State Coroner Terry Ryan recommends unsolved homicides be revisited
Our State Coroner wants unsolved cases of murder and missing persons re-examined by fresh eyes. Patrick Billings selects 10 cases potentially ripe for review.
Cold Cases
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DETECTIVES understand the risk of tunnel vision. It seeps into investigations innocently enough. Police are overworked, inexperienced or just too committed to a particular outcome.
But its effect can be devastating — evidence ignored, suspects overlooked, innocent people accused, justice delayed.
The Morcombes’ relentless crusade in the wake of their son Daniel’s abduction and horrific murder has seen a focus on police procedure.
Words of Daniel’s killer haunt Morcombes forever
True Crime Australia: Cold cases
Two weeks ago State Coroner Terry Ryan handed down inquest findings into the disappearance and death of Daniel James Morcombe.
He made clear the police response did not contribute in anyway to Daniel’s death at the hands of Brett Cowan. But he ruled more could have been done to pursue the cruel predator early on.
He recommended that homicides and suspicious missing person cases be subject to a mandatory review by officers not attached to the investigation after one year.
With 80 per cent of Queensland murders solved within a year, Coroner Ryan estimated less than five homicides and a few missing person cases would need to be reviewed each year. The Queensland Police Service is yet to make a decision but said it was “thoroughly” considering all aspects of the findings.
The Queensland Homicide Victims Support Group said it supported any improvements that “will help with investigating homicides and bringing perpetrators to justice”.
The following cases are unsolved and may benefit from further review.
ROSEMARY DODD
Rosemary Dodd, 31, attended a fringe religious gathering on a Kingston oval south of Brisbane alone. It was February 19, 1983. The mother of three never came home. Days later her Valiant was found at Kingston train station. Nearly a decade ago detectives arrived at the home she had shared with husband Graham Dodd in Slacks Creek. Police dug up the yard looking for her body and took Graham in for questioning, He was released without charge.
Late last year Graham said he had “no idea” why police considered him a person of interest. “They had nothing on me,” he said. An inquest is pending.
CHAD AND MELONY SUTTON
Inala siblings Chad and Melony Sutton, aged 16 and 14, vanished on November 23, 1992. They were hitchhiking to Perth. They left with no money and a few possessions stuffed into a school bag.
Chad made nearly 10 calls to a mate in November and December. One call was from Sydney, the other Adelaide. Then nothing. Police had no reason to doubt the friend but it was highly unusual nobody reported picking up two hitchhikers,
Over the years police have kept an open mind as to their fate. Investigators even looked at serial killer — Ivan Milat — who preyed on hitchhikers around that time.
GAYE BAKER
Gaye Baker took a surprise job that cost her life.
Gaye, 23, was financially secure, a strict churchgoer and a corporal in the air force. So investigators were perplexed that she answered a call for a hostess at a Clayfield pool party.
Gaye was to accompany a “John Taylor” to the party on July 2, 1972. They never went to a party and she has not been seen since.
A witness recalled seeing Gaye driving off with a man. But the trail went cold until more than a year later when an anonymous caller told police her body could be found in water hole behind a Ferny Grove quarry.
Battling zero visibility police frogmen attempted to reach the dark depths of a number of waterholes (pictured, top right) but there was no trace of the young woman. One of the waterholes had just recently been filled in. Police decided against draining it. The $1000 cost was considered too much at the time. The then Acting Assistant Commissioner for Crime unsuccessfully urged the anonymous caller to phone him directly.
JOHN LAZZARO
John Anthony Lazzaro never had a chance. At around 11pm in April 2012 two masked gunman walked into his lounge room at Rochedale South. They executed the 56-year-old father in front of his teenage daughter and shot his dog. They fled just as quickly as they’d arrived. The balaclava gunmen have never been brought to justice.
Police believe the murder was drug related. John, who had a new lease on life after a liver transplant three years ago, was also believed to be operating a backyard tattoo shop at his home for several years. Although John had a criminal history, police said his death did not appear to be connected to an outlaw motorcycle gang.
JAYDEN PENNO-TOMPSETT
Jayden Penno-Tompsett, 22, disappeared on a road trip along a lonely Queensland highway.
His sole journeyman was Lucas Tattersall, 19. The mates were headed from Newcastle, near Sydney, to a 2018 New Year’s Eve bash in Cairns. But something happened just outside Charters Towers in the early hours of December 31.
Lucas says the combination of drugs and a 2300km road trip spiralled into an explosive argument. Jayden pulled over on remote Stockroute Rd.
According to Lucas he was threatened by Jayden but denied things turned violent. Instead he says Jayden walked off to clear his head. He has not been seen since.
CHRISTINE FENNER
Bundaberg woman Christine Fenner, 49, has been missing for 20 years.
At the time she was living with her partner and they regularly bickered. Witnesses recall a particularly ferocious argument the night before she vanished. The next day her partner, now dead, left the house and returned to find Christine gone. Her body has never been found.
Christine was very ill in the lead up to her disappearance but police got a tip she’d been murdered. It was claimed her body was in a lime-filled drum dumped in Bundaberg but police failed to find anything. An inquest heard the partner of Christine’s daughter, Royston Turner, stated he’d killed Christine. He denied this or anything to do with her disappearance.
The coroner found Turner most likely said he had killed Christine but it was “probably no more” than to hurt and taunt the daughter.
AARON FLYNN
The family of a man who disappeared in Central Queensland have searched high and low for the young father. But not a trace of Caloundra’s Aaron Flynn has been found in nearly three years. His last words were a goodnight text to his toddler daughter.
Aaron was driving to Charters Towers for a funeral on November 11, 2016. The next day he was seen walking along the road, about 10km from Rubyvale, in the Central Highlands.
His Volvo was found abandoned in bushland just off Rubyvale Rd. An extensive search failed to turn up any clues. The family hired a helicopter to continue the search but also failed to find any sign of the doting dad.
ROSS SCHUMACHER
Ross Schumacher, 39, was found slumped over a computer at his Auchenflower home in May 2006. The construction company owner had been shot in the back of the head. His death was quickly written off as a suicide after a bungled police investigation. Then police determined Ross accidentally shot himself in the back of the head with a Beretta. This was despite evidence the gun would have to have been held at last 42cm behind his head. An unimpressed coroner ordered further investigation which uncovered significant doubt about a self-inflicted killing.
Ross was generous and loyal but also aggressive and demanding. It was a disposition which could create enemies. When he died he was embroiled in business disputes, was owed large amounts of money but also had significant debts. He had been carrying a gun for protection. He told a friend he was in dispute with “some serious bad guys”. The coroner could not decide if Ross had been murdered or died by accident. He did note the latter would require an “extremely unusual and difficult position for Mr Schumacher to inflict the gun shot”.
CONSTANCE WATCHO
Nearly a year after a Brisbane mother disappeared her remains were found dumped in a bag near a popular walking track. Constance Watcho was last seen at Kangaroo Point on November 27, 2017. Last September the bag containing her bones was located at the bottom of the suburb’s cliffs on Brisbane’s waterfront. A week later detectives raided a unit on River Terrace just above where her skeletal remains were discovered. Forensic officers poured over the squalid unit but nobody has yet been charged. Detectives believe a small group of people know what happened. To motivate one of them to speak up a $250,000 reward is on offer.
MONIQUE CLUBB
Last week the Clubb family should have been celebrating a milestone in any young person’s life — their daughter’s 30th. Instead Monique Clubb’s relatives continue to search for answers.
It’s been almost six years since the Hervey Bay woman disappeared.
Monique was reported missing on June 28, 2013, when she failed to return from a trip to Brisbane. She was seen eight days before at Hervey Bay getting into a car to make the trip. She was captured on CCTV at Beenleigh Station on June 22.
Monique is an Aboriginal woman, about 170cm tall with a slim build, brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about these cases should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or www.crimestoppersqld.com.au
Originally published as State Coroner Terry Ryan recommends unsolved homicides be revisited
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