Simone Strobel: German backpacker's killer driven by 'sexual' motive, despite boyfriend murder charges dropped

A German backpacker who was found dead two decades ago was likely killed by someone driven by a sexual motive, a coroner has found.

Simone Strobel had been travelling with her boyfriend and two other companions in the NSW northern rivers region in 2005 before she went missing.

Six days later, her naked body was found hidden under palm fronds at a Lismore sports ground.

Despite an earlier inquest, the identification of several persons of interest and a million-dollar reward for information, much remains unknown about her death.

The findings of a second coronial inquest were delivered on Thursday.

While it could not name a specific killer or cause of death, it did offer possible insights into her murderer’s motivations.

“It is likely Simone’s killer had a sexual motive,” Magistrate Teresa O’Sullivan wrote in her findings.

“It is probable her clothes were removed for a sexual motive before her body was pushed through the wire fence and concealed under palm fronds.

“I am unable to find ... that Simone was not sexually assaulted.”

This differed from the findings of the 2007 inquest, which said Ms Strobel was not sexually assaulted and ruled out sexual or other forms of gratification as a motive for her death.

The earlier inquest also found she likely died of suffocation or smothering asphyxia at the hands of her killer, but Ms O’Sullivan was not able to find that as the most likely cause of death.

Instead, she delivered open findings that Ms Strobel died as a result of homicide by a person or persons unknown, while acknowledging this may not satisfy the victim’s loved ones.

“This has been an extremely difficult process for Simone’s family,” she wrote.

“The trauma of losing a loved one in these circumstances and in a foreign country is unimaginable, and the family still do not have the answers that they are so desperately seeking.

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

Ms Strobel’s then-boyfriend Tobias Moran, who now lives in Western Australia, was charged with murder in 2022.

But prosecutors opted not to proceed and the case was dropped, with $190,000 in compensation ordered to be paid.

Ms O’Sullivan would not deliver an official finding that it was “very unlikely” Mr Moran was involved in the death.

But on the “balance of probabilities” she believed it was unlikely Mr Moran and his sister Katrin Suckfuell were involved and unlikely he could have acted alone in killing and disposing of Ms Strobel.

The coroner recommended the case be referred to the NSW Homicide Squad’s unsolved homicide team and suggested they review male DNA recovered from Ms Strobel’s black top and conduct further DNA analysis on other evidence.

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