Man arrested in Australia over 2005 murder of backpacker Simone Strobel
A man was arrested on Tuesday in Western Australia over the murder of a German backpacker, a breakthrough in the 17-year search for the woman's killer.
The 42-year-old man was arrested at a home in Western Australia, police said, two years after authorities offered a Aus$1 million (US$695,000) reward for information surrounding Simone Strobel's death in 2005.
Australian media identified the man as Tobias Friedrich Moran, formerly known as Tobias Suckfuell, who was Strobel's former boyfriend. Moran made a brief appearance in the Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday, ABC North Coast reported.
Strobel was 25 years old when she disappeared from a caravan park after a night out with her boyfriend and friends in the small coastal town of Lismore on Australia's east coast.
Her body was discovered six days later, hidden under palm fronds at a nearby sports ground.
Despite a coronial inquest in 2007 and extensive investigations involving local and Bavarian police, officers are yet to charge anyone related to the killing.
Detectives will now transfer the man to the eastern state of New South Wales.
"Investigators are continuing to work with their international counterparts, with investigations continuing," police said in a statement.