Casefile True Crime - Case 46: The Frankston and Tynong North Serial Killer

Episode Date: February 18, 2017

In the 18 month period between May 1980 and October 1981, six women went missing from the Frankston and Tynong North areas in Melbourne’s south-east. The victims – Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, Ann-Marie Sargent, Narumol Stephenson, Allison Rooke and Joy Summers – were later found murdered and dumped in remote scrubland. Obvious efforts had been made by the offender to prevent the victims from being identified. ---  Researched and written by the Anonymous Host Greatly assisted in research and co-written by Anna Priestland For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-46-frankston-tynong-north-serial-killer

Frankston is a Bayside Council of Melbourne, as well as a suburb itself, with around 135,000 people residing there. It sits 40 kilometres, or 25 miles, south-east from the centre of Melbourne, and includes a varied mix of affluent areas as well as inexpensive and council housing. It has a mixed reputation, with Frankston North renowned for drugs and crime, and the South more wealthy and scenic, with sweeping views of Port Phillip Bay and huge houses nestled in the hills. You have heard about Frankston before on this podcast, Case 23, the Frankston serial killer. But before Paul Denier, there was another serial killer hunting in Frankston.

Alison Rook was a 60-year-old widow who lived with her pet budgie in a red brick flat on Hannah Street, Frankston North. On Friday, the 30th of May, 1980, Alison was experiencing car trouble with her EK Holden. She ditched the car and decided to catch a bus along the Frankston Dandonong Road instead. Alison had to go grocery shopping and visit the real estate agent to pay a bill. About 11am, she was seen by neighbours leaving her flat, walking towards the bus stop on Frankston Dandonong Road. Alison never placed her grocery order and didn't make it to the real estate agent. The bus driver working the route that they couldn't recall picking Alison up. Alison's daughter, Elaine White, made numerous calls to her mother throughout that afternoon

and evening. They had plans to go to a hotel that night to watch Elaine's husband play in a country in Western Bay. When Elaine failed to get in touch with her mother, she feared she may have collapsed alone in her flat. Elaine called her brother Keith and together they went to check on their mother. Keith climbed through a window only to find the place completely undisturbed. An empty bottle of beer Elaine had drunk with her mum the day before was even still in the sink. Police were called and after an investigation believed it likely that Alison was abducted while waiting for a bus. Despite being a major busy road there were no witnesses. No one saw Alison being dragged into a car or speaking with the suspicious person.

No one saw any suspicious vehicles. It's as if she disappeared. On Saturday the 5th of July 1980 five weeks later a man walking his dogs found Alison's body partially hidden by scrub on McClellan Drive in Frankston. McClellan Drive runs off Sky Road which is where Paul Denier would attack 17 year old Natalie Russell 13 years later. Alison was found naked her body decomposed. The discovery of Alison's body didn't help police further their investigation. They struggled to find leads. There was no forensic evidence left at the crime scene and to no witnesses. Their frustration was evident in this interview given to the aged newspaper by head of the Frankston Criminal Investigation Branch

Inspector Murray Burgess only days after Alison's body was found. I am disgusted we have not received more help. Everybody just keeps on going about doing their own thing not caring that they could be next. This is the worst crime I've seen in this town in the four years I have been here. The killer has struck once and we need help to catch him before he strikes again. Alison had another son Ivan Rook who was a police officer in South Australia. He said when I heard the news that she was missing I had the feeling that I wouldn't be seeing her again. No one knows what it's like until they experience it. You read about a murder in the paper and 10 minutes later you forget it. I feel anger and I wonder that anyone could be so

sick. A post mortem failed to identify a cause of death due to the state of decomposition. Alison had two sets of keys to her flat neither set has been found. The Victorian government announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the killer or killers of Alison Rook but no arrests were made. Joey Summers was a 55 year old widow who lived only one kilometer away from Alison Rook's flat although they didn't know each other. Joey lived on Norfolk Crescent, Frankston North. Joey suffered from arthritis and had previously had a stroke. Every Friday she went shopping with her friend William Cotter but on Friday the 9th of October 1981 William had a few medical appointments booked so he couldn't go.

Joey didn't like shopping alone but she decided to catch a bus from Frankston Dandenong Road into Frankston to buy some meat on her own anyway. She needed a side of lamb. She insisted on personally picking out her cuts of meat from her preferred butcher Woodwoods on Wells Street. She was seen by neighbors outside her home at 1 p.m heading to the bus stop which was only 100 meters away at the intersection of Chili Street and Frankston Dandenong Road. Joey was seen at the bus stop at 1 p.m and was never seen again. The bus driver couldn't recall picking her up and she never placed her order at the butchers. It had been almost a year and a half since Alison was killed. Like Alison police believed Joey was abducted from the bus stop on Frankston Dandenong Road.

Her friend William Cotter was convinced that Joey would not have accepted a lift from a stranger yet just like in Alison's case no one saw a struggle or anything suspicious along the busy road that day. It was six weeks later Sunday the 22nd of November 1981. About 11 a.m a man collecting firewood found Joey's naked body hidden in thick scrub in bushland near the intersection of Sky Road and McClellan Drive Frankston North. Only about three kilometers away from where Alison Rook's body was located. Like Alison's body Joey was covered but not buried. A post-mortem also failed to find a cause of death in Joey's case due to decomposition. Police determined that Alison and Joey's murders were linked. There were more than just a few similarities the two murders were

almost identical. Two special hotlines were set up at Frankston police station with Inspector Walsh warning that they believed the Frankston killer would strike again. The early working theory was that Joey and Alison had probably accepted lifts from the killer after mistaking him for someone they knew or trusted. They were then killed and their bodies dumped the same day. They even considered that the killer may have been in disguise. Chief Inspector Burgess said they weren't the type of women who would jump into a car with just anyone it would have to be someone they felt confident to get into a car with. It is quite feasible that the killer could be someone dressed up as a woman a priest or anything like that. He continued that he believed the killer was clever

not the kind to drop his wallet at the scene or leave any evidence behind. He concluded that the killer probably lived in the area and knew it well. Burgess appealed to the public particularly middle-aged and elderly women who had been offered a lift at a bus stop to contact one of the special hotlines at Frankston police station. Burgess was convinced there were women out there who had refused to lifts and then probably didn't think any more of it afterward. This appeal did generate a lead for police which we will get into later but first a quote from Inspector Les Walsh from the Victorian police homicide squad. Tonong is obviously something we don't just push out of our minds and forget about but at this stage we're still treating

Tonong as a different investigation. So what was the Tonong investigation? In 1980 the same year Allison was murdered in Frankston Bertha Miller was 75 years old and living with her brother-in-law William Ross on Cardinia Street Glen Iris. Glen Iris is an affluent suburb in Melbourne's east situated in what is now known as the Golden Triangle about 45 kilometers north of Frankston. Bertha had lived there for more than 25 years Bertha was an active and alert woman in good health with a large group of friends. She was heavily involved in her local church. Bertha had worked with the Spring Street Mission in the central Melbourne suburb Parrain for over 40 years. She was the longest serving member having joined in 1932.

She also worked at the Sunday school and was the church treasurer. The church priest described her as a humble woman who spent her life helping others. Although not a wealthy woman she sent money to many other Christian missions. At 10 15 a.m on Sunday the 10th of August 1980 Bertha called out to her brother-in-law William who was in the shower. She told him she was off the church she would be home late and not to wait for her to have lunch. In order to get to the church Bertha caught the tram from High Street Glen Iris. Her good friend Jesse Moore lived nearby in Burke Road. For the previous 10 years Bertha and Jesse caught the same tram to church every Sunday the 10 47 a.m along High Street. Bertha boarded at the terminus and Jesse joined her shortly after

at the Burke Road stop. When Jesse got on the tram that day Bertha was nowhere to be found. Jesse thought that maybe Bertha had gotten an earlier tram so she could deal with the church business. Bertha was last seen by a shopkeeper making the 400 meter walk to the tram stop. Police were called and conducted an investigation. This one was close to home. Bertha Miller was the auntie of the then Victorian police commissioner Mick Miller. But there were no witnesses no signs of a struggle no leads at all. No one had seen anything suspicious. Bertha had disappeared without a trace. Catherine Hedlund was 14 years old. She had moved to Australia from England with her family in 1966 when she was just one. They immigrated during the

era of the 10 pound pom scheme when British and Australian governments worked together to help populate Australia. The outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne were heavily populated with English immigrants during the time. She lived with her mother and older brother in Allen Street, Berrick. This outer south eastern suburb was at the time a rural area only just starting to kick off with housing developments and subdivision. Berrick is a little further southeast of Glen Iris and northeast of Frankston. Catherine was popular at school. She loved competing with her horse Prince in local equestrian competitions. It was her horse that led her to receive an ultimatum from her mother Hazel. Either get a job to help with its upkeep or we sell the horse.

Catherine chose the job. Hazel worked at the Coles supermarket in the local Fountain Gate shopping centre. She got Catherine a job there working part-time on weekends and Thursday the 28th of August 1980 during the school holidays was to beat Catherine's first mid-week shift. It was two and a half weeks after Bertha had gone missing in Glen Iris. Hazel Hedlund, Catherine's mum left home that day at 8 30 a.m leaving Catherine 70 cents for the bus fare. Catherine didn't start work until 12 midday but she left home at 9 30 a.m to visit her boyfriend John McManus. John lived on High Street, Berrick about a one-mile walk. John had a number of other friends visiting and they watched TV and listened to records. Catherine told her friends she wasn't particularly

keen on going to work and that she wanted to quid all together because it was stifling her social life. At 11 10 a.m Catherine left John's house and walked to the bus stop at the corner of Manuka Road and High Street where she planned to catch the 11 20 a.m bus to work. Catherine never made it to work. She was never seen again. Police were called and immediately launched an investigation. Many people came forward with alleged sightings of Catherine later that afternoon. This confused the initial investigation. A bus driver was adamant that he picked up a girl matching Catherine's description and the blonde girl about the same age at the Peel Street bus stop which is about 800 meters away from the Manuka Road stop. Others claim to have seen Catherine

about 2 30 p.m that afternoon in Nari Warren about eight kilometers away from Catherine's bus stop speaking with the blonde girl. A photo if it was even released of this blonde girl alleged to have been seen with Catherine but she was never identified. If it was true that Catherine did go to Nari Warren instead of work with an unknown friend it's possible she may have decided to hitchhike home. Hitchhiking was very common at the time and another bus driver came forward saying he was positive he had seen Catherine hitchhiking in the past. Police determined that these sightings of Catherine were unreliable and that there was no evidence Catherine got onto the bus. Annemarie Sargent was 18 years old. A happy go like a girl with a large group of friends.

She lived with family friends on Railway Road in another outer eastern suburb called Cranburn. Cranburn, a fairly rural area, is almost right in the center between Frankston and Berwick in a northeasterly direction. Annemarie was unemployed and struggling to find a career. On the 6th of October 1980 just over a month after Catherine had gone missing Annemarie visited her mother on Cranburn Drive. When she left she said she was headed to the nearby suburb of Dandenong to the Commonwealth Employment Service or CES to collect an unemployment check. It was located about 15 kilometers west of where Catherine Headland disappeared in Berwick. Annemarie told her mother that she would be returning later in the day to collect some

clothing. Annemarie made it to the CES office. She lodged the form there but after she left the office she was never seen again. Annemarie's father Fred Sargent said she commonly got around by hitchhiking due to having a lack of money. He said she could have had money from home for a bus but she said she would rather walk because she loved walking. On the day she went missing I knew that she had to hitchhike into Dandenong because she never had money to get the bus. My belief is that she was picked up and killed while hitchhiking. It was revealed that Annemarie had an operation a few years earlier to remove fluid from her brain. A plastic tube was inserted into the back of her skull during the operation. Any

knock to her head could have been fatal. Police again came up empty. No witnesses, no reports of a struggle or of anything suspicious. No leads. Annemarie just vanished. Neuromal Stevenson was 34 years old. She was born in Thailand. She married Victorian dairy farmer Wayne Stevenson in Thailand in 1978 before moving to Australia in August 1979, leaving her two children in the care of her parents. She struggled to settle in Australia and had immediate doubts about her decision to move here. Wayne and Neuromal lived on a farm in Deans Marsh, 134km southwest of Melbourne. On the 28th of November 1980 they visited Melbourne with another couple to see a concert.

They stayed overnight with friends near Hartwell Station in Camberwell. Hartwell Station sits between Glen Iris and Camberwell, only about 3.5km from where Bertha Miller disappeared on her way to church 10 weeks earlier. The next day, the 29th of November, they all visited another friend in Park Street, Brunswick, about 18km or 11 miles away in the inner north of Melbourne, and about 45km northwest of where Annemarie Sargent disappeared in Cranburn. When they got there, Neuromal refused to get out of the car and go up into the flat. She was upset about the visit as she had gone to the market earlier that day to buy ingredients for a Thai meal she planned to cook for everyone, but instead they went out drinking.

Wayne Stevenson and the other couple went into the flat where they drank wine and coffee. Wayne came down at least three times to check on Neuromal. The second time he found her walking down the street from the direction of a 7-Eleven. The third time he found her talking Thai to a man in a car. The man had a European accent. After this third check, Wayne sat with his wife in their car until it was nearly dawn, then he walked upstairs and fell asleep. Neuromal remained in the car, still refusing to enter the flat. Shortly after 6am, Wayne Stevenson walked back downstairs to see his wife, but she wasn't there. The car was still there, but Neuromal was missing.

Police were called but got nowhere. No witnesses, no evidence, no signs of a struggle, no leads at all. They weren't convinced this was even a missing persons case, given the argument that Stevenson had had. The case quickly went cold. None of the cases were linked at this stage. That wouldn't happen until one week after Neuromal's disappearance, the 6th of December, 1980. Around 40km or 24 miles east of Berwick and Cranburn, local garage owner Graham Brenchley and two friends Tom Lubey and Len Trewin had spent the morning slaughtering nine lambs in the shed on Brenchley's property in the town of Garfield. They needed somewhere to dump the offal. Trewin went to the cool room to store the carcasses,

while Brenchley and Lubey jumped in a car and headed to an area of scrub at Tai Nong North. Tai Nong North is a small rural town located 75km or 47 miles south east of Melbourne, and it has a population of only about 400 people, and is mainly farm and bushland. Brenchley knew the foxes and wild dogs in Tai Nong North would take care of the offal for him. 2km north of the Princess Highway at Tai Nong North along Brew Road, there is a dead end dirt track that leads up to an abandoned seam quarry now filled with water. The track is rarely used. To the left of the dirt road there were numerous wallaby tracks leading in different directions. A quiet, isolated area, thick with flies and infested by snakes. The chances of

running into another person were remote. It was the ideal spot. It was about 2.30pm. Brenchley chose a wallaby track and started walking, looking to dump what was left of the lamb. As he was walking he looked to his right and was stumped. He called out to his mate Lubey. Christ, there's a body over here. Brenchley went in for a closer look and called out a second time. No, there are two of them. Brenchley had found the bodies of Bertha Miller and Inmarie Sargent hidden in dense low scrub. Like Alison Rook and Joy Summers, the bodies weren't buried, but the dense undergrowth in which they were found provided sufficient concealment. The crime scenes of Alison and Joy were about 50km west of the Tai Nong North crime scene.

Both bodies were badly decomposed. They were laying face up, head to feet beside each other at the base of a large tree. Each had one arm across the chest and the other beside their body. Inmarie Sargent was naked, but Bertha Miller was still heavily clothed. Police were called and a crime scene was established. A thorough search of the area the following morning on Sunday the 7th of December located a third body at 10am, only about 15m away. It was Catherine Hedlund, a member of the forensic science laboratory founder. She was also badly decomposed and had been left naked. The media immediately printed headlines drawing comparisons to the infamous Truro murders in South Australia.

Seven women were killed between December 76 and February 77. Five of the victims were dumped in bush paddocks at Truro just off a main highway. When asked about the similarities, the head of the Victorian homicide squad chief inspector Paul Deleonis shot it down, saying this is just a local problem. He continued, It seems this is the dumping ground for some sort of killer. We are not overlooking the possibility that there are others there. He said the search and rescue squad would closely come over the 10 hectare 24 acre area for clues and for more bodies. Post mortems were conducted on Monday the 8th of December. Emery Sargent was able to be identified by the plastic tube inserted in her

skull during her brain operation. It took a few days to identify Bertha Miller and Catherine Hedlund. Bertha was identified by the dress she was wearing and a hair match to a brush found in her home. Catherine was identified by a leather ankle, earrings and dental records. Police were surprised to learn of the age gap between the victims. Chief Inspector Paul Deleonis said police initially thought it likely that all the victims would be young. We were looking at a possible sexual motive but we will have to look again at the situation. The sexual motive wasn't completely discarded but it didn't fit any known pattern given the substantial age gap of the victims. Due to the bad state of decomposition no cause of death was able to be determined for any of the

victims. Police confirmed they were checking for similarities between the three Tynoong victims and the murder of Alison Rook in Frankston. Joyce Summers, the second Frankston victim, hadn't been attacked at this point in time. Each victim was either waiting for public transport or was hitchhiking. Each victim was close to home and disappeared from public areas shortly after being seen by witnesses. Yet there were no witnesses to any suspicious activity. No tips had been called in. A special operations room was set up at Russell Street Police headquarters in Central Melbourne. Over 25 police were involved in the search and initial investigation. An early avenue of investigation was to set up a roadblock near the Glen Iris home of Bertha

Miller. The roadblock occurred on Sunday the 14th of December on High Street Glen Iris. Although it had been four months since the day she disappeared police hoped someone would come forward with information. Maybe someone remembered something. And they did. Police learned that Bertha may have accepted rides from strangers in the past despite her brother-in-law saying she wouldn't. Detective Inspector Richie from the Homicide Squad said it appears she was the sort of person who would accept a lift from people she did not know. We have spoken to a number of people who have given her lifts at various times in the past. After successfully learning this information from the roadblock set up for Bertha police set up a roadblock the next day on Thomas Street Dendenall

seeking information about Amory Sergeant. It was there in Dendenall that Amory was last seen collecting her unemployment check. Following the information that had been received about the possible sighting of Catherine Headland in Nariwaran on the afternoon of her disappearance a dummy wearing the same clothes as Catherine was displayed in the area on Friday the 19th of December. After the early steps of the investigation had taken place police issued a press release stating that the driver of a white taxi may be able to assist with their inquiries. Witnesses had come forward and said that a white taxi possibly a holden in Kingswood was spotted near where the bodies were found on three occasions that corresponded with the time of the killings.

Paul Deleonis said no connection had been made between the three victims so they believed the taxi could have been used as a ploy to pick them up. After making extensive inquiries with taxi companies police were told that some drivers offered free lifts to women and this was known to happen in the Tynoil North area but they weren't able to identify the taxi they were looking for or the driver. On Thursday the 3rd of February 1983 two years into two months after the original discovery at Tynoil North a teacher and former AFL footballer Barry Davis found the body of Neuromal Stevenson. Barry was driving along the Princess Highway in Tynoil North when a tyre went flat on a trailer he was telling. They pulled

over opposite a truck stop. While his mate went to try and burrow a jack Barry decided to stretch his legs quote. I decided to take a walk up the bush track I walked up this track for approximately 50 meters from the road and came to a dead end. I then turned around to walk back and to notice the bone on the ground. At the time Barry was a senior lecturer in anatomy and physiology and immediately recognized it as a human thigh band. The track he is referring to is the same one off Bru Road that led to the old sand quarry where Bertha, Catherine and Emery were found. Police were notified attended the scene and after a search they located the body of Neuromal Stevenson. Like the others she wasn't buried but concealed by thick undergrowth. She was found

naked on the opposite side of the track to the other victims closer to the highway about two kilometers away from the first crime scene. Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Bennett said we have every reason to believe the fourth body is connected to the other three they were too close not to be connected. Like the other victims an autopsy failed to identify a cause of death. Neuromal was identified by dental records. After two and a half years of investigation and more than 1,000 interviews they had found the fourth body at Tonnell. They had answered the question lingering over whether Neuromal Stevenson had met with foul play. So the timeline is Alison Rook was the first to go missing on the 30th of May 1980. She was found five weeks later

at Frankston. Bertha Miller was the next to disappear on the 10th of August 1980. Then Catherine Headland on the 18th of August 1980. Then Emery Sargent on the 6th of August 1980. Neuromal Stevenson on the 30th of November 1980. Proximity wise Neuromal was by far the furthest distance to the other women when she disappeared but the night before she went missing she had stayed the night in the next suburb from where Bertha Miller had disappeared from. The bodies of Bertha, Catherine and Anne-Marie were found at Tonnell North on the 6th of December 1980. Joyce Summers went missing on the 9th of October 1981 and was found at Frankston six weeks later. Neuromal Stevenson was the last to be found on the 3rd of February 1983 at Tonnell North.

Police were treating the Tonnell North investigation separate to the Frankston investigation but were open to the idea that they could be linked. In fact opinions were divided amongst the investigators as to whether or not they were hunting one or two killers. Some even suggested it could be three. A coronial inquest into the four Tonnell North murders was held at Hawthorne Coroner's Court in Melbourne before Coroner Anthony Ellis. Ellis released his findings on Wednesday the 12th of June 1985. By now the investigation had been ongoing for four and a half years. 2,000 interviews had been conducted which had taken detectives as far as North Queensland. There were 11,400 pages of notes, statements and other documents. Some suspects had been

identified but there was insufficient evidence for any arrests. Coroner Ellis said that the person or persons responsible for the murders appeared to have no criteria in the selection of victims. There were great disparities in the ages and social backgrounds of the four women but there were similarities that linked them all. All disappeared on large roads while using public transport or hitchhiking. All four were either unemployed or worked only part time and therefore had free time during the day. After all of the evidence was heard before the Coroner's Court Coroner Anthony Ellis was unable to determine how, when or where the women died. It was an open finding. Quote, there does not appear to be any particular pattern to the date or times that

the women disappeared. There is no doubt that foul play must be suspected. I must return an open verdict. A $50,000 reward was in place for information leading to an arrest for each victim at both Tonnell North and Frankston. The reward is still in place today and has never been increased. This case didn't attract the media coverage that other cases have. Compare it to two other Victorian cases, the Frankston serial killer Paul Denier, which was still a decade away, or Mr. Cruel, which was also a few years away from breaking, and the media coverage of Tonnell North and Frankston was far lower in comparison. Despite this the police had still conducted an extremely large scale and intense investigation, one of the largest in Victoria's history up to that point.

They believed sexual assault was a motivation for the killings, but couldn't prove it. They also believed the victims were asphyxiated or stabbed, but again they couldn't prove it. The investigation continued, however with no fresh leads and not enough evidence to make any arrests, it was eventually scaled back. The Tonnell North and Frankston cases were still mentioned together, but still weren't conclusively linked. Eventually the cases were placed in the cold case file. But new life was breathed back into the investigation and it was reopened after a Christmas card was sent to Catherine Hedlund's family in December 1988. Inside the card was a handwritten note, it read, I hope in writing to you I do not cause you or

your family any stress. I can comprehend the pain, the agony you have endured to lose a loved one, Catherine. Not knowing when or if the perpetrator, singular or plural, will ever be caught. Well the new year may be a good one for you. Things may unfold, the name of the perpetrator, whose deeds make Truro look like kid stuff. I'll keep in touch sometime in the new year. Signed Anonymous Friend. This Christmas card was followed five months later by a typed letter sent to the Victorian Police Commissioner at the time, Kel Glare. It was received by him on Tuesday the 30th of May 1989. It read, Is the Tonnell file gathering dust? Have you ran into a dead end? Need help? With a multitude of questions but very few answers. Did you know you were dealing with

mass murder in a scale never seen in this country? Only the top American serial killers surpassed this cold blooded killer. Did you know, name is blacked out by police, was another victim, and others across three states. Did you find the brooch that Miller was wearing on the day of her murder? Or the pair of sterling silver bluebird earrings belonging to Catherine? That's the end of the letter. Police had found Catherine's earrings but not Bertha Miller's brooch. Chief Inspector Cole of the Homicide Squad said he believed the writer had intimate knowledge of the murders. He hoped it was from someone who knew the murderer and would come forward with more information. Quote, After so many years of nothing, we have suddenly got someone

communicating with relatives and the Chief Commissioner. This letter was posted only two weeks after a nationwide TV special aired on Jack the Ripper, which had made mention of the taunting letters sent to Scotland Yard Police. Diane Short, Hammary Sergeant's sister said, He's still out there and he's playing games with us now. Until he's caught, I don't think anybody involved in the whole thing can rest. We continually think about it. It's there with us every day. Every time we go to the cemetery, it's there. Police got to work trying to identify the writer. They weren't sure if it was the killer, someone who knew the killer, or if it was just the hoax. But publicly, Sergeant Fraser,

who is now head of the investigation, said this. We believe it to be genuine because the letter mentions items of jewellery belonging to the victims, and it appears he has an intimate knowledge of the murders. Forensic psychologist, Mr Tim Watson Munro, who was also involved in the Mr Cruel case, said the author of the letter and the Christmas card fit the criteria of a psychopath. Quote, He's obviously articulate and above average intelligence. It is possible he's flagging a warning that he may strike again. Mick Miller, the former Victorian Police Commissioner and a nephew of Bertha Miller, was interviewed about the new developments. He said, The Victorian police have a top reputation of being able to solve serious

crimes long after their occurrence. As leader of the force, it was with considerable disappointment that we were not able to solve the murders at the time. He said it was confident the case would be solved. After the letters were released to the public, police were bombarded with new information. Detectives who worked the case originally were recalled from their current duties to get back to work on the Tyne-On case. The chief investigator, Detective Sergeant Bill Fraser, who had worked the investigation originally, was recalled from his duties at the time and put back on the case, as were other detectives around the state. The new information they received from the public took weeks to sift through. Some information was new to police and had to be examined thoroughly.

It led to many more people being interviewed and even some cars being forensically tested. Media reports at the time still only mainly referred to the four Tyne-On North murders. The Frankston murders were barely mentioned, maybe a line or two in the occasional article briefly mentioning the fact police were considering the possibility they were linked. But that's it. Another interesting point about the media reporting at the time, after the letters were made public, the media started calling the killings mass murders, the Tyne-On mass murders. Speculation was rife that an interstate mass murderer was on the loose, so the letter writer had an effect. The letter didn't just have the attention of Victorian detectives, but detectives from

all around the country who sought further information from Victorian detectives about its contents and potential links to other unsolved murders. New South Wales police publicly confirmed they were monitoring the progress of the newly reopened Tyne-On investigation and were making several inquiries in relation to missing persons cases. Queensland police also confirmed they were reviewing old files to see if there were any cases with similarities to the Tyne-On murders. It was at this time that another theory presented itself. The Tyne-On killer was a serial killer who had been operating along the highways of Australia's east coast since 1972. It was reported 13 women had been murdered along

eastern seaboard highways between 1972 and 1983, and their cases remained unsolved, which would explain why Queensland and New South Wales police were monitoring developments closely. On the 5th of June 1989, police revealed they had identified the letter writer, and he was not the person responsible for the murders. The man's name was not disclosed due to fears for his life, but he had given information to police. He was a prisoner at Pentridge Prison in Melbourne. Three typewriters were seized from the prison's J Division, and forensic tests showed one of the typewriters had been used to type the letter sent to the commissioner. The writer told police he sent the letter because he had feelings of sympathy towards

the families of the murdered women. The name that was blacked out in the letter was Edwina Boyle, who had last been seen in her home in Dandenong in October 1983. Police launched a large-scale search to find her at the time of her disappearance, but they came up empty. Her body wasn't located until 2006, and her husband was charged and convicted of her murder, so the case was unrelated to the Tynoong-Frankston killings. However, it was commonly linked to them over the years. Despite the investigation kickstarting and the renewed public interest, no arrests were made, and the case went cold again. Until 1999. In 1999, Victorian police established a new task force to investigate the killings.

Code named Lindhurst. Former police commissioner Mick Miller, nephew of Bertha Miller, lobbied for the case to be reinvestigated. His pleas were heard, and a new task force containing seven police was formed. It was hoped that advancements in DNA technology could provide the breakthrough they were looking for. Their job was to check the boxes of old exhibits, review the notes from the original investigators, review witness statements, and every other piece of information they could find in the file. Speaking to witnesses would prove to be a problem, though. Many were now dead, and those that were still alive struggled to remember back all those years ago. Exhibits were sent to the forensic science centre to establish if there were any

DNA traces that could be analysed. If DNA traces were found, police planned to ask several suspects for comparison samples. Despite the fact no arrests had ever been made, police had a few people in mind. Task Force Lindhurst would be concentrating on the Tonong North murders, but would look at other murders if evidence was uncovered confirming they were linked. So again, the Frankston killings were briefly referenced, but not officially linked. Different generations of detectives had by now worked the case. Some were convinced Tonong North and Frankston were linked. Others entertained the idea that two serial killers were operating at the same time. Others believed there could be three killers. Even two expert analysts who examined all available evidence came to two

different conclusions. Two specialist analyst reports were conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, one in 1985, and another in 1990. The two reports were completed by different analysts. The 1985 report noted that the Frankston murders of Alison Rylke and Joyce Summers, and the Tonong North murders of Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, and Anne-Marie Sargent have obvious similarities. All were last seen between 10am and 3pm. All were abducted east of Melbourne. Alison and Joyce were both abducted around lunchtime on a Friday, all waiting for a bus on Frankston Dentonong Road. All five victims were taken in a 17 month period between 1980 and 1981. Four of them lived in a triangle going from Frankston to Cranburn

to Berwick. There were differences in Nuremberg Stevenson's case. She was presumably abducted while sitting in a car outside a flat, not waiting for public transport. Although it's possible she may have walked from the car and sought public transport or started hitchhiking. She was also abducted in the early hours of the morning, and was outside the area of where the other victims were taken. Brunswick is a fairly central northern suburb of Melbourne, whereas the other victims were taken well east or southeast of Melbourne. Yet despite these differences, the killer was active when she was abducted, and her body was found at Tonong North, in the close vicinity of the other victims. Her remains were also found in a similar state to the other victims.

It couldn't be a copycat, because Bertha, Catherine, and Anne-Marie were found one week after Nuremberg was taken. The differences suggested Nuremberg's case didn't fit, yet at the same time it was almost too much of a coincidence not to be connected. The 1985 Analysts Report states, There is nothing to suggest that the offender or offenders selected their victims because of specific characteristics common to the women. It appears that each of them was selected at random. Who they were was not the criteria for their selection, but where they were. The report suggested the killer was an opportunist, unemployed,

on leave, or a shift worker, and possibly lived in the Dandenong, Frankston, or Eastern Bay areas. In relation to the fact that 75-year-old Bertha Miller was the only victim found clothed, the report concluded. It may be that the offender or offenders balked when they realised her age, or fear and stress caused by her situation may have brought on a heart attack. The report concluded the victims weren't killed at the scene, they were killed elsewhere as there were no signs of a struggle. None of the bodies were buried, all were covered by local vegetation and scrub. Some were better hidden than others. The branches used to cover Miller had been

sawn off, whereas the branches used to cover the other bodies had been broken away or picked from the ground. Despite the similarities in the cases, the 1985 analysts felt one person killed Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, and Anne-Marie Sargent, a second person killed Nuremore Stevenson, and a third person killed Allison Rook and Joyce Summers, three different killers. The analysts offered the following explanation. The person or persons who placed the first three victims at the Blue Road site near the sand quarry at Taonong North were more particular in selecting a site at which to dispose of the bodies. An isolated site off a little-used road, considerable distance from the nearest main road, was selected. He was prepared to take

the victim a considerable distance from where he picked them up before disposing of the body. This could indicate that the offender responsible for the deaths of the first three women at Taonong North had given some thought as to how and where he might dispose of the body, and suggest that he may have planned to commit a particular offense if and when the opportunity arose. The analysts went on to state that this was an important difference to the other cases. Nuremore Stevenson and the two Frankston women, Joyce Summers and Allison Rook, were all located much closer to a main road or highway. Suggesting to the analysts, they were placed at the first available suitable location found by the offender. Their bodies were not

positioned with as much care as the first three Taonong victims. This alone led the analysts to conclude there was more than one killer. The analysts who completed the 1990 report five years later reached an entirely different conclusion. The 1990 report said that on the balance of probabilities, the same person killed Allison Rook, Joyce Summers, Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, and Anne-Marie Sargent. The analyst wasn't sure about Nuremore Stevenson being killed by the same person because of the differences mentioned earlier. So who were the suspects police identified over the years? There are three main ones. One of those is considered the red hot suspect, but we will go over all three. The first is referred to as Miller's suspect.

Former Victorian police commissioner Mick Miller, nephew of Bertha Miller, couldn't tolerate loose ends and it was a stickler for protocol and procedure. He was not one to stick his nose into an investigation. Despite his auntie being a victim, he knew it was a job for the detectives on the case and he left it with them. He was a former well-respected homicide detective himself and a lecturer at the detective training school, so he no doubt would have been tempted to get involved given his personal attachment to the case, but he was determined not to. He ignored his personal interest and was insulted by any suggestion he would influence the investigation. He stuck to his word until he retired from the police force in 1987, but in his retirement he

did become more vocal. He was very vocal in lobbying for the case to be re-examined which had led to the formation of task force Lindhurst in 1999. He has thrown up the name of a suspect who cannot publicly be named. Miller's belief is that a crucial alibi given by this suspect may be false, although the alibi was accepted by investigators at the time. The alibi was that the suspect was working when Catherine Hedlund and Anne-Marie Sargent were taken, so he couldn't be responsible. A handwritten timesheet and a punched time-clock card backed up his alibi, but Miller was not convinced by this seemingly airtight alibi. The initial theory was that the victims were selected at random while waiting for public transport or while hitchhiking,

but Miller believes Catherine, Anne-Marie and his aunt Bertha may have all been carefully selected by a man they all knew. The reason Miller liked this suspect so much is because the suspect knew Catherine Hedlund. His circle of friends also had contact with Anne-Marie Sargent and he also had indirect contacts to Bertha Miller. Mick Miller believes his suspect wrongly believed Bertha was wealthy and that Catherine and Anne-Marie's attacks were sexually motivated. Miller's suspect was in his 20s at the time of the murders and lived inside the so-called Killers Triangle, going from Frankston to Cranburn to Berwick. Miller became concerned by work practices at the factory where the suspect worked. Miller believed it was possible the timesheeds could

have been falsified and the suspect could have left work after clocking on and been gone for hours unnoticed. Workers at the factory had to punch a card into a time clock, but of course there's no way of proving who actually punched the card. A handwritten worksheet showed when workers were on leave or sick, but supervision at the factory was poor and the timesheeds and clock-ons were not checked daily against staff who were actually present. It was common for workers to slip out for a few hours unnoticed by supervisors and very occasionally it was possible to get a fellow worker to punch your card and you could get away with not showing up at all. Miller's suspect didn't have a reputation as a good worker, he often called in sick and only

remained in the job for about seven months. The 1985 analysis determined Miller's suspect was unlikely to be involved, but that was based on his airtight alibi, which Miller believes is not pair tight anymore. The next suspect relates to the Christmas card sent to Catherine's family and the letter sent to the commissioner. The letter writer was identified as a prisoner at Pentridge Prison. He was a serial rapist who had served years of time with notorious criminal Raymond Edmonds, also known as Mr Stinky. Edmonds murdered two teenagers in 1966, but was not arrested until 1985. Police believe he was responsible for at least 32 rapes and numerous unsolved murders committed up until the time of his arrest. He was later convicted for

five rapes but never convicted for any other murders. He is currently serving life with no minimum term. The letter writer told police that Edmonds had confessed to him about a large number of unsolved murders and bragged that his youngest victim was nine. It was because of this that the letter writer nominated Edmonds as the Tai Nong murderer. These allegations were checked out by police. Edmonds repeatedly denies involvement in any other crimes other than those he has been convicted for. He refuses to speak to police or cooperate in any cold case investigations. Edmonds would have been familiar with the areas as he lived and worked on farms nearby, but he was found to have moved to New South Wales in 1980, just before the murders started,

meaning he would have had to have made repeated trips to Victoria to commit the crimes, something investigators thought unlikely after looking at all the evidence. The letter writer told the Sunday Age newspaper that Edmonds had revealed details about the crimes that were never released publicly. Presumably he is referring to the jewellery he mentioned in the letter. A quote from the letter writer, I have done some terrible things and I have taken responsibility for them. Edmonds was a very bad machine. One of those Tai Nong girls was only 14. I have to speak up. He has left bodies everywhere he lived. He shows no remorse and he will never change. Edmonds once said, if I told them everything I've done, they'd neck me. The enormity of his crimes

is terrible. Society should know what happened. That brings us to the prime suspect. Due to a 1985 court suppression order, we can't mention his name either. Although reporter John Sylvester does refer to him as Mr Smith in one of his feature articles on the case. So we will go with that. Mr Smith was and may still be a member of a fundamentalist church that believed mainstream Christian religions were no longer operating according to the true teachings of the Bible. In 1980, he lived in a street between both Joy and Ellison. The three of them lived within a 1500 meter radius. Both bodies were found along the same vicinity of Skye and McClellan roads, just around the corner. Where Mr Smith lived, a modest suburban brick house was located in

a pocket of the neighborhood which made it impossible to get to the main road without passing within 100 meters of Joy's house. Having lived there for at least eight years, it would be likely that you would know many faces from your neighborhood. He had previously worked at the Frankston driving off Skye Road. Skye Road was the road where Joy's body was found and just around the corner from where Ellison's body was found. If you drew a square, each corner would represent Joy's house, Ellison's house, the location of Joy's body and finally the location of Ellison's body. If you place a dot in the center of the square, you will find the house where Mr Smith lived with his wife and

family in 1980. Mr Smith drove a black Corolla panel van. The media releases police made had worked. Several women had come forward reporting that the driver of a black panel van had offered them lifts. One woman was waiting for a bus, another was outside her home, a third was a student walking home from school after an exam. And all of these reported approaches happened to be on a Friday. Mr Smith was first interviewed by police two weeks after Joy's summers went missing at the end of 1981. He was by then working at the cinema in Collins Street, in the central city area of Melbourne. Although it's unclear how long he had been working in Collins Street, it had been less than a year since Nuremal had disappeared from a northern suburb of Melbourne just four kilometers

away from the cinema. Police told him they were investigating the disappearance of Joy's summers and had received information about a man driving a van similar to his, offering people lifts on Frankston Dandenong Road. To their surprise, he said, I often stop and offer people lifts along there, sometimes at the bus stops, sometimes when they are walking along the street. He said he offered lifts to both males and females, but mainly elderly females, if they would get in with him. Why? The police asked. Just to be friendly and have someone to talk to. Some women have to wait at the bus stop for a long time and I help them by giving them a ride. You never know what will happen next. All the

schools have got drugs in them now and the young kids are causing trouble. Alison and Joy both disappeared between 11 30 a.m. and 1 30 p.m. The days they disappeared, Mr Smith was working afternoon shift. His shift started at 4 p.m. and finished at 2 a.m. 12 hours after this first police interview, Mr Smith rang the Frankston Criminal Investigation Branch and spoke to Detective John Kealy. He told the detective he had now remembered the following specific information about the day Joy's summers disappeared. He said, about 12 o'clock that day, I went to the bank with my wife to get some money. We would have drove down the Frankston Dandenong Road, but I didn't see anything

suspicious or else I would have remembered. Mr Smith's story was later backed up by his wife, but the bank manager didn't remember this. He told the police and later testified at the coronial inquest that no money was withdrawn or deposited into Mr Smith's account that day and there was no record of him visiting the bank that day. Bank records showed that there was a withdrawal made from his account the day before at a branch 20 kilometers away from Frankston. Weeks after Joy's summers body was discovered, police paid Mr Smith another visit. He was asked if he was aware that Joy's summers had been murdered and her body found. He was also asked if he was aware about the earlier murder of Alison Rook. Mr Smith replied,

no, I don't read the papers or watch TV. Mr Smith also denied knowing the location off Sky Road where the bodies were located. He said, I don't know where it is. I've never been there. He forgot to mention that he worked at the cinema as a projectionist on that very street. He had also lived in the neighborhood for over nine years by that time. Police had now caught him out in another lie. Mr Smith was taken to where the bodies were found. The area had been leveled and the scrub cleared during the search for clues. But Mr Smith was seen to carefully avoid the precise areas where the bodies were found. A police source said, he became nervous and sweated a lot. He walked

around the sites as asked, but at no time did he walk in the immediate vicinity of where the bodies had been lying. Extensive areas around the sites have been cleared of bush and scrub by the police crime scene searches. And the investigators stated that without some prior knowledge, it would not have been possible to tell exactly where the two bodies had been lying. During this visit, he told police he had no idea two local women had been murdered. Police had only just told him about the murders. And when they pointed this out to him, he said, I just forgot, I guess. He was questioned further about offering people lifts. He said, I would estimate the number of offers generally over the last 18 months to be 50 or even more. Most people do not accept lifts

from me. And I would say that my success rate is about two or 3%. Over the last 18 months, about six females have accepted lifts from me. An extraordinary statement when you consider there were six victims. Another coincidence, Mr Smith had lived in Frankston for many years, but only started offering lifts around the same time Allison Rook disappeared. Allison being the first of the six victims to go missing. In a police interview on the 3rd of December 1981, he said, I am not a sex maniac. I never play around and I resent the implication that I ever would. He had been charged with soliciting a sex worker two years earlier whilst he was married. When reminded of that, he said, Look, yes. But it is

not how it is, sir. All I felt is a cuddle. I was lonely. Investigations revealed he was a regular at local sex shops and filled out advertisements in magazines stating he only wanted to watch. He was into pornography and visited sex workers. When questioned directly, if he had offered a lift to Joyce Hummers, Mr Smith said, Sir, I may have. I honestly may have. But if I did, I didn't kill her. I wouldn't do anything like kill anyone. After this interview, Mr Smith sought legal advice. He visited Frankston police station the next day with his wife and his lawyer and said he would no longer cooperate with police. But only shortly after that, on what was the first anniversary of the first three

Tyno North victims being found, the 6th of December 1981, Mr Smith walked into Frankston police station of his own accord. He wasn't asked to go there by police. Mr Smith said this to senior constable Michael White. You know, I was brought in about two murders in Frankston. Well, why haven't I been asked about five murders instead of two? White asked, which others are you talking about? Mr Smith said, the ones at Tyno. Remember, Nuremberg Stevenson was missing at this stage, but her body had not yet been found. So there were only five known victims. After hearing this comment, police did another check into Mr Smith's background, which revealed he previously resided in Garfield,

which adjoins Tyno North, and was the town where the two men came from who found the bodies while disposing of the lamb offal. He also used to work at the Tyno Hotel. His black van was seen parked outside a friend's house in Garfield numerous times during the period Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, Ann Marie Sargent, and Nuremberg Stevenson disappeared. Not only that, Mr Smith previously worked as a truck driver. His regular route took him along Brew Road, then onto the dirt track that led to the quarry where he picked up loads of sand. The very track where the victims were found years later. Despite this, that first 1985 analysis report said the following about Mr Smith.

The lack of physical evidence and eyewitness accounts linking him to either of the Frankston victims means that it's unlikely he will ever be charged with any offence or eliminated as a suspect. The only conclusion I can draw is that the person or persons responsible for the deaths of Alison Rook and Joyce Summers at Frankston is not the same person responsible for the deaths of Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, Ann Marie Sargent, and it is most likely that a third person or persons were responsible for the death of Nuremberg Stevenson. Three killers. It was a highly controversial finding and one that divided police working the case. Some thought it possible, which meant that there were two serial killers operating in the same area at the same time who

both stopped around the same time. Other police completely disagreed and thought Mr Smith was good for all six killings. The second analysis report in 1990 said Mr Smith was a viable suspect with weak or nonexistent alibis. On the balance of probabilities, the same person or persons were responsible for the murders of Alison Rook, Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, Ann Marie Sargent, and Joyce Summers. On the information available, Mr Smith is the best nominated person for the offences. Serial crime experts in the United States who reviewed the case agreed. They believed Mr Smith was likely the murderer. Mr Smith was not working when Bertha Miller, Ann Marie Sargent, Alison Rook, and Joyce Summers

disappeared. But he was rostered to work from 11am to 11pm the date Catherine Headland was abducted. But was that alibi correct? Police weren't so sure. Records went the best and they felt Mr Smith's time sheet also could have been falsified. In 1997 police ran Operation Alista, which actually had nothing to do with the murder investigation. It was a four-day operation between the 20th and 23rd of August targeting street sex work in St Kilda. Seventy men were questioned for soliciting and 30 women for loitering. During that operation Mr Smith, aged in his late 60s at the time, approached an undercover police woman and asked for sex. He was arrested and questioned. When being interviewed over this matter, Mr Smith randomly blurted out he was the prime

suspect in the unsolved Tyno North Killings. The police interviewing him at the time weren't aware of who he was or that he was a suspect in that case. One former detective told the age newspaper, as far as I'm concerned he's not the suspect, he's the killer. Mr Smith is now in his 80s. He's still deeply religious and attends a strict church in Melbourne's outer east. Those who knew Mr Smith referred to him as a prude. Fellow co-workers remember him yelling about provocative pictures of women and how offensive they were. The original profile of the killer was, had access to a motor vehicle, either didn't work, was a shift worker or was possibly on leave, had good knowledge of the area bound by Dandenong, Frankston and the eastern bay area and may have

lived in that area, was an opportunist. Mr Smith fitted all these points. He had lied to police on several occasions, admitted to picking up women at bus stops and knew both areas at Tyno North and Frankston. But none of that is solid evidence. There are no witnesses, no forensic material, no hard evidence to put before a court. Mr Smith has taken two polygraph tests in relation to the murders. Although controversial, his answers to questions about the Tyno North and Frankston killings showed signs of deception. The head of operation Lindhurst said, We are confident we know the killer's identity. We have used DNA technology, behavioral, psychological and geographic profiling methods and have been greatly assisted by receiving new,

important information from members of the public. We are confident in the direction our investigation is heading. We are now focusing on one suspect. It's said the majority of serial killers continue until they are caught. Generally, they don't just stop, although it does happen. In a lot of cases, there is a spark that starts them killing. But if that spark is removed, then it's possible they will stop. In the December 1981 interview, Mr Smith admitted that he was experiencing severe marital problems, mainly involving financial difficulties. His wife informed him she was filing for divorce. Mr Smith was a deeply religious man who didn't believe in divorce. It was at this time that the Frankston and Tyno North victims started to disappear.

Mr Smith was eventually able to work through his marriage difficulties and remained married, about which time the murders stopped. Mr Smith grew up in the King Lake area northeast of Melbourne. Between the years of 1954 and 1963, through his 20s, he was still in the King Lake area and was known to be working in the timber industry. By 1967, at around 33 years of age, he was living in the St Kilda area of Melbourne, a stone's throw away from where he would be questioned 30 years later, asking for a sex worker. By 1972, he had settled down and married and was living in the Frankston North home. After the Frankston and Tyno murders, after being questioned and after a court suppression order was issued, his movements are more elusive. His three children grew up and moved out and his

wife who had provided his alibis passed away in 2006, so her word is gone with her. Seven news tracked down Mr Smith and I encourage everyone to watch that news report. The link is in the show notes.