Inquest finds German backpacker Simone Strobel killed by homicide - but can’t say who attacker was

An inquest has found German backpacker Simone Strobel died by homicide in northern New South Wales, but was unable to say who killed her. It has recommended police undertake further analysis of two unmatched DNA samples recovered during the original investigation.

The NSW state coroner, Teresa O’Sullivan, delivered her findings on Thursday into Strobel’s 2005 death in Lismore in the state’s northern rivers.

O’Sullivan rejected a 2007 inquest’s finding of a “very strong suspicion” that members of Strobel’s travelling group were involved in her death.

Legislative changes in the Coroners Act introduced in 2009 mean O’Sullivan cannot find “an offence has been committed by any person”.

“I accept that such a finding would now be prohibited and, noting the conclusions that I reach elsewhere in these findings, I also express my disagreement with Coroner MacMahon in relation to that finding,” O’Sullivan said.

Last year, the court heard that lies allegedly told by Strobel’s then boyfriend Tobias Moran during the initial investigation had been given significant weight by police.

“I cannot be satisfied on the balance of probabilities [the lies] were due to a consciousness of guilt relating to Simone’s homicide,” said O’Sullivan.

The 25-year-old schoolteacher’s naked body was found concealed under palm fronds at a sports ground, less than 100m from a Lismore caravan park where she was last seen six days previously on 11 February 2005.

O’Sullivan told the court, as well as Strobel’s sister Christina who joined via video link from Germany, that the backpacker had been touring the east coast for Australia for six months with Moran.

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Moran, who now lives in Western Australia and attended Thursday’s hearing via video link alongside his solicitor, was charged with Strobel’s murder in 2022, but the charges were later withdrawn. He has always maintained his innocence and was paid $190,000 for legal costs.

The court heard that on the night of her disappearance, the group, who had only been in Lismore for a day, drank in a nearby hotel before returning to their campsite.

O’Sullivan said they arrived back at about 11.20pm, at which point there was an argument and Strobel left the group “alone and upset”. The state coroner said it was difficult to know what happened next.

Strobel was last seen by two witnesses at about 11.55pm walking across a roundabout in the area. “This was the last time Simone was seen alive by someone not involved in her death,” said O’Sullivan, adding several witnesses reported hearing screams about the time of Strobel’s disappearance.

Strobel was reported missing by Moran the next morning, and not found until five days later following a multi-agency search. A police dog handler found her body concealed in a bocce court at a hotel neighbouring the campground, after entering through a hole in the wire fence.

A 2007 inquest into her death held in Lismore found there was insufficient evidence to recommend charges, but concluded Strobel had been suffocated with a pillow or plastic bag.

O’Sullivan disagreed with this finding, noting neither Australian or German pathologists had been able to determine a cause of death.

“I am unable to determine the cause of Simone’s death,” she said, but added that Strobel had “died as a result of homicide by a person or persons unknown”.

O’Sullivan agreed with the 2007 inquest that Strobel died on 12 February, but disagreed with other findings, concluding on the balance of probabilities that the person or persons who killed Strobel likely did have a sexual motive and Strobel was likely sexually assaulted before she was killed.

She also found Strobel was more likely than not killed outside the caravan park.

O’Sullivan recommended NSW police’s unsolved homicide team undertake further testing of two unmatched DNA samples – a hair found on the fence of the bocce court and male DNA recovered from a black top of Strobel’s – to determine “whether any matches can be found in the future”.

Strobel’s killing has remained unsolved, despite the establishment of a police strike force and the NSW government offering a $1m reward for information in 2020.

The fresh inquest was initiated in 2019 after being requested by NSW police and Strobel’s family, but paused before any hearings could take place in 2022, after charges against Moran were laid. It resumed for five days of hearings in November last year.

On Thursday, O’Sullivan acknowledged that going through two inquests had been “an extremely difficult process for Simone’s family”.

“The trauma of losing a loved one and in these circumstances in a foreign country is unimaginable.

“I express my heartfelt condolences and wish that the Strobel family will one day know the truth of what happened to Simone.”