‘Never met a bigger narcissist’: Retired cop haunted by Gold Coast grandmother’s death, body never found

A beloved grandmother, her cold-blooded narcissist son and a crime that still haunts to this day. These are the never-before-seen forensic photos linked an unthinkable act of horror.

Acting Senior Sergeant Andrew O’Shea speaks about the death of Suellen Pike. Picture: Nigel Hallett

When retired detective Justin Percival heard human remains had recently been discovered on the Gold Coast hinterland he immediately picked up the phone.

“Is it Suellen Pike?” he asked an investigator at the Burleigh station where he once worked in the Criminal Investigation Branch.

For years, the death of the Gold Coast grandmother had haunted the former sergeant who helped catch her killer.

Suellen was killed by her son, Stephen Pike, who had been described as a cold-blooded narcissist. He was charged with murder and convicted of manslaughter.

Mrs Pike’s body was never found, but forensic officers later discovered the burnt remnants of a woman’s handbag, glasses, earrings and false teeth in the ashes of a rural fire pit – items which belonged to the 62-year-old.

Mrs Pike was killed in August of 2010, less than a month after the pensioner had changed her will. Police believe Mrs Pike was killed in her Burleigh Waters home, dismembered and then scattered in nearby bushland just days before her 63rd birthday.

Then-Detective Sergeant Justin Percival helped catch Suellen Pike’s killer son Stephen

Mr Percival, who arrested Pike about six weeks after his mother’s suspicious disappearance, said “I’ve never met a bigger narcissist”.

“Initially, he didn’t want to report (Mrs Pike) as a missing person … he just thought ‘I’m going to keep lying my way through this’,” he said.

In an exclusive sit-down with The Sunday Mail, Queensland Police Service officer in charge Acting Senior Sergeant Andrew O’Shea said his team of eagle-eyed scenes of crime officers (SOCOs) noticed “diluted” blood on Mrs Pike’s front door.

Senior Sgt O’Shea said the blood came from a dog bone, but that the discovery led to a more thorough examination of the Woburn Place home, with Mrs Pike’s blood later found in a bedroom. He said a fire pit off Henry Roberts Drive in Clagiraba was sifted in September of 2010.

“By that point we were firmly of the opinion that there was a very strong chance (Mrs Pike) was deceased,” Senior Sgt O’Shea said.

Mrs Pike was killed less than a month after the Gold Coast pensioner had changed her will

Speaking generally about the work of SOCOs, Senior Sgt O’Shea said: “It’s almost like you need to get to know a person and how they live as soon as you walk in the door because something may be inherently obvious just simply because it’s untidy.”

Never-before-seen forensic photos of the fire pit have been shared with The Sunday Mail.

Pike – a former Australian soldier and Gold Coast City Council mapping analyst – was jailed for 10-and-a-half years in December of 2013.

Pike, had gone to live with his mother in Burleigh Waters in May of 2010, but within two months, Mrs Pike made her youngest son the sole beneficiary of her estate.

Pike, then 34, initially told concerned family, friends and police that his mother had gone to stay with his estranged brother, Adam Pike, in Brisbane.

Senior Sergeant O’Shea speaking to detectives outside Mrs Pike’s Bureligh Waters home

Officers from Robina Police Station conducted a welfare check on Mrs Pike on August 23 when they noticed a new shovel and two plastic drop sheets which had been purchased from Bunnings on August 13.

Pike did not go to work on August 13 and conducted Google searches of bushland the following day.

He also conducted searches for industrial strength ammonia, butchers’ supplies and various cleaning products.

Evidence led from a witness at trial heard during a drunken party on August 28, 2010, when referring to his mother, Pike told a friend he could “knock her off” now that the house was in his name.

The friend also testified that Pike said if he did, “there would be pieces of her in the bush everywhere” and that “if you can’t find a body you can’t get caught”.

Pike reported his mother missing to police on August 29.

Then-Detective Acting Inspector Terry Goldsworthy said police believed Mrs Pike was killed at her Burleigh Waters home on August 12 or 13 and her body dumped on August 13 or 14.

Forensic officers examined a rural fire pit a month after Mrs Pike’s suspicious disappearance

Speaking about “no body” murder cases, Mr Goldsworthy said: “You don’t have that overwhelming forensics that you get from a body and a crime scene but there’s plenty of other evidence that the police will rely on, communications, technology, now, everyone leaves a digital footprint.”

But he said Mrs Pike’s death was a “cliche case”.

“It gives you an insight into the criminal mind, how did (Pike) think that (Mrs Pike) would just disappear and no one would notice,” he said.

Mr Percival said Pike’s lies “brought him undone”. He said Pike initially claimed he was at a pub in Nerang during that “crucial time frame”.

“He sort of managed to fill his day in,” Mr Percival said.

He said Pike then claimed he had left his car – a green 1996 model Mitsubishi Magna sedan – at the pub after having a “few drinks”.

“That was his big downfall because we were able to link a phone call from a phone box near his house, to a tow company that went out and picked his car up (at Clagiraba),” Mr Percival said.

Then-Detective Acting Inspector Goldsworthy said Mrs Pike’s death was a cliche case Picture: Gosling Richard

Mrs Pike’s belongings were found about 30m from where Pike’s car had broken down on August 15.

“(Pike) tried to dig a big hole in the back seat of the car which was odd, he had pulled up some of the carpet, either before or after,” Mr Percival said.

Pike initially claimed a piece of furniture had caused the hole, a story tested “thousands” of times by SOCOs.

“While it wasn’t conclusive, we could certainly strongly assume that he had deliberately dug that patch out – and why would you?” Mr Percival said. “I’d say that’s either where her head has laid or something that he has killed her with has laid and he’s dug out around it.”

Mr Percival said Pike was later interviewed at Burleigh Police Station and when the tow truck was mentioned, the then-34 year-old immediately stopped talking, got up and tried to run out the door.

“So we arrested him for homicide on the spot,” he said.

Police at the time said they were interested in speaking with anyone who saw Pike’s car on the Gold Coast between August 13 and 15 of 2010

“Even now he has never given up the body. Why wouldn’t you give up the body now? Like, you’ve done your time, you can’t do any more time, so wouldn’t you just give up the body? I haven’t forgotten (Mrs Pike) … I would love to find her but the chances of finding her now would be very difficult.”

Mr Percival said police conducted a thorough search at Clagiraba, where Mrs Pike’s body was likely dumped but the terrain was “inhospitable”.

“She could be anywhere in there,” he said.

Mr Percival said he believed Pike had “brainwashed” his mother.

“(Mrs Pike) was sleeping out (in a chair) in the lounge room, (Pike) had taken over the bedroom,” he said. “I don’t know how premeditated (her death) would have been.”

Police at the time said they were interested in speaking with anyone who saw Pike’s car on the Gold Coast, particularly in the Henry Roberts Drive area between August 13 and 15.