What happened to Tobias Strebel? 'Botched' patient and Justin Bieber lookalike was found dead after he went missing in 2015
NORTH HILLS, CALIFORNIA: Tobias Strebel, also known as Toby Sheldon, became famous for spending $100,000 on cosmetic surgery to resemble his idol, Justin Bieber, but he tragically died in the summer of 2015. A year later, TMZ claimed that his cause of death was confirmed to be a powerful narcotic combination.
Toby, best known as the Justin lookalike in 'Botched,' went missing in early August 2015. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Toby, who appeared on the E! reality show, was reported missing on August 18 by Ramuado Espinosa. According to the LAPD, his absence might have been triggered by his boyfriend's breakup, but investigators did not feel the situation was suspicious. On August 21, he was discovered dead in a Motel 6 room in North Hills, California, at the age of 35.
How did Tobia Strebel die?
According to The Wrap, a coroner determined that Justin's lookalike and 'Botched' star Toby died from multiple drug intoxications. Toby spent $100,000 on cosmetic surgery in order to resemble the 'Sorry' music sensation.
Toby was 35 years old when he died, and he was discovered at a Los Angeles Motel 6, three days after going missing. Furthermore, Toby's overdose was unintentional, according to the autopsy report, with the doppelgänger having Vicodin, Xanax, alcohol, and the sleep medicine Temazepam in his system. More narcotics were discovered in his room.
Toby's journey on 'Botched'
Tobias, who went by the stage name Toby Sheldon, appeared on 'Botched' in 2014, when he discussed his love of music and his goal to look like Justin. "I want to look like Justin Bieber used to look when he was really young, and I just always bring the picture from him from two years ago to my surgeons and say, 'Okay, this is what I want to model myself after,'" he stated on the show.
The singer/songwriter's concern with his looks began with a wish to keep his hair from thinning at the age of 23, but as the then-pre-pubescent Justin reached the big time in 2008, he sought to modify his face to look like the celebrity. He had various plastic operations and cosmetic procedures, chopped his hair, and dressed like the singer. The reality star had attempted to begin his own profession in order to further copy his idol.
The wannabe composer from Germany apparently began his operations to imitate Justin in 2008, when the music sensation was only 13 years old. Justin was a rising YouTube sensation who had just been signed by Scooter Braun at the time.
Toby's large medical expense and ambition to look like the teenage pop singer made headlines in 2013, and he participated in the cosmetic surgery reality show 'Botched' in 2014. He then appeared on TLC's 'My Strange Addiction'. "When Justin Bieber got famous, I was so jealous of his good looks," he said on the reality program. "He had this baby face that I just really liked. I was like, ‘Damn, that’s what I want to look like!'"
Toby underwent repeated hair transplants to mimic the singer's famed adolescent fringe, brow filler, and grin surgery over a period of seven years to perfectly match the singer's young look. "I can definitely look back and say that all those surgeries were really successful," he told TLC.
'Botched' Season 8 premieres August 3 at 10 PM ET/PT on E!
