March 2010

Police hope anniversary will jog memories

Caravanners could hold key for solving Simone's murder

Stories and photos by DENNIS AMOR

Lismore Tourist Caravan Park entrance

CARAVANNERS could hold vital clues which might help bring a killer to justice.

Police are still working closely with German authorities in a bid to close the case on German tourist Simone Strobel, whose body was found nearly a week after she was reported missing from the Lismore Tourist Caravan Park in New South Wales.

Last month marked the fifth anniversary of her killing which rocked the local community and sparked an international investigation.

Boyfriend Tobias Suckfuell remains the chief suspect and has refused several pleas to return to Australia.

The caravan park was full of tourists when Simone is believed to have been suffocated to death at one of the sites.

And detectives hope the anniversary will jog someone's memory and that they will come forward with fresh clues.

Detective Sergeant Matt Keogh told media: "There's a great deal of work that's gone on in the past in relation to this investigation but any further bit of information, albeit small, will be of a benefit to us."

To mark the anniversary, a small group of locals and people who knew Simone gathered near the spot where her body was found.

And Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell, who still keeps in contact with Simone's family in Germany, revealed she has a special reminder of the fun-loving girl whose life was tragically cut short in her town.

She said the family was overwhelmed by the outpouring of grief in Lismore. "That a community so far away could care so much for their daughter," she told the Lismore's Northern Star.

An inquest into Simone's death returned an open finding.

The hearing in Lismore heard that a web of lies was spun after police began investigating Simone's disappearance.

Entries from diaries belonging to Suckfuell and Simone were read to the coroner and indicated relations between them had deteriorated.

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The suspected murder scene
The area where the murder was thought to have happened

When death struck on a hot summer's evening

BENEATH the shady gum trees on a hot summer's evening in 2005, a fun-loving German tourist's trip of a lifetime came to a sudden and tragic end.

Police said 25-year-old kindergarten teacher Simone Strobel was suffocated to death after a violent argument with boyfriend Tobias Suckfuell and then unceremoniously dumped in a nearby park.

Her body was discovered six days later hidden under a pile of rotting palm fronds.

A polished stone bench inscribed with one of Simone's favourite quotations was installed near the spot last year.

It reads: "… defenceless I will be and vulnerable, I know, on the open sea and only protected by love, your love".

Simone came from a deeply religious family and had completed six months of a year's working holiday in Australia.

The carefree traveller arrived at the two-and-a-half-star Lismore Tourist Caravan Park, just a stone's throw from the city centre, in a hired motorhome with sweetheart of six or seven years Suckfuell.

Also in the party was his sister Katrin and friend Jens Martin, also from Germany.

The area where Simone's body was found

The area where Simone's body was found

After the murder, the stunned Lismore community opened its heart and festooned the spot where Simone's body was found with messages of sympathy, flowers and candles.

About 200 mourners attended a candlelight vigil near the site and the community even funded Suckfuell's flight back to Germany with his girlfriend's body.

Meanwhile, he made a scathing attack on police, accusing them of not acting quickly enough after he reported her "missing".

He still remains the chief suspect in the murder investigation.

Residents of the 75-site Dawson Street caravan park – a third of them for tourists – were reluctant to speak about the murder that made international headlines.

"We were all shocked that something so awful could happen here," one woman told Caravanning News. "It's something we'd rather forget about."

Another told us: "Yes, people in the park were horrified when it happened but it's something we would rather put behind us."