aussie-true-crime

[aussie-true-crime]

Leigh Rennea Mears - Murder

Leigh Leigh, born Leigh Rennea Mears on 24 July 1975 in New South Wales was only 14 when she was brutally raped and murdered on the 3rd of November, 1989.

Jason Robertson’s 16th birthday was on the 3rd of November, 1989. A birthday party was planned for it and was being held at the North Stockton Surf Club in New South Wales. Matthew Webster and Guy Wilson, who acted as security for the party, were the only people aged over 18 at the party, there were no parents or other adults there.

There was between 60-100 guests at the party, one of them being Leigh Leigh, she was excited about the party as this was her first invite to a high school party. Most of the attendees were high school students from Newcastle High School, though two 10-year-olds were seen at the party at one point. Many of the underage attendees were drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, and some were having sex.

What Leigh had presumed to be an innocent party amongst friends, turned out to be nothing of the sort. There was an ulterior motive amongst some of the males that had planned on getting some teenage girls drunk enough to have sex with them.

When Leigh first arrived at the party, she was given a bottle of Jim Beam whiskey and she reportedly had gotten intoxicated very quickly. A 15 year old boy - who was never named - allegedly said to a group of boys ‘I’m going to go and f**k Leigh’ before carrying her off to the beach nearby as she was too intoxicated to even walk properly.

Later on, Leigh’s returned to the party from the beach, she was bleeding profusely between the legs and crying. She told several people that an unnamed teenager had raped her on the beach. After witnessing Leigh's complaints, Matthew Webster is quoted as saying to a group of boys "she's a bit of a sl*t and why don't all of us boys have a go with her". Instead of offering assistance, the 19 year old Guy Wilson then wrapped his arm around Leigh’s shoulder and asked if she wanted to have sex with him, when she refused he pushed her to the ground where Wilson, Webster and about ten other teenagers surrounded her, yelled abuse at her, kicked her, poured beer on her and spat on her. Despite numerous people witnessing the cruel attack, no one thought to intervene, call the police or the parents - which would of undoubtedly saved Leigh’s life.

The group then followed Leigh inside the surf club still harassing her, she tried to get help from anyone that was inside the club but all her pleads where ignored. The last time Leigh was seen alive was at around 10:30PM when she managed to lose the group and was walking down to the beach alone. Her stepfather came to pick her up 20 minutes later - she was nowhere to be found. Her parents waited around a bit and then left, thinking she went and stayed at one of her friends houses like she usually did.

On the 4th of November, 1989, early morning her nude body was found on Stockton Beach around 300ft from a row of beachside houses. She had been raped, strangled and then bludgeoned across the head - the bloody rock used to end her life was found nearby next to her. She had been brutally raped before her death and her genitals had been torn apart by a broken beer bottle before she was eventually killed.

Matthew Webster pleaded guilty to Leigh’s murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, though he was paroled just after 14 years. Guy Wilson pleaded guilty to assault while the unnamed teenager who first raped Leigh pleaded guilty to sex with a minor. All the others involved - and it is believed that more than one person committed the murder - evaded justice.

One of the saddest cases I’ve ever read.

[aussie-true-crime]

Jody Meyers - Domestic violence/Murder

Jody was a 20 year old South Australian girl, she lived in East Adelaide with her fiancé, Neil Anthony Archer and their two year old son. There was reports that Neil had been quite violent and possessive towards her and that her murder is the result of domestic violence.

Jody was last seen on the 26th of August, 2015. She was later reported missing as her family had grave fears for her welfare.

Neil had claimed that Jody had ran away but police knew this wasn’t the case. After a family barbecue on the 26th of August, Neil Archer strangled Jody after a heated argument sparked by his concerns her family was trying to break them up. Police suspect he used a draw string out of one of his jumpers.

He then took her body to his parents' home near Mannum, east of Adelaide, and buried it under the floor of the toolshed before returning the next day to cover the grave with fresh concrete.

Prosecutor Peter Longson said Ms Meyers' two-year-old son was inside Margaret Archer's house while his father was disposing of the body nearby.

Both Neil and his mother then told police and the media she had "just taken off" even pleading for her to come home and crying on camera.

Jody had been missing for about a month before police found her body.

Neil’s mother Margaret Archer is accused of helping him after the murder to try to escape prosecution. Margaret even went to the lengths of sending text messages to Jody’s family members posing as Jody, stating she had gone away after a relationship breakup and will be okay. She then went and bought the bags of concrete and a wheelbarrow Neil then later used to bury and conceal Jody’s body.

Neil Archer plead guilty and is serving a head sentence of life in prison and a twenty two year non-parole period for the murder of Jody Meyers. His mother, Margaret Archer plead guilty to assisting in covering up the murder and was sentenced to six and a half years in prison although she will be eligible for parole after four years.

Her family are fighting to bring more awareness to domestic violence.

In the photos left to right; Neil Archer, Margaret Archer and the last two photos is Jody Meyers.

[aussie-true-crime]

Murder/Suicide in South Australia.

Damien Little (34) was living just out of the rural town of Port Lincoln in South Australia, with his wife Melissa Little, their son Koda (4) and their new baby boy Hunter (just 9 months old). There was reports that their marriage had been going through a rough patch a few months prior as the house they were building was taking much longer than expected and that they had disagreements on religion and how they wanted to raise their kids.

On the morning of January the 4th 2016, Damien had packed the car up, got the boys out of bed and dressed before 6AM, then told them they where going to McDonald’s for breakfast together.

They went drove through the McDonald’s drive through but weirdly enough the only thing Damien had ordered, was a coffee. Nothing for the two boys or anything for breakfast like he had said they were going to go get. After leaving McDonald’s, Damien drove to the Port Lincoln wharf, which was only a few minutes away.

He stopped the car a few hundred metres away from the edge of the pier, pulled out the shotgun that was concealed by a blanket on the passengers seat floor he had hidden earlier, then Damien shot both Koda and Hunter. He then pushed his foot down hard on the accelerator going high speed towards the water and then pulled the trigger on himself just before the car went over the edge into the ocean. A security guard who happened to be at the scene, first heard the shotgun go off three times and saw just as the car went over the edge.

Police and detectives believed that Little had driven the car off the pier into the ocean to ‘finish off the job’ just incase the gunshots failed to kill them first.

His wife, family members and friends had said how Damien had been suffering from depression and his behaviour had recently changed but he had refused to accept or seek help as he didn’t want to come across ‘weak’ or unmanly. Since the deaths of Damien and the two boys, Melissa has spoken out in the wake of the deaths, describing Damien as a wonderful husband and father who loved his children, and while she was in incredible pain, she still loved her late husband and wanted him to be remembered as a respected and valued family member and community member. The town and community is still deeply effected and in shock to what happened that dreadful day.

[aussie-true-crime]

The Disappearances of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon.

Joanne was only eleven years old and Kirste was only four, when they went missing at the Adelaide Oval while attending an Australia rules football match on the 25th of August, 1973.

Joanne Ratcliffe had gone to the football with her parents Les and Kathleen Ratcliffe and a family friend. Kirste Gordon had been at the football in the care of her maternal grandmother while her parents were visiting friends in the Riverland. Joanne’s parents and Kirste’s grandmother had allowed the two girls to go to the toilet together. That was the last time they ever saw or heard from the two young girls again.

Joanne's father was the first person to begin the search for the two girls when they failed to return from the toilet a short time later. But they were never found.

Investigators believe the girls may have been forcibly removed from the oval by an unknown man, after witnesses reported seeing the pair leaving the area with a man near Port Road, both girls apparently in distress. That was the last sighting of the girls, the girls and the man had vanished.

Joanne’s father told the Coroner's Court that his daughter had been to the Adelaide oval dozens of times, that she would not have left the oval voluntarily, and that she knew how to use a telephone and call an emergency number. He said she had not met Kirste before that day, and he did not know her parents.

Many of the suspects in the Adelaide Beaumont children disappearance are also suspects in the Ratcliffe and Gordon case. Witness reports led police to believe that they were abducted by a middle aged man. Further, the police sketch of the man last seen with the two girls resembles that of the man last seen with the Beaumont children.

Joanne and Kirste are still missing to this day, the disappearance and suspected murder of the two young South Australian girls, has left investigators baffled for more than four decades. Despite having no trace of the two girls, who would today be aged 51 and 58, investigators have refused to give up hope.

South Australian government have put up a reward of up to $1,000,000 to anyone who either provides information leading to the recovery of their remains or information leading to a conviction in the case.

[aussie-true-crime]

Carly Ryan - Murder

Carly Ryan was a 15 year old girl who lived in Stirling, South Australia. Born 26th January 1992 and tragically murdered on the 20th of February, 2007.

18 months before her murder, Carly thought she had met her dream boyfriend online. His name was Brandon Kane, a 18 year old musician from Melbourne. Brandon turned out to be an internet construct, the cyberspace alter ego of Garry Newman, a 50 year old predator and paedophile. Carly fell in love with the Brandon construct during 18 months of online contact and phone calls.

In January 2007, Garry had traveled down from Melbourne to South Australia, where he met Carly. Garry was posing as ‘Shane’ the dad of the fake account he had made, Brandon Kane. He had brought Carly gifts which included lingerie and a nurses costume which he said where from Brandon. Garry ended up meeting Carly’s mother Sonya, he was then allowed to attend Carly’s 15th birthday party and stay there overnight. After a shopping trip together, his increasingly erratic and possessive behaviour at her birthday party and inappropriate physical advances, he then was told to leave by Sonya, who then limited Carly’s mobile access. Garry then used his alter ego to lure Carly into a final, fatal meeting.

Later on the 19th of February, Carly had left the house for an apparent sleepover with friends when in fact she went to go meet up with Brandon who turned out to once again be Garry and his 17 year old son. They then took Carly to a secluded beach and then Garry bashed her, pushed her face into the sand, suffocating her, he then threw her into the water to drown. She was only 15 years old.

When Carly had failed to return home the following morning, her mother contacted police. That same morning, at Horseshoe Bay, Carly’s battered and dishevelled body was found floating face-down in the shallow water and attempts to revive her failed. The autopsy revealed 19 separate injuries, with 6-8 of the injuries being blows to the head, and the cause of death was a combination of facial trauma, smothering, and drowning. They had found sand in her oesophagus leading police to believe Garry had shoved sand down her throat to suffocate her.

Security footage showed Carly around Port Elliot in the company of two men, she was last seen alive by witnesses at 9:30 at Horseshoe Bay beach.

Within eleven days, detectives located Garry in Victoria. They found him at his computer, logged in again as Brandon Kane, talking to a 14 year old girl in Western Australia. Garry was arrested and charged with Carly’s murder, Garry’s adopted son who was 17 at the time was also detained. Police had found Garry’s notebook during a raid, detailing over 200 online personas and other criminal attempts at grooming both in Australia and internationally. In 2010, Garry Newman was sentenced to life in prison with a 29 year non-parole period and his adopted son, who was a witness to the murder, was cleared of all charges, and his identity remains suppressed.

Carly’s mother Sonya incorporated The Carly Ryan Foundation. Her aim is to create awareness and educate parents and children using the internet. She will work to expose the thousands of multiple identities paedophiles use to lure young children.