Unravel podcast artwork
True Crime

Unravel

by ABC Australia
Explicit True CrimeSociety & CultureDocumentary

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DateCombined RankApple Podcasts
Oct 6—#197

About the show

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 repo

Latest episodes

  • 08 Lies in Lismore | BONUS Inquest insider speaks

    September 23, 2026 · 17 min

    Key inquest lawyer says other suspects weren't adequately investigated by police. Philip Strickland SC acted as counsel assisting the coroner for the recent inquest into the death of Simone Strobel. He tells Richard Baker that there's…

  • 07 Lies in Lismore | The black top

    September 8, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

    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…

  • 06 Lies in Lismore | Strange decisions

    September 8, 2026 · 42 min

    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…

  • 05 Lies in Lismore | Confessions

    September 8, 2026 · 38 min

    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…

  • 04 Lies in Lismore | An arrest

    September 8, 2026 · 41 min

    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 inv…

  • 03 Lies in Lismore | One traveller speaks out

    September 8, 2026 · 49 min

    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…

  • 02 Lies in Lismore | The lies

    September 8, 2026 · 43 min

    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…

  • 01 Lies in Lismore | The backpackers

    September 8, 2026 · 32 min

    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…