Claus Juergen Schroeder

Claus Schroeder (1959 – 2009)

Brief overview:

Claus (50), and his wife, Tanja, German immigrants, housed Kristina Adler and Yens Leunberg, while they negotiated the sale of their farm in Owvanuk, near Thornhill. On 14th August 2009, Claus went to the farm to meet with the couple and was not seen again. His body has never been found.

In March 2021, Judge Thembekile Malusi, said there was enough circumstantial evidence against the couple. A blood spot found on a VW Kombi parked on the farm, testimony from reliable witnesses and falsehoods presented by both the accused resulted in their convictions. Jens Leunberg (44), and Kristina Adler,(46), were found guilty of murder, as well as accessory to murder and fraud by the Eastern Cape High Court in Port Elizabeth.

“We have waited for so long to be where we are and where we wanted to be. We knew from the beginning they were involved,” Schroeder's wife, Tanja, said after the judgment.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

Additional Biographical Information:

"The State v Kristina Adler and Yens Leunberg The accused were charged with murder and two counts of fraud. The accused are both German nationals who befriended a German couple, the Shroeders, who lived in Gqeberha. They pretended that they had sufficient money to purchase a farm from the Shroeders and moved onto the farm whilst the purchase deal was underway. Over a period of one year, they made several false representations to the Shroeders as to why the purchase price for the farm was not forthcoming. On 14 August 2009, Mr Shroeder went to the farm to meet with the accused and was not seen again. The deceased’s body was never found, and the entire case was based on circumstantial evidence. The trial started on 2 March 2015 and lasted 172 days – it was eventually finalised on 13 August 2021. Mutual legal assistance was requested from Germany and Switzerland; the evidence was received and eventually accepted by the court. Kristina Adler was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment on the count of murder as accessory after the fact and 10 years’ imprisonment on each of two counts of fraud. Yens Leunberg was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for murder and 13 years’ imprisonment on each count of fraud." *https://www.npa.gov.za/sites/default/files/uploads/NPA%20NDPP%20Ann... (NPA report)

Links to Media articles:

• https://archive.is/IPCoU
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Oct 9 2023, 14:12:47 UTC