Krystal Fraser coronial inquest: What happened to Pyramid Hill mum-to-be?

It has been 13 years since a heavily-pregnant young woman disappeared from a small country town. An inquest into the mystery has heard some gruesome and distressing testimonies.

From the suicide of a man “possessed” with finding the truth and a threat to “chuck her to the pigs”, explosive new evidence could finally close the unsolved case of suspected murder-victim Krystal Fraser.

A Victorian coroner has heard distressing, and at times gruesome, testimonies from 23 witnesses as she looks into the sudden disappearance of the Pyramid Hill soon-to-be mum.

It is a case that has paralysed a Central Victorian town since the 23-year-old vanished on June 20, 2009.

To date, no one has been charged but the seven-day inquest heard Peter Jenkinson is the primary suspect.

He had been having a sexual relationship with Krystal and was, according to one witnesses’ testimony, overheard saying he would “chuck her to the pigs” because she wouldn’t get rid of the baby.

Krystal Fraser’s mother gave evidence at the coronial inquest last week.

But the investigation, police claim, has been marred by rumours and innuendo since she disappeared.

“It was the biggest story in town at the time,” Detective Inspector Wayne Woltsche, who led the investigation for nine years, told the inquest into her suspected murder.

“Everyone wanted to provide information, we’d received tips that had been passed by word of mouth seven or eight times. The rumour and innuendo was substantial.”

Growing up in a small town of about 350 people, Krystal Fraser stuck out.

The young woman was known as a “troublemaker” who would often say and do things to get a reaction.

She was born in 1985 with fluid on the brain – a condition which left her with an intellectual disability, poor memory, childlike behaviours, an overly-trusting nature and compulsive lying.

“It was hard to work out what were her little stories and what weren’t,” her sister Chantel Fraser said.

She lived independently in a public-housing flat, but had little interest in caring for herself and would often rely on her family and friends to feed her.

“Krystal could only do so much,” her mother Karen said.

“Looking after herself was not a priority for her. Her priority was her friends.”

Krystal disappeared in 2009, and a police investigation remains ongoing. Picture: Supplied

On July 11, the Coroner’s Court began the inquest into her disappearance after Coroner Katherine Lorenz found there was reasonable evidence to suspect Krystal was dead and “presumed murdered”.

The inquest investigated what occurred on the night she went missing, after Krystal left Bendigo Base Hospital to attend a “birthday party” in Pyramid Hill.

Nurses David Reid and Jenifer Randell had their reservations. Krystal was three days from giving birth to a son she had already named Ryan James, but said she’d be around friends who could help if something went wrong.

“We didn’t really want her to go,” Ms Randell said.

“(But) I don‘t think there was any doubt in my mind that she was going to go.”

She caught the train back to Pyramid Hill, arriving at 8.40pm in “good spirits”, according to witness Hazel Whitmore.

On the platform she ran into her friend, Nicholas Dingfelder, and the pair walked together briefly, before she pointed at a man and said: “I better get going, otherwise he’s going to get upset.

“He had his hands in his pockets and he was kicking train rocks, I didn’t think anything of it at first,” Mr Dingfelder said.

By 9pm she arrived at the home of Robert Glennie and was alone.

He said her behaviour on the night was “completely out-of-character” and it seemed like she was scared.

“She was awfully jumpy and touchy. It wasn’t normal,” he said.

“She was erratic, all over the place. It was unbelievable — I’d never seen her like that.”

He said Krystal made a number of phone calls; first to Jason MacPherson, a “tech whiz” who was supposed to fix an issue with her computer, and then to Alan “Bandy” Summers.

Mr Glennie testified he heard Krystal arrange to meet Mr Summers at the end of his street to “get some stuff”.

As the last person confirmed to have seen Krystal Fraser alive, Robert Glennie gave evidence to an inquest into her disappearance on July 13, 2022. Picture: Facebook/ Robert Glennie

Phone records however, show despite calling his number seven times it went unanswered, and other than one to Mr MacPherson, no other calls were made.

Mr Summers, now deceased, told police he did not see Krystal that night and Mr MacPherson said he did not leave his home.

Mr Glennie said Krystal left about 9.25pm, walking towards her parents’ home when he heard a male voice call out to her.

“I heard ‘get in, get in’,” he said. “She must of knew (sic) the person otherwise she wouldn’t have left with them.”

He said he saw her leave with the unidentified man in a red station wagon – a fact he had never revealed to police despite multiple interviews over the years.

Krystal Fraser with mum Karen. Picture: Supplied

This was the last confirmed sighting of Krystal although police believe she visited her flat to drop off a bag and her wallet at some point in the night.

At 11.59pm Krystal was still in the Pyramid Hill area when she received a 40 second phone call from a Telstra phone box in Leitchville – 27km away.

Data charges reveal her phone was connected to the Pyramid Hill tower at 12.17am, connected to the Patho tower at 1.45am and then the Leitchville tower at 2.49am.

Pyramid Hill is a one-cop town, with a small station and one officer who handled the initial investigation when her parents’ reported her missing.

Dozens of potential sightings were reported in the weeks after her disappearance, with some claiming she had been seen in Bendigo in the company of a man.

After 30 days the case was escalated, with Detective Senior Constable Mark Crossley of the Bendigo crime investigation unit taking over on July 22.

“There was a significant belief she most likely would have run away,” he said.

“She was still being treated as a missing person.”

By the end of July his concern had grown dramatically.

“The investigation quickly reached a point where it was too overwhelming to say she’d just taken off,” he said.

“There’s no way possible she wouldn’t have contacted her family and friends.”

The case was referred to the homicide squad, with then-Detective Sergeant Wayne Woltsche taking charge.

“I viewed it as a probable homicide immediately,” he said.

The 40 second call Krystal received from a Leitchville phone box was identified as a crucial lead by police, but despite multiple public appeals, no one has admitted to making it.

“It was always my firm belief that the person that called Krystal from the phone box would have come forward if they weren’t involved,” Detective Senior Constable Mark Crossley said.

Krystal’s propensity for “making up stories” would become a key challenge to solving the case but every witness who took the stand said she would not have ran away and changed her identity.

She was a prolific phone user, making “millions” of calls a day, and had maintained a close relationship with her family – often visiting them multiple times a day.

Her mother Karen said she was stuck in her ways.

The Pyramid Hill station where Krystal Fraser arrived from Bendigo the night she disappeared.

“She only did things a certain way. She was so compulsive with her behaviour, I strongly doubt she relocated,” she said.

Her drug use as a motivation for her disappearance was similarly dismissed, with many witnesses saying it was unlikely she was “reliable or trustworthy enough”.

Missing Persons Squad investigator Detective Senior Constable Brett Thexton told the inquest he believed she was “incapable of handling large amounts of money or moving drugs” due to her intellectual disability.

While investigators were unable to rule out random violence, the proximity of her due date to her disappearance led them to believe she was met with foul play at the hands of the father, or someone she said was the father.

The inquest heard Krystal either did not know or did not say who the likely father was, telling different people up to six possible names.

Those names were: Jason MacPherson, Robert Glennie, Tony Gatt and Alan Summers.

Over time all have been ruled out with alibis and new evidence.

Evidence suggests PJ lied about not speaking to Krystal for three weeks before her disappearance.

Peter Jenkinson has long been identified as a suspect in Krystal’s disappearance. Picture: Facebook.

The pair had been in a sexual relationship for about a year prior, meeting regularly at a secluded public area known locally as “the hill”.

Krystal’s phone records show regular contact with Mr Jenkinson until May 13 when contact ceased.

The following day however, Krystal started receiving calls from the phone box – 19 over the following five weeks – until the night of her disappearance when calls to Krystal from the box also stopped.

A diary note written by Krystal at 7.30pm on June 16 was also found which ended with the sentence; “My good mate PJ called, we might be catching up if I go home on the weekend.”

Records show Krystal received a call from the payphone at 7.45pm that day, lasting 182 seconds.

Mr Jenkinson had previously been nominated by members of Krystal’s family as one of three men she said could have been the father, although friends and associates of Krystal have suggested three additional names.

On the fifth day of the inquest, the daughter of Stephen Jones, a former close friend of Mr Jenkinson, said she’d overheard PJ saying he would get “rid of her”.

She was 16 at the time, and told police, who said: “I was too young and trying to protect my father”.

“I’d never heard them raise their voices at the time. It was uncomfortable and weird,” Shannon Connelly said.

“I heard yelling, I heard dad say; ‘Don’t be f------ stupid, that’s a woman and child that you’re talking about’.”

She testified she heard Mr Jenkinson respond: “she wouldn’t get rid of the baby, so I’ll get rid of her” before saying he would “chuck her to the pigs”.

Several witnesses told the inquest Mr Jones ended his friendship with Mr Jenkinson shortly after he was interviewed in relation to Krystal’s disappearance.

Susan McGillivray, who at the time was the owner of the Gunbower Road House, said Mr Jones became “possessed” with trying to prove Mr Jenkinson’s involvement.

Mr Jones committed suicide in 2010. On the day he took his life he told his daughter “he was going to hell”.

“He said he’d seen Pete or spoken to him and he wasn’t paying for what he did,” Mrs Connelly said.

Mr Jenkinson was called to give evidence at the inquest on July 18, but his application to be excused due to the likelihood of his evidence incriminating him was approved by the coroner.

The inquest finished on July 20, with coroner Lorenz setting aside a month-long period for interested parties to provide written submissions on what conclusions they think she should reach.

The court will return “soon after” August 17 for her to hand down her findings.

“This has been a challenging subject matter, it’s always difficult dealing with information that is 13 years old,” she said.

“I thank you all for your assistance.”

Her parents, Neil and Karen Fraser, say they hope the inquest will give their family answers 13 years after their lives were torn apart.