Former neighbour reveals tragic past of second Gordonbrook Dam victim

Police have shed new light on the cause of death of a Kingaroy couple whose bodies were found decomposing in a dam, as those close to the couple share startling details of their bizarre lives. All the latest details:

An autopsy has been conducted on the bodies of two Kingaroy residents found dead in Gordonbook Dam at the weekend, with police saying they do not believe either death to be suspicious.

“Post mortem results and extensive investigations indicate no other person were involved in the deaths,” a spokesman said.

The results come after a close neighbour has shared her fears for a woman whose body was found chained to her husband’s in a dam near Kingaroy.

Police confirmed 51-year-old Darryl Smith, who also went by Matthew Goldman, as the man whose body was discovered by a kayaker in Gordonbrook dam on Saturday.

The body of the woman can now be confirmed as Kirsty Smith, also known as Sarah Goldman, who was Mr Smith’s wife of 25 years.

Sarah’s formal identification was delayed since her body could not be identified by a family member as per the Coroner Act, a source confirmed.

Michael Goldman aka ‘Darryl Smith’ ran a shop in Kingaroy called Goldman’s Oracles ‘n’ Gifts with his wife Sarah ‘Kirsty’ Goldman. Photo/Facebook

A post mortem was conducted on the bodies in Brisbane earlier this week and Police have confirmed its results, along with extensive investigations “indicate no other persons were involved in the deaths” and that their deaths are not suspicious.

A former neighbour said when she first heard the tragic news about the bodies in the dam her thoughts jumped to Sarah, who she met when the couple moved to Nanango in 2019.

“I was so worried for Sarah, I really hoped it wasn’t her. ‘Matthew’ I thought, I wouldn’t put it past him, but I was really upset for her,” she said.

“She’d suffered enough in her life and I just think, ‘If that bastard did that to her.’”

The woman, who is a registered nurse, said Mr Smith first struck her as odd when he and his “softly spoken” wife came to her home for breakfast a few years ago.

He told them Sarah suffered from a serious and incurable autoimmune disease called systemic lupus erythematosus, which he said he had been “healing” through hypnosis.

“Being in the medical field I told him, I’m sorry, but I can’t lend to that train of thought,” she said.

“But he said, ‘I’ll give you an example. I’ll put Sarah in a hypnotic state.’

“He clicked his fingers and she acted immediately, but I knew she wasn’t hypnotised. Her eyelids were still fluttering,”

Police have identified one of the deceased as Darryl Smith.

Mr Smith told her he’d met Sarah in rehab when seeking help for an alcohol problem.

“Sarah’s a person who had been abused for most of her life and even told me she hadn’t spoken at all for many years, due to the trauma she’d suffered,” she said.

“I immediately felt for her because she never spoke unless she looked at him first to assess whether she could speak.”

The neighbour said she became concerned for Sarah’s wellbeing when three weeks passed and she hadn’t seen her leave the house.

“I went over and asked Matthew if I could see her,” she said.

“He said, ‘No, I can look after her. You don’t need to come over.’”

Eventually he went inside and brought her out wearing the same bike shorts and cropped top she always had on, despite the weather getting cold, according to the neighbour.

She said his apparent controlling behaviour even extended to Sarah’s hair, which she said he liked to shave off.

She said there were parts of Mr Smith’s personality he’d try to conceal but would reveal themselves in his eyes, particularly when someone tried to question him.

“I found his demeanour very overpowering. He came across as gentle and kind at first, but he wasn’t that at all. He was very controlling,” she said.

“He wanted to be seen as someone with great knowledge and wisdom and if you said something different to what he believed in he would stare you down.”

Mr Smith told the neighbour he’d travelled to the region from Tin Can Bay where he’d been working as a landscaper, however she’d quickly began to take everything he said with a grain of salt.

He told her he’d owned a sheep named Dolly which had been cloned and disappeared - possibly referring to the world’s first successfully cloned mammal, who happened to be a sheep named Dolly.

Another former friend who met the couple after they established Goldman’s Oracles ‘n’ Gifts in Kingaroy described the pair as “spiritually fanatical”.

The fortune teller, who briefly worked for the couple, said she “distanced” herself from them within a month of knowing them.

“The first day I went into the shop to work for them they were telling me about their plans and how they were just about to commit suicide before the shop, a ‘gift from god’,” she said.

The woman claimed the Goldmans confided in her about how they had “sold everything” and “bought a box of pills through the mail.”

Detective acting Inspector Paul McCusker previously said investigations were still underway into the cause of death, however police working on the theory the pair were weighted down.

Gordonbrook Dam, South Burnett.

Police have ruled out the possibility that a third person was involved in the death of the couple.

Kingaroy officer-in-charge David Tierney said it was not clear at this point in time whether coercion played a role in the deaths.

Detectives from Murgon and Kingaroy are still appealing for anyone who saw Mr Smith’s white 2004 Holden Commodore station wagon parked in the picnic area of the dam to contact police.

Investigations are continuing and police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

If you or someone you know needs assistance with mental health, contact Lifeline of 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.