Shandee’s Story: New clue could link chief suspect’s car to murder

A new feature found on amateur boxer John Peros’s car could help prove it was being driven the night of his former girlfriend Shandee Blackburn’s murder.

Lee Smith, a photogrammetrist, in Mackay’s Twelfth Lane, where a vehicle that appears identical to Mr Peros's HiLux ute was recorded on CCTV shortly before Shandee Blackburn’s murder. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

A new feature discovered on amateur boxer John Peros’s car could help prove it was being driven around on the night he is accused of murdering former girlfriend Shandee Blackburn.

Retired photogrammetrist Lee Smith, an expert in image analysis working with the Shandee’s Story podcast, has found unique differences between thin stripes of rubber on the car’s sides.

The discovery could further tie Mr Peros’s Toyota HiLux ute to a vehicle recorded on CCTV the night Blackburn was stabbed to death as she walked home from work in Mackay on Queensland’s central coast in 2013. “There will be no other car that has that. I was quite excited to find something that was new and unique,” Mr Smith said.

Shandee Blackburn with John Peros. He drove a distinctive ute.

Mr Smith is a retired photogrammetrist and former Brisbane City Council chief surveyor. He has been examining a CCTV compilation created by detectives on Operation Lima Zimzala, as well as high-resolution photographs of Mr Peros’s Toyota HiLux.

CCTV footage showing the vehicle that looked like John Peros’s in Twelfth Lane, Mackay, shortly before the murder.

“I was looking through the car trying to find anything that might be unique and different,” he said.

“There were these police photos, excellent quality all around the car. I just looked down and happened to see the difference standing out.”

On the passenger’s side the thin rubber striping extends the whole way along the two doors and into the front and back sections. “On the driver’s side you can actually see that part of the rubber stripe is missing at the front and a part is missing at the back. It’s about 10cm less,” Mr Smith said.

A vehicle that appeared identical to Mr Peros’s 19-year-old ute was recorded on CCTV near the murder scene shortly after midnight, just minutes before Blackburn was stabbed.

Police found there were at least 13 common features between the ute in the footage and Mr Peros’s car, including a rust mark and a missing wheel flare.

A vehicle that looked like Mr Peros’s was then recorded leaving Mackay and returning about two hours later.

Questioned by police the day after the murder, Mr Peros said he might have gone for a drive that night but couldn’t remember. He denies any involvement.

The Shandee’s Story podcast, examining the unsolved murder, resumed this week. Mr Smith has gone through available CCTV footage for images where the striping may stand out.

“If I could see it and do some coarse measurements, if I could get to the original CCTV image, I think we’d have a fairly good chance of applying some new methods that could be useful,” he said.

Mr Smith has been developing new methods in photogrammetry that can use single CCTV images to potentially measure and identify unique features, such as the shortened rubber striping on the driver’s side of Mr Peros’s car.

The methods could also help in other cases by using precise measurements to identify the make and model of unknown vehicles in CCTV footage.

In Blackburn’s case it needs to be tested on higher resolution CCTV imagery. Police have been asked if the material could be made available.

Mr Smith is hopeful he will be able to measure the rubber striping, or other features on the car, to reveal further clues. Another possibility is enhancing CCTV footage to potentially reveal new features, perhaps even a licence plate.

CCTV footage showing the vehicle that leaving Mackay via the Bruce Highway.

“There have been huge advances in technology and photogrammetry, imagery, GPS processing. All could … draw out maybe more information than might have been available a few years ago.”

From his examinations he is “very confident that it is John Peros’s vehicle”.

Anyone with information about the murder of Shandee Blackburn can contact Hedley Thomas confidentially at [e-mail]