How a suspected heart attack turned into a murder mystery
ONE was a suspected heart attack that turned out to be cyanide poisoning, the other arsenic in a man’s beer — and only two people had access. These two rare SA poisoning cases are still unsolved.
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IT’S one of the rarest cases that appear in South Australia’s courts — poisoning. But earlier this month, a woman was charged with murder after allegedly fatally poisoning the food and drink of her de facto husband, Morphett Vale man David Lawrence.
The case of Wendie Dent, 59, of Dapto in NSW, will continue in September when she is again due to face court, after being remanded in custody on her first court appearance.
While popular with crime authors, poisoning cases are infrequent. But there are several notable murders in SA’s history, ones that remain unsolved. Here are two — the deaths of Brian Underwood, in 1991, and Clarence Greenwood, in 1966.
How a suspected heart attack turned into a murder mystery
FOR several months after his death, Brian Underwood’s wife, Pauline, thought it was because of heart failure.
After collapsing at his workplace in July, 1991, he was taken to hospital but passed away just over two hours later. An autopsy found he had an enlarged heart and a pathologist determined the likely cause was ischaemic heart disease.
Although devastating for his wife and two teenage boys, there was nothing to suggest anything sinister about Brian’s death. However, that would change a month later when two drug squad detectives made an unusual discovery.
While conducting inquiries in an unrelated matter, they searched the office and vehicle of a woman.
Tucked under a desk they found a loaded gun and, in her car, they found a forged receipt for potassium cyanide.
MORE: Man’s beer laced with arsenic, and only two people had access
The receipt piqued the detectives’ curiosity and, after further investigation, they discovered she had recently ended employment at chemical and food importer Craig Mostyn and Co on Carrington St — where Mr Underwood was working at the time of his death.
Their information about the woman and the receipt resulted in a pathologist being asked to re-examine tissue retained from Mr Underwood’s heart.
Detective Brevet Sergeant Michael Newbury, of the Major Crime Investigation Branch, said the results revealed Mr Underwood, 46, had died from a lethal dose of potassium cyanide.
“The symptoms for ischaemic heart disease and this type of poisoning are the same. At the time of the autopsy they were not looking for a poisoning,’’ he said.
Det-Bvt-Sgt Newbury said evidence indicated Mr Underwood was deliberately poisoned.
“A work colleague and his wife both told police that in the lead-up to the poisoning (Mr Underwood) actually had concerns about his personal belongings being interfered with at work,’’ he said.
“Police seized several things that belonged to him and, as a result, came to the conclusion he had been deliberately poisoned using potassium cyanide.
“It was a very specific thing, there were no other people there who were poisoned.’’
The woman has been questioned and remains a suspect.
“Although this person has been questioned, we have an open mind in the inquiry. There may be more to it that we don’t yet know,’’ Det-Bvt-Sgt Newbury said.
A devoted husband and father, there is no suggestion of a relationship between Mr Underwood and the woman but it is suspected she held a grudge against him over work issues.
MS Underwood and the couple’s sons were still grieving but cherished many memories of him. “Not long after Brian died, we looked around for photos. We did that again just this week,” she said in a statement.
“They were hard to come by. He was a man who loved photography but loved it from the other side of the viewfinder.
“He was a man who loved to tinker. He spent his evening, feet up on desk, speaking to people from around the world on his amateur radio.
“He was VK5 November Mike Sierra to them, connected via wires he ran through the roof, up to the peak of a large pine, and triangulated around a conifer of the same height.”
Ms Underwood said Brian was “the only man we’ve ever heard of who had a modem on a Commodore 64’’ computer.
“It worked once and his tanned face lit up as a world of imagined connectivity came before him,’’ she said.
“He was one of 11 siblings. He would come home on a Friday night, sometimes with a won meat tray in hand, and with a brother or two in tow and continue his evening over a Southwark Bitter from behind his rumpus room bar, where he would host the neighbours every Christmas.
“He was a backyard bowler to a son’s cricketing ambitions, a backyard builder to the handier son’s handiwork.
“He would have been a grandfather to two by now had not circumstance and 26 years intervened.”
Det-Bvt-Sgt Newbury said the case was now subject to fresh investigations.
“It is really unusual behaviour to poison anyone, it is a bizarre scenario,’’ he said. “There might be people who are aware of this case who might think they were poisoned, their dogs or cats or whatever.
“We are looking at whether there were any rehearsal or trial runs before this. Our concern would be that, potentially, Mr Underwood is not the only victim.
“Other people might know this case and be very familiar with the people involved and might have been chronically ill at the same time. They may have survived it.
“There may be other people out there who are also victims who may be able to shed some light on this for us.’’
■ A $200,000 reward is available for anyone with information about Mr Underwood’s murder. Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.