Australia Australia - Elisabeth Membrey, 23, Ringwood, Vic, 6 Dec 1994

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Elisabeth Frances Membrey
Missing since December 6, 1994 from Ringwood, Victoria, Australia.

Date Of Birth: June 6, 1972
Age at Time of Disappearance: 23 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'5"-5'6" (166 cm)
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; gray eyes.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases-int/1452dfvic.html

this is most of the info but if you want to see an image go to the link


Elisabeth was last seen when she left her job at the Manhattan Hotel, Ringwood, Victoria at approximately 23:45 on Tuesday, 6 December, 1994.

Forensic evidence indicates Elisabeth was murdered at her house, her body driven away in her red Mazda, which was later returned to the unit.

Police believe a known visitor was let in. Sometime later she was attacked in the hallway and killed.
The killer spent hours trying to conceal the crime. The hallway wall was washed and a deep bloodstain on the carpet was attempted to be cleaned.
Police believe the killer wrapped Membrey's body in her doona and put it in the back seat of her Mazda. They believe she is located along dirt roads within 100 kilometers of the Ringwood unit. They believe the car was returned 3 hours later.

The car showed dust and soil consistent with the Kinglake and Silvan areas, that was wedged in the wheel trims and doors.

my aim is to try to locate her.
its a long shot but its my first case, i guess i have to start somewhere.
 
Wow, this is a strange case. I see that someone was accused of her murder and found not guilty at trial, but I'm not sure I agree with that verdict if this was correctly reported :thinking:

THE man accused of murdering young Ringwood bar worker Elisabeth Membrey told an acquaintance her throat had been cut in her hallway and her body would never be found, a Supreme Court jury has been told.
Click to expand...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/ju...lisabeth-membrey/story-e6frf7jo-1226277085009

More info here (including the trial results):

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/the-membrey-files-20120608-1zqrp.html

Wishing you good luck in your search Fade, I hope you discover the truth and solve this case :)
 
~Respectfully snipped ~

fade said:
my aim is to try to locate her.
its a long shot but its my first case, i guess i have to start somewhere.
Click to expand...

I sincerely hope she is found, fade, and her killer jailed, Elisabeth's parents have waited long enough and deserve justice!

I read through unsolved's link about the case, so many suspects and so many lies. There is no doubt Elisabeth was murdered and someone thinks they've gotten away with it. The perp returned Elisabeth's car to her residence so it wouldn't be found and her body discovered. I wonder also if the place holds a significant clue to the perp's identity, he may have frequented the spot before.


Kinglake and Silvan areas from where the soil found on the car may have come from, they're both in opposite directions. Silvan is quite a bit closer to Ringwood than Kinglake, and seems more likely, but then again, it depends on the perp's knowledge of either area. jmo
 

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It Is a Odd one.
The suspect found not guilty returned home covered in blood in the early hours of December 7, telling his housemate that he had bitten his tongue in an epileptic fit.
He was Also from a place called Don Valley .
this is interesting considering Kinglake and Silvan are opposite to each other but Don Valley is slightly central off to the east of both locations.
in fact it is a straight run almost, from ringwood to Don Valley.
leaving from ringwood: If you turn right you end up in silvan, left you end up in kinglake.
i also wonder why according to the witness who saw the "suspect" never mentioned him covered in anything other then blood. no dirt, not wet, as far as i can tell anyhow. Could this be a clue to where the body maybe?

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Thanks for posting this case, fade. I'll do some reading on it when I get time..

I know people in Kinglake, so maybe I could help with local information if needed.

edit: I see my hero Ron Iddles was all over this.. If there's one cop in the world whose work I trust over all others, it's him. I'll take whatever he has had to say on the case as gold, he's done well by so many other victims in Victorian cold cases.

It's pretty disgusting that not one, but two witnesses who could have helped the case were dismissed as unreliable due to "mental ill-health issues". Unless these issues were chronic delusions or a long history of chronic lying, I would expect that this should not matter one bit! If not, then it's terrible, a very bad way to treat people, and a disservice to the truth.
 
It doesn't bode well for the chances of finding Elizabeth that it appears her car was driven to Kinglake or surrounds. Up there, there Kinglake state forest and also Toolangi state forest, as well as lots of other bits of bushland in between... That's a lot of dense forest area to search in.

Three hours, the car was gone. Kinglake's about 45min-1hr from Ringwood (depending which road is taken). So that's say, two hours driving up and back. An hour to find a place and dispose of her.

She could be anywhere up there... :(

My friend from Kinglake agrees, he grew up "on the mountain" up there. He says the forest's so dense, finding a body without clues to narrow the area down would take a miracle.
 
i agree it is a one in a million but there is no harm in trying.
would anyone know how to get information on the areas the police searched. Im trying to eliminate areas.
 
A few factors i am considering.
1) max time line assuming he knew where to go.

2)the body has not be found or identified, meaning remote ;hard to access.

3)assuming to start with the main suspect who was found not guilty is the guy. Witness doesn't describe him as being covered in dirt. Not sure what to do with that but it's a start.

4)eliminate searched areas

5)she was possibly covered in a doona. Would this mean she was buried (clashes with the lack of dirt on suspect) but can't ignore . Perhaps a mineor crevice . Have to research this.

Any other things i should be considering i would be happy to hear.

And thanks for all the interest, information and support.
 
[video=youtube;6IEAXmzY14g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IEAXmzY14g[/video]
 
Can anyone help me get a copy of the court transcript for this case?
It appears that it is probably available from Victorian Government Reporting Service (VGRS) for a fee of $1.30 per page if supplied as a pdf file, which would make it fairly expensive.
AustLII has some information on EVIDENTIARY RULINGS but not the whole court transcript.
If anyone with an interest in this case has the transcript, would they consider sending me a copy?
 
After reviewing the available information these are my conclusions so far.

1 “Forensic tests established the dust and soil found in the wheel trims and doors came when the car was driven on a dirt road at speeds between 60km/h and 70km/h for at least four kilometres.” [Source]
Opinion: I have no knowledge of how this is forensically tested but for it to be 100 % accurate you would have to literally drive on the same road on a day that was the same temperature and humidity to achieve a credible result. Given the limitations I can see with this test I would allow the results to show a fair margin either way. ie speed may be faster or slower for a longer or shorter distance.

2 “Further tests showed the soil was consistent with the Kinglake and Silvan areas” [Source]

Opinion: This would appear to indicate that the soil is Red Gradational Soil as found on volcanic rocks around Warragul, Thorpdale, Neerim, Mirboo North, and other small areas at Erica, Ripplebrook, Hill End, Fumina, Vesper, Kinglake, Cockatoo, Emerald, Leongatha, and Phillip Island. [Source]

Red “Ferrosols” …….. Smaller occurrences are west of Portland, Daylesford, far East Gippsland, Gembrook-Silvan, Kilmore and parts of King Valley [Source]

3 “… leaving detectives to conclude the body was left less than 100 kilometres from the unit”
[Source]

Opinion: Most likely 100% correct and possibly considerably closer.

4 “…. the accused admitted that a friend helped him dispose of the body in a creek or river nearby.” [Source]

“……… who alleged Bond had told him: "They'll never find her f---ing body.” [Source]

Opinion: The comment that the body will never be found seems to contradict the previous comment that the body was disposed of in a creek or river where a body would very possibly be washed downstream at some time and ultimately be discovered.
More likely that if the resting place is in water then it would be a stationary body of water.
An alternative is that the comment described a Place Name ending in Creek or River e.g. Hoddles Creek

<snip>

I wish to stress that none of this consists of new information, only my opinion after reading the information published in the media and using Google Earth which wasn&#8217;t available in 1994.

I&#8217;m also hoping that my interpretation of this information leads to renewed interest in the search for the body, perhaps outside some of the parameters that have previously been put forward.
 
wow, just discovered this case on reddit, this seems so solvable.
havent read anything else about it so not sure what happened with guy covered in blood. but covered in blood from biting tongue is the biggest lie ive ever heard lol
 
The killer would probably not have too much dirt on him if the murder was planned in advance and the grave pre-dug; mostly on his shoes and he could have easily cleaned or changed them. Of course, this is less important if the accused guy actually was innocent.

Anyway from my own unofficial study, fewer than 1% of cases are solved after going past 20 years.
 
Still missing:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/e...-criminal-justice-reform-20160517-gox8tt.html

It was not simply the outcome of the trial that stung. During proceedings, the Membreys felt they were simply observers to a process that had very little to do with Elisabeth...

Australia's criminal justice system is an adversarial model that focuses on the prosecution, and defence, of people accused of a crime. Because of this, critics say, the search for "justice" can be a bruising and even re-traumatising experience for victims and their families.

In October 2014, then attorney-general Robert Clark asked the Victorian Law Reform Commission to investigate whether victims should be given a role before, during and after a criminal trial and whether they should be allowed to be more involved with the criminal process...
Click to expand...
 
Tom Box said:
After reviewing the available information these are my conclusions so far.

1 &#8220;Forensic tests established the dust and soil found in the wheel trims and doors came when the car was driven on a dirt road at speeds between 60km/h and 70km/h for at least four kilometres.&#8221; [Source]
Opinion: I have no knowledge of how this is forensically tested but for it to be 100 % accurate you would have to literally drive on the same road on a day that was the same temperature and humidity to achieve a credible result. Given the limitations I can see with this test I would allow the results to show a fair margin either way. ie speed may be faster or slower for a longer or shorter distance.

2 &#8220;Further tests showed the soil was consistent with the Kinglake and Silvan areas&#8221; [Source]

Opinion: This would appear to indicate that the soil is Red Gradational Soil as found on volcanic rocks around Warragul, Thorpdale, Neerim, Mirboo North, and other small areas at Erica, Ripplebrook, Hill End, Fumina, Vesper, Kinglake, Cockatoo, Emerald, Leongatha, and Phillip Island. [Source]

Red &#8220;Ferrosols&#8221; &#8230;&#8230;.. Smaller occurrences are west of Portland, Daylesford, far East Gippsland, Gembrook-Silvan, Kilmore and parts of King Valley [Source]

3 &#8220;&#8230; leaving detectives to conclude the body was left less than 100 kilometres from the unit&#8221;
[Source]

Opinion: Most likely 100% correct and possibly considerably closer.

4 &#8220;&#8230;. the accused admitted that a friend helped him dispose of the body in a creek or river nearby.&#8221; [Source]

&#8220;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; who alleged Bond had told him: "They'll never find her f---ing body.&#8221; [Source]

Opinion: The comment that the body will never be found seems to contradict the previous comment that the body was disposed of in a creek or river where a body would very possibly be washed downstream at some time and ultimately be discovered.
More likely that if the resting place is in water then it would be a stationary body of water.
An alternative is that the comment described a Place Name ending in Creek or River e.g. Hoddles Creek

<snip>

I wish to stress that none of this consists of new information, only my opinion after reading the information published in the media and using Google Earth which wasn&#8217;t available in 1994.

I&#8217;m also hoping that my interpretation of this information leads to renewed interest in the search for the body, perhaps outside some of the parameters that have previously been put forward.
Click to expand...

Hi Tom,

I have always had your research in my mind when I remember Elizabeth.

The POI worked for Melbourne/Warburton water at the time. If you look back on the old melways there were many places that were accessible to only the waterways employees.
Don Valley as you know is smack bang in the middle of Silvan and King Lake and as you have mentioned Woori Yallock Creek, the Woori Yallock area.

Thankyou for bringing Elizabeth back into the public conscience.

Hopefully we can bring her back home.

Jill
 
My first post, but just a quick one: the man previously found not guilty of the murder of Elisabeth Membrey, Shane Bond, is apparently 'behind bars' as of 24th March 2018. Unfortunately, only the Herald-Sun website appears to have reported this (revealed via a standard Google search) and the full information/article is behind a pay wall. Can anyone confirm?
 
Found the article, it says he has been avoiding police for 20 months and that there are six outstanding arrest warrants dating back to July 2016.

Failure to appear in court over a series of alleged offences including car thefts, drug possession, disqualified driving, and handling stolen goods.

On friday Mr Bond was arrested by police following a domestic dispute with his ex partner.

So looks like the arrest isn't to do with Elizabeth.
 
Cold Case detectives believe they may finally get the man who murdered 22-year old Elisabeth Membrey in what has become one of Australia's biggest murder mysteries.

The breakthrough comes about seven years after the number one suspect in her murder, Shane Bond, walked free from the Supreme Court of Victoria after being acquitted in an epic jury trial.

Daily Mail Australia has learnt cold case detectives have informed the 22-year old's family that they have another suspect in their sights.

Torment of unsolved murder mystery continues to haunt the elderly parents of Elisabeth Membrey | Daily Mail Online
 
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