Louise and Charmian Faulkner disappearance
Encyclopedia
Louise Yvonne Faulkner (aged 43) and Charmian Christabel Alexis Faulkner (aged 2 and a half) were a mother and daughter who disappeared without a trace
from outside their residence at 39 Acland St, St Kilda, Victoria
, Australia in 1980. Journalists have referred to the disappearance, which remains unsolved, as the "St Kilda Mum Mystery."
, Victoria and was the youngest of three children. Both her hips were dislocated at birth requiring a plaster cast for the first few years of her life and she suffered from a chronic lung complaint. Louise described her childhood as having lacked attention and affection from her parents and a close relationship with her older brother and sister.
Louise moved to Melbourne in the late 1950s and obtained work as the program manager of radio station
3AK
. In 1961 Louise met Barry Clark and they married in 1962. In 1963 Louise was employed as a typist at EM Purdy Auction House, and it was here that she first met George Sutherland, a married man 16 years her senior. Louise left her job later that year due to the birth of her first child. Whilst in hospital she and the new baby received numerous gifts, cards and flowers. Louise kept all of the cards as a memento, two of which were from George and his wife Beryl Sutherland.
Twelve years later in 1975 George met Louise again and he arranged for her to work at Mason and Greene, an auctioneering firm in North Melbourne
. By this stage Louise had two further children, John and Rosalie but her marriage to Barry had degenerated over time. After she began working at Mason and Greene, Louise appeared to become infatuated with George, and an intimate relationship developed.
In July 1975, Louise travelled to Adelaide with George where they stayed in a motel together. This resulted in the breakup of both their marriages. Louise never returned to her marital home but moved into a flat on Acland St, St Kilda. Her previous husband retained custody of their three children who would travel to Louise's flat for weekend access visits. By this stage Louise applied for and received social security payments due to her worsening arthritis.
According to her ex-husband, Louise had not been responsible with money, which caused financial difficulties and tensions in the home. He also described Louise as being manipulative and flirtatious with men, and resorting to violence during their arguments. Friends and associates of Louise described her as being a vivacious, generous, caring and good-hearted individual but with conflicting views of Louise's promiscuity.
Whilst the relationship with Louise continued, George separated from his wife Beryl, moving to his holiday home in Parkers Corner
, a small settlement near Erica
. The Thomson Dam was in the early stages of construction during this period and George obtained a fencing contract with the Board of Works for the dam township of Rawson
and also with a local landowner, Geoff Maynard, a potato farmer. On this potato farm he had access to a white Holden Ute
.
Although the Sutherlands' divorce became absolute in 1977, in 1978 Beryl reconciled with George and shifted into the Parkers Corner property. They never married but continued a de-facto relationship.
Louise’s divorce came through in July 1977 and she stated in court that she was pregnant with George Sutherland's child. Louise would tell her friends she wanted to marry George but didn't think he would commit. After the divorce and heavily pregnant, Louise embarked on a two week holiday with George, driving through New South Wales
to Sydney
. On 30 October 1977 Louise gave birth to Charmian Christabel Alexis Faulkner. Louise named the baby after Charmian Clift
, an Australian writer. George attended the hospital soon after the birth and paid the maternity bills, however he appeared uninterested in Charmian and never provided any maintenance.
George continued his relationship with Louise after the birth of Charmian, visiting the flat on occasions. On other occasions Louise would travel to Gippsland
and spend weekends with George in motels in the Erica, Moe
and Yallourn
areas. Louise did not have a car and had never held a driving license, relying on George to do considerable amounts of driving during the course of their relationship.
In January 1980, George and Beryl's teenage nephew came to live at the Parkers Corner property, helping George with the fencing contract and the potato farming. George would drive his nephew home to Woodend every three to four weeks, using the opportunity to visit Louise in St Kilda.
On 16 April 1980 Louise spoke to a long-term friend on the phone and informed her that she was going away with George to his potato farm at Erica for a few days on 22 April 1980.
in Australia, Louise and Charmian attended a first birthday party for Corrine's son. At the party Louise informed Corrine that she was excited about going to a farm with her "potato farmer" boyfriend the following day and that she was expecting to have a good time.
During the early evening of the following day 26 April 1980 Corrine was standing outside the "Leithen" block of flats on Acland Street. She saw Louise and Charmian also standing outside the flats. Louise told Corrine that she was going to the farm. Corrine told Louise to have a good time and Louise replied that she would.
Corrine also saw a white Holden Ute
stopping outside the flats and double parking. Corinne saw the driver to be a "thick set, older Australian male." Louise placed her backpack in the rear of the Ute, then she and Charmian climbed into the Ute. The vehicle then travelled down Acland Street towards Fitzroy Street. This was the last known independent sighting of Louise and Charmian.
At the time of the disappearance, Louise's remaining children were Melissiah (16), John (13) and Rosalie (9). They had last seen their mother and half-sister in the weekends before 26 April. At John and Rosalie's last access visit before the disappearance, Louise had told John that she would be going away with George to his farm.
Louise's walking stick and Charmian's stroller were found in the flat and food had been left on the kitchen table. Her children had noticed a number of odd things in relation to their mother's flat after the disappearance. The TV which had been supplied to Louise by George was missing, along with a large suitcase, an amount of clothing and Charmian's birth certificate
. Drawers from a bedside table in the bedroom were strewn across the bed and appeared to have been ransacked. There was no sign of forced entry into the flat. A number of pension checks had accrued in the letter box and Louise's bank accounts had remained untouched since 11 April. No arrangements had been made for anyone to take care of Louise's two cats. Louise did not contact her children on Mother's day
11 May and friends and associates voiced their concerns that her and the toddler's disappearance was very out of character.
Various members of police have speculated during the course of the investigation that Louise and Charmian may have been disposed of in or around the Thomson Dam which was undergoing construction during the period. A number of psychics and psychic detectives
also offered widely varying insights into the possible location of the bodies.
Louise's eldest daughter Melissiah was unsatisfied with the original police investigation and lobbied the Ombudsman
, the Police Commissioner
and Steve Bracks
, Premier of Victoria to have the case re-opened. In 2001 the Victoria Police Homicide Squad Missing Persons Unit recommenced investigations regarding the disappearance of Louise and Charmian. George Sutherland was reinterviewed at Burnie, Tasmania
, in relation to the disappearance. George denied being the driver of the Ute who had picked up Louise and Charmian and subsequently denied any involvement or knowledge regarding the disappearances.
In 2006 police were notified of a garage containing a mechanic's pit that had been filled in on the Sutherland's former property at Parkers Corner. In 2007 police excavated the garage but nothing was found.
have made several blunders during their investigation. Louise and Charmian were first reported missing on 3 May 1980 by Louise's eldest daughter and her grandmother at St Kilda police station, however the officer on duty failed to make a missing person report on that day. The missing person report was not compiled until almost six weeks after the disappearance by Louise's estate agent on 9 June 1980. By this stage Louise's telephone line had been disconnected due to non-payment of the account, making it impossible to determine the last calls received or made on the line.
The victim's flat was never declared a crime scene
and no forensics
were ever carried out on the premises. The investigating Detective Sergeant John Smith took only five photographs of the interior of the flat. No police or SES
were ever deployed to search terrain near the suspect's residence and potato farm. The decision not to instigate a search was in stark contrast to the extensive searches used in other missing person/children cases such as the Beaumont children, Azaria Chamberlain, and Jaidyn Leskie. The Victoria Police and Australian Federal Police also failed to produce missing person posters for Louise and Charmian.
After the initial investigation the case file then went missing from the Homicide Department and key witnesses in the case were not interviewed for some 21 years after the disappearance. By this stage many potential witnesses had died and Louise's second youngest daughter Rosalie had committed suicide.
Eventually, Louise's remaining children reluctantly accepted that Louise and Charmian were murdered and that their bodies may never be found.
In August 2007 both the Victorian State Government
and Port Phillip Council refused to erect a memorial plaque
at the place of Louise and Charmian's disappearance. The family considered this a cruel blow considering that memorial plaques had been erected for other missing persons in Australia such as Harold Holt
, Sarah MacDiarmid
and the Backpacker victims
12 September 2007 marked 10,000 days since the disappearance and a campaign named 10,000 days of injustice was launched. As no finding of death had been made at this stage, Louise's remaining children were still ineligible to receive crimes compensation
or counselling.
George said he last saw Louise in 1980 when he accompanied her, Charmian, John and Rosalie to the St Kilda Festival on the 22nd or 23 March 1980. George said that he last stayed with Louise when the two of them travelled to Gippsland around Easter that same year, and that he last spoke to Louise by phone on or about 14 April 1980, one week after her birthday. George further stated to police that he was at the Erica Hotel on 25 April and on 26 April he was working on his property, however no witnesses have come forward to support his alibi.
After the disappearance, some of Louise's friends say that George made no attempt to contact them or help with the search for Louise and Charmian. George did not contact Louise's three other children. George did not participate in cleaning up Louise's flat after the disappearance and made no offer to store any of her goods or the furniture he had bought for her.
Some four months after the disappearance, on 27 August George and Beryl sold their premises at Parkers Corner. The estate agent said that it was unusual for someone to drop the price so heavily as to make a sale.
On 5 October 1980 George and Beryl travelled to the USA with witnesses from the local area later commenting on the pair's secretive and hasty departure. The suspect and his wife later told police that they had gone to the USA to help their daughter Barbara Sutherland, a nutritionist, with her newly opened pie business. During September 1982, Victoria Police Detective Sergeant Smith received a postcard from George which was addressed to "The Seaside Sherlock". Both George and Beryl were denied permanent residency in the USA and returned to Australia in the early 1980s. Beryl later stated to police she did not know about Charmian's disappearance until arriving back in Australia.
Police interviewed George again in 1991 and the interview was covertly recorded. George laughed and joked about Louise being promiscuous and stated that it was possible he was the father of Charmian, but not certain. The officer who interviewed George noted that, "he talked freely but appeared nervous". In 1992 George received a bequest
from Louise's will but did not contact Louise's other three children.
George was again interviewed by police in 2002. When asked if he loved Louise he replied, "Well that's a peculiar word, in my opinion ... it's just a matter of attraction and that's it." George said that Louise had planned to go away on the Ghan, and that she had also planned a trip to Mildura with a neighbour. He also said that he thought Louise may have "shot through" (run off) with another man.
In 2006 a journalist at the Herald Sun
received an anonymous
letter from a person alleging that Sutherland had made a confession to him in May 1980 about "getting rid of" Louise and Charmian. A media appeal was launched to persuade the writer of the letter to come forward.
was launched to Sutherland urging him to reveal what had happened to Louise and Charmian. He subsequently denied to the media that he had received the petition.
During the course of her investigation, Melissiah spoke to a number of witnesses who provided her with statements. She was shocked to learn that several of them alleged to have initially contacted police or Crime Stoppers but had been ignored. Melissiah also discovered that Louise and Charmian were not listed as missing persons with the Australian Federal Police
and their details had never been included on any AFP missing persons posters.
During her investigation, Melissiah undertook numerous searches throughout bushland in the vicinity of Parkers Corner, including the areas of Rawson, Erica, Walhalla
, Tyers
and the Thomson Dam. The sheer ruggedness and vastness of the terrain - much of which was state forest
- further compounded the difficulty of the searches. At one stage Melissiah and her brother believed the bodies may have been dumped in a mineshaft
in Rawson which had been filled in, but after three days of excavation no remains were found.
Melissiah became convinced that the bodies of her mother and sister had been disposed of on Sutherland and his ex-wife's former property. A Current Affair subsequently aired the story House of Horrors on 11 June 2007 and in September 2007, Melissiah demanded that the suspect and his ex-wife pay the costs for exhumation of Louise and Charmian's remains. The demands were refused, with Sutherland citing that he had not been charged with any offense relating to the disappearance of Louise and Charmian and that no finding had yet been made by the Coroner.
In 2007 Melissiah set up The Louise and Charmian Foundation to continue the investigation into her mother and sister's disappearance. The Foundation also aims to solve the considerable number of other long-term missing person cases in Australia.
Beryl Sutherland took the witness stand. When questioned over George's involvement with Louise, she told the court she did not mind that her husband was having a relationship with Louise whilst he was living with her. At the time of the inquest another witness had made a statement to police alleging that she had also engaged in a relationship with George and one night had been threatened by Beryl over the telephone for a period of several hours. Beryl denied any knowledge of the situation and the phone call to the court.
Louise's son John told the court he believed that his mother and sister had "met with foul play and that George is responsible for this in some way" "George's actions after my mother's disappearance appeared to me to be one of guilt," he said. "George sold his property, as I understand it, at a heavily reduced price shortly after her disappearance and proceeded to travel to the USA and live in a campervan for a number of years after."
Melissiah told the court, "I can recall being there one day with George and it appeared that Charmian was scared of him because she would cry if he went near her. My mother would say, 'She doesn't even recognise you; that you are her father, she doesn't see you enough'."
The inquest was adjourned with the Victorian State Coroner
Graeme Johnstone
requesting further information. The inquest was again postponed on 16 August 2007 to allow further investigation. The inquest was reconvened on 25 February 2008 but was adjourned until 7 March to give the suspect's lawyer time to review statements from new witnesses.
On 25 February 2008, Louise's daughter Melissiah released a CD single titled Louise and Charmian at the Victorian State Coroner's Court. The CD was released to raise funds for the Louise and Charmian Foundation.
Daughter haunted by 28-year mystery (Herald Sun article)
Killer Mother, daughter 'met with foul play (article)
Digging for clues (article)
Missing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....
from outside their residence at 39 Acland St, St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
, Australia in 1980. Journalists have referred to the disappearance, which remains unsolved, as the "St Kilda Mum Mystery."
Background
Louise was born on 7 April 1937 in ColacColac, Victoria
Colac is a small city located in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, situated approximately 150 kilometres south-west of Melbourne on the southern shore of Lake Colac and the surrounding volcanic plains, approximately 40 km inland from Bass Strait. Colac is the largest city in and...
, Victoria and was the youngest of three children. Both her hips were dislocated at birth requiring a plaster cast for the first few years of her life and she suffered from a chronic lung complaint. Louise described her childhood as having lacked attention and affection from her parents and a close relationship with her older brother and sister.
Louise moved to Melbourne in the late 1950s and obtained work as the program manager of radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
3AK
3AK
3AK is the call sign of SEN 1116 and earlier the on-air name of a former Melbourne talk-back radio and music station, which, in 2003, leased its licence to sports network SEN 1116...
. In 1961 Louise met Barry Clark and they married in 1962. In 1963 Louise was employed as a typist at EM Purdy Auction House, and it was here that she first met George Sutherland, a married man 16 years her senior. Louise left her job later that year due to the birth of her first child. Whilst in hospital she and the new baby received numerous gifts, cards and flowers. Louise kept all of the cards as a memento, two of which were from George and his wife Beryl Sutherland.
Twelve years later in 1975 George met Louise again and he arranged for her to work at Mason and Greene, an auctioneering firm in North Melbourne
North Melbourne, Victoria
North Melbourne is a large inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. It is bounded by the CityLink freeway to the west, Victoria Street to the south, O'Connell and Peel Streets to the east and Flemington Road to the north. Its...
. By this stage Louise had two further children, John and Rosalie but her marriage to Barry had degenerated over time. After she began working at Mason and Greene, Louise appeared to become infatuated with George, and an intimate relationship developed.
In July 1975, Louise travelled to Adelaide with George where they stayed in a motel together. This resulted in the breakup of both their marriages. Louise never returned to her marital home but moved into a flat on Acland St, St Kilda. Her previous husband retained custody of their three children who would travel to Louise's flat for weekend access visits. By this stage Louise applied for and received social security payments due to her worsening arthritis.
According to her ex-husband, Louise had not been responsible with money, which caused financial difficulties and tensions in the home. He also described Louise as being manipulative and flirtatious with men, and resorting to violence during their arguments. Friends and associates of Louise described her as being a vivacious, generous, caring and good-hearted individual but with conflicting views of Louise's promiscuity.
Whilst the relationship with Louise continued, George separated from his wife Beryl, moving to his holiday home in Parkers Corner
Parkers Corner, Victoria
Parkers Corner is a town in Victoria, Australia, located at the junction of Rawson Road and Tyers - Thomson Valley Road, in the Shire of Baw Baw. With only 12 residents, it is the second-smallest town in Victoria....
, a small settlement near Erica
Erica, Victoria
Erica is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on Rawson Road, in the Shire of Baw Baw.The area was generally known as Upper Moondarra in the early 1900s, the township of Erica beginning to grow after construction of the railway line from Moe to Walhalla, which passed through the area...
. The Thomson Dam was in the early stages of construction during this period and George obtained a fencing contract with the Board of Works for the dam township of Rawson
Rawson, Victoria
Rawson is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on Tyers - Thomson Valley Road, in the Shire of Baw Baw. The town was established for workers involved in the construction of the Thomson Dam, which was completed in 1983, Rawson Post Office opening on 17 April 1979....
and also with a local landowner, Geoff Maynard, a potato farmer. On this potato farm he had access to a white Holden Ute
Holden Ute
The Holden Ute is a coupe utility built by Holden, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors, since 2000. Before then, Holden had marketed their Commodore-based utility models under the Holden Utility and Holden Commodore utility names, although the term “Holden Ute” was also used in their...
.
Although the Sutherlands' divorce became absolute in 1977, in 1978 Beryl reconciled with George and shifted into the Parkers Corner property. They never married but continued a de-facto relationship.
Louise’s divorce came through in July 1977 and she stated in court that she was pregnant with George Sutherland's child. Louise would tell her friends she wanted to marry George but didn't think he would commit. After the divorce and heavily pregnant, Louise embarked on a two week holiday with George, driving through New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. On 30 October 1977 Louise gave birth to Charmian Christabel Alexis Faulkner. Louise named the baby after Charmian Clift
Charmian Clift
Charmian Clift was an Australian writer and essayist during the mid 20th century. She was the second wife and literary collaborator of George Johnston.-Biography:...
, an Australian writer. George attended the hospital soon after the birth and paid the maternity bills, however he appeared uninterested in Charmian and never provided any maintenance.
George continued his relationship with Louise after the birth of Charmian, visiting the flat on occasions. On other occasions Louise would travel to Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
and spend weekends with George in motels in the Erica, Moe
Moe, Victoria
Moe is a city in the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is about east of Melbourne and at the 2006 census had a population of 15,582 . It is administered by the City of Latrobe council....
and Yallourn
Yallourn, Victoria
Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria, Australia built between the 1920s and 1950s to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station complex. However, expansion of the adjacent open-cut brown coal mine led to the closure...
areas. Louise did not have a car and had never held a driving license, relying on George to do considerable amounts of driving during the course of their relationship.
In January 1980, George and Beryl's teenage nephew came to live at the Parkers Corner property, helping George with the fencing contract and the potato farming. George would drive his nephew home to Woodend every three to four weeks, using the opportunity to visit Louise in St Kilda.
On 16 April 1980 Louise spoke to a long-term friend on the phone and informed her that she was going away with George to his potato farm at Erica for a few days on 22 April 1980.
Last confirmed sighting
Whilst residing at Acland St, Louise developed a friendship with Corrine Wylde, a neighbour in the same block of flats. On 25 April 1980, Anzac DayANZAC Day
Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...
in Australia, Louise and Charmian attended a first birthday party for Corrine's son. At the party Louise informed Corrine that she was excited about going to a farm with her "potato farmer" boyfriend the following day and that she was expecting to have a good time.
During the early evening of the following day 26 April 1980 Corrine was standing outside the "Leithen" block of flats on Acland Street. She saw Louise and Charmian also standing outside the flats. Louise told Corrine that she was going to the farm. Corrine told Louise to have a good time and Louise replied that she would.
Corrine also saw a white Holden Ute
Holden Ute
The Holden Ute is a coupe utility built by Holden, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors, since 2000. Before then, Holden had marketed their Commodore-based utility models under the Holden Utility and Holden Commodore utility names, although the term “Holden Ute” was also used in their...
stopping outside the flats and double parking. Corinne saw the driver to be a "thick set, older Australian male." Louise placed her backpack in the rear of the Ute, then she and Charmian climbed into the Ute. The vehicle then travelled down Acland Street towards Fitzroy Street. This was the last known independent sighting of Louise and Charmian.
At the time of the disappearance, Louise's remaining children were Melissiah (16), John (13) and Rosalie (9). They had last seen their mother and half-sister in the weekends before 26 April. At John and Rosalie's last access visit before the disappearance, Louise had told John that she would be going away with George to his farm.
Police investigation
On 9 June 1980 preliminary investigations of the disappearances began. Inquiries were conducted over the following 12 months with friends and associates of Louise, but failed to interview Louise's three children at this time.Louise's walking stick and Charmian's stroller were found in the flat and food had been left on the kitchen table. Her children had noticed a number of odd things in relation to their mother's flat after the disappearance. The TV which had been supplied to Louise by George was missing, along with a large suitcase, an amount of clothing and Charmian's birth certificate
Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
. Drawers from a bedside table in the bedroom were strewn across the bed and appeared to have been ransacked. There was no sign of forced entry into the flat. A number of pension checks had accrued in the letter box and Louise's bank accounts had remained untouched since 11 April. No arrangements had been made for anyone to take care of Louise's two cats. Louise did not contact her children on Mother's day
Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May...
11 May and friends and associates voiced their concerns that her and the toddler's disappearance was very out of character.
Various members of police have speculated during the course of the investigation that Louise and Charmian may have been disposed of in or around the Thomson Dam which was undergoing construction during the period. A number of psychics and psychic detectives
Psychic Detectives
Psychic Detectives or Psychic Investigators is a television program produced by StoryHouse Productions for Court TV, as of 2006 in its 5th season. The program documents real-life cases of situations in which police departments have enlisted the aid of psychics in solving difficult cases...
also offered widely varying insights into the possible location of the bodies.
Louise's eldest daughter Melissiah was unsatisfied with the original police investigation and lobbied the Ombudsman
Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
, the Police Commissioner
Police commissioner
Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...
and Steve Bracks
Steve Bracks
Stephen Philip Bracks AC is a former Australian politician and the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Australian Labor Party, and was party leader and Premier from 1999 to 2007....
, Premier of Victoria to have the case re-opened. In 2001 the Victoria Police Homicide Squad Missing Persons Unit recommenced investigations regarding the disappearance of Louise and Charmian. George Sutherland was reinterviewed at Burnie, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, in relation to the disappearance. George denied being the driver of the Ute who had picked up Louise and Charmian and subsequently denied any involvement or knowledge regarding the disappearances.
In 2006 police were notified of a garage containing a mechanic's pit that had been filled in on the Sutherland's former property at Parkers Corner. In 2007 police excavated the garage but nothing was found.
Criticisms of police investigation
The family of Louise and Charmian have claimed the Victoria PoliceVictoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of Victoria, Australia. , the Victoria Police has over 12,190 sworn members, along with over 400 recruits, reservists and Protective Service Officers, and over 2,900 civilian staff across 393 police stations.-Early history:The Victoria Police...
have made several blunders during their investigation. Louise and Charmian were first reported missing on 3 May 1980 by Louise's eldest daughter and her grandmother at St Kilda police station, however the officer on duty failed to make a missing person report on that day. The missing person report was not compiled until almost six weeks after the disappearance by Louise's estate agent on 9 June 1980. By this stage Louise's telephone line had been disconnected due to non-payment of the account, making it impossible to determine the last calls received or made on the line.
The victim's flat was never declared a crime scene
Crime scene
A crime scene is a location where an illegal act took place, and comprises the area from which most of the physical evidence is retrieved by trained law enforcement personnel, crime scene investigators or in rare circumstances, forensic scientists....
and no forensics
Forensics
Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...
were ever carried out on the premises. The investigating Detective Sergeant John Smith took only five photographs of the interior of the flat. No police or SES
State Emergency Service
A State Emergency Service is an Australian volunteer organisation that provides emergency help during and after declared disasters. The SES is also the primary or secondary agency for emergencies, such as storm damage,flood damage, building damage, traffic hazards and road crash rescue...
were ever deployed to search terrain near the suspect's residence and potato farm. The decision not to instigate a search was in stark contrast to the extensive searches used in other missing person/children cases such as the Beaumont children, Azaria Chamberlain, and Jaidyn Leskie. The Victoria Police and Australian Federal Police also failed to produce missing person posters for Louise and Charmian.
After the initial investigation the case file then went missing from the Homicide Department and key witnesses in the case were not interviewed for some 21 years after the disappearance. By this stage many potential witnesses had died and Louise's second youngest daughter Rosalie had committed suicide.
Eventually, Louise's remaining children reluctantly accepted that Louise and Charmian were murdered and that their bodies may never be found.
In August 2007 both the Victorian State Government
State government
A state government is the government of a subnational entity in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government...
and Port Phillip Council refused to erect a memorial plaque
Memorial Plaque
The Memorial Plaque was issued after the First World War to the next-of-kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed as a result of the war....
at the place of Louise and Charmian's disappearance. The family considered this a cruel blow considering that memorial plaques had been erected for other missing persons in Australia such as Harold Holt
Harold Holt
Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
, Sarah MacDiarmid
Sarah MacDiarmid
Sarah MacDiarmid was a 23-year-old Scottish-Australian woman who disappeared from Kananook station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 11 July 1990...
and the Backpacker victims
Backpacker murders
The Backpacker Murders is a name given to serial killings that occurred in New South Wales, Australia during the 1990s. The bodies of seven missing young people aged 19 to 22 were discovered partly buried in the Belanglo State Forest, south west of the New South Wales town of Berrima...
12 September 2007 marked 10,000 days since the disappearance and a campaign named 10,000 days of injustice was launched. As no finding of death had been made at this stage, Louise's remaining children were still ineligible to receive crimes compensation
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
or counselling.
George Sutherland
George Sutherland has been the only suspect named by police in the investigation. In his first police interview, George Sutherland stated, "I don't know where Louise would have gone to, because she didn't indicate that she was planning to go anywhere then. I find it strange that Louise has not tried to contact me because we were such close friends".George said he last saw Louise in 1980 when he accompanied her, Charmian, John and Rosalie to the St Kilda Festival on the 22nd or 23 March 1980. George said that he last stayed with Louise when the two of them travelled to Gippsland around Easter that same year, and that he last spoke to Louise by phone on or about 14 April 1980, one week after her birthday. George further stated to police that he was at the Erica Hotel on 25 April and on 26 April he was working on his property, however no witnesses have come forward to support his alibi.
After the disappearance, some of Louise's friends say that George made no attempt to contact them or help with the search for Louise and Charmian. George did not contact Louise's three other children. George did not participate in cleaning up Louise's flat after the disappearance and made no offer to store any of her goods or the furniture he had bought for her.
Some four months after the disappearance, on 27 August George and Beryl sold their premises at Parkers Corner. The estate agent said that it was unusual for someone to drop the price so heavily as to make a sale.
On 5 October 1980 George and Beryl travelled to the USA with witnesses from the local area later commenting on the pair's secretive and hasty departure. The suspect and his wife later told police that they had gone to the USA to help their daughter Barbara Sutherland, a nutritionist, with her newly opened pie business. During September 1982, Victoria Police Detective Sergeant Smith received a postcard from George which was addressed to "The Seaside Sherlock". Both George and Beryl were denied permanent residency in the USA and returned to Australia in the early 1980s. Beryl later stated to police she did not know about Charmian's disappearance until arriving back in Australia.
Police interviewed George again in 1991 and the interview was covertly recorded. George laughed and joked about Louise being promiscuous and stated that it was possible he was the father of Charmian, but not certain. The officer who interviewed George noted that, "he talked freely but appeared nervous". In 1992 George received a bequest
Bequest
A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...
from Louise's will but did not contact Louise's other three children.
George was again interviewed by police in 2002. When asked if he loved Louise he replied, "Well that's a peculiar word, in my opinion ... it's just a matter of attraction and that's it." George said that Louise had planned to go away on the Ghan, and that she had also planned a trip to Mildura with a neighbour. He also said that he thought Louise may have "shot through" (run off) with another man.
In 2006 a journalist at the Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
received an anonymous
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
letter from a person alleging that Sutherland had made a confession to him in May 1980 about "getting rid of" Louise and Charmian. A media appeal was launched to persuade the writer of the letter to come forward.
Louise and Charmian Foundation
In 2006 Louise's eldest daughter Melissiah launched her own investigation into the disappearance of her mother and half-sister and lobbied various government departments about the mishandling of the case. A petitionPetition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
was launched to Sutherland urging him to reveal what had happened to Louise and Charmian. He subsequently denied to the media that he had received the petition.
During the course of her investigation, Melissiah spoke to a number of witnesses who provided her with statements. She was shocked to learn that several of them alleged to have initially contacted police or Crime Stoppers but had been ignored. Melissiah also discovered that Louise and Charmian were not listed as missing persons with the Australian Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
and their details had never been included on any AFP missing persons posters.
During her investigation, Melissiah undertook numerous searches throughout bushland in the vicinity of Parkers Corner, including the areas of Rawson, Erica, Walhalla
Walhalla, Victoria
Walhalla is a small town in Victoria, Australia, founded as a gold-mining community in early 1863 and at its peak home to around 2,500 residents. Today, the town has a population of fewer than 20 permanent residents, though it has a large proportion of houses owned as holiday properties. It...
, Tyers
Tyers, Victoria
Tyers is a small town in Victoria, Australia. It is east of Melbourne, north-west of Traralgon and located in the City of Latrobe. It was known until 1852 as "Boola Boola", after which it was named after the surveyor and explorer Charles Tyers...
and the Thomson Dam. The sheer ruggedness and vastness of the terrain - much of which was state forest
State forest
A state forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state.The precise application of the term varies by jurisdiction...
- further compounded the difficulty of the searches. At one stage Melissiah and her brother believed the bodies may have been dumped in a mineshaft
Shaft mining
Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....
in Rawson which had been filled in, but after three days of excavation no remains were found.
Melissiah became convinced that the bodies of her mother and sister had been disposed of on Sutherland and his ex-wife's former property. A Current Affair subsequently aired the story House of Horrors on 11 June 2007 and in September 2007, Melissiah demanded that the suspect and his ex-wife pay the costs for exhumation of Louise and Charmian's remains. The demands were refused, with Sutherland citing that he had not been charged with any offense relating to the disappearance of Louise and Charmian and that no finding had yet been made by the Coroner.
In 2007 Melissiah set up The Louise and Charmian Foundation to continue the investigation into her mother and sister's disappearance. The Foundation also aims to solve the considerable number of other long-term missing person cases in Australia.
Coronial inquest
In August 2006 a Coronial Inquest was held into the disappearance and death of Louise and Charmian Faulkner. George Sutherland refused to take the witness stand at the inquest on the basis of self-incrimination.Beryl Sutherland took the witness stand. When questioned over George's involvement with Louise, she told the court she did not mind that her husband was having a relationship with Louise whilst he was living with her. At the time of the inquest another witness had made a statement to police alleging that she had also engaged in a relationship with George and one night had been threatened by Beryl over the telephone for a period of several hours. Beryl denied any knowledge of the situation and the phone call to the court.
Louise's son John told the court he believed that his mother and sister had "met with foul play and that George is responsible for this in some way" "George's actions after my mother's disappearance appeared to me to be one of guilt," he said. "George sold his property, as I understand it, at a heavily reduced price shortly after her disappearance and proceeded to travel to the USA and live in a campervan for a number of years after."
Melissiah told the court, "I can recall being there one day with George and it appeared that Charmian was scared of him because she would cry if he went near her. My mother would say, 'She doesn't even recognise you; that you are her father, she doesn't see you enough'."
The inquest was adjourned with the Victorian State Coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
Graeme Johnstone
Graeme Johnstone
Graeme Johnstone was the state coroner of Victoria, Australia from 1994-2007. He retired on 29 November 2007, and was replaced by Judge Jennifer Coate. He is noted for often personally visiting the scenes of deaths that fall within his jurisdiction....
requesting further information. The inquest was again postponed on 16 August 2007 to allow further investigation. The inquest was reconvened on 25 February 2008 but was adjourned until 7 March to give the suspect's lawyer time to review statements from new witnesses.
On 25 February 2008, Louise's daughter Melissiah released a CD single titled Louise and Charmian at the Victorian State Coroner's Court. The CD was released to raise funds for the Louise and Charmian Foundation.
External links
- http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23275137-2862,00.html
Daughter haunted by 28-year mystery (Herald Sun article)
- http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/mother-daughter-met-with-foul-play/2006/08/14/1155407742410.html
Killer Mother, daughter 'met with foul play (article)
- http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21799587-2862,00.html
Digging for clues (article)
See also
- CrimeCrimeCrime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
- Crime in AustraliaCrime in AustraliaCrime-wise, Australia is comparatively a safe place to live, though often the perception of crime is much higher. Human smuggling, human trafficking and the illegal drug trade have all impacted Australia in recent years...
- Crime in MelbourneCrime in MelbourneCrime in Melbourne refers to criminal activity in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. One of the main functions of Victoria Police is to detect criminal activity, and prosecutions take place in the Victorian court system....
- Cold case
- List of people who have mysteriously disappeared