Son’s desperate search for answers 40 years after brutal taxi murder

Stephen Hodgkinson has described the numb feeling when he found out his father had been brutally killed, 40 years on he is still searching for answers.

Stephen Hodgkinson and his wife Lynette. Picture: Liam Kidston

Stephen Hodgkinson doesn’t know who killed his father.

But almost 40 years later – with police announcing a new DNA breakthrough and a $500,000 reward – he hopes his family can get the answer they have been wanting for years.

His much-loved father Bryan Hodgkinson was brutally murdered while on a taxi night shift in Bundaberg.

On September 10, 1987, a person who got inside Bryan’s cab killed him.

The murder shocked the small and sleepy sugar cane town, with the brutality of the crime not seen there before.

Bryan started his 6pm-1am shift on September 9 like any other.

Minutes before he was due to finish, he received a radio call at 12.31am, asking him to pick up a man known as “Sykes”, from the corner of Targo and Burnett streets.

It’s not known if he picked up the fare.

But within seven-and-a-half hours, Bryan’s body was found in bushland on Goodwood Rd, in a remote area. Bryan was bashed in the head and was stabbed in the neck and chest. Money was stolen from his wallet.

Detectives are hoping a massive $500,000 reward will prompt someone to finally come forward with the information needed to solve the cold case murder of Bundaberg taxi driver Bryan Hodgkinson. Photo: Queensland Police Service

His car was driven back into the town’s centre and abandoned, with the keys and coin dispenser removed. Stephen said he still remembered the moment the phone rang that morning, while his dad was still missing.

“I was getting ready to go to work that morning, and then mum got the phone call that his car had been found,” Stephen told The Courier-Mail.

“I was the one who drove around, because it was only a couple of blocks away from where we live.

“And so his car is just parked in the street, the door open, and even then you’re going, what’s going on here? It just didn’t make any sense.

Newspaper clippings related to the death of Bryan Hodgkinson.

“It was just parked there with the door open, no keys.

“I just checked over the car, but there was no visible signs of anything. Just the doors open. Start looking around, going, has he wandered off? Or something happened?

“That wasn’t even entering my mind, what could have happened. It was just a residential street.”

And then the family received the news that Bryan was dead.

“I do remember that bit, and I guess you just go numb,” Stephen recalled of the moment.

Detectives this week announced they had new DNA evidence from Bryan’s taxi and from near his body which could be crucial to solving Bryan’s death.

Bryan Hodgkinson. Photo: Contributed

Homicide Squad cold case officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Tara Kentwell on Wednesday appealed for the person known as “Sykes” to come forward and speak with investigators.

In 2009, Anthony Bruce Beer was charged with accessory after the fact to murder, robbery with violence, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and wilful damage.

However the charges were dropped in 2010. The cold case unit has spent months investigating Bryan’s death, which includes painstakingly going through written taxi logs and speaking to witnesses.

“Current investigators have reviewed the evidence surrounding the 2009 arrest, with an open mind with the circumstances surrounding the arrest not the focus of the current investigation,” Sen Sgt Kentwell said.

“New and enhanced forensic testing of exhibits seized from both Bryan’s taxi and the vicinity of his body have sparked the current investigation into this matter.

“I will not go into specifics today but I can confirm that fresh DNA evidence is directing a new line of inquiry.

“Information relevant to this inquiry was not known to previous investigators.”

Mystery surrounds the death of Bryan Hodgkinson (second from left), pictured with his family.

A 2018 inquest into Bryan’s death said a theory suggested that Beer’s associate Gary Rasmussen, who has since died, may have been responsible for the taxi driver’s death.

When Beer was required to give evidence at the inquest he claimed privilege on the basis his evidence may tend to incriminate him.

Because the inquest was held under the Coroners Act 1958, due to it being a historical death, it excused Beer from giving any further evidence.

Coroner David O’Connell said he could not make a ruling on who killed Bryan and that it was unfortunate Beer could not be compelled to give evidence.

Recommendations from the inquest later resulted in law changes to allow all inquests to be heard under the Coroners Act 2003.

Stephen said he and his family had never heard of the name Sykes.

“I don’t think it meant anything to anyone,” he said.

Sgt Craig Owers of the Cold Case Investigation Unit. Picture: Liam Kidston

“Even the other taxi drivers, maybe there was the odd nickname they might have heard but I don’t think anyone really recognised that name and it didn’t mean anything to us.”

Bryan was also a part time photographer and heavily involved in his three sons’ sports, including coaching the soccer team.

Stephen said he remembered helping his dad wash the taxi which was kept in a meticulous condition.

“He definitely loved it,” Stephen said of his dad driving the taxi.

“But it was a pretty safe time, like you would get drunks, but they’re pretty harmless for the most part.

“They’d take a swing at you now and again, but that’s you just drop them off at the police station.

“But he knew who, and all the taxi drivers knew who you need to look out for and who you don’t, because they knew most of the regular users.”

Stephen said his mother Elaine, who last year died, never got over the murder.

“You know, back then you wouldn’t go and see a psychiatrist or anything, you just dealt with it,” he said.

Stephen said the family still hoped for answers.

“As I say, even if it’s not someone being convicted or they’ve already passed away, it’s just finding out what happened and why it happened,” he said.

“What was the motive for it? Was it a robbery for a couple of hundred bucks?

Stephen Hodgkinson and his wife Lynette at Police HQ, Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

“Why, why did you do this? What was your motivation? Why’d you go out there, take it so far over town?

Stephen’s wife Lynette said: “It doesn’t seem fair that they’d still be living their life all these years when his life was taken.”

Stephen said his dad, while an introvert, was well liked and had hundreds of people at his funeral.

“He wasn’t stand out, he wasn’t the mayor, he wasn’t any of those things, but still well respected for what he did, and the top person he was,” he said.

Sen Sgt Kentwell urged for anyone who saw Bryan’s taxi, or who travelled in a taxi on the night of September 9 into the morning of September 10, to contact police.

A $500,000 reward has been offered by police for information that leads to a conviction of Bryan’s killer or killers. An indemnity from prosecution will be recommended for any accomplice, not being the person who actually committed the crime, who gives information.

Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000

Originally published as Son’s desperate search for answers 40 years after brutal taxi murder