Simone Strobel Murder Mystery Suspects Dodge Extradition
It has come to light that two suspects who are sought in Australia for the 2005 murder of traveller Simone Strobel won’t be extradited from Germany. After Simone was strangled to death in February 2005, the two are accused of assisting the main suspect, Tobias Moran (previously Tobias Suckfuell), 42, in burying Simone’s corpse.
Surfer Moran has been granted bail after being charged with killing his ex-girlfriend and leaving her corpse near Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. Two passengers who were travelling with the woman and her boyfriend have received further arrest warrants, allegedly for aiding and abetting murder and obstructing justice.
The two are now 46 and 43, respectively, and they reside in Bavaria. Due to severe German privacy rules, their names have been withheld. Australian extradition will not be a possibility, according to German media sources.
According to reports, the Bonn Federal Office of Justice has confirmed that German law forbids their extradition. However, the two may face a trial in Germany.
When Strobel was slain, Moran, now 42, was travelling with Strobel, his then-girlfriend, as well as his sister Katrin Suckfuell and their friend Jens Martin.
After the New South Wales police obtained a warrant for Moran, he was taken into custody last month. He was remanded to jail after his July 26 appearance before the Perth Magistrates’ court and will be extradited to New South Wales, where he will stand trial in Sydney.
Despite the authorities offered a reward of $1 million (about $700,000 in the US) in 2020, the murder of Strobel, a kindergarten teacher who was 25 when she passed away in 2005, has never been solved.
A police dog team discovered her nude corpse on February 17, 2005, fewer than 100 yards from the Lismore Tourist Caravan Park, where she had gone missing six days earlier. The corpse of Simone was discovered draped in palm fronds. A 2014 book titled Have You Seen Simone? discussed her murder.
According to Australian media, Moran was granted bail on Friday, August 5, with the stipulation that he turn in his passport and visit a police station three times a week. He faces charges of attempted perversion of justice as well as murder.
The maximum punishment for murder in New South Wales is life in prison with a normal non-parole term of 20 years, or 25 years for the killing of a juvenile under the age of 18.
According to Australian media sources, German colleagues of the Australian detectives are still in contact with them on the two further suspects.
As they themselves had no fresh evidence, German investigators are apparently shocked by the recent events in Australia.
According to German media, there is currently no official investigative collaboration with Australia, and German authorities are unaware of any fresh information the Australians may have.
Simone is remembered with the following lines on a bronze inscription on a memorial constructed in Lismore: “…defenceless I shall be and vulnerable, I know, on the broad sea and only protected by your love, your love.”
