The case
Lucile Klobut was a 20-year-old French student from the Lyon area who was spending an exchange semester in Kufstein. In January 2014, she was killed near the Inn river. The case generated an extensive Austrian investigation but initially produced no conviction.
The breakthrough came through international police cooperation. In Germany, investigators were examining the 2016 murder of a 27-year-old jogger near Endingen. Evidence in that case eventually pointed to a Romanian long-haul truck driver. Austrian investigators compared the German findings with the unresolved Kufstein file and found evidence linking the same man to Lucile's death.
Cross-border evidence
Austrian reporting documented several strands of evidence: DNA associated with the defendant was recovered in the Kufstein investigation, telecommunications information placed his phone in the area around the relevant time, and investigators connected the circumstances of his travel and work as a truck driver to Kufstein.
By the time Austria brought its case to trial, the defendant had already been convicted in Germany for the Endingen homicide and was serving a life sentence there. That German conviction did not substitute for an Austrian trial. Austrian prosecutors still had to prove Lucile's case separately before an Austrian jury.
The 2020 Austrian trial
The trial took place at the Innsbruck Regional Court on June 9, 2020. The defendant denied killing Lucile. The jury nevertheless returned a unanimous guilty verdict for murder and disturbance of the peace of the dead.
Because the defendant was already serving Germany's maximum life sentence, the Austrian court did not impose an additional custodial term. That procedural choice did not amount to leniency on the question of guilt; it reflected the sentencing interaction with the existing German life sentence.
Supreme Court review
The defendant filed a nullity complaint with Austria's Supreme Court. On September 29, 2020, the Supreme Court rejected that challenge in a non-public session. ORF reported the decision on October 19, explaining that the murder conviction had therefore become final.
That distinction is important for the archive: the Austrian case is not merely an allegation inferred from the German proceedings. It ended in its own Austrian jury conviction, followed by unsuccessful Supreme Court review.
January 2014: Lucile Klobut is killed while studying in Kufstein.
2016–2017: a separate German homicide investigation identifies a Romanian truck driver and creates a cross-border evidentiary link to the Kufstein case.
2017: the defendant is convicted in Germany in the Endingen case and receives a life sentence.
June 9, 2020: an Innsbruck jury unanimously finds him guilty of Lucile's murder and disturbance of the peace of the dead.
September 29, 2020: Austria's Supreme Court rejects his nullity complaint.
October 19, 2020: the Supreme Court outcome is publicly reported; the Austrian conviction is final.
Current status
The Austrian criminal responsibility for Lucile's death is adjudicated. The jury verdict was unanimous and the Supreme Court rejected the defendant's challenge. His imprisonment is principally governed by the life sentence imposed in Germany, while the Austrian conviction remains a separate, final judicial finding.
Sources
Archive context
This case is included in the Austria archive. Related Austrian files include The Murder of Julia Kührer, Jack Unterweger and The 2020 Vienna Terror Attack.