Frauke Liebs /// Part 1 /// 679 | Forensic Files

the groundbreaking a e series 60 days in returns with a new season seven new undercover volunteers are ready to go
inside of one of the most dangerous jails and live among the inmates in the hopes of bringing reform there's only
one problem in this place there's nowhere to hide making the experiment more intense and dangerous than ever who
will fold under pressure and who will stay undercover long enough to make it to the end find out in a new season of
60 days in new episodes Thursday at 9 8 central on a e this one goes out to all you craft real
male lovers to the sniffers making excuses to run to the kitchen to open a jar and take a big woof and to the
dippers slathering their sandwiches and velvety smooth mayo and then dipping them in even more Mayo you just can't
get enough can you and I haven't forgotten the fry painters some say fruit some say chips but you all use
that french fry golden goodness to deliver craft real mail straight to your mouth let your Mayo free flag fly
thank you [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever
you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that would
like to remind you that organized crime is harder than it looks here is the captain yeah I'm stripping these cards
like Tim Riggins it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend
[Music] we are loving our selection for today's show today in the garage we are drinking
Clockwork by our good friends over at brewdog Clockwork is a tangerine infused IPA brewed right here in Ohio this is an
old-time favorite that is back for a limited time so don't delay because you will want to stock up now this is a
fierce Tangerine IPA that is hoppy and features honey Aromas garage grade four and three-quarter bottle caps out of
five and let's give some praise and thanks to our friends for helping us fill up our fridge for this week first
up a big shout out to Sam and Freddy listening in beautiful Denver and last but certainly not least we have a double
fisted cheers that goes out to Minnie and Michelle from Morgantown West Virginia everyone we just mentioned
Captain they went to our website truecrime garage.com and clicked on the Pint glass helped us out and for that we
thank you yeah BW you in beer run if you need more True Crime garage for your ear
balls we have bonus content through the Apple podcast app all you have to do is subscribe it's
5.95 per month and it really goes a long way to supporting the garage flying garage ship and Colonel that's enough of
the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
[Music] thank you [Music] this week's episode takes us to Germany as we examine one of Europe's most
mysterious cases [Music] a young nursing student froka leaves left a pub after watching a FIFA World
Cup game with friends and goes missing what makes this case so mysterious is the fact that she was heard from but was
never seen again for a week there was communication on more than one occasion she called or
text her roommate in fact there was at least one communique nearly every day for a week
some more terrifying than others all of this culminating into one very loud and scary end
to the phone calls that her family prayed for each day [Music] and then there was silence
and then death froca lieb's body was eventually found in a remote area called the death grounds
and some of the communications the young woman didn't seem like herself was it really her
[Music] and regardless why did the communication stop was this when she was killed
and just exactly who placed her body on the death grounds this is true crime garage
and this is the case of froaka leaps [Music] [Music] froka leaves was born February 21st
1985. she grew up in Lebec a small town of just about 26 000 people in Northern Germany she attended primary school and
high school where she studied education froka's nature was that of a helper so whenever possible she was the type of
person that she was always helping others helping other people even those she didn't know
after school she did a one-year internship at an institution for the disabled after this she decided to move
to a larger City and study nursing so she would have a wider range of job opportunities so she moved to a city
called paderborn or peterborn I've heard it pronounced both ways this Captain is
a city that is located about an hour and 10 to an hour and 15 minutes away from her hometown so it's not like she's
moving clear across the country she's moving to a somewhat nearby City froka made the move in October of 2005
and at that time she was 21 years old she was leaving behind her family of four her mother father sister and
brother all who would play key roles in our True Crime Story later of course when they are trying to locate their
loved one and it's not like she was moving to an unknown City to herself or that she had no connections there she
was going to be moving in with a a lifelong friend not moving there completely on her own as you said
Captain she's already established a place to live in this she would be sharing an apartment and paid
her born with Christos coriolis so Christos went to school with froka back in their Hometown and they had been in a
relationship back when they were both teenagers they broke up after four years together but remained really good tight
friends froka dated someone else after Chris but that had run its course as well and when she moved to peterborn she
was unattached so she and Chris shared an apartment at bortoner Strauss 56. that's the address each of them with
their own bedrooms but they would do a lot of things together here Captain they would grocery shop together socialize
somewhat together and cooked and hung out together sometimes but each was busy with his or her own life their own
schedule their own friends and their studies right Chris had a girl friend that he was seeing at the time and froka
had a Social Circle of her own froka had only been in peterborn for about nine months when our true crime
tale picks up during that time she was studying nursing at St Vincent's Hospital
froka was very outgoing and a confident young woman she was liked by everyone because of her
giving nature her friendliness and her acceptance of all types of people she made some really good friends
through her nursing program and enjoyed going to pubs and clubs she was a people
person who loved being around others yeah only in the city for nine months but developed some relationships close
relationships because one she treated everybody like they were a friend but it's a lot easier to move to a city
if you have won a job you're going to meet friends at that through that job and especially
when you're going to school with like-minded individuals you're gonna create a lot of relationships in a small
amount of time one thing that I think is key here that we should discuss and this
is something that we know about froka this according to all they say that she was not the type to go
home with someone that she did not know it's well reported that she was intimate
only with men if she was in a relationship with them a long-term relationship with them when we get to
the details of The Disappearance it will be clear why we went out of our way to mention that here now something that
could have direct ties to her disappearance she had a constant online presence under her moniker sweet Quarry
in fact she met a lot of her friends that way on various sites on the internet froka's mom said her daughter
always had her phone in her hand and that texting was her number one hobby later the lead investigator on her case
his name Rolf Osterman would say she chatted with God and the World online and his team has always suspected
that her killer may have come across her there yep we said killer that's because
unfortunately froka was killed at the young age of just 21 years old but first weird stuff almost hard to believe stuff
happened in this case let's go through the events leading up to her disappearance
this puts us at Tuesday June 20th 2006 and we have Ingrid who is froka's mom she came to town to take froka to dinner
Chris the roommate joined them and the three went to a cafe froka's schoolmate and friend her name
is Isabella text her at some point saying that her and some friends had a sweet spot at a local pub and the
football games were on that year Germany was hosting the World Cup and Germans like most people in the
smart countries love to go to pubs drink beer and watch football no matter the definition applied to the name of the
sport Germany had won its match earlier that day they defeated Ecuador three to nil
but the Sweden England match was scheduled for that night so after Ingrid left Chris dropped froka
off at the pub where Isabella and the other friends were this is The Old Triangle Irish pub in libori gallery
neighborhood of peterborg Chris then went home now Chris for whatever reason did not have his apartment key on him so
he took froka's key after dropping her off the arrangements were set he told froka he would wait up for her and let
her in since the external door to the building would be locked now this something
this is something captain that might seem odd to people here in the states that he drove to the cafe with the bomb
had dinner drops her off and then needs to take her key to the apartment because
here in the states we typically put our house in Apartment keys on our key ring with our keys to our cars or our
vehicles there they walk a lot of places and more often than not we'll walk so it wouldn't
be terribly uncommon to keep your keys separate he left his key at the apartment needed to take hers
and said he would wait up for her when she returned later that night and probably because Germany was hosting the
World Cup that more Germans were just more excited about any matchup and this Pub was packed and it was pretty Rowdy
for this event and Germany was one of the favorites that year they were one of the better
teams that year so there were high expectations for the Germany team the crowd at the pub like the captain said
they're having a good time it's a loud crowd they're engaged in the game froka's having fun with her friends
but she's also madly texting some guy named Niels and remember we have everybody telling us especially her
mother Ingrid said texting was her number one hobby right so she's at the party but busy on the phone we all know
that person this would have drove me nuts I would have said get off your phone be
present in the moment I I hate it when you're trying to visit with somebody and there's texting away it's it's a sign of
I don't want to be there I don't want to be hanging out with you well in her defense we'll say you know it's Sweden
versus England maybe her head's not in the game she's there being social but the person that she's texting is this
guy named Niels and this is somebody that was recently introduced to her so maybe she had an interest in pursuing
meals and this was somebody that in fact her friend Isabella who we already mentioned introduced the two of them
just a few weeks earlier so it's not somebody that she just met online she has met this person in person through a
friend through a good friend and it sounds like Isabella knew this kneels for quite some time before
making the introduction between the two and according to Isabella she thought that Niels and
froka hit it off real well and stating that their relationship was just as friends at this point in our timeline
now Niels was actually working a late shift that night so he couldn't be there in person
froka was trying to get him to come to the pub after his shift but he had plans to go out with a friend to shoot some
pool after this texting what we have here Captain she's on the phone so much I don't know how much battery life she
showed up to the pub with but all this activity on her phone during the soccer match
kills her phone's battery so her friend Isabella gives her her phone battery so she can continue to
text the two shared the same common model of Nokia phone remember nokias were pretty
popular in the early 2000s froka continued texting Niels after getting the new battery and even other
people now one thing we got to be clear here is we know that her and Niels were texting back and forth that night
law enforcement has said that froco was texting others we have never received information as to who those
others were right um we don't know if it was a whole bunch of other people one other person all we
are told is that it was Neil's and others during that game the game wraps up around 11 p.m and I
question this time a little bit uh but not not big time I bet you it's a little after 11 p.m and we'll get into that
very quickly so froka after the game she's going to want to get home and she even indicated to her friends
that she wanted to get home fairly quickly because she did not want Chris to have to wait up for her until the wee
hours right because he's got to wait up and let her in so she leaves after telling her friends
that she's going home on foot by herself that night and as we know unfortunately
she never made it home well it's something that we need to probably explain a little bit because
bar culture in America is a lot different than Pub culture over in Europe and I can't speak highly
of uh or I can't speak that intelligently on the pub culture in Germany as it's probably different than
England but in England a lot of pubs close at 11 PM 12 p.m they don't stay open until the wee hours of the morning
so this is not froka's final communication with a friend or a family member as we
talked about in today's trailer so at 12 49 a.m on June 21st she sent a text to her roommate Chris
the text says I will be home later the game was fun not against England smiley face emoji
ilyvm see you later so this text according to Chris makes total sense because he says that
previously the two discussed that they were hoping that Germany would not have to play England
in the first round right as it got later and later and froka not arriving home to the
apartment he tried to stay up he he wanted to stay up and let his roommate in eventually he has to go to
bed but before so he tries to call her on her phone and gets no answer So eventually he decides to go to sleep
with his bedroom door open hoping that if she does arrive later than planned that he would hear the doorbell wake up
and he could let her in and I don't think we have details of this call because right when
I hear that oh well the roommate trying to call her did it go right to voicemail
I'm guessing that it didn't just for the fact that it's never mentioned it just he place a call she didn't answer
correct and what we do have here this is one thing that's tricky about this case
is that the information regarding the text and the calls a lot of that's coming from the persons
that either receive the call or the text or attempted to place a call right rather than law enforcement so what we
have here you're exactly right Captain he may have tried more than once to call her but according to what Chris has told
everyone he tried to call her we don't know how many times and his simple statement is that he got no answer So
eventually he decides to go to bed hoping she would ring the door he would let her in that never happens
the next morning Chris's phone rang and he's hoping it's his roommate but it's not it's Isabella her friend looking for
froka right this because froka did not show up for class that morning at 8am so Chris is going to investigate he
finds froka's bad made and her room looked to be untouched and he didn't hear her come in that night knowing that
she would be locked out he quickly figures out she never came home and he says this is incredibly well out of
character for his roommate so this puts Chris into like instant panic mode he starts calling around he calls
froka's family remember he he had a relationship with her she's his roommate he went to dinner with her and her
mother the night before he knows her family well so he calls Ingrid froka's mother and
says look your daughter didn't come home last night I'm worried her friend Isabella
who I dropped her off with last night calls says that froka didn't show up for school this morning
exactly and Mom's now worried too because they both agree this is not normal for my daughter this is not
normal for my roommate and this is why the question of when she left the pub becomes very important because
if she would have left right after 11 it doesn't take her that long to get back to her apartment
so you get this text almost you know closer to 1am saying I'm going to be home soon
so then you go well if she left about 11 you got a two hour gap there in time exactly and here's the thing too
what we have here is we have Mom and roommate springing into action immediately we
like to see this in these cases and we even have the two of them calling around this is you know they're calling
even hospitals to see if maybe she was involved in some kind of accident or or whatever
mom decides hey I'm gonna call the local police force and report my daughter missing and
she doesn't get the best information that she wants right first they're saying you know you you need to call the
area where she's missing from and number two she's not been missing for very long
she's an adult she has the right to stay out all night and not come home to her apartment she doesn't even live with you
guys and so Ingrid decides to take it up a notch crank it up to 11. she called a friend a
personal friend on a local police force who then called an acquaintance on the peterborn police
so now we have Peter Bourne who they're going to kind of work it a little bit kind of work it on the DL but
all everything that they did that day checking any accidents reports and so on it turns up nothing
so again we have family and friends who are ready to spring into action they actually start putting up Flyers
later that very day uh and these are just Flyers saying you know asking for information you know call us if you if
you've seen her or if you know where she could be but Captain I think you're honing in on
something and and I like the cut of your jib there boy uh let's examine what we can about froka's walk home
that night the all triangle was located in the inner city part of peterbor whereas her
apartment was south of that so just about 1.5 kilometers so less than a mile away right
there were essentially two routes that she could have taken on foot I guess three if you were going to count
like one side road which would lead to one of the main roads that she would have taken
but two primary routes and a possible third but so the first would be via laboriburg cutting over to
woodiken Strauss so this is about 1.3 kilometers it's estimated to be approximately a 16
minute walking time the second was exclusively via that very hard word to say Road woodiken Strauss
also 1.3 kilometers again about 16 minutes just to be clear we don't need people sending us emails or comments on
mispronunciations of any of these locations we're doing the best we can and being as respectful as we can as we
are just two dumb idiots in the garage well I don't know that we're dumb idiots but we are two garage guys that
certainly yes we are flunked out of German in high school I did not actually flunk out I did take a one semester
I did not take any semesters the third route Captain was via wood fried Strauss this was the longest of the three
potential routes that she could have taken this is 1.6 kilometers with an estimated walking time of 20 minutes so
exactly what the captain pointed out just a few seconds ago right that this would have been a relatively quick walk
we have an estimated walking time of 16 to 20 minutes so let's highlight a couple of items here
before we move on the approximate time of froka leaving the pub according to our notes is
sometime after 11 pm that text to Chris her roommate comes through at 12 49 am remember we just mapped out 16 to 20
minutes walking time for froka there's a big gap there between that text that comes in
and the time that she left the pub even even if let's say at the far stretch of it right friends saying that
she left sometime after 11. nobody says she left at midnight or after midnight I
would believe that that would indicate that this is closer to 11 p.m 11 10 11 15 pm
not closer to midnight but let's say by some crazy chance that leaving after 11 P.M to them ended up
meaning 11 59 pm it's still would would not take her you know it still would not take her 50
minutes to walk from that Pub to her apartment it would take 16 to 20 minutes well no and again I want to take like
you said it wouldn't take 50 minutes for her to walk back home but also if you got back home in 50 minutes you won't be
texting at your doorstep hey I'm going to be home soon correct so we have a few options here of what could have gone
down one maybe the eyewitnesses were just completely wrong and it was past midnight
closer to one that seems unlikely to me or was there a pub on this route that maybe she could
have stopped at maybe she had some friends at maybe she knew some of the workers there
but we have no evidence that that happened well we do have evidence of is all night
she's trying to get a gentleman to come out and see her he already has plans so it makes me wonder did she decide I'm
going to go meet up with him for just a little bit and then I'll head home so what we have here Captain is on the
short side of it we are missing about 30 minutes of time and to the great extent of it it would
be one hour and 45 minutes that is missing from our timeline here that are unaccounted
for for our victim so much more to dive into with this case and so much more communication through the phone and
let's get back into this after this quick beer break [Music] foreign s want to give their children extra
academic support but it can be overwhelming and expensive to get the right resources IXL offers all the
learning tools your family needs on one site from pre-k to 12th grade making it simple to identify exactly what each
child needs to work on with students learning in virtual classrooms recently it's not uncommon for them to need a
little extra review IXL is the most comprehensive online learning program covering math language arts science and
social studies it's a safe space for children to make mistakes and grow on IXL they'll find videos lessons and
Sample problems to break down tricky topics when they get practice questions wrong they'll get clear explanations and
as they Master topics they'll get positive feedback to help them build confidence and have fun learning
memberships start at 9.95 per month so it's much much more affordable than a private tutor and more flexible IXL is
even proven effective by research studies Nationwide have shown that students who use IXL are scoring higher
on tests for a limited time True Crime garage listeners can get twenty percent off IXL membership visit
ixl.com garage today the groundbreaking AME series 60 days in returns with a new season seven new
undercover volunteers are ready to go inside of one of the most dangerous jails and live among the inmates in the
hopes of bringing reform there's only one problem in this place there's nowhere to hide making the experiment
more intense and dangerous than ever who will fold under pressure and who will stay undercover long enough to make it
to the end find out in a new season of 60 days in new episodes Thursday at 9 8 central on a e
this one goes out to all you craft real male lovers to the sniffers making excuses to run to the kitchen to open a
jar and take a big wolf and to the dippers slathering their sandwiches and velvety smooth mayo and then dipping
them in even more Mayo you just can't get enough can you and I haven't forgotten the fry painters some say
fruit some say chips but you all use that french fry golden goodness to deliver craft real nails straight to
your mouth let your male free flag fly with instacart you can get groceries and more delivered from over 1 000 stores
and 75 000 locations so whether you need a massive haul from a Wholesale Club every day essentials from your go-to
Supermarket or specialty items from your favorite local grocer you can get whatever you need delivered in as fast
as an hour you can even shop for pet supplies electronics and Sporting Goods in just a few clicks visit instacart.com
to get free delivery on your first three orders offer valid for a limited time 10
minimum per order additional terms apply [Music] all right we are back cheers mates and
cheers to you Colonel cheers Captain cheers to the people in the sides in the back
now what has to be said about this case is that the police were slow to take the
case on part of that is precisely because of the factors that make this case so intriguing we have
communications from the victim who at the time is just simply missing and may not be a victim at all as far as law
enforcement is concerned or there's no evidence to suggest that she's a victim of any type
of Foul Play so we have these communications that for the most part do not seem to indicate
Foul Play but those who know froka say differently the family and Chris her roommate told
the police that froco was reaching out in apparent distress now not from this first communication but we're going to
see additional ones that we are going to get into real quick but because the police were not involved
in the investigation the calls unfortunately were not recorded and thus had to be reconstructed from memory
we need to point out here captain that different Publications in Germany have different wording
but we are going to do the very best to give you the gist of what was said well right and again we know with eyewitness
reports there's going to be some level of error and that happens also when your ear witness right there again they're
giving these statements off of memory because there is no recording the text different situation that's easy to to
research and and figure out the wording so froka is gone for months before her body is found
but for about the first week that she is gone there are these what could be deemed as somewhat normal
somewhat abnormal and somewhat cryptic Communications via calls and text from froka before the silence
most of the communications were with her friend and roommate Chris so let's go through this communication timeline here
June 20th sometime after 11 pm she leaves the pub June 21st 12 49 a.m there's a text sent
this is the one that we've already discussed saying I will be home later the game was
fun then Captain we have nothing until roughly 45 and a half hours later so a lot of time goes by this is when we
got family and friends putting up posters they're looking for her they're calling people trying to locate froka
they get nothing but what they do get is 45 and a half hours after that text that
came to Chris there's a phone call this is on June 22nd Chris was at his father's house when his phone rang at 10
25 pm it was froka she says hello Christos I wanted to say that I am fine and that
I'll be home soon tell Mom and Dad and the others she hung up immediately Chris did not have an opportunity to ask
froka any questions about where she was or what she was up to or why she's been gone for so long
Chris who arguably knew froka better than anyone else at the time was alarmed by this brief call and he
went on to tell the media and law enforcement that for one part of it he he said that froka didn't sound like
herself she was speaking in a very monotone voice her voice was very flat he said that she was usually very
animated and she called him Christos which he says rarely happened that froco would usually call him Chris
and only used Christos when she was angry at him yeah it makes me wonder if this was a
recorded message I think that's a good point I I think what we may have here Captain is the chance that this could be
either like you said a recorded message or if she's being watched and maybe a script was laid out for her right
and any variation of this script that I've I I'm telling you that you can you can say
we're going to have a big problem and we can't it's difficult for us to sit here
in the garage and have any clue what the repercussions of that may be so yeah and and a couple things here if
if you're Christos is your one you're going okay weird interaction or lack of interaction on the phone
but you know people go missing maybe she went to a friend's house you know maybe there was an accident
maybe something happened I'll get the answers later tonight when I get home but but you definitely think that there
would be some red flags popping up in his mind oh yeah big time red flags and so he is immediately alarmed by this
call I it's weird right because there's got to be some relief balanced by that of alarm
there's relief because she finally called she's been missing now for like we said almost 48 hours almost two days
but alarm because she doesn't sound like herself and she's to me when I review that call it doesn't make any sense to
me and I and we can get into to the wording of everything but the actions that happen immediately is Chris calling
froka's family and he's like look I just received this call immediately they're telling him look we
understand why she would call you first and not us right because you're the roommate uh we are harder to get a hold
of than Christos is and she was last in communication with you she likely would be the first one to see
you would she return and on top of that they live in another city yeah he's local exactly so he he tries
to relay best he can what the wording of the call was and why he was alarmed by the call and they agreed that they too
were concerned about the call so now the family froka's family and Chris they all gathered together at the
apartment at froka's apartment to wait for her after all she said she'd be home soon
and unfortunately again she never arrives of course they're trying to call her cell right but those calls were not
answered and there's I don't think there's a lot of details on on when they started trying to call
her because look if I talked to someone and I thought the interaction was strange or
there wasn't interaction on the phone I might try to text that individual or call them right back but there's no
indication that that happened there's also no indication that that did not happen right so what I think here is
likely that I mean that we we are told that there are several calls placed to her cell by multiple people after that
phone call look if you talk to a friend on the phone and they they they call and give
you two they've been missing for two days and give you two sentences and then hang up and don't even say goodbye
I think I'm calling back right away right so let's review this real quick hello Christos I wanted to say I am fine
and that I'll be home soon tell Mom and Dad and the others hang up yeah here's my thing about the the Christos right
she doesn't call him that but if okay let's just say she's she's at this point we we believe that she was
kidnapped right correct I do yeah so the kidnapper is saying who are we going to
call we gotta call somebody oh we can call my friend Christos and that's probably what she would tell a stranger
his name right should use his full name she's not going to tell a stranger you know well his name is Christos but I
actually call him Chris and Nick or it could be by Design on her part to say yeah we're going to call Christos I'm
going to use the term Christos because it's gonna spark a red flag in his brain of why is she calling me by my full name
I think you're see that's where I think you're exactly right Captain because we know she's a smart young woman you know
she's educated uh she's hard working we know that she's personable she's outgoing
so she's probably a fairly good communicator what I'm getting at here is that those two sentences make no sense I
get what Chris is saying she called me Christos that's weird but one thing here that
is a possibility is is he saved is his is his contact information saved in her phone under Christos and not Chris right
and if this message that she's giving is scripted by someone else as you pointed out they would not know
that she calls him Chris they would only know that when her phone rang 40 you know hours ago when she was late getting
home never came home and he starts calling her phone it kept coming up Christos kept coming
up Christos if you are trying to hide something or if you are trying to scrub the trail and do that by
communicating the person you're going to reach out to is the person that was calling repeatedly
the night that you abducted this young woman yeah and the person that they last had text communication with I'll be home
shortly here's the other thing too the last sentence tell Mom and Dad and the others
I'll be home soon tell Mom and Dad and the others if I'm talking to my friend uh-huh I'm
saying tell my mom and dad and the others if I'm talking to my brother or sister I
would say tell Mom and Dad and the others right because we share the mother and the father
to me it almost looks like a couple things not just that the the person that that scripted this
did not know to call him Chris but also may have made an assumption that they were that was her brother right
so there's a bunch of things here and and when we cross-reference this communication that yes this is a phone
call and the prior communication 45 and a half hours earlier was a text but in that text Captain that to me seems like
that's her right there's the inside joke or the inside mention uh reference to hey
something we talked about earlier England winning we did or England tying I believe they ended up tying that game
right but uh enjoyed the game all of that seems like like very personable stuff some of it even personable between her
and Christos where this almost seems very disconnected from froka's life and Christos their relationship like the
person that put these words together does not fully understand the meaning of their relationship
yeah but riddle me this Batman if you're the kidnapper why let her have any communication at all that's a good
question because that's a psychosis that I cannot sit here and claim to have an understanding of because if you're
trying to buy some time right you make the call earlier in the day and you go okay well I'm going to be home
shortly I'll be home this evening so now you got this time period where people are going to be waiting oh she made
communication she's going to be home the early evening comes we can't find her we'll wait a little bit longer okay now
we start trying to contact her phone but it's so late that it's like well I'm gonna be home shortly it's now a very
small window that if she doesn't return home you're questioning this call anyways but
but I don't see what the purpose for the kidnapper would be rather than some like
that's why when we came back from the break I pointed out the communications because what we do know happened in this
case the police were slow to get involved because of these communications right so if that was the purpose of the
abductor allowing this to happen job well done it [ __ ] worked it worked and then now let's go back to
the to the sick end of end of it the psychosis end of it Larry Jean Bell who we talked at serial
killer that we talked about talked to John Douglas about he abducted two different girls and uh
for his own pleasure allowed them to communicate with their family members in fact he communicated with their family
members in conversation so it could either be to throw the cops off so they don't get involved like we
know happened here or it could just be some kind of sick fetish some kind of sadistic torture
that this person chose to roll out on this victim yeah it's a it's a mind it's a mind F situation
yeah and I also think maybe you have this person you kidnapped them they're now a prisoner
and you're trying to show them some good faith I keep telling you if you just do
what I ask you to you live right so in good faith you did what I asked you to do I'm going
to let you call home right you have a hostage situation what happens we need you to you got you got 20 people held
hostage we need you to send out one oh you you want us to send in food and uh you know this or that on your
list of Demands well we need something in trade we need you to send out uh two hostages and we'll give you this and I
think we talked about this a little bit in the Oakland County child killer case remember in that case one thing that
people were fascinated by is that all of the victims when they were recovered it
was reported that they were clean even though they had been missing for days and days and days that they were clean
and appeared to be well fed I've always believed in that case and we know that there's a huge sexual element
to that case I've always believed that whatever was being done to those victims part of it may have been in trade
saying okay yeah I look I don't want to have to fight you or force you to do this
but I will if I have to but if you if you make it easy on me well you'll get pizza for dinner you'll get to take a
shower uh you'll get clean clothes yeah you'll be able to make contact with the loved
one in this situation like you said it may be that they have promised look I I know
that you don't want to be here I know that I'm holding you against your will I know that I'm doing things to you that
you do not like that are horrible but if you don't make this any more difficult than it has to be I will let you live
and proof of that is oh here's here's the little you know just like you give a dog a treat here's the
little treat the little reward quick phone call to your roommate or quick phone call to person who was
calling you two days ago this is proof of of of my word of my handshake that yes I will let you go if
you don't make this any more difficult than it has to be well it could be also all three happening at the same
time yep you know I'm gonna make this deal with you but I kind of get off on the idea of you making contact anyways
but I'm going to control that situation too and by controlling that situation and having you do what I say there's a
type of gratification or there's some type of enjoyment that I get out of controlling
that situation and also maybe this puts the the police off for a little bit okay
great that gives me some more time because the more especially with a kidnap victim
you're going to keep that victim in your possession as long as you feel that you're safe and that nobody's on to you
you don't have to get to the end of do I release her or do do I kill her and have
to dispose of her you don't have to get to that crossroads until you feel essential a sense of urgency or a sense
of books uh or or the fear of being caught grows even more if that makes any sense so one of the in
this is very this is hardly ever reported on but one of the items we we've talked on this show about
extensively about when John Douglas and Robert Ressler would go travel around the country and interview these
different serial offenders serial killers who have been apprehended some of them
in you know locked up for years and they would interview them for hours and one thing that they learned from a
lot of The Killers the serial killers were things that the serial killer was trying to improve on with each victim
what he was learning from the first victim the mistakes he made and ways that he could make the experience better
for him with victim number two and make it less likely for him to get caught with victim number two or anything that
anything he thought was too risky with victim one of course they're trying to learn that
but one thing that is very scary that some of the serial killers this would be the sadist
that said this to wrestler and Douglas one thing they were trying to learn or one thing they were surprised of
with victim number one is it they thought they died too quickly or died too easily
some of the things they wanted to do to the victim they weren't able to do to them because they died
in the course of the torture and they were trying to learn how they could torture the victim longer before
they died and so that's one thing that we could be seeing here as well because what we do know about this case is that
she unfortunately whatever was going on whatever was happening she unfortunately
wasn't alive there's no disputing that for about a week after she disappeared now Roth Osterman who we've already
talked about the he would be the lead investigator on this case he would later say that this is when the the family
became aware that she was being held hostage that's when they first firmly believed that you
know what this is confirmation of her being held hostage she calls with a two sentence call and hangs up and the the
call doesn't make sense and and she's not responding to our calls right well done
again it's like the two lines I'm not that worried about it's the fact that there's it's not a communication
it's not there's no interaction right that's so bizarre I mean can you imagine you this person
has been missing for a couple days you've been worried sick now they're talking to you and and you say something
and they just hang up the phone that's I mean that that'd be very difficult the TV stations started showing froka's
photo at this time and the police they spoke with everyone that they could think of
this would be Focus friends co-workers and schoolmates to see if she could possibly have left town with any of them
they spoke with everyone that was at the pub that night they they did their best to
track all of them down and talk to them they go out and they speak with Niels the the newish friend that she had
and he says that he has no idea where froka could be on Friday June 23rd at 11 04 p.m Chris
receives a text from froka's phone this text says I'm coming back home today I'm in paderborn
or peterborn Chris got no response when he texted her back he again tells froka's family that he
received a text saying that she's coming home froka's brother Frank hearing that her
phone was back on he tries calling her and she picked up well let's see here here's
what I wondered too is so she again makes a short call statement I I'm I'm in paderborn I'm coming home
almost implying that she was somewhere else I was in another city now I'm here coming home
and I'm guessing that there was extensive amounts of calls back to her phone to the point where somebody said I
gotta let her answer yeah this is her brother Frank and here's how he remembers the call Frank
says that he said froka where are you what are you doing when are you coming home froco responds I'm coming home
today not too late I'm in paderborn or paterborn don't ask I will be coming home Franklin says where are you froka
says I can't say and then she hangs up the phone and he he would say her brother would
say that she sounded normal alert but cryptic almost like she's yeah somebody's watching her yeah
and so now we have the family who they wait in her apartment all night long again nothing
again I think some of this stuff comes down to maybe the kidnapper thought he was going
to let her go but he again wasn't that that crossroads yet and you once you get to that crossroads then you
have to he has to then fully decide he has to fully commit if I let her go what are the chances that this comes
back to me and the police are still not heavily involved in this case but what we have at this time is
remember we have her picture that's being broadcast on news stations and we have the police who are issuing a
statement asking froka to please contact her family the next call was to the roommate again to Chris this
takes place on June 24th at 2 22 p.m so this is two days after her first call to Chris
this is two days after and one day after the communication via text to Chris and
the uh phone call from her brother so note this is the only communication in the series that takes place during
daytime hours all the other calls and texts so far have been late at night and this call is again to the roommate
and it's focusing I'm not coming back so late I come home tonight Chris says are you hurt froka says no
I'm in peterborn I'm in peterborn I'm in peterborn and then hangs up the phone and of course anybody's going to think
that this is weird why would anybody mention the city Peter born three times in a row but of course Chris in Focus
family they're saying that they believe that this was some type of message that she's trying
to to deliver some type of message to them Chris did um sorry Chris did describe froka's voice as
sounding blurry is the word that he used and by this I'm wondering if he means that she was slurring her words or
sounded sleepy something of that nature right or or is he talking about the connection
again the big misstep here is that police are not involved they're not involved it seems like because of these
communications which is ridiculous and so nobody's recording these calls to me these communications that are strange
is an indication that we should be involved if this girl goes missing a couple days
later they're getting these weird Communications with the family at this point it's it's even more hands
on deck because look people call all the time hey uh a family member of ours didn't show up
to school today it's very unlike them please go okay well we'll take a note of this but hey
if you make contact with her or she shows up please let us know and a high percentage of missing person
cases That's How It Ends a couple hours later they find the person open and shut case
but what doesn't happen that often is these weird cryptic Communications so if the family then calls and says hey
you know remember when we told you our our loved one didn't show up for school well a couple days later we get this
weird call from her and we've had weird Communications with her if I'm law enforcement to me I'm going
ding ding ding ding ding this person is now endangered they're in a dangerous situation
all hands on deck because we still at this point we know that she's alive we have the possibility
if we find her we could save her and it's almost like in this case law enforcement did the opposite
foreign [Music] thank everybody for joining us here in the garage and sharing these cases on
social media and telling your friends about the garage podcast until tomorrow be good be kind and don't litter
[Music] thank you [Music] the groundbreaking a e series 60 days in returns with a new season seven new
undercover volunteers are ready to go inside of one of the most dangerous jails and live among the inmates in the
hopes of bringing reform there's only one problem in this place there's nowhere to hide making the experiment
more intense and dangerous than ever who will fold under pressure and who will stay undercover long enough to make it
to the end find out in a new season of 60 days in new episodes Thursday at 9 8 central on a e

Frauke Liebs /// Part 1 /// 679

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

On June 20th of 2006 Frauke Liebs, a 21 year old nursing student disappeared under very strange and mysterious circumstances. She was met with foul play sometime around or after midnight. That night she was out with friends watching a FIFA World Cup match at a pub. Frauke planned to walk home. After leaving the pub there have been no confirmed sightings of her since. But she did text and call her roommate several times after her disappearance. This is one of Germany’s most intriguing open cases. This week Nic and the Captain also discuss The Lonely Hearts Killers.

Beer of the Week - Clock Work Tangerine from BrewDog

Garage Grade - 4 and half bottle caps out of 5

Brief Summary

Froka Lieb, a nursing student, mysteriously disappeared after a World Cup match, leading to a complex investigation and alarming communications with her family.

Key points

60 Days In Returns. The groundbreaking A&E series is back with a new season featuring seven new undercover volunteers.
The Mysterious Case of Froka Lieb. A young nursing student goes missing after a night out, leading to chilling discoveries.
Missing Timeline. Froka's timeline reveals a gap of 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Strange Phone Call. Froka calls her friend Chris, sounding flat and unusual, raising alarms.
The Kidnapper's Motive. Discussion on why a kidnapper would allow communication with family.
The Captor's Ultimatum. A chilling ultimatum is given to the victim: cooperate or face dire consequences.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

There was silence and then death.

Describing the chilling end to Froka's communication.

4:58WatchJun 29, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.