Who murdered Frauke Liebs? Germany's strangest cold case.
The following case drives me insane to this day and it will probably drive you insane too.
The Disappearance
On Tuesday June 20th 2006, 21-year-old nursing student Frauke Liebs and a few friends went to watch the football world cup match Sweden vs. England in the Irish pub "The Auld Triangle" in Paderborn, Germany. After the game at around 11pm Frauke said goodbye to her friends and started her 1.2km (0.75 miles) long way home. She likely walked home since according to her friends she only had around 5€ of cash on her. At 00:49am her flat mate received a text message stating that she would arrive at home later. She never arrived home. She was reported missing the next day by her mother after not attending nursing school on Wednesday.
The Calls
From June 22nd to June 25th her flat mate received one call a day from Frauke the first three between 10:30pm and 11pm. On Saturday she called at 2pm. All calls were shorter than a minute and Frauke mentioned that she would return home soon on. When asked questions she would only reply vaguely or evasive.
On June 26th there was no call. The last call happened on June 27th and lasted longer than 5 minutes. Much longer than the other 4 calls. During the call she was asked, if she was held by someone against her will. She answered "Yes", but then quickly said "No" afterwards.
All calls were made to her flat mate's phone. The last call was witnessed by her flat mate and her sister.
The Discovery Of The Body
After the last call the investigations stalled. On October 4th 2006 Frauke's body was discovered by a hunter in a ditch in a forest next to road L 817. The body was heavily skeletonized but easily identified by the clothes she was wearing when she disappeared. Her purse, watch, phone and wallet were missing.
The cause of death is unknown to this day but no traces of black powder were found. There was no sign of blunt force to the bones and the hyoid bone wasn't broken. Her hair was tested for poison, which turned out negative. Shooting, blunt trauma, strangulation or poisoning can most likely be ruled out. Frauke's funeral was held on October 27th 2006.
The place were the body was found
The Investigation
The police are certain that the murderer is male. The police think it's very likely that the murderer must have known Frauke. She most likely entered his car on her own will. In 2007 a profiling team from the state capital of Düsseldorf were certain that the murderer held Frauke captive in the area of Nieheim-Entrup, because the text message during the night of her disappearance was sent from a utility pole in the area. All calls were transmitted by other utility poles. The culprit must have moved Frauke by car at night to different places to make the calls. The murderer is suspected to come from the area and know it well.
All people suspected during the investigations have been ruled out by the police by now.
Sources