ClueTrail
Uncovering forgotten cases, chilling mysteries, and overlooked truths from around the world. From hidden histories to modern investigations and unsettling disappearances, each episode follows the clues...wherever they lead.
ClueTrail
Catalin Ciolpan: Killer on the Roads
The highways of post-communist Romania held a deadly secret. For years, a predator lurked along rural roads, targeting women who were simply trying to get from one place to another. They called him "The Husi Monster" - a nameless, faceless threat that haunted the countryside around the town of Husi.
We journey back to the early 2000s, when Romania was still finding its footing after decades under communist rule. Cars were scarce, public transport unreliable, and hitchhiking wasn't just common – it was necessary. Every town had designated spots where travelers would wait with an extended hand, hoping for a ride. It was against this backdrop that women began to disappear.
Marcela, Safta, Maria, Mioara – mothers, daughters, workers – all vanished while hitchhiking. Their bodies, when found, revealed little about their killer. The investigations moved slowly, hampered by limited resources and experience with serial crimes. For seventeen years, the murders went unsolved while families waited for answers that never came.
The breakthrough arrived from an unexpected source. In 2017, German authorities arrested Romanian truck driver Cătălin Ciolpan for similar murders in Austria and Germany. As suspect #4,334 in a massive European investigation, his capture finally cast light on the forgotten Romanian cases. The evidence was compelling – he grew up near where the crimes occurred, drove through the region for work, and once owned a car matching witness descriptions.
Today, Ciolpan serves a life sentence in Germany, while in Romania, justice remains incomplete. This episode explores how ordinary actions became deadly in the shadow of a predator, and how some monsters hide in plain sight until someone connects the dots. Join us as we unravel the twisted path that finally led to the Hush Monster.
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Speaker 1:Now let's dive into today's case. Today we're heading to Eastern Europe, in Romania, where for years a series of unsolved crimes haunted rural areas and highways. Women were disappearing, often while hitchhiking, and the cases seemed to fade without answers. At that time, no one knew who was responsible and locals began to refer to the unknown killer with a chilling nickname the Hush Monster. So who was behind these crimes? What connected the victims and how did the suspect stay off the radar for so long? This is the story of Cataline Cholpan. Before we trace the crimes, it's important to understand the setting, because what might seem risky today, especially for women travelling alone, back then was considered normal. Every victim in this case was hitchhiking, but in early 2000s Romania this wasn't unusual. It was a common way to get from place to place. But in early 2000s Romania. This wasn't unusual. It was a common way to get from place to place. And to understand why we need to look back.
Speaker 1:Until 1989, romania was under the communist regime. Crime wasn't acknowledged well, at least not officially. The state controlled the media tightly and any incidents of violence were often downplayed or just hidden. The idea of a serial killer wasn't just rare, it was practically unheard of. Where in countries like the US, names like Bundy and Gacy were already part of the cultural conversation. In Romania, the concept of someone killing multiple strangers over time wasn't widely understood. That didn't mean people were unaware of danger. They were, but the threats people were used to looked different. More political than personal. Fear came in the form of surveillance, censorship and rationing, not strangers on the roadside.
Speaker 1:After the regime fell, romania entered a long and difficult period of transition. Infrastructure was unstable and in many areas public transport between towns was limited or unreliable, and private cars were a luxury for most families. So hitchhiking, also known locally as Yamanene, became an informal transport network. Drivers would pick up passengers, often for a small payment, and it was widely accepted. Every town had known pickup spots where people waited by the roadside, stuck out a hand and someone would stop. It was just the norm for that period. And that's what makes what happened next all the more unsettling, because these women weren't doing anything out of the ordinary. They were simply trying to get from one place to another.
Speaker 1:Our story begins in the northeastern town of Hush on 11th of October 2000. Marcella Tomosei, a 29-year-old nurse and mother of two, was heading out to take part in a labour strike. You see, healthcare workers were protesting low wages, and Marcella planned to join them. Her husband walked her to the usual hitchhiking spot and that was the last time he saw her. The very next day her body was found near the ruins of an old brick factory in Berlad, a quiet, isolated area known to locals as a former gathering place for sex workers. She had been strangled, most likely with her own scarf, and all her jewelry were missing. There were no signs of sexual assault, no defensive injuries, just a single visible blow to the head, likely from being struck against the car. Police at the time believed she was killed elsewhere, then left at that location. The investigation moved slow almost from the get-go, and at first they believed this to be an isolated event, but unfortunately, soon they would learn this was not the case Just six weeks later.
Speaker 1:Whilst Marcella's investigation was ongoing, another case came to light. On 30th of November, two men were collecting firewood near the village of Mitok. It was an uneventful winter afternoon. Just walking around collecting wood, but that was until hidden underneath leaves and branches, they came across a pile of clothing, jeans, underwear, jogging bottoms. Then, amongst the clothes and debris, they found a skull. The victim was later identified as 30-year-old Safta Chubotaru, a mother of two from Vinderei.
Speaker 1:Safta's story is one of resilience. After losing her mining job in Hunedoara, she and her husband moved back home. The stress of losing everything eventually led to divorce and her former husband passed away soon after. But, determined to support her children, safta found work abroad, in Turkey, and it was on 10th of October, just one day before Marcella Tomozei vanished. When Safta travelled to Burlad to visit her brother, she planned to go to Vaslui to finalize work plans and collect some funds, but, like Marcella, she never arrived.
Speaker 1:During the forest search after Safta's discovery, one of the firewood collectors made a confession. He had seen the bones earlier, actually some weeks ago, but didn't report them. You see, he was worried he'd be fined for letting his sheep graze in that area and after this confession, he took the police deeper into the woods. Roughly 800 meters from the first spot, they found another body or was remained of one. A skull, three bones and fragments of clothing was all that was left. Police believed the remains belonged to Maria Beru, a 46-year-old woman from Rekitoasa. She had to disappear in August the same year after leaving to visit her sister in Vaslui. Unfortunately, no concrete cause of death could be identified, but Maria's family had doubts. They never believed the remains in the woods were of their mother. Her children pointed out that the skull had all its teeth when their mother, they said, had been missing one for years, and although later on they requested a DNA test, authorities declined, quoting the high cost for the DNA test as well as the sample being too degraded. To this day, maria was never laid to rest.
Speaker 1:The investigation in these murders didn't actually lead anywhere concrete. The investigation in these murders didn't actually lead anywhere concrete. The first thing the investigators noted was that the forest where the remains were found was very remote, hidden behind a hill and not visible from the road. Locals described it as a quiet area that had once attracted sex workers. It wasn't a place you'd come across by accident. So could the criminal be a local. This theory was ruled out quickly. As you see, the one responsible for this murders must have had a car. All women were hitchhiking before their tragic end, so the theory the police had was that the women were picked up, murdered in another location and then their bodies were left in these secluded locations. And, as we mentioned at the start, car owners were very few, especially in the villages near these woods. Four witnesses actually reported seeing a red dacia parked nearby the woods and one thought he saw a woman in the backseat, and although a sketch was made from their accounts, the witnesses had been drinking that day and in the end the lead didn't hold up. And that was it Three women murdered in the same area, similar disappearances and no clues or witnesses. So the cases went cold and four years passed without another case, but that was until 2004.
Speaker 1:On 20th of May 2004, 29-year-old Miwara Mania had just finished her shift at a bread factory in Berlan. The next day was her mother's name day an important celebration in Romania and she planned to visit home in the village of Šișcani. To get there she would need to hitchhike, so that afternoon she walked to the usual spot near a gas station and then she vanished. One week later, her body was discovered in Tatarang Forest near Hush. This time, the violence Miura had endured was more apparent Her blouse had been pulled over her head, her pants and underwear had been pushed down and one shoe was missing. She had been punched in the face and strangled, possibly with one hand, but unlike the other women, her jewellery was still present, but her coat and bag were never discovered. It makes you wonder has the killer almost been discovered? That's why he was in a rush and left without her jewelry. Unfortunately, heavy rains had washed away most of the forensic evidence. It wasn't even clear whether she had been sexually assaulted, but it was clear that, yet again, no one had seen or heard anything. So the investigation stalled and once again, the case went cold.
Speaker 1:For over a decade, the Romanian cases remained unsolved, files just gathered dust and the families were left waiting for an answer. Then, unexpectedly, came a break, but not in Romania. This time it was in Germany. On 2nd of June 2017, a 41-year-old Romanian man named Cătălin Ciolpan was arrested by German authorities, not in connection with the Husch cases, but for two murders that had taken place in Austria and Germany. The first victim was Lucille Klobut, a 20-year-old French student in Austria. French student in Austria In 2014,. While walking home along the River Aisne, she was attacked, sexually assaulted and killed with a metal bar. Two years later, in 2016, 27 year old Caroline Gruber from Endingen, germany, went jogging and never returned. Her body was found days later, also beaten and assaulted From the get-go.
Speaker 1:The investigators suspected the offender to be someone who traveled for work. Both crimes occurred near highways and both on Sundays when commercial traffic is restricted. So a major task force was created and they had a mammoth task Review all vehicle data, mobile phone records and license plates traveling in the days the two women were abducted. Over 4,000 individuals were screened. Katalin Cholpan was number 4,334. His phone has also pinged near the crime scenes and they later found his DNA matched the one found on both victims. He was arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
Speaker 1:After his arrest in Germany, romanian police were notified and reopened a series of old cases from the Hush region. They discovered that Ciolpan had grown up in Galats, which is not far from where the crimes in the early 2000s occurred, and he often drove through Hush area for work. He had also once owned a red dacia matching the witness description from the 2000, and was known to collect firewood from the same forest where the remains of Safta and Maria were found. They also learned that in 2005, a woman in Yash, which is a city close to Hush, had reported Chol Pan for attempting to attack her. The case ultimately went nowhere as, according to the police, there wasn't enough evidence to pursue charges. I wonder if it had anything to do with the woman being a sex worker.
Speaker 1:However, now with fresh attention on the Hush cases, romanian investigators finally took a closer look. They even tested a DNA sample collected from Miura's body back in 2004 and compared it to Cholpan's, but it didn't match. The result wasn't definitive. The sample had been badly degraded by time and exposure to the elements. Still, investigators noted the strong geographic and behavioral similarities between Cholpan's known crimes and the Hush murders. The evidence was circumstantial, but to them it was compelling.
Speaker 1:Romanian authorities officially considered Catalin Cholpan the prime suspect in the Hush killings. The pattern was very clear Victims who were isolated, attacked in remote locations and left behind without a trace. And many believe there might be even more victims who have never been found. If that's true, then somewhere in the forests and fields of Eastern Romania there are lives lost that may never be recovered. Catalina Ciolpan is now serving a life sentence in Germany, convicted of two murders and suspected in several more and suspected in several more, but in Romania, the families of Marcella, safta, maria and Miura are still waiting for answers, for closure and for justice. That remains unfinished. Three of these women were mothers. All were daughters, friends, neighbours just trying to get where they needed to go. They weren't doing anything unusual, but sadly they crossed paths with the monster. Thank you for listening to Clue Trail. If you'd like to support the show and get access to bonus content, head over to Patreon and join the community. Just search ClueTrail Podcast or click the link in the show notes. Until next time, stay curious and stay safe.
Speaker 2:Thank you, you.