Trudy Dreyer murder: Coroner finds partner Tim Ogle responsible in Doyles Creek murder-suicide

The devastated family of Hunter Valley woman Trudy Dreyer have pleaded for serious dialogue around the nation’s domestic violence epidemic after coroner brings down murder-suicide findings.

Trudy Dreyer, 49, who was shot and killed by her partner Tim Ogle, 48, in a murder/suicide incident at a home in the Hunter Valley, 27 September, 2019.

The family of murdered Upper Hunter woman Trudy Dreyer has pleaded for the immediate need for “important discussions” about the nation’s domestic violence epidemic after a coroner found the 49-year-old was brutally murdered in her own home by a man who claimed to have loved her.

Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes also determined that Ms Dreyer had been dead from multiple shotgun wounds for a week before police found her body and that of Tim Ogle inside her property at Doyles Creek, west of Singleton, on September 26, 2019.

The couple were supposed to have been overseas after booking a trip to South America before worried travel agents reported their concerns for Ms Dreyer’s safety after the pair had missed their September 23 flights and could not be contacted.

The inquest heard Ogle had attended Singleton Family Support Centre two months before the murder-suicide, where he had received “support and counselling with regards to the relationship”.

He had told a social worker in September that the relationship of nearly two years was “not going well”.

Trudy Dreyer has been remembered as a beautiful, fun and kind person.

On September 18, the day before he murdered Ms Dreyer, Ogle had called in sick to work and text messages between the pair that night revolved “largely around the lack of trust that the pair had for each other”, the inquest heard.

The last text was at 12.02am with Ogle telling Ms Dreyer he would be home in the morning. The last piece of phone activity was a missed call from Ogle to Ms Dreyer at 5.17am.

Tim Ogle

Security camera footage of Ms Dreyer’s home showed Ogle entering the property at 4.07am on September 19 – police who attended a week later and found the bodies would discover Ogle’s car parked at the padlocked front gate about a kilometre away.

“This is the last time that he is seen,” Ms Forbes said in her findings.

“The [officer-in-charge] is of the belief that the CCTV cameras are motion sensor activated, as they are activated after this time, but only at times when the door appears to move with the wind.”

Further review of the CCTV showed “a number of interactions” between Ogle and Ms Dreyer between September 15 and 17 in which they could be heard arguing.

Undelivered meals remained at the front gate of Trudy Dreyer’s property at Doyles Creek before police discovered she had been brutally murdered by her partner, Tim Ogle. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Ms Forbes found Ms Dreyer died on September 19 and that the manner of death was homicide.

“I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Ms Dreyer was shot by her partner before he turned the shotgun upon himself and subsequently died as a result of a self-inflicted shotgun wound,” Ms Forbes found.

Four firearms – three belonging to Ogle and one to Ms Dreyer – were found in the house, including a shotgun belonging to Ogle retrieved from next to his body.

The brutality of Ms Dreyer’s murder continues to haunt her family, with her cousin Kim Ryan telling The Newcastle News that her relative was so much more than a statistic.

“Despite the years that have passed since Trudy’s death I still grieve her loss every day,” Ms Ryan said.

“She was beautiful, she was fun and the kindest person I’ve ever met.

“A whole life shouldn’t be defined by its last moments no matter how tragic. Trudy led a rich life and brought so much joy to those around her.”

“Trudy should still be alive today, along with countless other Australian women.

“If there is anything positive to come out of the release of yesterday’s report I hope that it continues the important discussion around domestic and family violence – an issue that still affects far too many women in this country.”

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