0:13

Hi. I'm your host, Kimbo. Grab a

0:16

beer and pull up a deck chair.

0:17

This is True Crime Ireland,

0:19

another True Crime podcast, bringing

0:22

a True Crime from

0:23

around the world Hi,

0:37

Armando. Well, this week, we have another

0:39

lesser known case from Victoria Australia.

0:42

one where there is no true justice,

0:45

but a

0:45

likely killer is revealed.

0:48

Now references to Naira from the

0:50

age and I've got most of this

0:52

from a coroner's report. Okay.

0:55

So we go back forty years to tottenham

0:58

in Victoria, Australia for this

1:00

case. Now Totnam is

1:02

about ten kilometers west of

1:04

Melbourne CBD.

1:06

Okay. So it's the first November nineteen

1:08

eighty. It's about midday, Ruth

1:11

Gillespie and Beth Young, and they're driving

1:13

along a dirt track road known as

1:15

a race course road, Wimbledon. Now

1:18

as they cross over the choroid

1:20

creek Ford, they noticed what

1:22

appeared to be a stall mannequin lying

1:25

in some grass on top of some

1:27

rocks and which were in

1:29

in the water of the creek. Now miss

1:31

Gillespie stopped the car and had a

1:33

closer look before realizing it

1:36

was a woman's body, clearly

1:38

dead. They immediately drove to

1:40

the Altoona North Police Station

1:42

where they reported what they'd seen. Now

1:45

if you look on Google Maps, the road

1:47

crosses Choroid Creek, but

1:49

it's not a bridge. It's a Ford, which

1:51

is more like a very low concrete

1:54

drive that still lets water flow

1:56

over it when it's required. So

1:58

you can easily see this

1:59

rock where Barbara's body

2:02

was located. Police from

2:04

Altoona North immediately attended,

2:07

and at one seventeen PM, arrived

2:09

at the southern end of race course

2:11

road and drove along the concrete

2:14

Ford where the body of Barbara Dawson

2:16

was located. lying in the

2:18

creek some two and a half meters

2:20

north of the concrete Ford and

2:22

partially hidden behind some ridge.

2:25

Barbara's body was naked except

2:27

the head was covered with a dark green

2:29

plastic bag. Around the

2:32

neck was a green cord, which standard

2:34

down towards the legs. The

2:36

feet and ankles were also

2:38

covered with a dark green plastic bag

2:41

and the body was partly submerged

2:43

in the water. Okay.

2:45

So before we get into the cause of

2:47

death, we need to rewind a bit.

2:50

Barbara Ellen Dawson was born at

2:52

Waiala South Australia on the eleventh

2:54

of July nineteen sixty. The

2:57

second daughter and third child

2:59

to the marriage of Colin and Helen

3:01

Nader. Her mom would divorce

3:04

and meet Peter Dawson. Now,

3:07

Peter was married to a Patricia

3:09

Dawson who mysteriously disappeared

3:12

on April the eleventh nineteen seventy

3:15

two from the family home in Ingle

3:17

Farm Australia. Just

3:19

a couple of weeks later, Helen,

3:22

Barbara's mom, moves in

3:24

with her five kids to the Ingle

3:26

Farm premises with Peter

3:28

Dawson and his two kids.

3:31

Now they would end up having another kid together

3:33

in nineteen seventy four and marry

3:36

in nineteen seventy nine. Now

3:38

between nine nine seventy two

3:40

and nine nine seventy eight, they moved

3:42

several times between Victoria,

3:45

South Australia, and Western Australia.

3:48

Now do you get some eerie sense

3:50

of deja vu when you hear the name

3:52

Dawson with a missing wife?

3:54

then another woman moves in shortly

3:57

after, we'll get into

3:59

that a bit more later. Now

4:01

Barbara was described as having

4:03

a minimal number of friends in a

4:05

limited social circle. Her

4:07

brother Jeffrey said, I don't

4:09

recall ever meeting any of her

4:11

friends, and I don't think she had many friends

4:13

at all. other than the people she's

4:15

working with. Barbara was never allowed

4:17

to go out and can't even recall her

4:20

going out to see a movie or

4:22

to a nightclub. Now

4:24

this is not going out or

4:26

actually not being allowed to go

4:28

out. Now this

4:30

not going out or not

4:32

being allowed to go out is explained

4:35

in more detail by her sister, Susan.

4:38

She details the amount and type

4:40

of control her parents had over kids

4:42

that still lived in the house.

4:44

Now Susan said, Helen

4:47

and dad controlled us kids by

4:49

fear and intimidation. They

4:51

like to have complete control over where

4:53

and what we kids did, what

4:55

time we went to or left from anywhere.

4:58

who we saw and there and so

5:00

on. For instance, I had

5:02

to be home from school by four PM.

5:05

If I wasn't, they'd be held to

5:07

pay. By this, I mean that Helen

5:09

would go ballistic yelling at me.

5:11

She had a nasty sharp

5:13

turn. When we were little

5:15

I remember dad waking us up to hit

5:17

us for some wrongdoing that we've done

5:20

during the day, and Helen had

5:22

subsequently told him about. When

5:24

she hit you, she didn't care

5:27

where, usually on the

5:29

face. She'd hit us with the wooden

5:31

spoon and strap too. He

5:33

used to use his hands and may have

5:35

used this strap. I can't

5:37

remember, but he hit us across

5:39

the legs mainly and the bum.

5:41

If anyone was allowed out, it was

5:43

Darren because he'd do the

5:45

hell whatever he liked. The

5:47

rest of us went allowed out. no

5:50

birthday parties or going to friends

5:52

houses or anything. We were

5:54

pretty much isolated. Susan

5:56

also noted that they were very

5:58

protective of her and they were

6:00

spinning out about the fact that Barbara

6:02

wanted to go out with anyone at all,

6:05

full stop. Not long

6:07

before she was murdered, she went to

6:09

a disco with someone. I think

6:11

it was someone from work, and I

6:13

know Dad and Helen stayed

6:15

up and waited for her to come back through

6:17

the door. It was only

6:19

once, and after that, she didn't do

6:21

it again. They gave us such

6:23

a hard time about it. Susan

6:25

also commented in respect

6:28

of Barbara, and she said, I

6:30

have no idea if she was sexually

6:32

active. but openly, sexually

6:34

active, definitely not. She

6:37

didn't have a boyfriend that I knew of.

6:39

I never met any of Bob's

6:41

friends if she had any. And

6:43

I have no idea who she would have

6:45

confided in if she had felt

6:47

the need to. She had workmates.

6:50

And this is pretty much what

6:52

all her siblings said of their family

6:54

life. Parents that were in total control

6:56

and no one was allowed to go anywhere

6:58

much at all. Barbara would end

7:00

up spending her home time

7:02

just reading books or watching

7:04

Kelly. Barbara did have

7:06

a job, though. She worked at

7:08

g j coals in footstray,

7:11

not far from home, and it was really

7:13

her only opportunity to meet with others

7:15

and socialize at all. just

7:17

with her work mate. But Barbara

7:20

did have a romantic interest in a boy

7:22

at work, Joe Sidari. Now

7:24

this would eventually cause a lot of

7:26

tension and arguments in the Dawson

7:28

household. So

7:29

this

7:30

is a strictly controlled family.

7:33

The kids aren't allowed friends over or

7:35

allowed to go out. Bob's does

7:37

have a job, but he's still not allowed

7:39

a normal social life. and low

7:41

and behold if she would want to go

7:43

out with a foreigner. And

7:46

this control isn't just yelling and

7:48

screaming at the kids It's enforced

7:50

with wooden spoons to the face and

7:52

being whipped with a strap. Okay.

7:54

So it's in the morning of when stay the

7:56

twenty ninth of October nineteen

7:59

eighty. Barbara is sleeping

8:01

at the family's fifty six Gualo

8:03

Street Tietnam House. She's

8:05

supposed to go to work in the morning,

8:07

but she's going to sleep in and

8:09

take a sickie. Now a sickie for our

8:11

American listeners is a

8:13

sick day. Now, Helen,

8:15

Bob's mom had to be at work

8:17

at seven AM and goes in

8:19

to see Bobber to get her up. Now

8:21

Bob says to her, Ma'am,

8:24

I'm going with Rod. I don't have

8:26

to go so early. Now Rod

8:28

is the next door neighbor boy. Helen

8:31

is then driven to work by Peter

8:33

Dawson, her hubby, and Bob's

8:35

stepdad. He works

8:37

as a security officer and

8:39

adjusts come home from a graveyard

8:41

shift. Now Jeffrey Bob's

8:43

brother gets up and goes to school leaving the

8:45

house at around eight AM. David,

8:48

her other brother sees Barbara

8:50

dressed at seven thirty AM,

8:52

and she asked him to tell

8:54

Lynn who works in the supermarket cash

8:57

offers and a mister Simpson, the

8:59

manager of calls, that she

9:01

won't be going into work because she's

9:03

got an appointment with her doctor.

9:05

Now, David tells Joe

9:07

Sidari about it at eight AM. He

9:09

works at Kohl's, that

9:11

Baths was going to the doctors and

9:13

that she wouldn't be in for the day. Susan

9:16

Bob's sister also leads the house

9:18

to go to school. So the only

9:20

people left in the house are

9:22

Bob's and her stepdad Peter.

9:25

and he's the last person to see

9:27

her alive. Now, this is where

9:29

things get really suspicious.

9:32

Christine Cole, a phonogram

9:35

operator, employed by telecom

9:37

Australia, said that on

9:39

Wednesday, October the twenty

9:41

ninth, She was working at central

9:43

Telegraph office. And that

9:45

after I returned from lunch,

9:47

after twelve midday, I received

9:49

a request by phone for a telegram

9:51

to be sent to mister and missus Dawson

9:54

at fifty six Gellow

9:56

Street Tietnam. Now the message

9:58

was, decided to be on

10:00

my own for a while, let you know

10:02

where I am later, and

10:04

signed bats. Christine

10:06

said though, The call

10:08

was male, and he sounded to her

10:10

as though he was aged between thirty

10:12

five and fifty years. And she

10:14

went on to say that after

10:16

I'd see the message, I

10:18

forwarded it the for

10:20

dispatched through the usual channels.

10:22

I also recall that the caller

10:24

appeared to be in a hurry. He

10:26

didn't want me to read it back to him. I did

10:29

read it back to him and he hung up straight

10:31

away. I tried

10:33

to say forward forwarded

10:35

it it I can't say it. Forwarded

10:39

it so many times, I just

10:41

had to go with that one.

10:43

The best one. Anyway, let's get back to this.

10:45

So we got this weird

10:49

telegram from especially from barra,

10:52

but it's come from a bloke,

10:54

Aaron. Roy Schmidt, supervisor in

10:56

charge of the operations department

10:58

chief telegraph offers said

11:00

that The telegram was addressed to

11:02

Dawson fifty six Gualo Street

11:04

Totham. This particular telegram

11:06

was lodged by telephone from a

11:08

public telephone box. I've got

11:10

the telephone box number here.

11:12

689068M3

11:15

Now that was situated in front

11:17

of the footscray post office.

11:20

Two hundred and one Nicholson Street,

11:22

Fort Straight, no Best Buy.

11:25

The charge for the Telegram was only

11:27

six bucks forty, and was brought to

11:29

account in the normal manner by the

11:31

sender inserting thirty two

11:33

twenty six coins in the

11:35

multi coin receptical. There you

11:37

go. No QR codes back

11:39

then. Alright. So Bards

11:41

left home. But the telegram she sent

11:43

to her family was Dick tated over

11:45

the phone by a man and

11:47

not hurt. Why not

11:49

just leave a note on the fridge?

11:51

Who is this man calling in

11:54

this telegram? So

11:56

the telegram is phoned in about

11:58

one PM and Peter

12:00

Dawson is home at around one

12:02

thirty PM when it's delivered.

12:04

Now it's only about

12:06

a nine minute drive from this pay

12:09

phone back to the house. Now

12:11

Peter goes to pick up Helen from

12:13

work at around two twenty five

12:15

PM. And he tells her the news.

12:17

Then they both bar drive the

12:19

Bob's work at JJ Karl's

12:22

to ask if anyone's seen her, but

12:24

no one has. When they return

12:26

home, they call Bob's friends not

12:28

that she's got many to see if she's with

12:30

them. but no unseener. So

12:33

parts is gone. There is this

12:35

mysterious telegram, but

12:37

that's not all. Peter and

12:39

Helen Dawson don't report

12:41

Bob's missing until the morning of the

12:43

first of November. That's

12:45

three days after this telegram

12:47

was sent. Now, as we already

12:49

know, it's later that day

12:51

that Bob's body is found on the

12:53

rock at Chororoid Creek.

12:56

but Bob isn't identified until

12:59

the third of November

13:01

by sister Julie

13:03

Condello. Okay.

13:05

So now when Bob's

13:08

body is found on the first of November,

13:10

police were appealing for help to

13:12

identify this body. Linnett

13:14

Robinson, who worked at the office

13:16

where Bard's work, said that she

13:18

was sitting in the lounge room with

13:20

her mom and brother watching

13:22

the nightly news, and as soon as

13:24

the picture was shown, she was

13:26

immediately recognized it

13:28

as Barbara. So that was from the

13:30

media press release, the police were

13:32

wondering who the hell his body is. But they

13:34

got a pretty good photo and

13:36

her friend from work picks it up Now

13:38

after recognizing it as

13:40

Barbara, she went straight to the phone and

13:42

rang Barbara's home number.

13:44

Now Peter Dawson answered

13:46

the phone and Lynn asked if

13:48

Barbara was there and he replied,

13:51

no, she's gone away on a holiday.

13:53

Now,

13:55

Wouldn't you take that phone call a

13:57

little bit more seriously? I mean,

13:59

your

13:59

daughter is gone. Left

14:01

no contact detail. details,

14:03

and then a body is found

14:05

that a work colleague recognizes

14:08

as your daughter. but

14:10

you don't even think to contact police.

14:12

And it will end up being

14:15

Barbara's sister that

14:16

goes to identify her body two

14:19

days later. Now,

14:21

I guess it would be strange

14:23

unless you got something high.

14:25

On the first of November, nine

14:27

eighty, doctor James Henry Mac Namara

14:30

conducted a post mortem examination on

14:32

the body of Barbara Dawson. Yeah.

14:34

Doctor McNamara made the following

14:36

observations and findings.

14:38

The body had a black bag around her head

14:40

in upper portion of the chest and another

14:43

black bag around the legs from the

14:45

knees down. A piece of

14:47

green cord was tied around just above

14:49

the knees and continues on

14:51

around the neck. The green

14:53

cord was tied around the neck on the outside

14:55

of the black bag. There

14:57

was bruising over the left cheek and around

14:59

the front of the neck. Below

15:02

this was a three inch cut, evenly

15:04

across the front of the neck, but

15:06

irregular in nature on

15:08

the right. On exposing

15:10

the laceration to the neck, The

15:12

main damage appeared to be directly in

15:14

the midline and had almost

15:17

completely severed the track

15:19

yet. The dissection of the

15:21

neck revealed minimal hemorrhage

15:23

when commencing the dissection,

15:25

but after dissecting behind

15:27

the trachea, The hemorrhage was particularly

15:29

well marked. Laceration

15:31

had severed the normal structures under

15:33

the skin and had penetrated

15:35

into the thyroid gland. There

15:37

was a deep cut in the right hand side

15:40

of the track here. The track

15:42

here was partly severed also

15:44

to a lesser degree in the

15:46

left hand side. Although,

15:48

it was here on the left hand

15:50

side, the continuity of the

15:52

trackier was still observable.

15:54

The major vessels of the neck other

15:56

than the external jugular vein were

15:59

intact. The external jugular

16:01

vein on the left left had been

16:03

severed. The cartoid and

16:05

internal jugular were

16:07

normal.

16:08

Now

16:09

vaginal and rectal smears were

16:11

taken. The vaginal swab would contain

16:14

semen. Remember, this is ninety

16:16

ninety. You're not gonna get any

16:18

DNA analysis in Australia,

16:20

but especially for uses evidence

16:22

until nineteen eighty nine.

16:25

The uterus was normal size and appearance

16:27

and showed no evidence of

16:29

any pregnancy and the ovaries

16:31

were normal. The external

16:33

examination showed no interference

16:35

with the Eurogeneratory system.

16:38

Analysis of a post mortem blood

16:40

sample didn't identify

16:42

any alcohol content and

16:44

no common drug poisons or

16:46

illicit drugs were detected in

16:48

the organs. Doctor McNamara

16:51

formulated the cause of death as

16:53

hemorrhage from lacerated throat.

16:55

Okay. that Barbara

16:58

had a throat cut and her body dumped in the

17:00

creek not far from where she lived,

17:02

naked with some green plastic bags and

17:04

rope by guests trying to conceal the body either

17:06

for transport or to help hide a body

17:09

sometime after she was

17:11

dumped. Now, As we all

17:13

know in true crime, police will look for who's seen

17:15

the victim last, who discovers

17:17

the body, and people close

17:20

to them. In a statement given on the

17:22

twenty fifth of November nineteen

17:24

eighty, so this is just over three

17:26

weeks after Barbara's body is

17:28

found, Peter Dawson says

17:30

that On Tuesday, the twenty eighth of October nineteen

17:32

eighty, I started work at ten

17:34

thirty PM at twenty seven Gates

17:37

South Wharf. I finished work at

17:39

approximately six thirty AM on the

17:41

Wednesday morning. I then drove

17:43

home arriving at about ten

17:45

to seven. When I arrived

17:47

home, Helen, whom I'll call

17:49

Sahel, was up and ready for

17:51

work. I then drove Sahel to work

17:53

to the Maidenstone private

17:55

hospital where she's a nurse.

17:57

I then rehut turned home at approximately

17:59

ten

17:59

past seven. On

18:01

this day, David, Susan, and

18:03

Jeffrey were up starting breakfast. I got Darren

18:05

out of bed and prepared all the children

18:08

for school. At this stage, I

18:10

hadn't cited Barbara. Sometime

18:13

between seven and seven thirty AM,

18:15

I heard Barbara call for David.

18:17

Now David went into the hallway.

18:19

I came from the kitchen to the

18:21

hallway to see what was going on.

18:24

I asked Barbara what was happening,

18:26

and she told me that she was

18:28

going to the doctors. then I

18:30

went into the bedroom and returned to

18:32

the kitchen. While I was in the

18:34

hallway, I heard Barbara tell

18:36

David that Rod, the next door neighbor, would

18:38

take David to work. The next

18:40

thing I recall happening was that

18:42

David came and said goodbye and

18:44

Susan left to go to

18:46

school just after this. This

18:48

was about twenty to eight.

18:50

A short time after Susan

18:52

left, Barbara came and sat in

18:54

the lounge. Then Jeffrey left to

18:56

go to school, Barbara was still in the lounge. I

18:59

asked her when she was going to the

19:01

doctors and she said shortly or

19:03

something like that. She

19:05

was watching on the telly. Between

19:08

eight forty five AM and nine

19:10

AM, Darren left to go

19:12

to school. After this, I went to the

19:14

toilet, then went to bed.

19:16

When I went to bed, Barbara was still

19:18

sitting in the lounge room. She was

19:20

wearing a work clothes. I think

19:22

she was wearing brown trousers and

19:24

a Rolex skinny. Before

19:26

going to bed, I asked her what time she was going

19:28

to the doctors, and she just told

19:31

me later. At about ten AM

19:33

that morning, I woke up and decided to

19:35

drive around to the shops to buy some

19:37

things. When I got up, I

19:39

didn't notice whether Barbara was home

19:41

or not. I didn't see her, but I didn't look

19:43

for her either. After coming home,

19:45

I laid down on the bed, but

19:47

didn't go to sleep. At

19:49

about half past one in the afternoon, there was a

19:51

knock at the door. And when I answered it,

19:53

I saw that it was the telegram boy.

19:56

He delivered to me the telegram which

19:59

read, decided to be on my own

20:01

for a while, let you know where I am

20:03

later, bads. The telegram was

20:05

addressed to a mister and missus

20:07

Dawson fifty six Gualo Street

20:09

Tautenham. Now when I read it, went

20:11

to see Barbara was in her

20:13

bedroom, but she wasn't. I looked in

20:15

her drawers and it was obvious her

20:17

clothing was gone. I was quite

20:19

shocked at this. I then went and showed

20:21

Sal at her work, the

20:23

Telegram. Okay. So

20:25

that's Peter Dawson.

20:28

his father's stepfather version

20:31

of events. But there's

20:33

no detail in the coroner's report

20:35

indicate that the police checked out Peter's claims

20:37

of where he was during

20:39

the morning of the twenty ninth.

20:42

But let's just wind back a few days

20:44

to statements made by

20:46

Barbara's friends and family and look

20:48

at a bank withdrawal she made

20:50

on twenty seventh of October.

20:53

We'll look at that bank withdrawal first.

20:56

Karen Dueland Bank teller at the FootScribe

20:58

Bank of the ANZ Bank said

21:00

that at about one PM on Monday afternoon, the

21:02

twenty seventh of October, I was working as

21:04

a teller at my place of

21:07

employment. A female approached me and passed

21:09

a bank book with a withdrawal slip.

21:11

She looked and smiled at me as

21:13

she did this. The account was in

21:15

the name of Barbara Ellen Dawson of

21:18

fifty six Gueloz Street

21:20

Tietnam. The withdrawal slip

21:22

was for one thousand four

21:24

hundred dollars. I observed that there

21:26

was one thousand five hundred and eighty six

21:28

dollars and sixty five

21:30

cents in her bank book account.

21:32

I checked the signature and also the computer

21:35

account. All appeared correct.

21:37

I had the account supervisor, mister

21:39

Jack Carroll, check it, and initial

21:42

it. I then gave miss Dawson one thousand four

21:44

hundred dollars and fifty dollar

21:46

notes. She then left

21:48

the bank. Okay. Save

21:50

it. Back in nineteen eighty, I

21:52

can tell you, fourteen hundred is

21:54

a lot of cash to withdraw, especially

21:57

you're only leaving about a hundred and eighty

21:59

six dollars left in your account.

22:01

In fact, that amount of

22:03

money would be worth more than

22:05

six thousand five hundred dollars

22:07

today. That's a lot of money.

22:09

Now, especially for someone

22:11

who doesn't go out, lives

22:13

at home, that sort of money would indicate

22:16

she was thinking of leaving home and

22:18

either traveling or going a

22:20

long way away. which

22:22

would make sense with the strict conditions she had

22:24

to abide by in her domestic situation.

22:27

See, if you were just gonna move into

22:29

a flat down the road,

22:31

it wouldn't need that much money in one

22:34

hit. Now back in nineteen eighty,

22:36

the key card, the

22:38

ATM card, Well, whatever

22:40

you'd call it was only

22:42

just being introduced in

22:44

Australia. If you wanted to go

22:46

somewhere that didn't have your bank details,

22:48

It involved a bit of planning to have your details

22:50

faxed through to the bank if you wanted

22:52

to do a transaction. That's why

22:54

I think she was leaving

22:57

town. But there's this one

22:59

comment from her work mate.

23:01

Now Anna Tedesco, a work

23:03

colleague at JJ Karls, said she

23:05

had a conversation with Barbara on Monday

23:07

the twenty seventh of October that,

23:11

Barbara told me that she was going to

23:13

the bank that day to get some money

23:15

so she could buy a birthday present for

23:17

a month. Later the same day, she

23:19

told me that she'd been to the bank and had

23:22

withdrawn the money. She didn't say how

23:24

much. She asked me what I thought she I

23:26

should get for a mom. Now, Bob

23:28

said because she didn't want anyone apart

23:30

from her, and her dad to know

23:32

anything about the present. Later,

23:34

Bob told me that she was going to have a day

23:36

off on the Wednesday to go with

23:39

her dad to buy the present for a mom. So

23:42

here she indicates

23:43

she wants to buy a present for a mom

23:45

and will go with her dad to

23:48

buy it. And that sort of money's gonna

23:50

get you a pretty good, say, secondhand

23:53

car. And on the Wednesday, there's no

23:55

indication that she plan to go

23:57

anywhere with her dad. Anyway, let's talk

23:59

about what Joe Sidaria, who worked

24:01

mate, and love interest, had to say

24:03

about the events before Barbara was

24:05

murdered. Now

24:07

Joe said, that on Tuesday, the

24:09

twenty first of October, I

24:11

asked Barbara if she'd meet me after

24:13

work on the next night on

24:15

Wednesday for a chat. I

24:17

asked her this because I'd heard that she was wondering

24:19

why I hadn't asked her out. I

24:21

had a few things on my mind and I thought

24:23

it would be good to have a talk with

24:26

her. I did like her, and in fact, planned to take her

24:28

out sometime. When I asked to

24:30

meet her the next night, the

24:32

Wednesday, she agreed to it.

24:34

The next night, Wednesday

24:36

night, I saw Barbara at ten to

24:38

six in the shop. I went upstairs

24:40

to get something. And when I

24:42

went back downstairs, She gone.

24:44

I thought

24:45

that this was strange. And

24:47

after this, I went home. The

24:49

next day at work, the Thursday, I saw

24:51

Barbara at work, When she saw me,

24:53

she ignored me. Later on,

24:56

I asked her what had happened last night, she

24:58

told me that she'd had an argument

25:00

with a father about me. It

25:02

was because he didn't like

25:04

Italians. She'd been crying

25:06

because her eyes were all red and puffed

25:08

up. She was very upset.

25:10

She told me that she'd explain everything

25:13

later. Then I asked her if she'd

25:15

have lunch with me and she

25:17

agreed. That afternoon, we went and had

25:19

lunch in my car, which was parked across the road

25:21

in the car park. She told me about the argument

25:23

she had with a father about Italians

25:25

and that her father wanted two

25:27

weeks to see how I treated

25:30

her. And I don't know how he planned

25:32

that. After this, I asked

25:34

Barbara to accompany me to a twenty

25:36

first birth day party that was to be

25:38

held on the eighth of November

25:40

at a friend's place in Werby South.

25:42

She said she'd come if her father would

25:44

let her go. After

25:46

this, we both went back to work.

25:49

Now, Joe said that he saw

25:51

Barbara on both Monday the twenty seventh

25:53

and Tuesday the twenty eighth

25:55

of October. at work as

25:57

usual with nothing out of the

25:59

ordinary. Noting that

26:02

Tuesday, I saw but she

26:04

was in a good She was full of smiles.

26:06

Since I knew pubs, I never took

26:08

her out. The only times we've

26:10

ever been alone was on the

26:12

Saturday morning that I picked her up to drive her

26:14

to work and on the Thursday that we sat

26:17

in the car and talked. I've

26:19

never even held hands or kissed

26:22

barbs. Now barbers seemed to be very

26:24

upset about this issue of having

26:26

a crush on Joe but

26:28

her parents being totally against it. Now,

26:30

statements from her siblings backed this

26:32

up with them basically saying she

26:34

was very disappointed crying,

26:37

and seemed distraught by the

26:39

situation she was in, with yelling and

26:42

screaming going on between her and

26:44

her parents. In respect of this,

26:46

Peter and Helen, her parents,

26:48

said there was never any conflict in

26:50

the household or arguments in

26:52

the days before Barbara's murders.

26:54

which is what you would say

26:57

if you were trying to hide something wouldn't

26:59

you? Now, there's another

27:01

interesting conversation by

27:03

had with another work mate, Joseph

27:05

Faceoli just days before she

27:07

was murdered. And Joseph Faceoli

27:10

training manager at g

27:12

j Cole's Fort Grey said in

27:14

respect of these interactions with

27:16

Barbara, that Joe Sidarri

27:18

was pretty friendly with Barbara

27:20

Dawson, the girl who got murdered. I will

27:22

say newer but only to talk

27:24

to. I've known Barbara since I started

27:26

working there. On Friday, the

27:28

twenty fourth of October, I had a

27:30

joke with Barbara. was in the

27:32

afternoon. I asked her jokingly if she'd

27:34

go out with me and she told me she couldn't

27:36

because she had too many problems.

27:38

I asked her what the matter with her was, and she

27:41

told me that she'd tell me the problem

27:43

next Wednesday. She also told

27:45

me she was going to go away for

27:47

a while to sort something out, but she didn't tell me

27:49

what her problem was. On the

27:51

next Wednesday, she didn't turn

27:53

up to work. So

27:55

there's

27:55

something about this Wednesday something

27:58

that Barbara's got

27:59

planned. Anyway,

28:01

on the late afternoon or early evening

28:03

of Tuesday, the twenty eighth of October,

28:06

Barbara went over to a neighbor's

28:08

house, James and Wilma McKnight.

28:10

Now

28:10

Wilma said that it

28:12

would have been somewhere between five and six

28:15

PM. I was sitting on the couch in the lounge room

28:17

and Rodney, my younger son, was

28:19

sitting on a chair opposite.

28:21

The back door was open and I heard Barbara come

28:23

in and she yelled out Hello

28:26

Willie? I looked towards the kitchen area

28:28

and saw Barbara coming towards me

28:30

in the lounge. Barbara stopped at

28:32

the doorway and said, I've

28:34

come in to tell you something, Willie.

28:36

As Barbara came into the lounge, she

28:38

saw a rodney on the other chair.

28:41

Now, this stage, Barbara said, oh,

28:43

I'll come over to see you later.

28:45

Barbara then left, and I never saw

28:47

her alive again. Okay.

28:51

So we we really don't

28:53

know what Barbara wanted to say to

28:55

Wilma, but it was something that she didn't

28:57

want Wilma's son to know.

29:00

Another statement made to police by the

29:02

neighbor was he heard voices

29:04

from the Dawson House on the Wednesday. The

29:06

Wednesday actually goes missing. James

29:09

McKnight, Wilner's hubby, he'd taken the day

29:11

off work because he had a three PM

29:13

appointment to get his tax return

29:15

done. Now he says,

29:17

I recall being out in the backyard of my

29:19

house during the morning. I was puttering in

29:21

the backyard, in the shed, which shares the

29:23

laundry with the Dawson's between nine

29:25

AM and one PM. Between

29:28

these times, I could clearly hear

29:30

voices coming from next door. The

29:32

voices were definitely Peter and

29:34

Barbara Dawson. The

29:36

voices were not raised like they were

29:38

angry. It just appeared to be

29:40

normal conversation. I didn't try to listen to

29:42

the conversation as there was nothing

29:44

abnormal about it. I heard the

29:46

voices several times, but

29:48

not continuously as I was

29:50

the house, the yard and the

29:52

shed. At around one PM, about

29:54

the time I left for my appointment,

29:56

I still hear Barbara and Peter's

29:59

voices next door. So

30:01

I don't know. Maybe he's times around

30:03

a bit as this telegram was called

30:05

in at one PM and delivered at

30:08

one thirty PM. And

30:10

I believe It's Peter Dawson, the

30:12

father who goes into

30:14

town which is only nine minutes

30:16

drive away to call this

30:18

telegram in. Okay. So

30:20

let's wrap up what happened before Barbara

30:22

was murdered. There's a lot of

30:25

indication that something was going to

30:27

happen. Possibly on the twenty eighth of

30:29

November, that's the Wednesday.

30:31

She's withdrawn almost all the money

30:33

from the bank, She alludes to telling people something

30:36

on the Wednesday, and she was

30:38

probably going to tell her neighbor

30:40

something on the Tuesday but

30:42

didn't get a chance to. Alright.

30:44

In December

30:45

nineteen eighty one, a

30:48

coroner's inquest is held with an

30:50

open finding. Barbara

30:52

had been murdered, but it was

30:54

unknown by who or where. And

30:56

as the years go by, the case goes

30:58

Carl, family members talk about it a bit over

31:00

the years and more details start to come

31:03

out. Now one conversation

31:06

between Susan, Jeffrey, and

31:08

Trevor their Barbara siblings went.

31:10

Trevor recalled that Peter

31:13

Dawson had called him because his

31:15

car had broken down.

31:17

Now, this was near Chorroic Creek

31:20

where Barbara's body would be found the

31:22

next day. Now, Peter asked

31:24

Trevor, a keeper between them

31:26

and not dimension it to anyone.

31:28

Trevor also said that he saw

31:30

plastic bags and rope in Peter's

31:33

car, which looked the same as

31:35

that found on Barbara's body.

31:37

Now Trevor told Susan that

31:39

he was told by Peter that he was

31:41

down in the area looking for Barbara.

31:43

I thought was strange because I didn't know

31:46

Barbara'd ever go to that area. So

31:48

why would dad go down there to

31:50

look for her? Now in

31:52

nineteen ninety four, Jeffrey

31:54

drove Trevor to the homicide

31:56

squad to give a statement about

31:58

what happened. there there's

32:00

no

32:00

record of this statement to be found.

32:03

Okay?

32:03

So this is where you would

32:06

think that would drag Peter Dawson in for

32:08

an interview. but that wouldn't happen for

32:10

another nine years in two

32:12

thousand and three. Peter

32:14

Dawson, he is arrested, but just

32:16

for questioning. The

32:18

swabs that were taken from Barbara's body had

32:20

been forensically tested for

32:22

DNA evidence. Now,

32:24

one swab had nothing, really?

32:26

Another was a bit moldy that couldn't use it,

32:28

but a third had partial DNA

32:30

traces that didn't exclude

32:33

Peter Dawson. And how

32:35

did they get Peter's Dawson's

32:37

DNA, right, without him

32:39

knowing? Well, on the thirty

32:41

first of January two thousand and three,

32:43

Jeffrey Dawson the brother, drove to

32:45

his father's house back as

32:47

March. And after watching him smoke

32:49

a cigarette on the veranda at the back of the

32:51

house and drop it drop

32:53

it into a coffee tin, he collected

32:55

the cigarette bun that still had

32:57

ash attached, placed it in a

32:59

bag and later that day provided it to

33:01

the homicide squad. Jeffrey Dawson

33:04

gave evidence that my

33:06

father was the only person home at

33:08

the time, and he was the only

33:10

smoker in the house. sneaky

33:13

boy. Now they use this

33:15

sample to see if they should get a formal

33:17

sample, which they do in August of two

33:19

thousand and three. Now, Peter says

33:21

in the interview with police, answer

33:24

me one thing. You came into my

33:26

house tonight, you said my DNA

33:29

matched. match what was

33:31

found on Barbara. I never touched her

33:33

in my life. Now later

33:35

in the interview, he was

33:37

informed that The DNA that was

33:39

located on a vaginal swab

33:41

obtained from Barbara has been

33:43

analyzed and compared to sample of

33:45

DNA that you supplied on the

33:47

fifteenth of August two thousand and three.

33:49

And you can't be eliminated

33:51

as a contributor of the DNA

33:53

found on the vaginal swab.

33:56

what do you have to say about that?

33:58

Now Dawson replied, I

34:00

never touched her. Never ever

34:03

touched her sexually. and that

34:05

would have to be sexual. Now, you

34:07

answer me a question. You just said that

34:09

I can't be eliminated. What

34:11

does that mean? that it's

34:14

not definite. As the

34:16

exchange continued with investigators,

34:18

Dawson said in response Right. Well, the

34:20

next moves up to you, isn't it? Now Peter

34:23

Dawson then repeated his

34:25

price assertion saying, Look,

34:28

I've got no more to say. Really?

34:30

You've told me that and

34:32

and I've Look, that's a

34:34

bit of a shock because I've never gone

34:36

near Barbara sexually in my life.

34:40

So from here, it looks like cops

34:42

are trying to put it on him a bit to get

34:44

a confession. knowing they

34:46

still don't have enough

34:48

evidence to charge you. And

34:50

so we'll go back

34:52

in time to Peter's Dawson's first wife,

34:54

Patricia Dawson. Peter and

34:56

Patricia Dawson were married in the

34:58

United Kingdom in nineteen

35:00

sixty four. In

35:02

nineteen sixty nine, they migrated to Australia with their two young

35:04

children and moved into Ingle Farms South

35:07

Australia. In March, seventy

35:09

one Peter Dawson Sustained a work related back

35:12

injury that resulted in him

35:14

attending the channel clinic, North

35:16

Terrace Adelaide

35:18

for treatment. was there that he met Helen Nader and ended up

35:20

forming a close relationship

35:22

with her. In March

35:24

seventy two, Peter Dawson

35:26

and Helen Nader began looking for

35:28

houses with a view of

35:30

moving in together. On Peter

35:32

Dawson's version

35:34

of at about eleven thirty PM on the eleventh of

35:36

April nineteen seventy two.

35:38

He left home to travel into Adelaide

35:40

to purchase the advertiser newspaper.

35:44

When he left the house, Patricia and the two children were

35:46

asleep in their beds. Peter returned

35:48

home at about twelve thirty AM on

35:50

twelfth of April seventy two and

35:53

sat in the lounge room reading the

35:56

newspaper. At about two AM, he noticed that

35:58

Patricia was missing from her bedroom.

36:00

They hadn't

36:00

been sleeping together for some weeks.

36:03

On the

36:04

fourteenth of April seventy two,

36:06

Dawson reported Patricia's disappearance

36:09

to police only after her brother Brian

36:11

Fletcher and her father insisted. So she's been gone

36:14

two days. Just over

36:18

two weeks, after Patricia's disappearance on the twenty seventh of

36:20

April seventy two, Helen

36:22

Nader and her children, Helen will

36:24

be Helen

36:26

Dawson and a children move into engle farm premises

36:28

with Peter Dawson and his two

36:30

kids. Now Patricia Dawson hasn't

36:32

been seen or heard of since

36:35

the eleventh of April seventy two. Family

36:38

and friends at the time found this

36:40

extremely strange

36:42

as Patricia was described as a devoted mother who

36:44

doted on her children. She was also

36:46

very close to her parents who lived

36:48

in nearby

36:50

Mardan. Now, detective Sergeant Jeffrey Brown, a South

36:52

Australian police conducted a review

36:54

of the initial investigation into

36:58

two disappearance of Patricia

37:00

Dawson in two thousand and three to two

37:02

thousand and five. Now as a

37:04

result, Peter Dawson

37:06

was arrested been charged with the murder of Patricia Dawson on

37:08

the thirteenth of December two thousand

37:10

and five. The matter remained

37:12

before the

37:14

Adelaide magistrates court until

37:16

thirty first of August two thousand

37:18

and six when it was decided

37:20

by the South Australian director of

37:22

public prosecutions that the matter would

37:24

not be proceeded with

37:26

because of insufficient evidence.

37:29

Well,

37:29

that his

37:30

previous wife goes missing? and

37:32

he moves in and with his new

37:34

love interest, Helen, Barbara's mom, into the marital home.

37:37

But why?

37:38

the way

37:39

That's not all. Did Helen

37:41

Dawson know something about Patricia's disappearance or even

37:44

Barbara's death?

37:46

Jeffrey Dawson number

37:48

of heated interactions between

37:50

Helen and Peter when

37:52

Peter would threaten to leave

37:54

resulting in what Jeffrey

37:56

described as Helen calling

37:58

out to him in a smug

37:59

way. That's

38:00

fine. I'll call the

38:03

police. Or I'll call the police

38:05

and tell them everything. resulting

38:08

in Peter immediately withdrawing

38:10

his threats. On both

38:12

occasions, Jeffrey concluded that I don't

38:15

know what mom was referring to, but now suspect she may have been

38:17

referring to my mother's disappearance

38:19

or Barbara's death. Susan

38:22

Dawson also said that I would describe

38:24

dad and Helen's relationship as

38:26

her having something over it. I

38:30

remember various occasions after

38:32

Bob was murdered where Helen

38:34

would yell at dad. I'll ring

38:36

the police

38:38

you I'll tell them everything I know. It'd go

38:40

quiet after that and they'd make

38:42

up and it'd return to him being

38:44

quiet and heard running

38:46

the house. If he'd had his

38:48

bags packed ready to leave, he'd

38:50

unpack and go back to how he'd

38:52

been. This happened for

38:54

years after

38:56

Barbara's murder. Jeffrey Dawson also told of a conversation

38:58

he had with Peter when he was

39:00

about eighteen or nineteen

39:02

years old. and

39:04

that I was still living at home, but going out to

39:06

the various night clubs and going to the gym

39:08

a lot. I was being rebellious at

39:12

the time and was being told not to go out by mom and dad,

39:14

but I continued to go out.

39:16

Right earlier being grounded by my father

39:18

and was told that I wasn't allowed to go

39:20

out socializing. I

39:22

was ignoring this and continued to go out. When I

39:24

was alone this day at the hospital, he said

39:26

to me, if you don't listen

39:29

to your mother, I will find this girl

39:31

and kill her. I've done it before. When he

39:34

said this, I fell a shiver

39:36

at my

39:38

back and believed that he was maybe talking about my mother

39:40

or Barbara's death and

39:42

that he'd done it before.

39:45

Now just before the latest

39:47

inquest, further DNA analysis

39:50

was done, which suggested that Barbara

39:52

had had six end of course within

39:54

twenty four hours of

39:56

her death. Now improvements in

39:58

DNA analysis is pointed to

40:01

a stepfather Peter Dawson as

40:03

having sexually assaulted her on the

40:05

day of her death. DNA

40:08

comparative analysis made it a

40:10

hundred billion times

40:12

more likely Peter Dawson was the contributor of the

40:14

semen sample that was found

40:16

on her vaginal

40:18

squat swap. So

40:19

there was

40:20

this

40:21

other inquest into the death of Barbara

40:24

Dawson in twenty

40:26

twenty one. I've used most

40:28

of the content from today's episode from that inquiries. Now the findings are

40:31

having reinvestigated the

40:34

dev to Barbara Ellen Dawson and having held an inquest in relation

40:36

to her death on the thirtieth of March

40:38

twenty twenty one at Melbourne. I make

40:41

the following findings. that the

40:44

identity of the deceased was Barbara

40:46

Ellen Dawson born eleven the

40:48

July nine nine sixty. And that

40:50

Barbara Ellen Dawson died on or

40:52

between the twenty ninth of October nineteen

40:54

eighty and first of November nineteen

40:56

eighty from a hemorrhage from a

40:58

lacerated throat. I

41:00

again refer to and reiterate the

41:02

principles and authorities that operate within

41:04

colonial jurisdiction.

41:06

bearing in mind that Barbara's death conduct of a criminal

41:09

nature, weight must be given to

41:11

the presumption of innocence. and

41:14

that any fighting against any person that they

41:16

caused or contributed to Barbara's death

41:19

is of such a gravity

41:21

that it demands clear content,

41:24

and exact proof.

41:26

On considering the totality

41:28

of the evidence, forensic and

41:32

circumstantial, I find on

41:34

the balance of probabilities that Peter Dawson, Barbara stepfather,

41:36

caused her death. her

41:39

death There you go. you guy

41:42

Peter Dawson, he died on the fourteenth of May two thousand and eight, so

41:44

he was never asked to answer for the

41:46

disappearance of his first wife, Patricia,

41:50

or for the murder of his step Barbara. So

41:52

what's my opinion on what

41:54

happened to Barbara Dawson?

41:57

Well, Peter

41:58

Dawson, I think. This

41:59

is just my

42:01

opinion. Probably rate Barbara on

42:03

the Wednesday morning. Now

42:06

maybe she'd been he'd

42:08

been raping her for a while. I don't

42:10

know. But the neighbor didn't hear any

42:12

screaming that

42:14

morning. he only heard normal talking. Now Barbara

42:16

didn't confer to anyone that his stepfather

42:18

had been raping her,

42:22

but maybe She was just too ashamed to tell anyone whether

42:24

her mother knew who knows,

42:26

but she was a piece of work in herself

42:28

the way she would hit the kids cross the face

42:30

with a

42:32

wooden So I

42:32

think Barbara was going to leave town,

42:34

that this was probably

42:36

what she was going to tell

42:38

people on that Wednesday. but

42:41

she didn't get a chance. Peter found out about this and he

42:43

didn't want his dirty little secret to get out. He would

42:45

have lost his power over Barbara

42:47

once she left

42:50

home. I think he was so enraged. He killed Barbara

42:52

after breaking her and then dumped her body

42:54

down the creek. The

42:56

fact that his first wife disappeared

42:59

moved Barbara's mom into the house just weeks

43:02

after, indicates to me

43:04

that he needed her gone.

43:06

He's that's Patricia gone.

43:09

So he just killed her. He was never

43:11

found guilty of that crime just because

43:13

there was not enough evidence

43:15

to convict him. but it does indicate it was held under

43:17

a lot of suspicion by police that

43:20

he did kill his wife, Patricia. I

43:22

mean, they charged him. They just had to drop

43:24

the charges.

43:26

Now, it's it's funny because this Dawson did so

43:28

close to what Chris Dawson did to

43:30

Lynn Dawson all those years

43:34

ago. Now, Barbara, she would

43:36

draw so much money but

43:38

kept a little bit in

43:40

the bank. Now to me,

43:42

that means she was going to lead town, and the fact

43:44

she was so upset was

43:46

because she would also be leaving her

43:48

new love interest, which was

43:50

Joe Sidari. Barbara, I

43:52

feel just couldn't live with a controlling parents

43:54

any longer and wanted a new life,

43:56

but she just didn't get that chance.

43:58

Her life was stolen from

44:01

her that she was dumped in

44:03

a creek.

44:04

in a privilege

44:07

Okay. I'd like to thank

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Story was given to me again by Jen,

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myself, the dumpster diving in the cases like these.

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Just like Wanda Egan did the

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other day, John Kelly. Thank you so

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much, Boongfaglia. I've also got a promo

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at the end of this episode. It's it's a blind weekly. I'm

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just gonna I'm tripping over myself

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so many times It's a

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biweekly podcast called Campus

44:54

Killings. Now Campus Killings is hosted by

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doctor Megan Sachs and

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doctor Amy Rolls Bird, Woman and Crime and Direct Appeal

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Podcast. In each episode Meghan

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and Amy dive into some of

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the most and tragic

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murders to happen on school

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fords. Well, that's

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about it. I didn't hear

45:42

your host camo, getting listening to True Crime Ireland,

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True Crime Ireland. Trade Crime

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Ireland, and as I always say, don't get it to browser

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history.

46:06

Ball is

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here and classes back in session. It's a busy time for students

46:09

and faculty, and with a new school

46:11

year comes new adventures, new

46:14

experiences, and new goals to achieve. But as

46:16

much promise and excitement as the fall

46:18

semester brings, there can also be a dark side

46:20

to it, one in which the unthinkable

46:22

can happen. I'm Amy

46:24

Slashburne, and I'm Megan Sachs, and we're the

46:26

host of the podcast campus

46:28

killings. As educators and criminologists,

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we teach research, write, and podcast about victims,

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worked in the field of criminal justice for

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myself in law enforcement and Amy in the mental health

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some of the most shocking and tragic murders

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to happen on school grounds. and

46:49

we'll provide our analysis on the cases we cover

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