechts is the animator in a rest home. The old ladies love him, because nothing is too much for him. A small gift here, an errand there, all the little wishes are fulfilled with a smile and the gratitude is great. When one day Patrick fills up his tank at the petrol station, he witnesses a carjacking. A distinguished lady is handled rough and thrown in the back of her BMW with which two gangsters disappear.

The divorce from his wife Doris is more difficult for Witse then he's willing to admit. Keysers, his former boss, now his wife's lover asks for his help. A police officer was killed during a painting robbery in Brussels and Witse knows the suspect, Mario Sarasin, who commissioned the robbery. Sarasin passes his final days in Pajottenland. Pascale, an ex-prostitute, takes loving care of him.

At a youth help centre late one night a call comes in from a boy, who stands on a bridge above the canal and threatens to kill himself. A final cry for help. When the body is dragged out of the canal, Witse learns that the boy ran away from home, had no means of existence and was in total debt. His mobile was found in the grass with a call from a girl: Loesje.

A enjoyable little dinner with Annemie Nachtegaele gets interrupted abruptly when Witse gets called away because of an attack on Van Deun. He is found heavily wounded in his car, with next to him a pair of binoculars and a camera. What was Van Deun in the middle of the night in this quiet, distinguished neighbourhood? It wasn't even his shift and it appears that he lied to everyone.

Until he retired Victor Opdebeeck had a garage, which he left to his daughter and son in law. Since then he breeds German Shepherds and Rotweilers with devotion to fill the sudden emptiness in his live. On a day his wife Alwina finds his lifeless body in the kitchen.

Monica D'Arteveld and Liesbeth Tommelein end their ecumenical half-hour at 'Radio Halle Regional' and agree to meet each other the same night at seven to finish the program. From that moment it seems that Monica has vanished from the earth. She never made it to the appointment and she didn't arrive at home either. When her husband very precisely describes her car, Witse sees it to his astonishment on the car park at the Federal Bureau. The body of Monica is in the boot of the car. Down the rear-view mirror hangs a komboloï, a string of religious beads.

A rough motorcycle rider, 'Bobby McGee', comes to live in Witse's neighbourhood. Bobby takes care of his mentally handicapped nephew Ludo, because his mother lies deadly ill in hospital. The neighbourhood committee, under leadership of Modest Kuypers, complains to Witse about the newcomer. But he seems ok. That is, until Ludo gets shot dead one night.

Albain Dictus, a former informant, gives Witse a vital clue about an expensive silver dinner service, which was stolen during a robbery with murder at Halle. Because this was an unsolved case from Van Deun, he gets involved in the investigation. Dictus will make a contact for them with the seller, but he doesn't show up and appears to be murdered at a car park in Brussels.

Albain's girlfriend, Jeanine, worries about him and threatens to warn Witse. Witse, who is in Brussels for his divorce, visits Jeanine, but she refuses to say anything. Meanwhile Keysers from the Brussels department finds the murder weapon in a full garbage container and uses it as a lure to get the killer.