In a five month period between September 1990 and February 1991, three children - all from the same street - went missing from the small community of Bowravillle, NSW. All vanished after attending parties.
These children were:
Colleen Walker, 16.
Evelyn Greenup, 4.
Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16.
Their disappearances apparently weren't taken very seriously at first by local police, who even asked the mother of little Evelyn whether the missing girl old had 'gone walkabout' --- an incredibly ignorant and offensive question, and certainly a terrible and slipshod approach to investigating the disappearance of a 4-year old child.
No police search at all was made for Colleen, whose family insisted she wasn't simply a runaway.
Evelyn disappeared from the bed she slept in. Police assumed she'd wandered off.
Then Clinton Speedy-Duroux also vanished after a party.
The local community reacted angrily to the lack of investigation, and the community's concerns about killer on the loose proved valid when the body of Clinton was discovered in bushland near the town.
Little Evelyn's body was found next, and when several plastic bags containing Colleen's clothes were found weighted down in the river, she was presumed dead. Her body has never been found.
The police reaction to the finding of the bodies was to send in a team from Social Services to investigate the parents for child abuse.
In 1991, Thomas Jay Hart, then 25, was arrested and tried for the murders of Clinton and Evelyn but was acquitted of Clinton's death and the prosecution dropped Evelyn's case. He was arrested again after a 2004 inquest into the murders, this time for Evelyn's death alone, but was again acquitted in 2006. Hart subsequently left the area and changed his name.
The detectives in charge of the case, as well as the forensic specialist involved, have stated that there's no doubt in their minds that Hart is the killer of all three children, but it seems the evidence is not conclusive enough for a conviction.
No other arrests have been made. The families of the children are calling for a Royal Commission investigation into the conduct of the police initially investigating the case.
And too right, they should. It was shameful and probably the reason the killer walked free.
In 1997, new detectives took over the case and a lot of progress was made in the investigation but the case is still unsolved.
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2006/s1733527.htm
Bowraville Murders - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://tracker.org.au/2013/03/hundreds-protest-lack-of-action-over-bowraville-murders/
Feb 2013 - new trial knocked back: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/new-trial-ruled-out-in-bowraville-child-murders-20130208-2e3so.html
Bowraville murder mystery - YouTube
A ton of interviews and reports from the 4 Corners site: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110404/bowraville/
(click on the top left corner image to see the excellent 4 Corners episode)
(I'd like to have made this a better post but am running out of time - sorry! There's lots of information and controversy on this case out there, though..)
These children were:
Colleen Walker, 16.
Evelyn Greenup, 4.
Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16.
Their disappearances apparently weren't taken very seriously at first by local police, who even asked the mother of little Evelyn whether the missing girl old had 'gone walkabout' --- an incredibly ignorant and offensive question, and certainly a terrible and slipshod approach to investigating the disappearance of a 4-year old child.
No police search at all was made for Colleen, whose family insisted she wasn't simply a runaway.
Evelyn disappeared from the bed she slept in. Police assumed she'd wandered off.
Then Clinton Speedy-Duroux also vanished after a party.
The local community reacted angrily to the lack of investigation, and the community's concerns about killer on the loose proved valid when the body of Clinton was discovered in bushland near the town.
Little Evelyn's body was found next, and when several plastic bags containing Colleen's clothes were found weighted down in the river, she was presumed dead. Her body has never been found.
The police reaction to the finding of the bodies was to send in a team from Social Services to investigate the parents for child abuse.
In 1991, Thomas Jay Hart, then 25, was arrested and tried for the murders of Clinton and Evelyn but was acquitted of Clinton's death and the prosecution dropped Evelyn's case. He was arrested again after a 2004 inquest into the murders, this time for Evelyn's death alone, but was again acquitted in 2006. Hart subsequently left the area and changed his name.
The detectives in charge of the case, as well as the forensic specialist involved, have stated that there's no doubt in their minds that Hart is the killer of all three children, but it seems the evidence is not conclusive enough for a conviction.
No other arrests have been made. The families of the children are calling for a Royal Commission investigation into the conduct of the police initially investigating the case.
And too right, they should. It was shameful and probably the reason the killer walked free.
In 1997, new detectives took over the case and a lot of progress was made in the investigation but the case is still unsolved.
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2006/s1733527.htm
Bowraville Murders - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://tracker.org.au/2013/03/hundreds-protest-lack-of-action-over-bowraville-murders/
Feb 2013 - new trial knocked back: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/new-trial-ruled-out-in-bowraville-child-murders-20130208-2e3so.html
Bowraville murder mystery - YouTube
A ton of interviews and reports from the 4 Corners site: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110404/bowraville/
(click on the top left corner image to see the excellent 4 Corners episode)
(I'd like to have made this a better post but am running out of time - sorry! There's lots of information and controversy on this case out there, though..)