Murder cold case of Rachelle Childs has chilling connection to rape and murder of schoolgirl

Evil descended on a regional Aussie town when schoolgirl Ebony Simpson was abducted and murdered. Her case shares an eerie connection to the Rachelle Childs cold case. Listen to the podcast.

Rachelle Childs’ murder is eerily connected to a case that collectively numbed the nation with horror.

The car fanatic, whose body was discovered south west of Sydney in 2001, lived in the same rural town as nine-year-old Ebony Simpson, who was abducted and killed almost 10 years prior.

The stench of evil descended on Bargo, NSW, on August, 19, 1992, when the youngster was kidnapped within sight of her home after she got off the school bus.

Fears deepened as 300 or more frantic searchers failed to locate her that day or the next.

She was found dead on August 21, in a dam, her hands and ankles tied.

Ebony Simpson was a Bargo schoolgirl who was murdered by Andrew Garforth in 1992.

Rachelle Childs, whose burning body was found at Gerroa in 2001, was a Bargo woman.

Parents across NSW and the nation who had encouraged their kids to ride bikes or take public transport would no longer let their children out of their sight.

One of the searchers for Ebony was Andrew Garforth who, on the same day her body was found, almost casually confessed to her rape and murder.

He had weighted Ebony’s backpack with rocks, in choices so confronting that ordinary Australians would demand the return of the death penalty.

Instead, he was sentenced to jail for life with no possibility of parole.

Andrew Garforth, convicted over the murder of Bargo schoolgirl Ebony Simpson in 1992.

Former NSW detective Mick Ashwood drove with Garforth to the dam, where he saw Ebony’s pink lunchbox floating on the water.

Years later, Mr Ashwood belatedly digested the horror of those scenes he had witnessed as a young detective.

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He met Ebony’s mother Christine, who had started the Homicide Victims’ Support Group.

She spoke at a detective training course about the perspective of victims.

Joining her was Rachelle’s father Graham Childs.

She was found dead in a dam, her hands and ankles tied. Picture: Supplied

Mr Ashwood recalls the day well.

“I broke down because it was the first time I’d put my head into the world of the victim,” he said.

“At the time you are running through a homicide investigation, on call, churn, churn, churn … it was only in the 2000s, 10 years later, it got to me.”

Rachelle Childs’ father Graham Childs outside the Bargo hotel.

Rachelle’s fate, and the inexplicable motivations of her killer, was another evil inflicted on a town which had already suffered one too many.

Mr Ashwood went on to lead a NSW Police homicide squad review of the 23-year-old’s murder in 2002.

He is now part of the Dear Rachelle podcast investigation team, pouring over her cold case.

For more information about our investigation, visit dearachelle.com.au

If you have any tips or confidential information, please contact investigative journalist Ashlea Hansen at [e-mail].

You can also join our Dear Rachelle podcast Facebook group.

Originally published as Murder cold case of Rachelle Childs has chilling connection to rape and murder of schoolgirl