In Brief
On the morning of 1 January 1963, two youths went hunting for golf balls near Fuller's Bridge, on the Lane Cove River in suburban Sydney. They found the body of Dr Gilbert Bogle beside a dirt track running beside the river. When police arrived, the body of Mrs Margaret Chandler was found several metres away.
Both Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler had been at a New Year's Eve party in Chatswood, several kilometres from the Lane Cove River.
Mrs Chandler's husband, Geoffrey, had attended the Chatswood party. However he'd left to attend another party and meet a girlfriend. Despite returning to the Chatswood party, he'd left again with the understanding that Dr Bogle would take his wife home.
When the bodies were discovered, it was apparent that Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler had been poisoned. Forensic testing could find no trace of poison, however, and speculation about the nature of Bogles work led many to believe that he had been assassinated.
However in 2006 the documentary film-maker Peter Butt presented an alternative theory. He suggested that Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler had been killed accidentally when hydrogen sulfide gas leaked from the nearby Lane Cove River.
So what actually happened, and how? This website attempts to explain both the known facts and the speculation. Please use the links below to find out more.