After being extradited from Perth, the ex-boyfriend of a deceased backpacker who was killed in northern NSW 17 years ago was charged with her murder.
Police claim Tobias Moran, a German-born man formerly known as Tobias Suckfuell, killed his 25-year-old fiancée and fellow countryman in 2005 and then hid her naked body among some palm fronds.
The 42-year-old was suddenly detained on Tuesday in Perth after his teen sweetheart Simone Strobel’s rotting body was discovered close to their Lismore campsite.
Mr. Moran arrived at Sydney Domestic Airport on Wednesday at around 5:10 p.m. after detectives gained authorization to extradite him to New South Wales.
The suspect was led to Sydney’s Mascot Police Station, where he was formally charged with the horrifying murder and perverting the course of justice.
In order for Mr. Moran to appear in Downing Center Local Court on Thursday, bail was denied.
He has consistently denied any participation in Ms. Strobel’s death and has never before been accused of her murder.
The 25-year-old traveller was a kindergarten teacher who took a more than six-year trip to Australia with her then-boyfriend.
However, in a civil lawsuit, a Supreme Court justice determined that there are “reasonable suspicions” that Mr. Moran killed Ms. Strobel in the Lismore campground in 2005.
According to WA Police video, Mr. Moran was arrested and handcuffed outside of his home in Perth’s affluent City Beach neighbourhood, where he had been living with his pregnant wife Samantha Moran, their two young children, and dog Mango.
The multi-million dollar fibro home is owned by Ms. Moran’s well-off parents, who reside in the same suburb and is situated on a street with a majority of upscale rebuilds.
Samantha Moran, a yoga instructor, and Tobias Suckfuell wed in 2012 at his family’s farm in Altbessingen, southern Germany, roughly 30 kilometres from Ms. Strobel’s parents’ Wurzburg residence.
Samantha and Mr. Moran met in South Africa after Mr. Moran left Australia following the alleged murder of Ms. Strobel and lived a carefree nomadic existence surfing the best beaches in the world.
When they returned to Perth, Tobias Suckfuell changed his name to Toby Moran and resumed his high-flying lifestyle, visiting beaches in Bali and Mexico while working part-time as a builder and house husband.
Ms. Strobel’s decaying body was discovered shoved over the gate of a bocce court and covered in palm fronds 90 metres from the campsite where she and Mr. Moran had been camped with his sister Kathrin and her friend Jens Martin.
Following an alcohol-fueled drinking session involving the four German tourists in a nearby Lismore hotel, Ms. Strobel’s body was discovered six days after she went missing.
In order to attend the subsequent inquiry into Ms. Strobel’s death, neither Mr. Moran nor his sister Kathrin travelled back to Australia.
However, Jens Martin did appear in court and stated that all three had lied to authorities about their activities prior to Ms Strobel’s disappearance at Mr Moran’s request.
Gustl and Gabi Strobel, the bereaved parents of Ms. Strobel, have talked to German media outlets throughout the years, claiming that after the murder of their darling daughter, they have had “agonising uncertainty.”
Virginia Peters wrote a book titled Have You Seen Simone? about Ms. Strobel’s enigmatic passing.
In order to stop its publication, Mr. Moran obtained an injunction in 2014. He subsequently sued Ms. Peters and Schwarz Publishing for defamation, but he withdrew his case in 2017.
However, the defence requested the release of documents known as “the 100-page Document” during the discovery phase of the defamation lawsuit.
In 2017, Mr. Moran filed a request to ban these records on the grounds that they were protected by legal professional privilege and contained notes that he and Samantha purportedly wrote about the events surrounding Ms. Strobel’s death in South Africa.
The couple was looking forward to commenting on the Ms Strobel case in the future, according to Ms. Moran, who previously told the West Australian newspaper that they would not speak publicly before then.
The inquest was informed by NSW Police that they thought Ms. Strobel had been smothered, probably with a pillow.
The NSW government announced a $1 million reward in 2020 for information on the murder.
Detective Cameron Blaine was one of the senior investigators who located missing four-year-old Perth child Cleo Smith last year and was responsible for the Tuesday arrest of Mr. Moran.