He knew something was wrong the moment he read the autopsy report. It would take him nearly three decades, and an act that made international headlines, to get an answer.
On July 9, 1982, 14-year-old Kalinka Bamberski died in the home of her mother and stepfather, Dr. Dieter Krombach, in Lindau, Germany. Her father, André Bamberski, spent the next 27 years pursuing justice for her death — a pursuit that eventually led him to have his daughter's stepfather forcibly abducted and delivered to French authorities.
A Sudden, Unexplained Death
Kalinka, a French teenager attending boarding school in Germany, was spending the summer with her mother, Danièle, and stepfather, Dr. Dieter Krombach, a respected local physician. On the night of July 9, Krombach gave her an injection he said was an iron supplement. The next morning, he told authorities he'd simply found her dead.
An initial German investigation closed the case without bringing charges, citing insufficient evidence. When André later obtained and translated the autopsy report, he found troubling details: multiple injection marks on Kalinka's body, tearing in her genital area, and an unidentified fluid found on her legs that was never forensically tested. In a further blow to the case, Kalinka's sex organs were removed during the original autopsy and subsequently lost, permanently eliminating physical evidence that might have proven what happened to her.
A Father's Pursuit Begins
Convinced his daughter had been drugged and sexually assaulted before dying, André pushed for further investigation. German courts repeatedly declined to bring charges, citing a lack of definitive proof. In 1983, he began distributing flyers in Lindau publicly accusing Krombach of rape and murder — an act that led Krombach to successfully sue him for defamation, a judgment André never paid.
In 1995, French courts tried Krombach in absentia and convicted him of involuntary manslaughter, sentencing him to 15 years. Because he remained in Germany, and Germany does not extradite its own citizens, the sentence couldn't be enforced. That conviction was later overturned by the European Court of Human Rights on procedural grounds.
A Pattern Emerges
In 1997, separate from Kalinka's case, Krombach was charged and convicted of drugging and raping a 16-year-old patient in his office, resulting in a suspended sentence and the loss of his medical license. Over the years, additional women came forward with similar accusations against him; by the time of his eventual trial for Kalinka's death, roughly a dozen other accusers had described comparable experiences.
The Abduction
By 2009, with legal avenues in both countries effectively exhausted, André arranged to have Krombach forcibly taken from his home in Germany and left, bound, near a police station in Mulhouse, France, where authorities could find him. André was later given a one-year suspended sentence in France for his role in the abduction — a legal consequence he'd anticipated and accepted as the price of finally getting his daughter's case in front of a French court.
Trial and Conviction
With Krombach now in French custody, prosecutors were able to bring him to trial. In October 2011, a French court convicted him of causing intentional bodily harm resulting in unintentional death and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. The conviction was upheld on appeal in 2012, and the European Court of Human Rights rejected Krombach's final challenge to the verdict in 2018.
Release and Death
Krombach was released from prison in February 2020 on medical grounds after health issues. He died seven months later, on September 12, 2020, at a nursing home in Germany.
A Netflix Documentary
In 2022, Netflix released "My Daughter's Killer," a documentary examining the case in detail, which brought the story to a much wider international audience and renewed public interest in André Bamberski's decades-long pursuit of accountability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Dieter Krombach ever convicted of murder?
No. He was convicted in 2011 of causing intentional bodily harm resulting in unintentional death — a lesser charge than murder, reflecting that prosecutors couldn't prove he intended to kill Kalinka.
What happened to André Bamberski for the abduction?
He received a one-year suspended sentence in France, a consequence he had accepted as part of his plan to force Krombach's case back into court.
Is Dieter Krombach still alive?
No. He died in September 2020, seven months after his release from prison on medical grounds.
Is there a documentary about this case?
Yes. Netflix released "My Daughter's Killer" in 2022, covering the case in detail.