Troy O’Meara pleads guilty over 1983 rape, murder of Linda Reed

The rape and murder of a Gold Coast shop assistant on her lunch break in 1983 was a random attack, a court has heard as her killer pleads guilty.

The murderer of Gold Coast shop assistant Linda Reed set out with the sole intention of killing a woman at random the day he abducted, raped and killed the 21-year-old newlywed in 1983, a court has heard.

Troy James O’Meara today pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Ms Reed 37 years ago, bringing an end to one of the state’s oldest cold case murder mysteries after a remarkable DNA breakthrough in 2018.

The Courier-Mail can now reveal that just 18 months after murdering Ms Reed, O’Meara raped and killed a second woman, 22-year-old Vanessa O’Brien whose body was discovered at a north Brisbane refuse tip in 1985.

O’Meara, 54, today pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to murdering and raping Ms Reed when he was 17 on December 13, 1983.

The court heard on the day of her death, Ms Reed, a jewellery sales assistant at the Pacific Fair shopping centre, had taken her lunch break but colleagues became concerned when the reliable employee failed to return to work.

Linda Doris Reed was raped and murdered on her lunch break in December 1983.

“It was identified that after doing some banking errands and speaking to a colleague at another store, she likely went to the car park into her own car to have lunch which was common practice at that time,” Crown prosecutor Jodie Wooldridge QC said.

Her colleagues were unable to find her vehicle in the work car park and Ms Reed’s family filed a missing person’s report with police later that day.

Three days later on December 16, police discovered Ms Reed’s abandoned vehicle in bushland at Helensvale.

The court heard Ms Reed’s body was found face down in a muddy creek bed.

“(O’Meara) bound her hands behind her back, he was responsible for Ms Reed’s state of undress, he had sexual intercourse with Ms Reed without her consent, he forced her and or dragged her into the bushland where her body was found, he forced her face into the mud of the creek bed with sufficient force that she inhaled mud or debris into her lungs and ultimately while the precise circumstances and order of events are not known, he intentionally killed Ms Reed by means of drowning, smothering, suffocation and or strangulation,” the prosecutor said.

In a gut-wrenching victim impact statement tendered to the court, Linda’s mother Nancy Fein said she still visited her “beautiful and loving” daughter’s grave every week.

Troy James O’Meara was arrested after a DNA breakthrough in 2018.

Ms Fein said she regretted that Linda’s father Oscar had not lived to see their daughter’s killer face justice.

Linda’s husband Robert Reed said no one would ever know the pain and anguish he suffered after her death.

He said as a sign of his love for Linda, he vowed never to have children with anyone else.

In his written statement to the court, Mr Reed said O’Meara had taken his wife, future children and his chances of being a father.

The court heard that just 18 months after killing Ms Reed, O’Meara raped and murdered 22-year-old Vanessa O’Brien in startling similar circumstances.

The court heard O’Meara had accosted Ms O’Brien as she returned to her car at a shopping centre, threatening her with a knife and forcing her into her car and ordering her to drive to bushland near Brisbane.

“The defendant tied up the hands of Ms O’Brien and the defendant dislodged (her) clothing leaving her body exposed in a similar way to which the body of (Ms Reed) was left,” Ms Wooldridge said.

O’Meara made admissions to police about the rape and murder of Ms O’Brien and his motive and intent.

Linda Reed’s body was found in bushland at Gaven.

“In particular the statements indicate that the defendant’s key intention when he went out that day was to go out and kill a woman at random,” the prosecutor said.

“It’s submitted that such statements are instructive of the defendant’s intentions in this particular case.”

Ms Wooldridge said there were a number of similarities between the murders including the women were both brunette, of a similar age – Ms Reed was 21 and Ms O’Brien was 22, they were 160cm and 165cm tall and neither of the victims knew their killer.

O’Meara was sentenced to life in prison with hard labour for Ms O’Brien’s murder but hard labour was abolished as part of the sentencing regime in 1988 and meant his sentence then became a life sentence with eligibility for parole after serving 13 years.

O’Meara has been in custody since July 11, 1985.

During his time in prison he committed a number of offences including assaults on prison guards, an attempted escape and a successful escape in which he was on the run for part of one day.

Police appeal for witnesses after Linda Reed’s murder.

Cold case detectives were first able to link O’Meara to Ms Reed in 2014 when they matched fingerprints taken from her vehicle to him.

In 2015 police conducted an interview with O’Meara at the Townsville Correctional Centre and he denied any involvement.

In a more recent cold case investigation launched in 2017, police sent vaginal DNA swabs taken from Ms Reed to a testing centre in New Zealand that found a mixed DNA profile likely contributed to by two to three people found it was 70 million times more likely to have originated from Linda Reed, her husband and O’Meara than Mr and Mrs Reed and a different person.

In light of the new evidence, O’Meara was again question about the murder in August 2018 but he continued to deny his involvement.

In August 2018, O’Meara was charged with Ms Reed’s rape and murder, almost 35 years after the crimes.

Justice Glenn Martin has reserved his decision and will sentence O’Meara at a date to be set.

Originally published as Troy O’Meara pleads guilty over 1983 rape, murder of Linda Reed