Tristan Brübach was born October 3, 1984, as the only child of Iris and Bernd Brübach and grew up in Höchst and Unterliederbach, suburbs of Frankfurt. In 1995, when Tristan was ten years old, his mother committed suicide. Since Tristan’s father, who now needed to finance the family by himself, worked shifts at Frankfurt Main Station and Tristan spent a lot of time with his grandmother. He quickly learned to be independent and autonomous. Press often called him a “latchkey kid” or “street child”. He was alone most of the time and spent time with his rabbits, video games and soccer.

Initially Tristan went to Walter-Kolb-School in Frankfurt-Höchst. In 1998 he was in 5th grade in the Meisterschule in Frankfurt-Sindlingen. Teachers describe him as quiet and unremarkable. Tristan was frequently attacked by teenagers and even robbed, even though he himself tried to avoid any conflicts.

Tristan often spent time in the area around Höchst station in the surrounding streets of Unterliederbach. It cannot be ruled out that he came in to contact with a criminal environment without becoming part of that environment.

Police assume that Tristan had known and met his murderer previous to his death on 26 March 1998, but there is no evidence supporting this. Neither can it be estimated how intimate this relationship was. It is furthermore assumed that Tristan and the offender had arranged a meeting for 26 March 1998 and that Tristan went to the Liederbach Tunnel of his own accord. Tristan was living north of the tunnel so the underpass might have been a shortcut for Tristan on his way home.

Tristan was buried on 6 April 1998 in the cemetary Höchst in Frankfurt. Tristan’s father died in December 2014 at the age of 59.