Keith Lees: Elite squad to track wanted cold case killer
It’s been almost a year since a confirmed sighting of one of Queensland’s most wanted men, cold case fugitive and convicted murderer Keith Lees, and police are stepping up the hunt.
Cold Cases
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cold Cases. Followed categories will be added to My News.
An elite tracking team has been brought in to help find one of Queensland’s most wanted men, cold case fugitive and convicted murderer Keith Lees.
June 27 will mark one year since Lees was last seen, with the 71-year-old fleeing his home in Portland, Victoria hours after Queensland detectives arrived to question him about the 1997 death of 25-year-old Meaghan Rose.
Queensland cold case homicide detectives announced last year they were taking a fresh look at the tragic death of Ms Rose, nearly 30 years after her body was found at the base of Mooloolaba’s Point Cartwright cliffs in an apparent suicide.
They announced a $500,000 reward but it was soon revealed their main suspect had vanished and was the subject of a missing persons alert and search and rescue operation in Victoria.
Ms Rose was in a relationship with Lees, who was around 20 years her senior, at the time of her death.
The couple had moved from Victoria to the Sunshine Coast to fulfil her dream of living in Queensland.
But the relationship soured and family have told The Sunday Mail that Ms Rose became reserved and eventually revealed she planned to break things off.
Police have since revealed Lees took out a life insurance policy in Ms Rose’s name which had a 13-month waiting period before it would pay out on suicide.
Three days after that window passed, Ms Rose’s body was discovered by someone walking along the popular beach.
Christine Richards, Ms Rose’s sister, told The Sunday Mail Lees had initially hidden the existence of the life insurance policy.
“She had a really bad car accident here 12-18 months before they moved to Queensland,” she said.
“Lees had told her she needed to get wage protection because she was off work for a long time.
“He told her he’d get it sorted because he used to sell insurance and Meaghan took it at face value.”
She said Ms Rose called their mother the night before she died to say she was coming home, that she wanted to end the relationship.
She told others she planned to get a job as a jillaroo so Lees would never find her.
One of Lees’ children, Wren Dawnsong, said their father collected the $200,000 payout and used it to purchase a cafe and cabin at a Sunshine Coast caravan park.
Later, he returned to Victoria where they boarded with a man named Barry Waters who Lees met through a local church.
Lees would eventually have an affair with Mr Waters’ estranged wife and in 2001, Mr Waters was reported missing by family after failing to show at a court hearing.
In the days after his disappearance, visa and Fly Buys cards belonging to Mr Waters continued to be used at various stores and police later obtained surveillance footage of Lees making the purchases.
“I hope you don’t think that I’m using Barry’s card,” Lees said to police when they came to speak to him.
He then left Melbourne in his car, hiding five guns in bushland near Broken Hill before continuing on to a campground at Buronga, a Murray River town in NSW.
Police would find Mr Water’s headless body near the Yarra Ranges a year after he was reported missing.
Lees was arrested and charged with murder and in 2003, was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
Cold case homicide Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Anthony Johns said the Australian Federal Police Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team, as well as the Victoria Police Fugitive Taskforce, had now joined the search for Lees.
“They are quite resourceful with their different methodologies,” Det Sen Sgt Johns said.
“Some that we’re aware of and some that we’re probably not. We talk to them on a regular basis and we’re hoping they’re able to find him.”
Det Sen Sgt Johns said Lees was capable of living off the land or off-grid and was possibly doing farm work or fruit picking.
The last confirmed sighting of the fugitive was at Shepparton train station in central Victoria on June 27, 2023.
It is understood he’d told an associate he planned to find farm work in the regional town after Queensland detectives arrived at his home in Portland to speak to him about the cold case investigation.
“We knew he’d gone up to Shepparton and he had told people that he might get work on farms up north,” Det Sen Sgt Johns said.
“He didn’t indicate what type of work or what type of farms … but Shepparton is a well known fruit picking and fruit growing area.
“But the fact that we flooded the media with the last sighting of him there, whether he is still there or not, it’s unlikely.”
He warned that Lees was considered dangerous and should not be approached.
A warrant for his arrest for the murder of Ms Rose has been taken out and Queensland police will seek to extradite him if he is found interstate.
Det Sen Sgt Johns warned Lees had a history of befriending women and said “it’s definitely a theory” that he may have taken up with someone in order to hide.
He said police were hopeful of one day being able to tell Ms Rose’s family they’d finally made an arrest for her murder.
“Every time we contact them, the family must think this is the call we’ve been waiting for,” Det Sen Sgt Johns said.
“And we’re hoping we might one day get the right information and we’re able to make that call to let them know that we have found him.”
Ms Richards said she wanted to see more publicity about Lees in Victoria - the fugitive’s home state and a place where he may still be hiding.
“I’m really grateful the AFP taskforce has been brought on board,” she said.
“I think the QPS have just about used every avenue they have to find him.”
Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000.
More Coverage
Originally published as Keith Lees: Elite squad to track wanted cold case killer
‘Last ray of hope’ snuffed out with no charges over crayfish farm shooting
The family of a young scientist shot dead while working at a crayfish farm say they lost their “last ray of hope” after an inquest failed to result in charges against two people named by a coroner.
Disappearance, taxi driver, deathbed confession: 40-year mystery set to end
For four decades it has been one of Queensland’s most enduring cold case murder mysteries but today the state coroner hands down the findings into the 1986 disappearance of Sharron Phillips.