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Published by ABC Australia
Lies in Lismore - the latest season of Unravel, the ABC’s award-winning investigative true crime podcast series. German backpacker Simone Strobel was on a dream trip to Australia in 2005 when she disappeared from a caravan park in Lismore. Six days later her body was found covered by palm fronds. Ever since that night, questions have followed her boyfriend, Tobias Suckfuell. He's always insisted he's innocent. Despite decades of sleuthing and undercover work, the police investigation has been tangled in lies, and no one has been convicted of Simone’s murder. Now there are new twists in the story. Has the truth been hiding in plain sight? Or did a killer escape without scrutiny? Acclaimed investigative journalist Richard Baker investigates who killed Simone Strobel. Previous series of Unravel cover various investigations into crimes and crime-related topics including solved and unsolved murder cases, missing persons, forensic analysis, gangland crimes, love scammers, con-artists, drugs, terrorism, neo-nazis, and miscarriages of justice — all investigated by some of Australia's best reporters and people who know the story best. In Season 8, ABC Journalist Rob Burgin investigates the disappearance of 27-year-old Queenslander Jack McLennan. Jack had been relaxing, drinking beers at a picnic spot, when his mate said he looked away, and when he looked back, Jack had vanished. Jack was fit and healthy, and even though he’d just been through a breakup, he seemed positive. But now, Jack was missing, and strange clues began to surface, hinting at his last movements. With online theories about the case spreading like wildfire, Rob sets out to investigate. Has there been a crime or not? He traces the fragments of that night through a web of small Queensland towns, where everyone knows everyone, everyone knows something, but no-one can agree on what became of Jack. In Season 7, Blood on the Tracks, award-winning Muruwari and Gomeroi journalist Allan Clarke spends five years investigating the unusual circumstances surrounding the death of 17-year-old Gomeroi teenager, Mark Haines. In 1988, just outside of Tamworth in country New South Wales, a freight train hits Mark’s body laying across the tracks. When the rail worker stops the train and gets out, the scene doesn’t add up. The tracks divide Tamworth in two. An Aboriginal community on one side, a largely white population on the other. Some will say it was a suicide and others a murder. Despite the strange evidence found at the scene of his death, the family feel like they're being ignored by police. An inquiry finds no answers and the mystery is left to fester, causing division and suspicion in the town. Allan’s reporting helps to spark a resurgence of interest in the case that sees the file reopened, a review launched, a reward announced. As Allan gets closer to the truth, the story ends with a revelation no-one was expecting, and the thirty-year-old mystery finally begins to unravel. Blood on the Tracks won a Walkley award for Coverage of Indigenous Affairs. This series was re-published with a bonus episode due to updates and advances in relation to the case. In Season 6, Mr Big, journalist Alicia Bridges investigates a disturbing recording of a man admitting to a murder. She finds herself in a world of lies, gangland and subterfuge, where very few things are as they seem. Her reporting leads her deep inside an international controversy, to a world of secrets that powerful institutions don’t want revealed. In Season 5, Firebomb, Crispian Chan investigates what really happened after his family’s restaurant went up in flames in 1988. He was just a kid when Chinese restaurants were being firebombed in the dead of night and a campaign of terror was underway in Perth. Thirty-five years on, most of us have never heard about it, even though it’s one of the few sustained and coordinated terrorism campaigns in Australia’s history. Crispian teams up with ABC reporter Alex Mann, and together they traverse the country to find answers and explore the darker forces that still lurk in our suburbs today. Firebomb won the ‘Best True Crime Podcast Award’ at the Australian Podcast Awards in 2024. In Season 4, Snowball, Ollie Wards investigates how his brother’s whirlwind romance with a charismatic Californian woman ultimately cost his family more than a million dollars. When Greg Wards met Lezlie Manukian, a beautiful woman whose world is full of glamour, he is immediately drawn to her. They fall in love, get married and start planning the rest of their lives together - the only catch is Lezlie is a con artist. To find out who his brother’s wife really is, Ollie must track down Lezlie herself, and it soon becomes clear that his family’s story is just one piece of a bigger jigsaw. Snowball won Best True Crime at the Australian Podcast Awards in 2020, was one of Apple Podcasts' Best Listens of 2019, and made the American Bello Collective’ top 100 list that year. In Season 3, Last Seen Katoomba, reporter Gina McKeon digs deep into the suspicious unsolved disappearance of young mum, Belinda Peisley, who was last seen in the Blue Mountains town of Katoomba, west of Sydney, in September 1998. Belinda’s life descends into chaos after her 18th birthday when she receives a large inheritance and buys her own place in town. It’s a move her family thinks will set her up for life but, instead, the house becomes a magnet for a world of drugs and a crowd of hangers-on who visit day and night. Gina pieces together the stories and evidence around the six main persons of interest named in the inquest into Belinda’s disappearance and suspected death, and what emerges is a picture of a town and a case shrouded in secrecy. In Season 2, Barrenjoey Road, reporter Ruby Jones tries to solve the mystery of what happened to 18-year-old Trudie Adams after she disappears while hitchhiking home on Sydney’s northern beaches in 1978. Ruby exposes the dark underbelly of the seemingly beautiful and serene “Insular Peninsula,” uncovering a world where surfers run drugs home from Bali, gangs of men prowl the beaches and predators have unchecked power. Ruby will question why the case was never solved and her investigation will lead her to a criminal monster with links to organised crime and police corruption at the highest level. In Season 1, Blood on the Tracks, award-winning Muruwari and Gomeroi journalist Allan Clarke spends five years investigating the unusual circumstances surrounding the death of 17-year-old Gomeroi teenager, Mark Haines. In 1988, just outside of Tamworth in country New South Wales, a freight train hits Mark’s body laying across the tracks. When the rail worker stops the train and gets out, the scene doesn’t add up. The tracks divide Tamworth in two. An Aboriginal community on one side, a largely white population on the other. Some will say it was a suicide and others a murder. Despite the strange evidence found at the scene of his death, the family feel like they're being ignored by police. An inquiry finds no answers and the mystery is left to fester, causing division and suspicion in the town. Allan’s reporting helps to spark a resurgence of interest in the case that sees the file reopened, a review launched, a reward announced. As Allan gets closer to the truth, the story ends with a revelation no-one was expecting, and the thirty-year-old mystery finally begins to unravel. Blood on the Tracks won a Walkley award for Coverage of Indigenous Affairs.
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A fresh inquest holds surprises and examines the alleged confessions. A new investigation begins, with the police work in different hands — but will it find justice for Simone? The coroner points to a piece of clothing she was wearing on the night as a potential source of DNA evidence to help solve the crime. STATEMENT FROM GABI AND GUSTAV STROBEL Mr Baker's letter sets out Tobias Moran and Katrin Suckfuell's versions of certain important matters. We deny these accounts are truthful. Tobias Moran has admitted that he and his sister lied about matters relating to Simone's disappearance and murder because the police were not taking her disappearance seriously enough. We have never found that explanation logical or convincing as he told these lies on his first encounter with police, before anyone could have known a crime had occurred. The Coroner and Counsel Assisting described Tobias' lies as "persistent", "numerous" and "reprehensible". If Tobias Moran lied because police were not taking him seriously, what possible explanation do Tobias and Katrin have for their false statements being put to us now by Mr Baker, more than twenty years after Simone's murder? The accounts given by Tobias and Katrin to us about what happened the night Simone was murdered, or about the days preceding, were untrue. They claimed there had been no arguments and all was good within the travelling group. When we asked on several occasions if there had been any fights, Tobias said there were none. We learned almost two and a half years later they were lying to us about this. Later, when I asked why, Tobias said he had been forced to lie because the police were not taking him seriously. He did not explain why he lied to us. After Simone's murder he and his family nurtured a close relationship between our families which had not previously existed while all the time maintaining their lies. On reflection, we feel we were being manipulated. Our relationship with Tobias and the entire Suckfuell family ended at the Suckfuell home in 2009 when my husband and my brother asked Katrin to tell us what happened the night Simone died. She said: 'You can torture me but I will never talk about that night'. She then ran from the room and drove off in her car. Her attempt to re-write the words she used that day is untruthful. Katrin Suckfuell has not only refused to answer our questions, but to our knowledge she has never corrected the false and misleading statements she gave to police concerning events surrounding Simone's murder. To this day we do not know from Tobias, his sister and Jens Martin what happened the night our daughter was murdered. We can only rely on accounts they gave to the police which are so full of lies and inconsistencies we can place no trust in them. We are, and have always been, entirely at the mercy of what they choose to tell us, but there has been a consistent pattern of avoidance spanning more than twenty years, evident even before the three were made suspects. For example, the three attended Simone's funeral, but refused to attend her wake — as a courtesy the siblings were walked back to their car by a member of our family as they did not want to be part of the reception, and Martin also disappeared without ever introducing himself to us. This is why we would like them to come to our door and apologise and offer us a full account. Nothing would give us greater peace than receiving a truthful and consistent account of our daughter's final days and the night of her death. NOTE ON RESPONSES TO THIS STATEMENT FROM TOBIAS MORAN, KATRIN SUCKFUELL, AND JENS MARTIN Tobias and Katrin deny that they are still telling lies, and dispute various other aspects of this statement from Gabi and Gustav Strobel. The podcast episode contains further responses to this statement from Tobias Moran and Katrin Suckfuell. Jens Martin didn't respond to questions about this statement.
Parts of the police investigation seem confusing, even bizarre. Looking into how the detective work unfolded leads journalist Richard Baker to raise questions about the decisions made during the Simone Strobel case. He examines a crime scene analysis, and a strange 'quid-pro-quo' arrangement between detectives and a writer. Editorial note: An earlier version of this episode said that the West Australian Supreme Court agreed with Tobias Moran that the Virginia Peters book implied he was guilty. What the judge actually said was that an imputation of guilt is arguably capable of being made. But he said the book must be read as a whole, and it wouldn’t be straightforward to assess if the whole book conveys an imputation that Tobias was guilty. The judge said that Tobias had an arguable – but as he assessed it, not strong – defamation case. Credits Host and reporter: Richard Baker Producer and fact checker: Romy Sher Supervising producer: Alicia Bridges Special thanks: Chiara Holzhaeuser; Joanne Shoebridge and everyone at ABC North Coast Additional reporting: Cath Adams Theme composition and additional music: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell Sound design: Tim Symonds Executive Producers: Tim Roxburgh, Eric George Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
Multiple people are alleged to have confessed to murdering Simone, so why were they ruled out as suspects? Journalist Richard Baker hits the road to try to find them, and the people who heard their alleged confessions, to understand more. Credits Host and reporter: Richard Baker Producer and fact checker: Romy Sher Supervising producer: Alicia Bridges Special thanks: Chiara Holzhaeuser; Joanne Shoebridge and everyone at ABC North Coast Additional reporting: Cath Adams Theme composition and additional music: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell Sound design: Tim Symonds Executive Producers: Tim Roxburgh, Eric George Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
Decades on, police make an arrest and lay charges for the murder of Simone Strobel. But what is the new evidence they've found? Richard Baker tries to figure out what led police to this dramatic arrest years into the investigation. Credits Host and reporter: Richard Baker Producer and fact checker: Romy Sher Supervising producer: Alicia Bridges Special thanks: Chiara Holzhaeuser; Joanne Shoebridge and everyone at ABC North Coast Additional reporting: Cath Adams Theme composition and additional music: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell Sound design: Tim Symonds Executive Producers: Tim Roxburgh, Eric George Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
He's never spoken publicly about the night Simone disappeared, until now. Breaking his silence in an interview with journalist Richard Baker, he answers questions about what happened that night, and why he didn't tell police the full story. Credits Host and reporter: Richard Baker Producer and fact checker: Romy Sher Supervising producer: Alicia Bridges Special thanks: Chiara Holzhaeuser; Joanne Shoebridge and everyone at ABC North Coast Additional reporting: Cath Adams Theme composition and additional music: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell Sound design: Tim Symonds Executive Producers: Tim Roxburgh, Eric George Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
Simone's diary reveals arguments amongst travellers, police say they're being lied to, and the investigation into who caused Simone's death begins to narrow its focus. An inquest into Simone Strobel's death is eventually held, but some key people don't attend. Years pass and fellow travellers refuse to speak to the media, but investigative journalist Richard Baker learns one of them might finally break this silence and talk to him. Credits Host and reporter: Richard Baker Producer and fact checker: Romy Sher Supervising producer: Alicia Bridges Special thanks: Chiara Holzhaeuser; Joanne Shoebridge and everyone at ABC North Coast Additional reporting: Cath Adams Theme composition and additional music: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell Sound design: Tim Symonds Executive Producers: Tim Roxburgh, Eric George Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
On a dream trip to Australia, Simone disappears. Her boyfriend Tobias reports her missing, and the search begins. Six days later Simone Strobel's body is found under palm fronds just a short distance away. It's clear her death is no accident and her boyfriend, Tobias Suckfuell, is questioned by police. It's been more than 20 years, and still no one has been found responsible for Simone's murder. Investigative journalist Richard Baker wants to know why. Richard attempts to unravel the truth about what happened to Simone in Lismore that night in 2005, amongst a tangle of decades-old lies. Credits Host and reporter: Richard Baker Producer and fact checker: Romy Sher Supervising producer: Alicia Bridges Special thanks: Chiara Holzhaeuser; Joanne Shoebridge and everyone at ABC North Coast Additional reporting: Cath Adams Theme composition and additional music: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell Sound design: Tim Symonds Executive Producers: Tim Roxburgh, Eric George Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
Simone Strobel was 25 and travelling in Australia when she disappeared from a Lismore caravan park. Six days later, her body was found hidden under palm fronds. Ever since, questions have followed her boyfriend, Tobias Suckfuell, who's always insisted that he's innocent. But the truth is difficult to find when lies are layered upon lies. Now there are new twists in the story, and more potential suspects coming into focus. Has the truth been hiding in plain sight? Or did a killer escape without scrutiny? Acclaimed investigative journalist Richard Baker investigates. Credits Host and reporter: Richard Baker Producer and fact checker: Romy Sher Supervising producer: Alicia Bridges Special thanks to: Chiara Holzhaeuser; Joanne Shoebridge and everyone at ABC North Coast Theme composition and additional music: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell Sound design: Tim Symonds Executive Producers: Tim Roxburgh, Eric George Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn Additional reporting: Cath Adams
After almost forty years, two inquests and because of one family that never gave up, the Coroner has finally delivered her findings into the death of Gomeroi teenager Mark Anthony Haines. Journalist Allan Clarke has spent close to a decade investigating Mark's death. His Walkley Award-winning coverage for the ABC reignited public attention on the case and helped drive it to this final inquest. Allan reflects on the findings and what it means to reach the end of a story he's carried for so long.
Journalist Rob Burgin breaks down his approach to investigating What Became of Jack? with Stephen Stockwell, host of the ABC's true crime podcast, "The Case Of." Stocky asks Rob about the challenges he had reporting the story, what he thinks of the evidence, and what's next for the people at its centre.
A new theory emerges from tip-offs coming in to ABC journalist Rob Burgin. Rob investigates two cars spotted at Ficks Crossing the night Jack McLennan disappeared, hoping it might lead him to an understanding of what became of Jack.
The last known person to see Jack alive finally breaks his silence. Chris Duke speaks in detail for the first time, laying out his version of what happened the night Jack McLennan vanished and revealing new details about Jack's last known moments.
Jack’s mum gets a shocking tip-off from a scared community member. With the rumour mill in overdrive, ABC journalist Rob Burgin tries to decipher what’s true and what’s not about the disappearance of Jack McLennan.
One of the last places Jack was seen was a house in Wondai. Rob goes there, despite being told the people inside that night have links to the region's darker side, to investigate why Jack visited that night and what happened after he left.
Rob retraces Jack's final hours via CCTV footage and meeting people who saw him in his last days. He also learns about another item found in Jack's wallet that reveals a different side to what went on that night. And finally, ABC journalist Rob Burgin gets a call through to the last known person to see Jack alive, and he agrees to speak publicly for the first time.
The day he vanished, Jack moved his stuff out of Carlee's place. They'd just broken up. Carlee hasn't spoken publicly about what led up to that day or why she called police twice in the days before Jack disappeared — until now. She thinks Jack's disappearance is suspicious, but tells ABC journalist Rob Burgin how speculation, rumours and aggression have flooded the vacuum of information around what happened to Jack.
When Jack's mate turns around, he's just… gone. Vanished. His mate says that's how fit 27-year-old Jack McLennan disappeared from a bush picnic spot 3 hours from Brisbane. But when searchers discover a trail of baffling clues, suspicions begin to deepen among friends and family. They start questioning what this is — it doesn't seem like the average missing person's case to them. Could it be murder? Is it someone who's just gone missing? ABC journalist Rob Burgin picks up the case, determined to find out what became of Jack.
When a fit young man disappears from a picnic spot, leaving a trail of strange clues behind him, a community begins to suspect the worst. The belongings he leaves behind are discarded in a way that seems nonsensical, and to some, even sinister. Is he missing, has he left town or has there been a crime? Concern turns to suspicion and online speculation as weeks turn into months, with no sign of Jack. Now, ABC journalist Rob Burgin investigates what became of Jack, tracing the fragments of that night through a web of small Queensland towns, where everyone knows everyone, everyone knows something, but no one can agree on what became of Jack. Coming soon, What Became of Jack?: the latest season of the ABC's award-winning true crime podcast, Unravel. Follow or favourite to be notified when the first episode releases. Credits Host and reporter: Rob Burgin Producer and fact checker: Jake Morcom Supervising producers: Alex Mann and Yasmin Parry Theme composition and additional music: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell Sound design and additional music: Emrys Cronin Executive producers: Tim Roxburgh and Eric George Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
It's 2025, and the NSW Deputy Coroner is holding a fresh inquest into the death of Gomeroi teenager Mark Haines, who was found dead on the train tracks back in 1988. As the inquest hearings spiral over a year a half, new witnesses appear with explosive allegations and police make surprising admissions. Allan heads to Tamworth and dives back into a story that's gripped him for over a decade. Will he finally find the answers to this mystery he's been looking for? Blood on the Tracks is the first ever series we made for Unravel, back in 2018. It is intended to be listened to as a whole, so we encourage you to go back to episode 1 and listen to the entire series. To binge more great episodes of Unravel, the ABC's award winning investigative true crime podcast documentary series, search 'Unravel podcast' on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you'll find previous series covering various crimes and crime-related topics including solved and unsolved murder cases, forensic analysis, gangland crimes, love scammers, con-artists, drugs, terrorism, neo-nazis, and miscarriages of justice — all investigated by some of Australia's best reporters and people who know the story best.
Years of investigation have led to this moment … a major breakthrough in the case, a potential answer to thirty years of mystery and pain for the Haines family. An alleged confession has revealed who might have placed Mark's body on the train tracks on that summer night in 1988. Now it's time to put the question to him — did he have anything to do with Mark's death? Will Allan Clarke finally have some answers for Uncle Duck? Blood on the Tracks is the first ever series we made for Unravel, back in 2018. But we're re-releasing it now with a new episode because the NSW Deputy State Coroner is currently holding a fresh inquest into this case. Keep listening to the end of this series to find out about the new information that's recently been revealed in the inquest hearings. This season of Unravel is intended to be listened to as a whole. If you haven't heard all the episodes, you shouldn't draw any conclusions, because you haven't heard all the sides of this story. To binge more great episodes of Unravel, the ABC's award winning investigative true crime podcast documentary series, search 'Unravel podcast' on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you'll find previous series covering various crimes and crime-related topics including solved and unsolved murder cases, forensic analysis, gangland crimes, love scammers, con-artists, drugs, terrorism, neo-nazis, and miscarriages of justice — all investigated by some of Australia's best reporters and people who know the story best.
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