Murder of Frauke Liebs
2006 murder in Germany
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The murder of Frauke Liebs (February 21, 1985 – after June 27, 2006) is an unsolved criminal case in Germany.
Disappearance
On June 20, 2006, the 21-year-old student nurse Frauke Liebs disappeared under mysterious circumstances.[1] The last known sighting of her was at a pub in Paderborn's city center, where she and a friend watched the FIFA World Cup match between England and Sweden.[2] While Liebs was still at the pub, she didn't pay much attention to the game, instead she spent much of the time texting to a good friend of her nursing schools friend (Isabella), called Niels. Niels best friend Thomas had committed suicide the same year. Later on, she borrowed her friend's mobile phone battery, as the battery on her own phone had been drained. She later returned her friend's battery before leaving the pub at around 11 p.m. Since she probably had no more than threeEuro with her, she is believed to have been heading home on foot. The pub was about 1.5 kilometers away from her home.
At 12:49 a.m., her housemate received a text message from Liebs' mobile phone, saying that she would be home later.[2] However, she did not return home that night, and when she also failed to appear 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 roughly locate the calls, which all came from different industrial areas in Paderborn. About 24h after here first call, her brother Frank called her one last time. He harshly told her to stop her 'nonsense', unaware of her dire situation. During these calls, Liebs continued to say that she would return home soon, but did not communicate any information about her situation. She provided only vague or evasive answers to questions. However, Liebs' last phone call was on June 27 in the presence of her sister, who also talked to her. Her parents had been gone shortly from her flat. During this conversation, she is said to have answered the question of whether she was being held captive with a faint "yes", immediately followed by a loud "no". Contact broke off after this phone call.[3]
Discovery and investigation
On October 4, 2006, Liebs' skeletonized body was found by a hunter in a forested area next to a Landesstraße ("state road") near Lichtenau.[1][2] The body was found with the clothes she was wearing on the day of her disappearance. It is not known whether she had been wearing socks. Her mobile phone, handbag, wallet and wrist watch were not found.[1][2] Due to the condition of the body, 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. However, this has been determined based on speculations by the profiling unit. No motive for the crime has been determined. Over 900 people who were connected to the victim were questioned by the police, and the initial investigation produced a list of five initial suspects. All five were eventually cleared after producing reputable alibis.[2]
The case aroused nationwide interest and was among others presented on the popular television show Aktenzeichen XY… ungelöst ("Case number XY … Unsolved").