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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
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anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website Chiara is attend in the Central West
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region of New South Wales located about 300 kilometres west of Sydney and a hundred and ninety kilometers north of
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Australia's capital Canberra prior to European settlement the area was occupied by Australia's indigenous
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Wiradjuri people and in the early 1800s as Europeans began sprawling out from the coast province the area was labelled
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unfit to settle so a military Depot was built instead it became known as a place
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to pass through when gold was found West but when gold started being dug up in the surrounding hills the town of Cara
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was built right on the banks of the Lockland River despite the verdict from early European settlers that car was
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unfit to settle it became an area known for its rich agriculture the edge or cannery was built in 1943 where local
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vegetables were canned and sent all over including to those serving in the Second
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World War vineyards were later planted and by the 1980s Cairo was famous for its Chardonnay
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grapes in 1987 Cairo was still a very small country town it was rich in history but had remained a small
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community with less than 10,000 residents it was a town where everyone knew everyone and things that happened
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took no time to be whispered across the bar at the pub or in the yard after church as far as violent crime goes
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Keira wouldn't rank at the top of any lists it was best known for being the scene of the largest prisoner of war
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breakout in modern history known as the Kara breakout during World War two Kara was the site
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of a prisoner of war camp on August 5th 1944 Japanese prisoners attempted a mass
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breakout by charging through machine-gun posts armed with only improvised weapons
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locked wooden bats and sharpened mess-hall noise 231 Japanese soldiers and 4 Australian soldiers were killed
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over 100 Japanese soldiers were wounded despite that wartime incident kara was in a place where the locals thought much
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about violence or violent crime it wasn't something that was of great concern within the community of course
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there was trouble every community had its fair share of that but it was very much a normal country town it wasn't
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unusual for many houses in the 80s to leave their doors unlocked it was just the way it was safe people looked out
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for one another but in the early hours of Wednesday April 15th 1987 the simple peaceful country town of Kara was faced
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with a crime so violent and so shocking it would be forever changed [Music] Catherine Holmes also known as Catherine
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Paula was born and raised in Cara after leaving school at 15 she moved away in search of work opportunities in other
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parts of New South Wales during the last years of the 70s she lived and worked in
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various places before returning to care when she was 21 back in Cara she settled into her old
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life she was comfortable that it was familiar it wasn't long before she met and fell in love with a local abattoir
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worker named Bruce Holmes and the two married in 1981 they moved to the New South Wales Central Coast north of
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Sydney and had two daughters together after just a couple of years in 1983 their marriage broke down and Catherine
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returned to Kara with their two daughters it was a sad breakup but the couple remained amicable for their
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children and although Bruce remained on the Central Coast he visited his girls often Catherine and the girls moved into
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a home on Jindo Lee circuit there was a housing commission home located in the northwestern part of town
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Catherine worked two jobs to support her girls part-time of annoyed she worked as
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a barmaid at the Lachlan Hotel in the southern part of town but her main day job was in a factory at edgehill's
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cannery where she worked on the production line canning locally grown vegetables it was that edgehill's
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factory where she met Georgina watt more georgina was also born and raised in Cara her father died when she was young
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but she grew up in an exceptionally close family with her mum and brother like Catherine
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Georgina also left school at age 15 she became a shop assistant for a few years before she too moved out of the small
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town in search of other opportunities she settled south in Canberra where she worked various jobs for a few years but
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just like Catherine she moved back home to the comfort of the small town Cara the town she knew well and where people
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knew her Georgina wasn't married and didn't have children she lived alone in a unit on Brougham Street just a few
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blocks south of the Lachlan Hotel upon who returned a carer she got a job at a jewels cannery and almost immediately
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she and Catherine struck up a close friendship Catherine was four years older but they were firm friends and
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looked out for each other they often socialize together in Georgina became very close to
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Catherine's daughters so close in fact that Georgina would often work different shifts - Catherine at the factory so she
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could babysit Catherines girls Catherine and Georgina were well-known and well-liked around here both were
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described as bright and friendly there were good people and good friends on Tuesday April 14th 1987 Katherine's
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girls were with their father Bruce on the Central Coast about a five hour drive away it was school holidays and
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the upcoming weekend was Easter weekend so they were spending time away with their father
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this gave Catherine the chance to work more shifts and also have some time for herself and relax a little that day
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Catherine then aged 28 in Georgina age 24 both worked a shift at edgehill's cannery finishing up at 3:30 p.m. after
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work they thought they'd unwind and have a few drinks so they visited a few of the local hotels in Kara Catherine first
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returned home and got changed then went back out to meet Georgina they socialized with a few different people
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throughout the evening seeing many people they knew about town about 7:00 p.m. they headed to the Lachlan Hotel on
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Kendall Street this was the pub where Catherine worked a few nights a week the Lachlan was a busy lively main
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street pub and Catherine was very popular amongst the patrons she knew pretty much everyone there and she and
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Georgina socialized with a number of different people throughout the evening they were both happy and in really good
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moods when the Lachlan hotel closed at midnight Catherine Georgina and for other people
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they were with decided to go back to Catherine's place in June delay circuit and hang out and drink some more
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georgina made a quick detour to her place on Broome Street she grabbed some clothes so she could stay over at
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Catherine's and also grabbed a small amount of marijuana before heading to gently' circuit to join the others
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gingerly circuit is on the outskirts of town catherine lived in a corner house on genderly and Victor Street with green
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fields and grazing cattle close by Catherine and Georgina were joined at the house party by one other woman and
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three men it wasn't a wild party by any stretch it was simply a small casual gathering of friends they shared a few
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more drinks together before Catherine said she was done about 1:45 a.m. she had to work that day so she said
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goodnight and went to bed leaving the others to finish up Georgina wanted to go to sleep too but
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the others weren't quite ready to leave so instead of sleeping on the couch she went and jumped into Catherine's bed
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with her leaving the for others to finish their drinks two of the remaining guests left shortly after about 2:30
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a.m. and to the final two guests left some time closer to 3:20 a.m. they left out the back door leaving it unlocked
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the back door was always unlocked so this was a no big deal at 3:30 a.m. one of Catherine's
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neighbors was woken by the sound of a piercing scream this was followed by four or five further screams another
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neighbor was also woken by a scream which he believed was followed by the sound of a motor vehicle starting up and
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driving off from Jindo a circuit but he couldn't recall the time of the scream or the car a third neighbor also heard
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screams but couldn't recall the time either the police won't call and nobody investigated the neighbors didn't think
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too much of it at the time on the morning of Wednesday April 15th Catherine didn't report for her shift at
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a JAL's cannery when her neighbor Robin Mulder came out of her house that morning and saw Catherine's car she
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thought it was unusual she wasn't at work but Robin took it as an opportunity to catch up with Catherine for a cup of
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tea into chat at 9:45 a.m. Robins husband walked over to Catherine's house to invite her over to their place as he
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walked past the front bedroom window he heard what he described the strange noises he knocked and called out to
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Catherine but there was no answer he returned home and he and Robin thought that although it seemed strange there
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must have been an explanation but as the morning went on both Robin and her husband felt something was a little off
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so by lunchtime when there was still no movement at Catherines house Robin went and got another neighbour
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Lesley Marsh and they walked over to Catherine's together they called out at the front door but again no one answered
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remembering her husband describing strange noises coming from the bedroom Robin decided to check there she heard
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what she thought was snoring surprised Catherine was still asleep Robin called out again and tried to wake her up she
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and Lesley then looked through the window for a moment both Robin and Lesley thought Catherine was playing a
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joke on them it looked like there was blood everywhere but it didn't seem real so they
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continued your call well and then panic set in they saw two blood-soaked bodies one
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lying on the bed and one on the floor blood covered the bed the furniture and of the walls
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Robin and Leslie immediately ran to the back door and straight inside the house the back door into the back fly screen
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door were both wide open the screen door was actually propped open using the pneumatic door closer someone had
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deliberately kept that door open what Robin and Leslie discovered in the main bedroom were the bodies of Catherine
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homes in Georgina what more the noises that Robins husband had heard earlier that morning were coming from Georgina
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she was struggling to hold on to life and to the gurgling noises were her fighting to breathe through all the
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blood she was alive but barely catherine was dead they immediately called an ambulance in the police
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Cara paramedics arrived and rushed Georgina to hospital but she was dead on arrival when police arrived at the house
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a child's bike was lying in the driveway a crime scene was established and police
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cordoned off the home putting up palings around the edge of the property to hold
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up a barrier it keeps sightseers away the neighborhood had never seen anything like it
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the crime scene was gruesome one of the first officers on the scene said it was a sight that would live in
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his memory for a long time and even senior police officers commented that the crime scene was one of the most
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gruesome they had ever encountered Catherine's house was placed under police guard for several days as the
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crime scene examination was carried out they discovered partial fingerprints in the main bedroom there was no match on
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the police system and no match to anyone in the house they may have belonged to the previous tenants well they may
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belong to the killer whose prints weren't on record there was no way of knowing for sure the killer left a blood
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trail in the victim's blood the blood trail led from the bedroom through the laundry yeah at the back door and
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continued up to the front of the house where it ended at the road there was no sign of forced entry at all police
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believed the killer may have been aware Catherine left her back door unlocked the theory being that the killer entered
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through the unlocked door then propped open the screen door leaving both doors wide open to allow a quick escape
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partial footprints were also located but they weren't caused by a shoe police believe after entering through the back
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door the killer took off their shoes allowing them to creep up on the bedroom more quietly the signs were pointing to
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a level of planning and premeditation but in the immediate aftermath of the murder there was no clue why anyone
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would want Catherine and georgina dead the vicious attacks in the dead of the night in a quiet and safe town brought a
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lot of media attention early reports said that they were hacked to death the severe head injuries thought to be
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caused by a sharp heavy object with the early suggestion being that it could have been an axe so from the very first
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day the crimes were referred to as the Kara axe murders but other reports also suggest that a meat cleaver a tomahawk
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or a machete could also have caused the injuries but examinations showed otherwise due to the severity of the
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blows the killer left indentations on the wooden bed frame showing that the weapon was likely a blunt hard solid
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object like a tire iron not an axe they were bludgeoned to death the post-mortem examinations determined
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that Katherine and Georgina died as a result of severe head injuries respiratory failure and blood loss
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Katherine suffered lacerations to her forehead and scalp and defensive wounds to her hands
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Georgina suffered severe lacerations to her mouth neck and dry side of her head and she had minor defensive wounds to
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the back of her hands the level of violence inflicted on Katherine was far greater than on Georgina Katherine was
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struck 15 times Georgina was struck five the wounds Katherine suffered were far more horrific it appeared she may have
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been the main target local detectives from Kara and the nearby towns of Forbes and Young were joined in the
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investigation by six detectives from the state's homicide squad a large-scale search was immediately put into action
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their main goal was to try to find the murder weapon and any dumped clothing or other evidence from the killer officers
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from the Tactical Response Group were called in to assist in the search and they checked every house and every yard
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surrounding Katherine's they also went through drains and waterways and moved on to properties and paddocks in the
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wider surrounding area police divers were called in to search the Lockland River and other nearby waterways and
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dams the flow of Kara's entire water supply from the local Dam was actually stopped which lowered the water level in
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the Lockland River to make the search easier but it proved fruitless police searched the grounds of a Jules cannery
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where Kathryn and Georgina worked they also searched the local abattoir including employee lockers they searched
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the local tip and other known dumping grounds but they found nothing Catherines ex-husband Bruce Holmes was
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cleared he was at home on the Central Coast with their children the murder of Katherine came as a huge shock and Bruce
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struggled to come to terms with it he said Kathy didn't seem like a person to make too many enemies I can't understand
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it it's going to be hard for their children they were pretty fond of Georgina too
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Bruce's mother filmer Holmes said Kathy could do no wrong by me she was a lovely
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person if anybody knows any more about what has happened they should tell the police
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detectives began focusing on the community a gas pipeline was under construction nearby and a large number
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of workers from outside the area were employed there the criminal history of everyone working on the pipeline was
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examined detectives were particularly interested in anyone with a history of violence towards women many of the
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workers were from overseas and this meant police were faced with a hard task of tracking criminal histories from all
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over the world with no immediate suspect or even a clear motive detectives had to
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consider the possibility it could be the work of a serial killer who had possibly
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struck in other areas kara lies at the intersection of three main highways it's a town many have to pass through and
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stop at on the way to other destinations in western New South Wales or northern Victoria so looking at this was
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important but again nothing came up every way they looked they seemed to come back to the feeling that the killer
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was known to Katharine and Georgina likely known to their circle of friends and known to the local community
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detectives got to work interviewing everyone they could fall it they went door to door and interviewed neighbors
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where they learnt of the screams and the car heard driving off they tracked down
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everyone who had been in the hotels drinking at the same time as Georgina and Kathryn the night of their deaths
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those inquiries revealed it was a happy and carefree night there were no issues at all Georgina and Kathryn were in good
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spirits and didn't have any run-ins with anyone their work colleagues and edgehill's
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cannery were interviewed and police also searched employee lockers there but again no leads were found they
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identified the four people who had gone back to Catherine's house for the party after closing time they were extensively
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interviewed but all were eventually cleared of any involvement there were no issues in the house between anyone that
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night there was a completely drama-free event everyone was in good spirits and having fun being a small country town
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rumors started to fly around the local community about what happened there were even whispers that the small gathering
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at Catherines place was actually an out-of-control wild party Georgina's brother David told The Sydney
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Morning Herald newspaper quote we don't know what it's all about but they weren't wild girls and the night of the
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killings they just had a few friends over for drinks after the pub Georgina was a good person and she had a lot of
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good friends the talk of a wild party is nonsense David's comments were supported
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by Catherine's neighbors a lot of them didn't hear anything but those that did described it as nothing more than a
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small after pub gathering nothing wild or out-of-control were unusual at all within three weeks
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detectives had interviewed over 500 people and as the investigation went on a few things did come up two friends of
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Catherine's reported that they had been babysitting Catherine's daughters only a
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few weeks prior to the murders they were at her house babysitting when they heard
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someone into the house walk through Catherine's bedroom and then leave when Catherine came home the friends told her
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what had happened Catherine told them she knew who it was but refused to elaborate any further then one of
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Catherine's neighbors reported seeing a suspicious man wearing a cowboy hat sitting in the park across the road from
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Catherine's house police made a media appeal for him to come forward but he was eventually
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eliminated from the investigation one crucial witness who came forward was a 15 year old boy on April 14th the
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afternoon before the murders he was walking home from school around 3:40 p.m. he was walking along Victor Street
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which crosses genderly circuit he walked past Catherine's side gate and he saw her arguing with a male person in the
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back yard he said he saw the male person strike Catherine across the face during
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this argument the description from the boy was quite vague in the beginning so arrangements were made to place him
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under hypnosis this resulted in more detail he described the man as 30 years of age Brianne too dark medium length
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hair with a distinctive set of tattoos on his forearm he was driving a medium sized white 70's model four-door sedan a
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car matching this description was also seen outside Catherine's house late one night in the week before the killings
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detectives were able to identify a man who match this description who was known to Catherine he was interviewed but the
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night he was involved in any sort of argument or dispute with Catherine he was released and remained on the list of
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persons of interest despite the hours detectives worked around the clock conducting interviews and entering data
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into a burrowed computer which had been delivered from Sydney they were unable to establish many leads and two there
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was still no clear motive at all Detective Inspector Don Nicholson said we have no red-hot suspect at the moment
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at this stage there is no apparent motive but we are looking into the woman's lifestyles to see if we can
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establish anything there there is nothing to suggest there was someone from outside Cara
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with the level of violence inflicted on Catherine considerably more severe than that on Georgina police believes that
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killer may have only been targeting Catherine they felt that whoever was responsible may have gone to her house
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knowing her two children were away on the Central Coast with their father for Easter there was no forced entry no
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robbery no sexual assault and it was the middle of the night the killer appeared to have knowledge of
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the premises it was a spur-of-the-moment decision by Georgina to stay over at Catherines so the killer likely wouldn't
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have known she would be there the ferocity of the attack and the way it appeared to have been carried out in a
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frenzy led detectives to believe that it was driven by rage it seemed full of emotion and anger
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it was personal the killer wanted to inflict as much violence as possible on Catherine and it was possible that
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Georgina was just in the wrong place at the wrong time the town was stunned kara had never
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experienced anything like this before and people felt the immense loss of too much loved women
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neither of whom had caused any trouble one young woman just really beginning her adult life and the other a single
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mother working hard to support her two daughters the locals had a hard time even believing it was true no one could
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make any sense of it kara became gripped with fear with no idea who the killer was some locals were scared the killer
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would strike again people wondered if they would be next the community's reaction to the murders was the kind of
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shut down people couldn't sleep and kids weren't allowed out of the house for the
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first time in memory residents began locking their doors and everybody watched everybody closely the feeling in
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town is best described by those who were there all of the following people spoke
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to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper Noll Evans the stand-in publican had a lock on hotel this has rocked us and
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we're still walking around stunned Kathy was a very popular person friendly to everyone she had no enemies an
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unnamed patron in the Lachlan hotel it could be anyone in town I mean it could be anyone here it makes you think that
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you're never safe anywhere cab driver Frank a girl everyone is just shocked and afraid I
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knew both girls and you would never think it could happen Georgina used to come into a shop I used
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to own all the time when she was younger she was a lovely girl people in the town are scared especially
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the women with someone walking around who is capable of doing something like that an unnamed resident in a small town
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like this that puts everyone on edge everyone knew them it's that sort of place people have
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said one after the other if it happened in Sydney you could understand it but in
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Kara people are just shocked that something so vicious happened I don't think that
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there's a soul that thinks anyone from Kara did it but of course they could be wrong
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there was another reason police for having trouble getting answers despite conducting a large amount of interviews
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they felt they'll being hampered by an unwillingness to talk amongst the local community by now police believed there
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was a good chance Georgina and Catherine knew their killer and in that small town
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that meant that their circle of friends and other townspeople also knew the killer then assistant commissioner Ross
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Nixon made the comment that people in the community could be protecting the killer someone knew something and they
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were keeping it to themselves Detective Sergeant lemon he said I have a gut feeling at someone in town in fact the
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murderer may have already been interviewed by police like in any country town people here
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have grown up with each other and are afraid to put someone in it took a great deal of work but eventually police were
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able to break down the barriers the local community were putting up it took weeks to gain their trust but things
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started to change Detective Sergeant Lemmy explained quote when we first came to the town we had to bring people into
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the station to talk to them it was real hard going but now people are starting to come to us people are coming into the
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station and talking about the girls their personalities and people they know who are acting strange or who have
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changed their behavior in any way it's all just little things trivia really like if a bloke that normally wears a
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jacket or a cap he's not wearing it anymore he went on to say that a small piece of information like that could be
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the breakthrough they were looking for the rumors around town didn't stop and the room is specifically aimed that the
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characters of both women were hard to establish as fact there were rumors of infidelity 'z specifically speculation
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that catherine was involved with married men into mending relationships this is something that was looked at especially
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since there was the thought in investigators minds that this could be a revenge killing there was also talk of
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drug use which led to whispers of drug supplier which led to rumors of a drug ripoff or a drug debt being the motive
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for the murders but there was absolutely no evidence to support these claims and
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of those inquiries led nowhere the first four months of 1987 was a record time for homicides in the state of New South
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Wales catherine and Georgina's murders brought the total to 36 for the year 12 still remained unsolved and things only
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got worse just days following the murders in Wagga Wagga about 200 kilometers south from Kara 18 year old
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Sally Ann Jones was murdered after leaving a club in the early hours of the morning on Sunday April 19th she was
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stabbed 20 times she was found after a jogger discovered drag marks and bloody boots leading into
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a river the following Wednesday April 22nd Sheryl Hamburg was stabbed and strangled in Newcastle about 470
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kilometers northeast of Cairo she was also found after a passerby discovered drag marks and bloodstains on
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the edge of a creek for murders inside a week one two and a half hours south and
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one six hours northeast with the murders occurring within such a short space of time it had some people questioning if
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they were linked but after a thorough study of the crimes it was concluded that the murders of Sally Ann Jones and
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Cheryl and Burchell were just too different to the killings of Kathryn and Georgina they had quite different mos
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and it was quite some distance between the three crime scenes a police spokesperson said we cannot rule the
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other link altogether but they appear to be very different detectives on the case interviewed over
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1200 people as part of the investigation into the murders of Katherine and Georgina a number of persons of interest
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were identified as a result of those interviews some were able to be eliminated from the investigation but
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others couldn't be they searched the homes of people who are on their suspect list
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and confiscated items for testing by blood analysis experts in some cases they even seized plumbing from people's
00:31:15
laundries looking for traces of blood despite the large scale and extensive investigation no arrests were ever made
00:31:23
and 30 people in total remained on the suspect list unable to be eliminated by detectives
00:31:31
when discussing the type of person who may have carried out the crimes the acting head of the Criminal
00:31:36
Investigation Branch detective Superintendent Ron Stevenson told the Canberra Times newspaper that the
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murders were so horrific they would had to have had an effect on the personality
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of the killer something would be off about them that would be noticed by family or friends quote the public would
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notice the change of mood and behavior of a person whether they've not turned up for work or whether they become
00:32:00
morose there are people out there today who know who committed these murders no matter how hard the police work no
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matter how clever we are without the assistance of the public we will fail [Music]
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forensic expert dr. Godfrey O'Toole came from Sydney three weeks after the murders his job was to reexamine the
00:32:24
murder scene to see if he could conclude anything further from it after examining
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the case and post-mortem results he said he couldn't rule out an enraged woman as
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being responsible given the brutality of the murders many assumed the killer was
00:32:39
a man especially with names like the Kara axe murderer being printed in the papers but that wasn't necessarily the
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case the motive and profile of the killer couldn't be clearly established Detective Sergeant lemme quote we just
00:32:54
don't know it could be a man it could be a female or it could be a jilted lover or it could be a workmate the Minister
00:33:05
for Police announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction for the murders the minister
00:33:12
also took the unusual step of saying the New South Wales governor might be advised to extend a free pardon to any
00:33:18
accomplice who didn't take part in the actual killing but this didn't have the desired effect and the investigation
00:33:25
eventually wound up the endless hours of interviewing and the countless experts brought in was not enough to catch the
00:33:32
killer whether hiding in plain sight or gone from Kara for good the killer was free
00:33:38
and the case grew cold a cranial inquest was held in August 1988 before coroner Jim Smith around 30 witnesses in total
00:33:51
gave evidence including the four people who attended the gathering at Catherine's house on the night of the
00:33:56
murders at the conclusion of the inquest the coroner believed that the killer must have been deeply and emotionally
00:34:03
involved with one or both of the victims and he dismissed the rumours that the murders were drug-related he stated that
00:34:11
he was satisfied there had been a total and complete investigation by police his
00:34:16
official finding was quote in Kara on April 15th 1987 each of the deceased had died from the effects of severe head
00:34:25
injuries inflicted on them by a person persons unknown in 2009 Detective Inspector John layman initiated a review
00:34:35
of the case in Strikeforce Alistair was formed detectives from the unsolved homicide squad conducted a thorough
00:34:42
review of the investigation they found that despite the case remaining unsolved it wasn't due to a lack of effort or
00:34:49
poor police work the investigation was extremely thorough and they were impressed with the work done in 1987 but
00:34:57
they now had new tools in new technology at their disposal they brought in the help of the New South Wales Police
00:35:03
behavioural science team who analyzed crime scene behaviour and the capabilities and likely characteristics
00:35:09
of the offender of the 30 people who are unable to be eliminated by the original
00:35:14
investigators strike force Alistair were able to narrow that list down to 12 but
00:35:20
they weren't attached to the idea that the killer had to be on that list it was just the case that those 12 people
00:35:25
couldn't be eliminated they were still keeping an open mind inspector John Lehman told the following
00:35:32
to justine forward in her book one piece of the puzzle quote there was a lot of talk around town that catherine holmes
00:35:40
had been having affairs with married men or men in relationships so the investigators had to look for any
00:35:46
jealous partners seeking revenge who could have been suspects we used psychologists and profilers to help us
00:35:52
work out what kind of person would do this it hasn't assisted us in finding the killer but the profile does fit in
00:35:59
with our current persons of interest someone who was motivated by jealousy or revenge
00:36:04
and there are a number of women on our list of suspects in 2010 the $50,000 reward was increased to $200,000 the
00:36:15
reward increased but the potential immunity for any accomplice was withdrawn this reward increase saw a
00:36:21
rise in the amount of information being called in to Crimestoppers family members of Katherine and Georgina
00:36:27
welcomed the new reward Georgina's brother David said there is someone out there who has information
00:36:34
about my sister's death unfortunately their conscience has not been enough to get them to contact police
00:36:40
I hope that this reward is enough to change their mind and to give my family and Catherine some answers as
00:36:46
to what happened that night detective singer constable Matt Peckham from the unsolved homicide squad said
00:36:54
the murder of Kathy homes in Georgina what more remains the subject of much speculation in your window and gossip
00:37:00
within the township of Kara contributing to the heartache and grief of the family
00:37:05
and friends of the girls we will continue to knock on doors speak to people pursue persons of interests and
00:37:11
lines of inquiry until this matter is resolved [Music] the 25 year anniversary in 2012 was used
00:37:24
for a renewed appeal for information it was revealed that original witnesses who
00:37:28
were interviewed back in 1987 had been really interviewed by the unsolved homicide squad resulting in them
00:37:34
identifying new people to speak to about the murders Detective Chief Inspector Lehman we're pretty confident being the
00:37:42
small community that Kiara is that somebody does know something we're committed to solving the case and we're
00:37:48
going to continue sometimes people's memories seem to be jogged by such anniversaries or milestones sometimes
00:37:55
there are people there that for whatever reason may not be willing to come forward and assist us previously we
00:38:01
never closed any unsolved homicide cases inspector Lehman confirmed the original
00:38:07
investigators belief that this was not a random attack and further difficulties faced by the original investigators were
00:38:14
also revealed one officer told the keratins newspaper quote police found in some cases when making inquiries about a
00:38:23
suspect information was being passed on to the suspect on a number of occasions people who gave information to police
00:38:30
about certain individuals for reasons best known to themselves would then tell the individual that they had been to the
00:38:36
police one of the most widely circulated rumors related to the victims being involved in the sale of drugs marking
00:38:45
the 27th anniversary of their deaths family members wrote a memorial to Katherine and Georgina two beautiful
00:38:52
angels were taken from us 27 years ago and it changed our lives forever but there's not a day that goes by that
00:38:59
we don't have our thoughts and memories of you both that time can never erase regarding the other two murders that
00:39:07
occurred within a week of Katherine's and Georgina's Kenneth berry cannon the jogger who found the drag marks and
00:39:14
bloody boots of sowing in Jones in Wagga Wagga was charged and convicted with her
00:39:18
murder a few years later confirming there was no link to Katherine and Georgina's case
00:39:23
the murder of Cheryl and virtually Newcastle still remains unsolved Detective Inspector Lehman in Justine
00:39:32
forward book one piece of the puzzle quote I think the key is to keep an open mind about it
00:39:39
to not draw conclusions or get trapped into thinking it's one person or one group but the very nature of the
00:39:46
environment we're talking about a small town where people know each other's business and there are rumors about
00:39:51
who's sleeping with who and their jealousies give us reason to believe that someone has knowledge of the crime
00:39:57
it is likely that someone from the town was responsible and we believe there are
00:40:01
people with knowledge who we still haven't heard from this case is definitely solvable but there just
00:40:07
seemed to have been a lot of difficulties part of the reason it has been so hard to solve is that we have
00:40:13
possible motives but not clear motives why were these two women motor victims ex-husbands were certainly not
00:40:20
responsible and there were no custody issues as is often the case so we have to keep asking
00:40:26
what made these two stand out as potential targets [Music]