The killer, the witness, the three bodies and the rural rumour mill

The yarns have been swirling around neighbouring farming communities for months after two more bodies turned up – all linked one way or another to a missing convicted killer and human remains found in a burnt out tree.

It is the tale of a missing convicted killer, human remains in a burnt-out tree, a murder investigation and a key witness’s decomposed body being found in a shipping container.

The tiny farming communities of Menah, Wilbetree and Gulgong, just outside of Mudgee in central west NSW, have been awash with rumour and innuendo since the bodies of three people were discovered on two properties just over a dozen kilometres and six months apart.

It all began a year ago on Saturday when Homicide Squad detectives raided “Ellerslie”, a farm on Wilbetree Rd at Menah, and found human remains in the burnt-out tree stump in a paddock.

They were searching for convicted killer David Collisson, who had been reported missing 11 days earlier on October 15, 2023, and whose disappearance sparked a major investigation centring around drugs and other criminality.

Six months later, on April 13, police were called to a shipping container sitting on a rural property at Gulgong, roughly 12km away, where they found the bodies of Kelly Williams, 37, and Christopher “Diz” Gillespie, 55

Christopher “Diz” Gillespie

Kelly Williams

The Sunday Telegraph can today reveal that Gillespie was the manager of Ellerslie, the property on which Collison’s bones were allegedly found.

Dubbo Local Court heard in September that Gillespie had given an induced statement, which detectives planned to use in their case against Eric James Forrest – who late last year was charged with Collisson’s murder.

Convicted killer David Collisson, aged 53, was last seen at Ellerslie on Wilbertree Road in Menah on October 15 last year. Human remains were found on the property on October 26.

An induced statement outlines the evidence a witness can give, but which cannot then be used against them.

While police allege Collisson was murdered by Forrest, the court had also heard in September that – although forensic tests conducted in the United States had confirmed the bones found in the tree were human – experts could not determine if they were Collisson’s.

Forrest was arrested at Maroubra late last year and charged with Collisson’s murder, which police allege occurred on September 25 – a month before his remains were found.

“Ellerslie”, the farm where they were found, was being managed by Gillespie, a knockabout farmer who also lived on the property and had attracted a growing number of people to also visit the farmhouse for days on end.

Police at "Ellerslie", the property on Wilbetree Rd, Menah where human remains were found during the search for David Collisson. Picture: NSW Police.

Gillespie is understood to have moved off the property in the wake of Collisson’s death and into a large red shipping container on a five-hectare lot on Perseverance Lane at ­Gulgong.

The shipping container is one of about six on the lot, which is bereft of any home and surrounded by a few trees, roughly 12km as the crow flies from the “Ellerslie” property where the burnt remains were discovered.

A foul smell coming from the shipping container was noticed by a passer-by, who reported to police; they made the grim discovery of the bodies of the two friends inside.

Police have investigated the deaths of Gillespie and Williams, and found there were no obvious signs of a cause other than gas from a heater they were using to warm themselves up inside the shipping container on the cold autumn night.

Forensic police at the crime scene after the bodies of Chris Gillespie and Kelly Williams were found in a shipping container outside Gulgong. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Colin Boyd

A thorough investigation has ruled out foul play or any connection to Collisson’s disappearance, but their deaths will still be investigated by the coroner.

Gillespie and Williams were both well known in the local Central West communities, with tributes flowing for them on social media in the wake of their deaths.

But as happens in small communities, the discovery of their bodies so close to the property Gillespie had lived at and managed – and which was the scene of the raid and discovery of the burnt-out remains – continues to be a source of talk among locals.

More than 120 people from local towns including Dubbo, Mudgee and Gosford, as well as Bankstown, are expected to be witnesses in the case after being interviewed by detectives as part of Strike Force Utyana.

Crown solicitor Miranda Scott told the court last month that on top of this, there was an “extraordinary” amount of additional evidence including phone records and bank statements.

Collisson, 53, had spent nearly 20 years in jail for the 2000 murder of teenager Shahab Kargarian in Sydney.

Collisson was just 30 when he came across Kargarian and his girlfriend looking at the lights of the city from down at the water at Greenwich Point.

The young couple had been enjoying a lovely night together, driving over to Manly to meet with family and friends, before having dinner and drinks, and then driving back towards North Sydney – before stopping at Greenwich Point.

As they sat there Collisson and another man came up to them and one man said: “Give me your wallet … give me your f--cking wallet or I’ll shoot you”.

Kargarian replied: “I don’t have a wallet.”

The teenager’s girlfriend tried to intervene, before being pushed back, at which point she said the next thing she heard were the gunshots that took Kargarian’s life.

Originally published as The killer, the witness, the three bodies and the rural rumour mill