Murder of Frauke Liebs
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The murder of Frauke Liebs (February 21, 1985 - after June 27, 2006) is an unsolved criminal case in Germany.
On June 20, 2006 the 21-year-old student nurse Frauke Liebs disappeared under mysterious circumstances.[1] At her last known sighting, she was watching the FIFA World Cup match between England and Sweden with a friend in a pub in Paderborn's city center. When she left the pub at around 11 p.m. her mobile phone's battery was empty. Since she probably had no more than five euro with her, she is believed to have been heading home by foot. The pub was about 1.5 kilometers away from her home.
At 12:49 a.m. her housemate received a text message from her mobile phone, saying that she would be home later. However, Liebs didn't come home that night and since she also didn't show up at work the day after, her mother reported her missing. The police discovered that the text message had been sent from Nieheim, a small city about 35 km north-east of Paderborn.
In the following days Liebs called her housemate five times via her mobile phone. Police were able to locate the calls, which all came from different industrial areas in Paderborn. During these calls Liebs continued to say that she would return home soon, but did not provide any information about her situation. She provided only vague or evasive answers to questions. Frauke Liebs' last phone call was on June 27 in the presence of her sister, who also talked to her. During this conversation Frauke Liebs is said to have answered the question of whether she was being held captive with "yes", immediately revising with a loud "no". Contact broke off after this phone call.
The skeletonized body of Frauke Liebs was found by a hunter on October 4, 2006 in a forested area next to a Landesstraße ("state road") near Lichtenau.[1] The body was found with the clothes she was wearing on the day of her disappearance. Her mobile phone, handbag, wallet, and wrist watch were not found.[1] Due to the advanced state of decomposition, the time and cause of Liebs' death could not be determined.
A case analysis by the police came to the conclusion that Liebs was probably held captive in the area around Nieheim and that the phone calls from Paderborn may have been diversionary maneuvers. No motive for the crime was determined.
The case aroused nationwide interest and was among others presented on the popular television show Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst ("Case number XY … Unsolved").
References
- ^ a b c "7,500 Euro Reward for Information on the Muder of Frauke Liebs" (in German). Joint Press Release from Paderborn's Prosecutor's Office and Homicide Division. Retrieved 1 January 2016.