For more than two decades, one unanswered question
has haunted the family of German backpacker Simone Strobel: who killed her during
a trip to Australia, and why has the person responsible never been identified?
Simone was just 25 when she disappeared from a
caravan park in Lismore,
New South Wales, in February 2005. Days later, her body was
discovered beneath palm fronds near a sports club. A black top she had worn
that night had been found on a nearby street, and years later forensic testing
revealed something investigators could not explain: an unidentified man's DNA
on the garment.
That discovery would become one of the most important
pieces of evidence in a case that took several dramatic turns. Simone’s
boyfriend became the focus of intense suspicion, was arrested and charged with
murder in 2022, but the prosecution later withdrew the charges. A court
subsequently found that the prosecution had been commenced without reasonable
cause.
The latest coronial findings did not identify a
killer. Instead, the coroner formally classified Simone’s death as a homicide by a person or persons
unknown.
The case remains a deeply troubling example of how forensic DNA evidence,
investigative assumptions and unanswered questions can shape a cold-case murder investigation.
And the unidentified DNA profile recovered from Simone’s clothing remains an
important lead.
A Young Woman’s Australian
Adventure Ended in Tragedy
Simone Monica Strobel was born on September 20, 1979,
and grew up on her family’s farm in Germany. Her family had deep roots in the
agricultural property, where her grandparents had established a business after
the Second World War.
She was close to her older brother, Alexander, and
younger sister, Christina. Before travelling overseas, Simone had worked for
three years teaching kindergarten children with disabilities in Würzburg.
Her family remembered her as sociable, strong-minded
and full of life. She had been looking forward to visiting Australia for a long
time.
On August 20, 2004, Simone arrived in Australia with
her boyfriend, with whom she had been in a relationship for approximately six
years. They held working-holiday visas and planned to spend about a year
travelling around the country.
The couple travelled along Australia's east coast in
a camper van, sending enthusiastic updates home. Their diaries, later examined
by German police, generally described an enjoyable journey.
But the atmosphere between them changed during the
weeks before Simone disappeared.
In January 2005, the boyfriend’s sister and a close
friend travelled to Australia to join the couple. The group continued
travelling together, but tensions became increasingly apparent.
On February 9, they camped near the Sandon River,
close to Grafton. Heavy rain affected the trip, and an argument developed after
Simone asked her boyfriend to let her and his sister sit inside the camper van.
In her diary, Simone described his reaction as an
unusually angry outburst. She considered it the worst tension between them
since arriving in Australia.
His own diary also recorded frustration. He wrote
that Simone was getting on his nerves and that the situation could not continue
indefinitely.
Two days later, the group arrived at the Lismore
Tourist Caravan Park.
Neither diary suggested that the relationship had
suddenly returned to normal.
The Final Night: Arguments,
Alcohol and a Disappearance
On February 11, 2005, Simone and the boyfriend’s
sister went shopping in Lismore. They later shared a beer at the Gollan Hotel.
The two men in the group went to an Irish pub, where
they drank several beers. At approximately 8:15 p.m., the group headed into
central Lismore with a Japanese backpacker they had previously met.
At around 9:17 p.m., they entered the Gollan Hotel.
Witnesses later described arguments involving Simone,
her boyfriend and his sister. Both women were reportedly seen crying at
different points. The sister eventually left before the others.
The hotel manager later recalled asking the group to
finish their drinks and leave. He also remembered Simone standing up, turning
and falling against a table. He did not believe anyone had pushed her and
thought alcohol may have contributed to the fall.
Council CCTV footage provided investigators with a
more precise timeline.
At 10:56 p.m., Simone was filmed outside the hotel
wearing a black top and a red skirt, with white trousers underneath. Fourteen
minutes later, another recording showed her boyfriend gesturing toward someone
near the hotel entrance. Simone appeared to pull him away.
At approximately 11:14 p.m., a service-station camera
captured the group walking along Woodlark Street in the direction of the
caravan park.
It was the last confirmed CCTV footage showing
Simone.
Back at the campsite, some members of the group
continued drinking and smoking cannabis. The friend and Japanese backpacker
played a didgeridoo.
An argument followed, and Simone walked away.
The precise circumstances of her departure remain
disputed in important respects. The 2025 coronial findings placed her departure
at approximately 11:30 to 11:45 p.m.
What happened after that would become the central
mystery of the investigation.
Two Witnesses Saw a Woman Near the
Caravan Park
At approximately 11:55 p.m., two motorists travelling
near the intersection of Dawson Street and Uralba Street reported seeing a
young woman.
One was a radiologist driving toward a hospital. The
other was Brett Groth, a school cleaner returning home after work.
Groth described a woman wearing dark and red
clothing. He also recalled seeing a man crossing the road toward her.
His original description of the man was of someone
approximately 40 to 50 years old.
The state coroner later regarded this sighting as the
last time Simone was seen alive by someone who was not part of the travelling
group.
Across the road from the caravan park were Oaks Oval and
the Continental Club.
A local man, John Stewart, reported hearing a woman
scream from the northern end of the oval at approximately 11:50 p.m. He then
heard men shouting. He described the voices as sounding excited.
At around 12:30 a.m., he heard another scream from
the same general area. This one was shorter, lasting only a few seconds, and
appeared to stop abruptly.
Other residents also reported hearing screams that
night, although their estimates of the times differed.
These accounts became significant because they
suggested that something disturbing may have happened away from the caravan
park itself.
Yet investigators could not establish exactly who was
present, what the witnesses had heard or whether the sounds were connected to
Simone’s death.
The Morning Search Revealed a
Disturbing Discovery
The group later told police that two members had
searched for Simone during the night. The boyfriend reportedly remained at the
campsite in case she returned.
The searches allegedly covered the caravan park, nearby
sporting areas and the outside of the Continental Club. The friend also walked
back toward the Gollan Hotel.
The group eventually went to sleep.
At approximately 5:30 a.m., a local man named Lyle
Margetts was walking along Uralba Street when he noticed a black singlet top
lying near the road.
He picked it up and placed it over a guard rail,
hoping somebody might recognize it.
The garment would later become one of the most
important pieces of forensic
evidence in the case.
At approximately 10:45 a.m., Simone’s boyfriend and
the friend went to Lismore police station to report her missing. They told
officers that she had become upset after an argument and walked away in the
direction of Dawson Street.
Police began searching the surrounding area.
Five days later, on February 17, Senior Constable
Timothy Brown, a police dog handler, was searching the grounds of the
Continental Club when he noticed the smell of decomposition.
He found a gap in a wire fence and climbed through.
Beneath two Phoenix date palms, covered by fallen
palm fronds, was Simone’s body. The location was approximately 90 metres from
the caravan park.
She was naked, and investigators immediately began
treating the discovery as a major criminal investigation.
The boyfriend was reportedly extremely distressed
when informed of the discovery and was taken to hospital by ambulance.
The search that had begun with a missing-person
report had become a homicide
investigation.
The Autopsy Could Not Establish
How Simone Died
Pathologist Dr Judith McCreath performed Simone’s
autopsy on February 18.
The condition of the body made it difficult to
determine the exact cause of death. The examination identified redness around
the left side of Simone’s jaw and neck, but it was unclear whether this
represented bruising or changes caused by blood settling after death.
At the 2024 inquest, McCreath said she had not
observed evidence establishing that Simone had been strangled. However, she
also explained that the absence of such evidence did not prove strangulation
had not occurred.
The available pathology could not conclusively
establish whether Simone had been sexually assaulted.
An entomological examination placed the likely time
of death within approximately two days of her last known sighting.
Investigators also examined the fence opening near
the body. A swab taken from the wire contained Simone’s DNA. Two hairs were
recovered from the fence and nearby area, but neither had a root suitable for
obtaining a complete DNA profile.
Investigators also found yellowish and blue fibres.
They did not match the colours of Simone’s clothing or the garments seized from
the three German travellers.
The camper van was searched, but investigators found
no evidence inside it that implicated the boyfriend. The lead detective later
accepted that point.
Despite the growing suspicion surrounding the group,
the physical evidence did not provide a straightforward explanation of what had
happened.
Why Simone’s Boyfriend Became the
Main Focus
The boyfriend’s early statements to police became a
major issue.
Initially, he and the others described the night in a
way that minimized the arguments and alcohol consumption. They also denied that
drugs had been used.
Over time, some members of the group acknowledged
that parts of their original accounts were untrue.
The boyfriend later admitted that he had argued with
Simone and had consumed more alcohol than he first reported. He also
acknowledged that cannabis had been smoked.
He said he had asked the others to support an
inaccurate version of events because he feared police were not taking Simone’s
disappearance seriously. He maintained that he became frightened of changing
his story once the investigation began focusing on him.
His explanation did not remove the questions raised
by his conduct. But a lie, by itself, could not establish that he had committed
murder.
The friend also told investigators that the boyfriend
had encouraged the group to give police misleading information. However, the
friend said he had no direct evidence that the boyfriend had killed Simone.
The distinction between suspicious behaviour and
proof of a crime would become increasingly important as the case moved through
the courts.
The First Inquest Raised Suspicion
but Did Not Solve the Case
A coronial inquest began in New South Wales in July
2007.
The friend returned from Germany to give evidence. He
described the boyfriend as controlling but acknowledged that he had no direct
evidence connecting him to Simone’s death.
Coroner Paul McMahon delivered his findings in
October 2007.
He concluded that Simone had most likely been killed
near the caravan park before her body was moved to the location where it was
discovered. He accepted a theory that she had probably been smothered, although
later medical evidence would challenge the certainty of that conclusion.
The coroner also expressed strong suspicion about the
boyfriend and potentially his sister.
Those comments shaped public discussion of the case
for years.
However, suspicion was not a criminal conviction, and
the investigation had not established who had killed Simone.
A later inquest would revisit the evidence, including
the reliability of the forensic testing and the assumptions made during the
original investigation.
The DNA Evidence That Changed the
Investigation
One of the most controversial parts of the case involved
DNA recovered from palm fronds covering Simone’s body.
Initial testing in 2005 did not produce a useful
result.
In 2012, German scientists revisited the material
using mitochondrial
DNA analysis. This type of DNA testing can help establish
whether samples may share a maternal-line connection, but it cannot identify
one individual in the same way as a complete nuclear DNA profile.
One sample was reported as consistent with the
boyfriend, his sister and a German investigator who had handled the evidence.
The result later appeared in a book published by
journalist Virginia Peters in 2014.
The boyfriend challenged the publication through
legal proceedings, but an application to prevent publication was refused. A
subsequent defamation case was settled and dismissed in 2017, with the
boyfriend ordered to pay legal costs.
But the palm-frond DNA evidence did not remain
reliable.
In 2019, a scientist asked by New South Wales police
to review the results identified substantial contamination concerns. The
available testing could not reliably distinguish the DNA of the German
investigator from that of the siblings.
Further testing was commissioned.
In June 2022, a report concluded that the
mitochondrial DNA on the palm fronds was not consistent with the boyfriend or
his sister.
The earlier claim linking them to the material was
therefore undermined.
The result mattered because the palm-frond evidence
had been used for years in public discussion about the case.
But another DNA discovery was waiting to attract even
greater attention.
The Black Shirt Contained DNA From
an Unknown Man
In February 2019, German police reported the results
of testing on the black top found by Lyle Margetts on the morning after Simone
disappeared.
The garment contained Simone’s DNA. Investigators
also identified a separate profile on its exterior.
The profile was attributed to an unknown male,
later referred to as “Unknown Male D.”
It was not a match to the boyfriend, his sister or
their friend.
Investigators also compared it with other individuals
connected to the investigation, including the man who had found the garment,
the Japanese backpacker and several local men who had been examined as part of
the inquiry.
None produced a match.
By November 2024, the profile had also been checked
against the national DNA database without identifying a person.
That left investigators with an important unanswered
question: whose DNA was on Simone’s shirt, and how did it get there?
The result does not, by itself, prove that the
unknown man killed Simone. DNA can be transferred in different ways, and its
significance depends on where it was found, how it was deposited and the
surrounding evidence.
Nevertheless, the unidentified profile remains a
potentially important investigative lead.
For a case with so few physical clues, an unknown DNA
profile could offer investigators a route toward identifying someone who has
not previously been connected to the crime.
The 2022 Arrest—and the Sudden
Collapse of the Charges
In October 2020, the New South Wales government
announced a $1
million reward for information that could help solve Simone’s
murder.
Police publicly appealed to anyone who might be
withholding information to come forward.
Then, in July 2022, the investigation took a dramatic
turn.
Simone’s former boyfriend was arrested in Western
Australia. He was extradited to New South Wales and charged with murder, as
well as attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Police said the case involved DNA evidence and that
the charges had been approved by the relevant prosecuting authority.
However, the case did not proceed to trial.
On June 14, 2023, the Director of Public Prosecutions
withdrew the charges. No detailed public explanation accompanied the decision.
Later that year, a Local Court found that the
prosecution had been commenced without reasonable cause and ordered prosecutors
to pay $190,000 toward the former boyfriend’s legal costs.
The decision was a significant development.
It did not establish who killed Simone, nor did it
prove that the boyfriend had played no role in the events surrounding her
disappearance. It did, however, make clear that the prosecution had not had a
reasonable basis to proceed in the way it did.
The former boyfriend has consistently denied killing
Simone.
His arrest had created renewed hope that the case
might finally reach a courtroom. Instead, the charges were withdrawn, leaving
the central question unanswered.
The 2024 Inquest Reopened
Difficult Questions
A fresh inquest finally took place over five days
beginning on November 11, 2024, at Lidcombe in Sydney.
Simone’s siblings, Alexander and Christina, travelled
from Germany to attend.
Detective Sergeant David Mackey, who had led the
investigation since 2012, told the court that he continued to regard the
boyfriend and potentially the other two travellers as the most likely
explanation for what happened.
But the coroner examined the theory closely.
Mackey acknowledged that some of the reported screams
could have been Simone’s. That possibility raised questions about whether the
fatal attack had occurred near the oval rather than at the caravan park.
He also accepted that moving a body across the area
during a night when people were still around would have presented practical
risks.
Another witness, Brett Groth, gave emotional evidence
about the man he had seen near the woman at the intersection.
Months after Simone’s death, Groth said, he had seen
the boyfriend’s photograph in a newspaper and believed he recognized him as the
man approaching the woman.
But his later identification did not sit comfortably
with the description he had originally given police. In 2005, he had described
a man aged approximately 40 to 50. The boyfriend was 24 at the time.
The coroner ultimately found that the two accounts
could not be reconciled.
The inquest also heard claims that two local men had
separately confessed to people they knew. Both men denied the allegations.
The evidence raised questions about whether
investigators had sufficiently examined other possible suspects during the
early years of the case.
The inquiry did not produce a definitive
identification of Simone’s killer.
The 2025 Coroner’s Finding: A
Killer Still Unknown
On November 6, 2025, State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan
delivered the findings of the fresh inquest.
She concluded that Simone died on February 12, 2005,
near the Continental Club, and that the fatal incident occurred outside the
caravan park.
She rejected the earlier finding that Simone had been
smothered, explaining that the available evidence did not allow a reliable
cause of death to be determined.
The coroner considered that the killer may have had a
sexual motive and that Simone’s clothing had probably been removed before her
body was pushed through the fence.
But she did not identify the person responsible.
She found it unlikely that the boyfriend’s sister and
the friend had been involved. She also considered it unlikely that the
boyfriend had acted alone.
Importantly, the coroner did not accept that the
boyfriend’s lies were enough to establish that he was guilty. His misleading
statements had directed attention toward the German group and complicated the
investigation, but she could not be satisfied that those lies demonstrated
responsibility for the killing.
Her formal conclusion was homicide by a person or persons
unknown.
The finding was devastating for a family that had
spent years waiting for a clear answer.
It also meant the case would remain open as an
unsolved homicide.
The Former Boyfriend Finally Spoke
Publicly
In January 2026, the former boyfriend gave his first
interview since 2005 to the ABC’s Unravel
podcast.
He again denied killing Simone.
He acknowledged making mistakes and said he wanted to
take responsibility for his actions, but maintained that he was not a murderer.
He argued that the investigation had become focused
on a theory and that important evidence had not received sufficient attention.
He also called for an apology from New South Wales
police.
The lawyer assisting the coroner, Philip Strickland,
offered a more complex assessment of the investigation. He said police had made
a substantial effort and had been right to investigate the boyfriend
thoroughly.
However, Strickland also said that other possible
suspects had not received adequate attention at important stages.
One man who was alleged to have confessed was not
DNA-tested for seven years. Another was not asked to provide a sample until
2024.
Those details raised further questions about how the
investigation had developed and whether opportunities had been missed.
The Unidentified DNA Profile
Remains a Critical Lead
The black top found on Uralba Street continues to
stand out because of the unidentified male DNA recovered from it.
Investigators have compared the profile with several
people connected to the case, but those comparisons have not identified a
match.
The coroner referred the matter to the unsolved
homicide team and highlighted the unknown DNA profile, along with an unmatched
hair recovered from the fence, as evidence requiring further attention.
A separate DNA sample recovered from a blood-stained
paper towel outside the crime scene also attracted attention after a database
search produced a possible familial connection. However, the lawyer assisting
the coroner cautioned that material found outside the fence was likely to have
limited value compared with evidence recovered from within the scene.
Police have said a forensic review is underway.
The significance of the unknown male profile will
depend on what further testing can establish. Investigators may need to
determine whether the sample is suitable for additional analysis, whether it
can be compared with new reference samples and whether any result can be
connected to the circumstances of Simone’s death.
Modern DNA
profiling technology has transformed many historic
investigations, but forensic evidence does not automatically solve a case. A
profile must be interpreted carefully and supported by other reliable evidence.
For Simone’s family, the hope is that the remaining
evidence will eventually provide an answer that has been missing for more than
20 years.
A Family Still Waiting for Justice
Simone’s family has endured years of uncertainty,
public speculation and legal developments without learning who was responsible
for her death.
Her father, Gustav, previously described the family’s
disappointment after the murder charges were withdrawn. Her sister Christina
has spoken about the lasting emotional impact of losing Simone and the
loneliness that followed.
The coroner closed the 2025 findings by expressing
hope that the family might one day learn the truth.
That hope now rests partly on the continuing police
investigation and the possibility that advances in forensic DNA testing
could help identify the unknown man.
The black top that Lyle Margetts placed on a guard
rail was never simply an abandoned piece of clothing. It became a surviving
link to Simone’s final hours—and a source of evidence that investigators still
cannot fully explain.
More than two decades after she disappeared, the
central mystery remains.
Who left the DNA on Simone Strobel’s shirt? Was it
deposited during an innocent encounter, or could it help investigators identify
someone connected to her final night?
Until that question is answered, Simone’s murder
remains unsolved.
Anyone with information about
Simone Strobel’s death is urged to contact New South Wales Crime Stoppers on
1800 333 000.
Editorial note: This article summarizes reported public records, coronial findings and media coverage. The former boyfriend, his sister and their friend have denied involvement. The charges against the former boyfriend were withdrawn, and the coroner did not identify him or any other known person as responsible. No person should be presumed guilty without proof. The unidentified DNA profile is an investigative lead, not proof that its source committed the murder.
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