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[Music] from audioboom studios and woodcut media what makes a killer returns for season
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four i'm jennifer natoso and i'll be your host as we examine 13 new killers this season we'll take a look at
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infamous killers including diane downes gary ridgeway the green river killer ted
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bundy and dennis rader the btk killer follow us on spotify or subscribe on apple podcasts stitcher or wherever you
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find your favorite shows our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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time 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 on sunday march 1 1998 crime scene
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examiners gathered at a residence on main avenue in the upscale queensland suburb of wilston
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the two-story cream-colored weatherboard home sat on a sloped hill that overlooked brisbane's cbd which was five
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kilometers away it was far from a remote location yet the property's position against the
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alden hill reservoir granted it a bushland backdrop akin to a rural homestead the house itself was barely visible from
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the street practically hidden amongst the thicket of trees and shrubbery that defined the front garden
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a path wove between the forest-like surrounds to a set of timber stairs that led to the front door of the upper level
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inside the house boxes and paperwork were strewn across the carpet which was also covered with old newspapers cat
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cages and upended furniture an antique bechstein piano took pride of place in the lounge room
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a music book was open on its stand when a detective saw which composition the page was turned to a chill ran
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through him was it a message the famous piece by polish pianist frederik chopin was titled
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the funeral march [Music] [Music] [Music] 52 year old doctor kathleen marshall was
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a well-respected veterinarian in willston renowned for her devotion to animal welfare
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she worked out of her main avenue home having converted the lower level of her two-story house into a small clinic that
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was completely independent from the living space on top situated between two single-car garages
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she used the space to do the occasional vaccination or health check for friends and acquaintances but it mainly served
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as a center for her to care for her own pets while kathleen loved all animals she had
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a particular affinity for cats she owned 16 of them earning her the reputation of willston's catwoman
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three dogs as well her home was in a constant state of disarray but she was comfortable there
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kathleen's front garden was in a similar state equally passionate about the environment
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kathleen had turned the space into a small overgrown forest yet the abundance of foliage couldn't
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obscure everything that went on behind it by friday february 27 1998 witnesses had
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noticed a light emanating from kathleen's veterinary clinic that never turned off
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[Music] that night kathleen had organised a dinner in the city for seven o'clock
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as a means of expanding her social circle she had founded a group named elepha for professional singles aged 35
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and over twice monthly members would meet at an upmarket restaurant in brisbane for a
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night of fine dining and conversation kathleen orchestrated the group's events meticulously and agonized over every
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detail with attendees having to rsvp and pay for the meal in advance therefore members were left confused
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when kathleen's seed at the table that night remained empty they dialed kathleen's phone to see
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where she was but their calls went straight to the answering machine this wasn't unusual for kathleen but her
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unexplained absence certainly was [Music] no one saw kathleen over the weekend then just after 3 p.m on sunday three
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members of the cap protection society of queensland arrived at kathleen's home the organization was one of the many
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charitable ventures that occupied kathleen's spare time as one of its directors kathleen had
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been expected to attend an important meeting earlier that day but she never showed
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a second smaller meeting between directors was then scheduled to take place afterwards at kathleen's house
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which served as the society's headquarters as the other cat protection society members exited their car and made their
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way towards kathleen's house that afternoon they were immediately struck by a foul
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stench several outside bins were overflowing with rubbish which they assumed was to
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blame for the odo the trio made their way up the driveway noticing that several deliveries
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including three newspapers and two cartons of milk had been ignored they ascended the stairs to the front
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door an envelope was stuck against it with brown packing tape leaving it be they knocked and called
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out for kathleen but there was no response kathleen suffered from a medical condition known as cushing disease which
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often caused her to feel tired and unwell her friends worried that she might have
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fallen severely ill or had some other health emergency and was unable to answer them
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one of the women rushed to the rear of their house where they knew kathleen kept a spare key
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as she approached the first smell wafting around her intensified and flies started buzzing around her head
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she moved past the frosted glass door that led into kathleen's vet clinic and paused
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blood was smeared on the glass alarmed the woman called out to the others and they gathered around the door
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it wouldn't open [Music] beyond the obscured glass they could make out something on the floor inside
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it was an outstretched arm the police were called and officers arrived within minutes
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it appeared as though a struggle had taken place right outside kathleen's clinic
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blood was splattered onto some foliage near the door and the rubber door mat was also heavily blood-stained but there
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were no bloody shoe prints leading to or from the area more police were summoned to the house
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and just as they were about to begin a thorough examination of the property's exterior an automatic sprinkler
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activated washing away possible evidence from the driveway and surrounds the clinic below kathleen's home had two
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access points the frosted glass door which acted as its entry and a sliding glass door at its rear
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there was no internal access point from the upstairs residence and the frosted glass door was sealed shut
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as an officer circled the property they came across a small window in the garage
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that looked into the clinic it featured a series of horizontal glass slats that could be opened and shut in
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unison to control airflow some of the slats had been snapped off as though someone had broken in
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but the pieces lay at the officer's feet meaning someone had actually broken out
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looking through the window the officer saw kathleen marshall lying face down in a pool of blood
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she was positioned beside the consultation table in the middle of the room with her head turned to one side
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and her hands clutching at her shoulder-length brown hair her blue and white striped sundress was
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gathered around her chest exposing a stab wound that pierced the back of her bloodied bra
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officers soon realized that the clinic door was actually unlocked but a heavy cat cage had been pushed up against it
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a crime scene examiner managed to force his way in and found so much blood that stepping equipment had to be placed on
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the floor to prevent investigators from contaminating the area it appeared the altercation that it
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started outside the clinic had continued indoors with defence wounds indicating that kathleen had put up a fight
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a white bucket underneath a sink contained bloody water a dishcloth kathleen's glasses and one running shoe
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the matching shoe sat next to the bucket there were also droplets of watered down
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blood on a plastic bag next to the sink it looked as though the killer had tried
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to clean themselves in the crime scene before fleeing a collapsed cardboard box was propped
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against the wall beneath the broken window depicting their exit route it too had blood on it leading
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investigators to wonder if the killer had injured themselves during the attack a total of 26 swabs were taken
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throughout the space in the hope that they had left their dna at the scene [Music]
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kathleen had been stabbed with a sharp tipped knife 52 times throughout her upper body
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her abdomen chest and head had all been struck with her face brutalized in such a manner that left her features
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unrecognizable yet the wounds themselves were shallow with the deepest measuring roughly four
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centimeters investigators speculated that kathleen's attacker had either been a woman or a
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physically weaker man in fact only one wound was found to have been fatal the severing of kathleen's
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carotid artery in her neck resulted in her bleeding to death had she received intervention prior to
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losing consciousness she might have survived [Music] kathleen didn't keep any opioids on site
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and none of the prescription medications or other veterinary supplies had been touched ruling out the possibility that
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the murder was motivated by theft the focus turned to kathleen's upper-level residence which was in such
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disarray that police initially thought it had been ransacked and was part of the crime scene
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kathleen's friends clarified that this was just how her house always looked there were no signs of forced entry into
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that area of the home and nothing had been stolen amongst the clutter on kathleen's dining
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table was her daily planner the last entry was made on thursday february 26 1998
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three days before her body was discovered kathleen had jotted down at 12 30 p.m veterinary appointment for client
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matthew thompson and his dog jazz investigators spoke to matthew who noted nothing out of the ordinary with
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kathleen that day it appeared as though she was attacked soon thereafter with the decomposition
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progression of her remains showing that she had lain undiscovered in her clinic for days
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professor russell luke the head of the parasitology reference laboratory at queensland health scientific services
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examined maggots that had infested kathleen's wounds based on the state of their development
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he estimated kathleen was killed sometime between 9 p.m on thursday and 3 a.m on friday
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several of kathleen's beloved cats were locked in cages within the clinic unable
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to access food or water over the weekend one suffered kidney disease as a direct
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result and subsequently had to be euthanized the others were unfed and distressed
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upstairs kathleen's dogs were found secured outside on her balcony which led some to
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believe kathleen had placed them there prior to her murder in preparation for company
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this theory suited the nature of the crime itself knife-based attacks are considered
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intimate and personal violence and the fact that kathleen was targeted in her own home meant the killer knew she lived
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there alone 52 stab wounds was a particularly frenzied overkill hinting at a perpetrator who harbored deep hatred for
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kathleen who that person could be wasn't easy to answer as it was no secret that kathleen
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had rubbed many people the wrong way described as having a dominant personality kathleen also had incredibly
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high standards and wasn't afraid to speak her mind some members of lepiccure were unhappy
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with her selective membership criteria which required male participants to have a university degree and female members
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to have too kathleen had also drawn the ire of a neighbor who'd petitioned the brisbane
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city council to cut back overgrown trees in kathleen's front yard that were restricting access to the footpath
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fiercely protective of the environment kathleen had to be forcibly restrained by police so that workers could cut down
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the offending foliage kathleen had also fallen out with her family after being the sole beneficiary
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to her father's will after his death 20 years prior her siblings had tried to mend the rift
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but kathleen had refused every family gathering invite and had never met any of her nieces and nephews
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and her marriage had ended in divorce seven years earlier yet there was nothing to suggest that
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any of these people were out to kill her while forthright and straightforward at
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her core kathleen was a selfless and generous person her murder came as a shock to all who
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knew her as night fell on the crime scene members of the cap protection society gathered
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in kathleen's front yard to console one another as they spoke amongst themselves one
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officer heard a loud gasp they approached to the group and asked what was wrong glenda whitmore one of the three women
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who discovered the crime scene told the officer kathleen's murderer has just driven past
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[Music] case file will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening to this
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beam dot com slash case file and use code case file for up to 35 off virginia houston and kathleen marshall
00:20:47
met towards the end of 1996. both women lived in homes that boarded the ireland hill reserve and had
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petitioned to preserve the natural space like kathleen 45 year old virginia was not one to shy away from causes she
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believed in and it was little surprise that the pair initially hit it off when virginia found out that kathleen
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was a veterinarian who loved cats she invited her to join the cap protection society of queensland
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virginia was one of the directors and also the treasurer the society had been slowly degrading
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due to members fighting and accusations of money going missing and virginia saw kathleen as a valuable ally who could
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help investigate the alleged corruption that was plaguing them kathleen accepted virginia's offer but
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their relationships soon soured kathleen lost side of the reason why she was brought into the fold and focused
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her attention on advocacy instead of mediation she used her position to implement
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changes that would benefit the local stray and injured cat population as opposed to settling the group's inner
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conflicts and financial issues [Music] virginia was disappointed and by mid-1997
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the society had splintered into two factions those who supported kathleen and to those who supported virginia
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kathleen supporters were appreciative of her efforts to steer the ship back to promoting feline welfare
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while her critics viewed her as rude abrupt insulting and demeaning kathleen and virginia fought constantly
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and made no effort to hide their dislike of one another then in august 1997 virginia was ousted
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as director and treasurer at a vote of 42-2 kathleen on the other hand rose to the
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role of director virginia was devastated by her demotion and set about reporting the society to
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the australian securities and investment commission on allegations of vote rigging
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[Music] meanwhile tensions within the group heightened weeks before kathleen's murder virginia
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arrived at her doorstep wanting her to review some paperwork but kathleen refused to let her in
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the two got into a scuffle pushing shoving and pulling each other's hair kathleen called the police to report
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that she quote had a mad woman in her house she claimed to have hurt her hand in the
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altercation but declined to press charges against virginia afterwards kathleen began looking over
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her shoulder and told a fellow society director that she was certain she was being stalked
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one day she had smelled cigarette smoke while out on her back veranda and suspected a smoker had been trespassing
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at the rear of her property kathleen told others that she was scared of virginia houston and had even
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expressed her belief that virginia was capable of taking a knife to her in the words of kathleen they had to
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quote get the [ __ ] [Music] on the day kathleen's body was discovered an envelope was found stuck
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to her front door with brown packing tape it was from virginia houston and contained information for the cat
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protection society meeting that was due to be held that day held at a local school hall that was
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pitched as a talk fest wherein members could address and resolve issues impacting the group
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as a director kathleen was expected to attend and her conflict with virginia would no doubt have been discussed
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despite being one half of one of the group's major conflicts virginia houston had no desire to attend to the talk fest
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given her demotion she was also not invited to the director's meeting planned immediately afterwards at
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kathleen's house yet that night virginia was spotted driving by the crime scene when speaking with police virginia
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houston was frank about her dislike of kathleen but maintained she would never kill her
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in fact she intended to sue kathleen for defamation so according to virginia kathleen's untimely death had lost her a
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lot of money while she denied stalking kathleen she openly admitted to often driving past
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her house to see if the cat protection society was meeting a fellow society member vouched for
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virginia's whereabouts on the thursday night it was estimated that kathleen was killed
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the pair were together from 5 pm organising a mail out for society members virginia left at 11 pm and had no alibi
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for the remaining hours kathleen could have been targeted she said she visited kathleen's
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residence with a friend at around 4 10 pm on friday to drop off the information pertaining to sunday's meeting
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she decided to tape the documents in an envelope to the front door because she knew kathleen would never open the door
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to her later that night virginia had driven past to see if the envelope had been
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taken but it was still there she didn't drive by again until sunday evening expecting to see the meeting
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underway but instead finding kathleen's house cordoned off by police virginia houston's confidence and
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honesty led detectives to believe that she had taken time to consider rehearse and perfect her responses in
00:27:00
anticipation of being questioned virginia maintained quote because of the type of person kathleen
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was she created a lot of enemies and it could have been anyone in any of the compartments of her life
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a fierce supporter of virginia's told the courier mail the police have got it all wrong
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virginia didn't do it kathleen was a very strong woman it would have taken a man
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police interviewed 70 other members of the cap protection society nearly all of whom were certain that virginia houston
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could have murdered kathleen marshall six days into their investigation detectives arrived at virginia's home
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with a search warrant her car was seized and her property thoroughly examined thirty state emergency services
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volunteers also scoured the ireland hill reservoir as detectives believed virginia could have crossed the bush
00:28:04
land to gain access to kathleen's property from behind a suspicious stain in virginia's home
00:28:12
hinted at a possible breakthrough but lumenal testing determined it wasn't blood
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investigators were unable to uncover anything to link virginia to the murder of kathleen
00:28:27
the bizarre case had garnered significant media attention with members of the press comparing it to an agatha
00:28:34
christie murder mystery virginia houston didn't shy away from the attention often giving interviews
00:28:41
from the front of her home which she kept locked up with the curtains drawn virginia told reporters that she'd gone
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into hiding believing kathleen was targeted because of money as the former treasurer for the cap
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protection society virginia held concerns that she would be next she said she knew too much about the
00:29:04
group's financial affairs and feared for her life because of it her assertions weren't without merit
00:29:13
sixteen years earlier in october 1982 a cat protection society member named frank castanola was shot and killed
00:29:22
while sitting on his front porch he'd only joined to the group earlier that year and six months before his
00:29:29
murder he left the society his entire estate in the event of his death which amounted to just over two hundred
00:29:35
thousand dollars in his forthcoming book a history of the queensland cat protection society a
00:29:43
story of infighting money and murder author ted doos explained that frank had been encouraged to leave his estate to
00:29:51
the society by one of the group's acting chairpersons glenda whitmore glenda was one of the three people that
00:29:59
discovered kathleen marshall's body and had also identified virginia houston as kathleen's killer
00:30:06
secretary barryestic had also persuaded frank to hand over his money as he had realised the society's potential as a
00:30:14
business rather than a charity a coroner's inquest into frank castanola's murder failed to identify
00:30:22
the person or persons responsible a case was made against frank's neighbor who wasn't associated with the cat
00:30:30
protection society but the murder remained unsolved a cloud of suspicion lingered over the
00:30:38
society although kathleen marshall hadn't left any of her own estate to the group
00:30:43
[Music] it took over a month for the 26 swabs taken from kathleen's clinic to be fully
00:30:52
analyzed dna couldn't be extracted from 11 of them and one of the samples had gone
00:30:59
missing of the remaining 14 nine were found to contain kathleen's dna five swabs which were collected from
00:31:09
blood staining on the cardboard box under the broken window a wall the floor and the plastic bag by the sink featured
00:31:17
the dna profile of a second individual a male this stunned investigators completely
00:31:25
shattering who they believed to be their main and only suspect the discovery removed virginia houston
00:31:33
from the scene but didn't necessarily rule her out wondering if she had enlisted the help
00:31:39
of a male accomplice investigators zeroed in on the men in virginia's life their efforts took them hundreds of
00:31:47
kilometers interstate and by the end they had collected 42 dna samples they also collected samples from the men
00:31:56
who kathleen marshall was known to dna testing in australia was still in its infancy and the large-scale testing
00:32:05
effort was a lengthy and costly endeavor but in the absence of any other leads it
00:32:11
seemed the most likely way to catch kathleen's killer the search led to the inner brisbane
00:32:19
suburb of fortitude valley just a few kilometers from wilston police had tracked down an ex-boyfriend
00:32:27
of virginia houston's named shane not his real name who resided at a boarding house there
00:32:34
shane became combative when asked about kathleen marshall's murder and he refused to provide a dna sample
00:32:43
given that he wasn't legally required to provide one investigators surreptitiously followed shane through
00:32:49
the streets to see if an opportunity would present itself when he spat on a footpath the
00:32:55
detectives seized their chance and swooped obtaining a saliva sample for testing
00:33:02
whilst awaiting the results investigators were alerted that shane had abruptly left his boarding house
00:33:08
carrying packed suitcases and gotten into a taxi concerned that he was trying to flee a
00:33:16
detective phoned the taxi company who revealed shane was on his way to the brisbane transit center
00:33:24
the detective raced to the center and spotted shane waiting for a train to sydney
00:33:29
he was promptly taken into custody and once at police headquarters shane complied with all requests providing
00:33:36
fingerprints and a blood sample his belongings and clothing were also confiscated for testing
00:33:46
when the results of the dna tests came back detectives were once again shocked shane wasn't a match to the sample found
00:33:56
at the murder scene nor were any of the other men known to virginia houston or kathleen marshall who provided samples
00:34:06
there was a significant man in kathleen's life that police had yet to find kathleen's daily planner listed her
00:34:15
final vet consultation dated thursday february 26th after the 12 30 appointment with matthew
00:34:23
thompson kathleen was scheduled at 1pm to see john wilson and his unnamed cat despite police appeals efforts to locate
00:34:33
john wilson had so far failed no one by that name had come forward leading investigators to assume it was a
00:34:41
fake name identifying john via his cat seemed an impossible task until police spoke with
00:34:51
cat protection society members married couple victor and pauline lechardi victor and pauline had paid kathleen a
00:34:59
quick visit shortly before 1pm that thursday as they chatted with her out the front
00:35:06
of her house a man approached carrying a white and fawn coloured cat it was a sealpoint siamese breed and the
00:35:14
man was holding it against his chest not wanting to impede on kathleen's work victor and pauline immediately left
00:35:25
based on the timing investigators were certain this man was the john wilson kathleen had been expecting
00:35:32
the fact that he was holding the cat in his arms indicated that he was a local as traveling a long distance with an
00:35:39
unrestrained cat would have proven difficult detectives had doorknocked the local
00:35:45
area on the lookout for owners of seal point siamese cats but it wasn't until they saw a photo of one such cat
00:35:52
published in the courier male newspaper that their intrigue peaked the cat was featured alongside an
00:36:05
article titled occult joins hunt it described how various clairvoyants were trying to identify kathleen
00:36:13
marshall's killer through techniques such as automatic writing one clairvoyant named in the article was
00:36:21
ruth bennett a reverend organist and marriage celebrant for the spiritualist church in windsor
00:36:29
she was also a member of the cat protection society the spiritualist church was founded on
00:36:36
the belief that spirits of the dead want to communicate with the living it was a popular place amongst members
00:36:43
of the cat protection society including virginia houston who attended the church
00:36:48
regularly to receive spiritual direction in the courier mail article reverend ruth bennett had offered her opinion on
00:36:57
kathleen's murder saying she'd picked up indications that it was motivated by money or outstanding debts
00:37:06
a photo of ruth was featured in the story in it she was holding one of her pet cats
00:37:13
a seal point siamese although it was the breed of cat detectives had been searching for ruth
00:37:22
could not have been john wilson still the investigative spotlight was now on the spiritualist church
00:37:30
investigators collected dna samples from men who worked with or were known to the
00:37:36
institution during one such visit a detective bumped into a frail looking bespectacled man
00:37:43
who walked with a hunch he introduced himself as 49 year old andrew fitzherbert a professional palm
00:37:50
reader who carried out readings at the church most significantly he was the de facto
00:37:57
partner of reverend ruth bennett according to all accounts andrew was a mild mannered pacifist though slightly
00:38:07
odd and eccentric he had many friends and no history of violence or prior convictions
00:38:15
the detective told andrew why he was there and asked if he'd be willing to provide a blood sample
00:38:21
when told it was voluntary andrew abruptly refused as the only witnesses that had crossed
00:38:29
paths with the mysterious john wilson victor and pauline lechardi were handed a photo lineup that featured nine men
00:38:38
the couple immediately recognized photo number nine as the man who had visited kathleen's house with a sail point
00:38:44
siamese cat before her murder they'd gotten a good glimpse of him when they drove out of kathleen's driveway as
00:38:52
they had to wait for him to move out of the way the photo the couple pointed out was
00:38:58
that of andrew fitzherbert narrowing their sights on andrew investigators learned that he and ruth
00:39:06
bennett had met in 1990 at the theosophical society an organization that promotes the idea that a deeper
00:39:14
spiritual reality can be established through techniques such as meditation andrew dedicated his time to advancing
00:39:23
his spiritual awareness and had learned to detach himself from material possessions only earning what he needed
00:39:30
to live comfortably through their shared spiritual beliefs andrew and ruth grew close
00:39:39
they ran a tea shop together that also offered turret readings it was there the pair met virginia
00:39:46
houston who became a regular customer and frequented the shop almost weekly in 1995 andrew and ruth began working at
00:39:57
the spiritualist church in windsor and the following year virginia urged them to join the cat protection society of
00:40:04
queensland ruth's application was processed after the six-month waiting period for reasons unknown andrews was not
00:40:18
detectives visited andrew fitzherbert at his home and noted his physically weak demeanor suited the shallow stab wounds
00:40:26
that were inflicted on kathleen marshall when andrew refused to accompany detectives to the station for an
00:40:33
interview they were forced to place him under arrest in custody andrew said he'd never even
00:40:40
met kathleen marshall and had no idea where she lived he only knew who she was because
00:40:47
virginia houston complained about her constantly in lieu of a clear motive investigators
00:40:55
wondered if andrew's rejection from the cat protection society had prompted him to violently confront kathleen
00:41:03
he vehemently denied this allegation deeming it ridiculous and those who knew both kathleen and andrew weren't aware
00:41:11
that the pair had ever met andrew explained he wasn't john wilson because he was doing palm readings from
00:41:19
his office in brisbane at the time john arrived for his 1pm appointment at kathleen's clinic
00:41:26
andrew's schedule for thursday february 26 which was filled out by his partner ruth featured the name rose and a friend
00:41:34
at 1pm for an hour each when asked to provide their contact details andrew couldn't
00:41:42
he claimed to only keep limited details about his clients because he didn't want
00:41:47
to know any of their personal information prior to giving them a reading andrew and ruth were provided a partial
00:41:56
alibi by ruth's ex-husband who visited their home on the afternoon of thursday february 26th
00:42:03
he remained there until 11 pm when he said andrew and ruth went to bed kathleen could have been confronted as
00:42:12
late as 3 am but ruth maintained that andrew was asleep the entire time she questioned that if kathleen had led
00:42:21
andrew into the clinic in the middle of the night why was she found murdered in a blue and white sundress and not her
00:42:28
pajamas although he continued to profess his innocence andrew still refused to provide a dna sample
00:42:39
in the six hours he was held by police he avoided going to the bathroom or drinking any water
00:42:47
detectives applied for a court order that would allow them to forcibly obtain andrew's blood but their request was
00:42:54
denied on the basis that there was insufficient evidence against him however they were granted a warrant to
00:43:01
search his home three months had passed since kathleen marshall's murder when detectives
00:43:08
approached andrew fitzherbert's residence with a search warrant in hand they appealed to him one last time
00:43:16
calling him a reasonable man and insisting that all his troubles could be solved in a matter of seconds if he just
00:43:23
gave them a blood sample andrew remained defiant he was then asked if he had ever spoken
00:43:31
with kathleen marshall on the telephone andrew answered no the detective made a surprise revelation
00:43:42
phone records had shown that a 64-second call placed to kathleen's house on the tuesday before she was killed had
00:43:49
originated from andrew's residence the following day four calls had been made to kathleen's house from the
00:43:56
spiritualist church at a time when andrew was the only person present detectives believed andrew had made
00:44:05
these calls to stage a veterinary appointment with kathleen using the fake name john wilson
00:44:12
although kathleen only offered her veterinary services to friends and acquaintances her phone number was
00:44:18
readily available as she listed it in the courier mail newspaper each week when advertising her lepicua social
00:44:25
dinner group andrew fitzherbert turned pale and started to tremble but he maintained
00:44:33
that he'd never called kathleen he then changed his mind conceding that he had called her to check on his
00:44:41
application to the cat protection society detectives carried out their search warrant specifically on the lookout for
00:44:50
anything that could be used to obtain andrew fitzherbert's dna they confiscated his toothbrush
00:44:57
hairbrush pillowcase coffee mug and a handkerchief all the while being screamed at by a visibly angry ruth
00:45:04
bennett testing of andrew's dna samples were fast-tracked allowing the results to
00:45:12
come back the next day samples taken from his handkerchief and one of his socks were compared with the
00:45:19
profile of the male dna found inside kathleen's clinic it was a match case file will be back shortly thank you
00:45:42
for supporting us by listening to this episode sponsors case file is sponsored by betterhelp
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you support case file to continue to deliver quality content andrew fitzherbert was placed under
00:48:51
arrest and investigators were finally allowed to obtain a sample of his blood it reinforced previous findings that it
00:49:00
was his dna in kathleen's clinic investigators concluded that andrew had likely injured himself during the attack
00:49:09
causing his blood to drop throughout the scene he attempted to clean it up afterwards
00:49:16
but during this process a few droplets of watered down blood had splashed out from the sink and onto a nearby plastic
00:49:23
bag he then bled onto the cardboard box used to prop himself up and out of the window
00:49:30
[Music] while police ran with this theory andrew refused to offer any explanation as to
00:49:36
how his blood wound up in kathleen's clinic he stood by his story that he had never
00:49:42
been there nor ever met her he kept quiet and appeared unemotional as he was formally charged with
00:49:50
kathleen's murder his partner ruth bennett also chose to remain silent andrew pleaded not guilty and faced the
00:50:02
brisbane supreme court in july 1999 in the absence of any witnesses murder weapon or clear motive the presence of
00:50:11
andrew fitzherbert's dna at the scene of the crime was fundamental to the prosecution's case
00:50:18
they argued that the dna alone was enough to implicate him as the killer as such they didn't feel the need to
00:50:26
address the cap protection society and its internal conflicts or the mysterious circumstances surrounding john wilson
00:50:36
of primary importance was the sample of andrew's blood found on the plastic bag by the sink
00:50:43
it was the only sample that also contained kathleen's blood this combination could have only
00:50:51
occurred if both were injured at the same time ruling out the possibility that andrew had bled there on another
00:50:58
occasion the prosecution asserted that the chances of the dna at the crime scene
00:51:04
matching someone other than andrew fitzherbert was one in 1400 million the defense highlighted the lack of
00:51:13
motive as a major flaw in the prosecution's case they also pointed out that the excessive
00:51:19
amount of blood at the crime scene meant the killer would have been soaked red which would have surely attracted
00:51:25
attention the possibility that andrew had fled in his car to avoid witnesses couldn't be
00:51:32
proven as it was never forensically examined in his testimony andrew said he'd never
00:51:39
attacked anybody in his entire life and was not responsible for kathleen's murder
00:51:46
he maintained he had no explanation for how his blood came to be in kathleen's veterinary clinic
00:51:53
the prosecution emphasized that this mystery only seemed to implicate him further
00:51:59
they argued it would have been a smarter move if andrew had just admitted to being in the clinic and had come up with
00:52:06
an explanation from there instead of avoiding the indisputable evidence it took the jury four and a half hours
00:52:18
to reach a verdict for the murder of kathleen marshall andrew fitzherbert was found guilty
00:52:26
it was the first time in australia and only the third in the world that someone had been convicted of a crime based
00:52:33
solely on dna evidence andrew was visibly devastated a victim impact statement from kathleen
00:52:43
siblings was presented to the court it read in part [Music] kathleen was estranged from us for some
00:52:52
years after the death of our parents we went our separate ways however we never wished her any harm or
00:52:59
unhappiness in fact we prayed that she would in fact achieve a very happy and harmonious life
00:53:07
although kathleen seemed to have been a difficult woman she had also championed great causes and like any person she
00:53:16
deserved to have lived a full and rich life free from criminal violence her murder was savage and brutal and the
00:53:24
person responsible deserved a hefty punishment during sentencing the judge told andrew
00:53:34
fitzherbert this is a crime of which you would not have been convicted but for the recent
00:53:40
explosion in knowledge in the field of genetics he added that the motive would remain
00:53:46
unknown unless andrew chose to reveal it throughout the trial andrew had shown no
00:53:54
remorse and he would quote now suffer the consequences of a conviction if not your conscience for
00:54:02
what you have done andrew fitzherbert was sentenced to life imprisonment which in queensland carried
00:54:10
a minimum term of 15 years kathleen's friends and fellow members of the cap protection society spoke of
00:54:18
their relief that justice had been served but the wider reaction to andrew's guilty verdict was mixed
00:54:27
some believed that his blood at the crime scene made it an open and shut case others weren't so sure
00:54:34
arguing that dna evidence alone wasn't enough to convict one of andrew's supporters expressed
00:54:43
disbelief that his mild-mannered and gentle friend could be ruled a violent killer
00:54:48
saying it would be laughable if it wasn't so serious the question was raised as to why andrew
00:54:58
was so reluctant to voluntarily provide a blood sample if he was innocent andrew maintained this was simply
00:55:06
because he didn't trust the police according to entomologist professor russell luke kathleen marshall was
00:55:17
murdered sometime between thursday february 26 at 9 pm and 3 a.m friday february 27th
00:55:26
professor luke later adjusted this time frame after six independent witnesses claimed to have seen kathleen 11
00:55:33
separate times going about her business in wilston throughout friday wearing the blue and white striped
00:55:40
sundress she was later killed in none of these witnesses knew andrew fitzherbert
00:55:49
professor luke accepted the decomposition of kathleen's remains and the developments of maggots found in her
00:55:55
wounds could have been affected if the temperature inside her clinic was higher than he had originally estimated even by
00:56:02
a single degree it could have also been impacted by the light in the surgery as quote
00:56:10
flies don't normally overposit in the dark therefore he ultimately concluded that
00:56:17
she could have been attacked sometime on friday but by 3pm at the absolute latest
00:56:25
however there was something that didn't fit this timeline warren smith knew kathleen marshall very
00:56:32
well the pair had lived across the street from one another for two decades and warren had become so accustomed to
00:56:39
kathleen's presence that he recognized her car by the pup putt sound it emitted he could even tell when someone entered
00:56:47
or exited her front door by the distinctive noise of its knocker at 4 45 on the friday afternoon warren
00:56:57
heard kathleen's toyota station wagon approaching as he collected his bins and mail out the front of his house
00:57:05
he turned towards it noticing kathleen as she drove towards her home just over an hour later at around 6pm
00:57:15
warren heard kathleen's front door slammed shut at this time several other neighbours
00:57:22
were standing out in the street chatting to one another all of a sudden two screams pierced the
00:57:30
quiet night air it sounded as though they came from the direction of kathleen's house but nobody
00:57:38
followed up on the noise then at 8 pm warren smith heard kathleen's front door close again
00:57:48
by this stage kathleen had failed to show up to the dinner planned for her lepicure social group in the city
00:57:56
two days later she was found murdered criminologist and forensic psychologist professor paul wilson would later
00:58:07
highlight this discrepancy in his book five drops of blood murder in the cat protection society
00:58:16
andrew fitzherbert was convicted on the basis that he could have carried out kathleen's murder in the time frame
00:58:22
presented by professor russell luke yet if witness accounts were to be believed kathleen was killed the
00:58:30
following night at around 6 p.m with her killer possibly staying at her house until 8 pm
00:58:38
andrew fitzherbert had spent that friday visiting thrift stores with ruth they returned home just after 4 pm as
00:58:47
confirmed by ruth's son who lived with the couple he said andrew didn't leave the house
00:58:54
again until 6 45 pm at that time andrew and ruth left to attend a meditation and a seance session
00:59:03
with five others at the home of a friend the couple arrived 45 minutes later this time was consistent with the
00:59:13
distance they had to travel it took 20 minutes to drive from andrew's home to kathleen's
00:59:22
professor wilson didn't think andrew was capable of detouring to confront and kill kathleen attempt to clean the crime
00:59:29
scene and himself then make it to his meditation group on time author ted doos spoke with the woman who
00:59:38
hosted the event to determine if there was anything about andrew that night that was markedly suspicious
00:59:46
she said he was his usual calm and cheerful self professor wilson wasn't the only one
00:59:57
raising doubts about the science used to implicate andrew fitzherbert leading dna expert professor barry
01:00:06
bochar was no stranger to wrongful conviction cases he had provided expert witness testimony
01:00:13
that helped exonerate lindy chamberlain in the death of her baby daughter azaria
01:00:17
as covered in episode 136 of case file professor bocha disagreed with the prosecution's assertions that andrew
01:00:27
fitzherbert's dna was a match to the kathleen martial crime scene sample at odds of 1400 million to one
01:00:35
he said this was based on one scientist's interpretation of the data reports claimed the odds were closer to
01:00:44
one in one hundred thousand quote [Music] there is just no possibility of determining the accuracy of the figure
01:00:52
given to the jury but it would have sounded highly impressive to them upon reviewing the laboratory results
01:01:02
from the crime scene professor bocha concluded that the male blood samples had degraded faster than the others
01:01:09
taken from kathleen's clinic he theorised that it could have been planted there earlier while also
01:01:16
questioning how you would pick five drops of blood from the amount of blood from a forensic
01:01:22
attack i don't know [Music] in response the forensic expert responsible for the original laboratory
01:01:31
results said that the possibility of evidence having been planted could only be considered in conjunction with an
01:01:38
extreme conspiracy theory [Music] in march 2000 andrew fitzherbert lodged an appeal claiming that the results of
01:01:48
dna testing were falsified in order to convict him in their ruling the court of appeal
01:01:55
concluded that the blood-based evidence implicating andrew in kathleen's murder while unexplained was enough to support
01:02:03
the conviction they found no evidence that the recorded results of the dna testing were
01:02:10
fraudulent or faked as such the appeal was rejected four years later in february 2004 andrew
01:02:22
applied to have the crime scene samples retested at another facility in western australia
01:02:28
he requested other items such as the shoes found under the clinic sink also be re-examined
01:02:36
the shoes were originally taken for analysis and dried blood was swabbed from them but no further testing was
01:02:43
ever conducted they were assumed to have been kathleen's shoes but this had never been
01:02:49
confirmed the testing would be funded by a support group who believed in andrew's innocence
01:02:58
he was backed by the innocence project a non-profit organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted
01:03:05
individuals through the use of dna testing andrew's request was denied by queensland's attorney general on the
01:03:14
grounds that andrew supporters had failed to quote raise any justifiable doubt about the
01:03:22
correctness of the sampling or testing of the dna material andrew had also been given the chance to
01:03:30
have these samples retested at the trial and his appeal at the government's expense but failed to do so
01:03:38
he claimed he was not aware of this right his lawyer said that the attorney general had missed the point of the
01:03:46
application stating that their issue wasn't with the testing of the material but the analysis of the results
01:03:54
she also cited the improvements in dna testing since the trial prior to andrew's trial major
01:04:05
shortcomings were uncovered in the handling of the kathleen martial murder investigation
01:04:11
they included poorly documented records unsealed evidence unrestricted access to
01:04:16
lab specimens and potential specimen contamination in 2002 the center that handled the
01:04:25
case's dna testing was worn to improve its standards or risk losing its accreditation after issues were raised
01:04:32
regarding record control methodology handling of exhibits and reports of results
01:04:40
then there was the matter of investigative leads that were unexplored overlooked or ignored
01:04:47
they are detailed in ted due's book crucial errors in murder investigations and include the following
01:04:57
at 2 15 pm on friday february 27 1998 kathleen was seen driving away from her house with a male passenger
01:05:07
her dogs were also in the car kathleen's friends claimed that her dogs only tolerated two males
01:05:17
one was a man who lived with kathleen for a brief period of time in 1997 whom she was still friendly with
01:05:25
the other was someone who did odd jobs around her place upon examination after her murder
01:05:33
kathleen's car was noted to have been thoroughly cleaned neither of these two men were explored
01:05:40
as significant suspects in kathleen's murder additionally two cars were seen parked
01:05:49
outside of kathleen's home late on friday one was a resprayed dark brown 1976 ford
01:05:57
falcon station wagon spotted at 4 10 pm the other was a small blue car cited at 6 pm
01:06:07
multiple witnesses saw these vehicles but they were never questioned by police cars matching these descriptions were
01:06:16
owned by other members of the cat protection society specifically those who later discovered kathleen's body
01:06:24
they denied having any communication with kathleen that weekend whatsoever ted dews wrote in his book quote
01:06:36
why hasn't andrew fitzherbert been set free the answer is simple fitzherbert's dna was found at the
01:06:44
murder scene and he can't explain how it got there regarded as an exemplary prisoner in
01:06:53
2014 at the age of 65 andrew fitzherbert was released on parole after serving 16
01:07:01
years for kathleen marshall's murder in an attempt to get his life back on track he resumed his regular activities
01:07:10
including palm reading andrew said he had no anger about the past but was still interested in
01:07:17
clearing his name current parole conditions forbid him from discussing his case with the media
01:07:28
the only other person who was publicly suspected of killing kathleen and subsequently vilified by the media was
01:07:35
her arch-nemesis virginia houston andrew's conviction had essentially vindicated virginia but his assertions
01:07:43
of innocence prevented complete closure acknowledging it would take her years to
01:07:50
recover from the traumatic experience virginia stated truth is the daughter of time and i
01:07:57
think the truth will emerge with time andrew fitzherbert has caused enormous trouble and trauma to dozens and dozens
01:08:06
of innocent people and i have not a flack of sympathy there is one alternative theory that
01:08:16
could exonerate both andrew and virginia according to author ted dews there was one possibility that hadn't been
01:08:25
explored by investigators dues cited an earlier case in quebec where a cat owner lost a pint of blood
01:08:33
after being attacked by their pet dues pointed out that kathleen's cushing disease caused her skin to become
01:08:41
fragile and tear easily he theorized that after attacking kathleen a cat could have jumped out of
01:08:49
the broken window left a blood on the foliage outside and wandered off into the night explaining why no footprints
01:08:57
had been found at the crime scene and why there was an empty cat cage on the floor
01:09:03
this theory was refuted by the experienced pathologist who conducted kathleen's autopsy
01:09:10
he determined that kathleen's wounds were caused by a sharp instrument as a cat's claws or teeth would have produced
01:09:17
wounds with the jagged edges in october 2000 the cap protection society of queensland went into
01:09:27
voluntary liquidation they had been plagued by further infighting missing funds and to the
01:09:34
irreparable damage done during the trial of andrew fitzherbert disgruntled members sought a probe into
01:09:42
the society's financial affairs claiming that 90 000 had disappeared in an 18-month period
01:09:50
virginia houston opposed the liquidation claiming that the organization still had
01:09:55
a role to play in cat welfare eventually on february 7 2017 the cap protection society of queensland was
01:10:05
deregistered by a supreme court order [Music] catherine stevenson was on her way to
01:10:18
work on the morning of friday february 27 1998 when she spotted her old school friend kathleen marshall
01:10:27
she recognized kathleen easily as she hadn't changed much since they went to school together 30 years prior
01:10:35
catherine wrote about the chant sighting in her personal diary unaware that within hours kathleen would be dead
01:10:45
as one of the six witnesses to see kathleen in the hours before then catherine's recollections played a
01:10:51
significant part in extending the time frame of the attack it was around 10 15 am when she observed
01:11:00
kathleen's toyota station wagon pull up to a stop behind her own car at the wilston shops
01:11:07
while they didn't interact catherine watched kathleen as she headed into the nearby news agency dressed in her blue
01:11:14
and white striped sundress kathleen then affixed a poster to the front window of the shop
01:11:23
it featured the details of a missing pregnant cat phone records would later reveal that on
01:11:31
the following day of saturday february 28 reverend ruth bennett had placed a call to animal welfare organization the
01:11:38
rspca to report that her pet cat had gone missing it was a pregnant sale point siamese
01:11:47
named zilla [Music] andrew fitzherbeck claimed that zilla had vanished from home two days earlier
01:11:55
on thursday the 26th he said he had spent some time in the garden calling her name but his search
01:12:02
effort didn't extend beyond that the day zilla went missing was the day that john wilson later identified as
01:12:13
andrew fitzherbert visited kathleen marshall's clinic he was seen carrying an unrestrained
01:12:20
sale point siamese cat was it possible that zilla had run away while under kathleen's care and a
01:12:28
devastated andrew then returned to confront her in retaliation although a missing cat seemed like an
01:12:36
extreme motive for murder it wasn't out of the realm of speculation [Music] as her final act of charity kathleen
01:12:47
marshall bequeathed 100 dollars to the university of queensland school of veterinary science
01:12:54
the same facility she herself had graduated from with honors in 1968 aided by the funds from kathleen's
01:13:03
estate the university unveiled a new conference and meeting venue named the kathleen lamborn building which was
01:13:10
kathleen's maiden name the modern brick structure sits in a leafy and quiet part of the campus
01:13:19
it is a meeting place for students studying their veterinary degree as kathleen marshall did before them
01:13:28
250 mourners had attended kathleen's funeral to pay their respects even though she could be a difficult
01:13:36
woman her acquaintances still admired her she was after all a passionate campaigner and powerful advocate for
01:13:45
animal welfare during her funeral service music by her favorite classical composers johann bark
01:13:53
and frederik chopin were played on string quartet and piano aside from her love of animals kathleen
01:14:03
also had a love of classical music until her death she studied piano at the queensland conservatorium
01:14:12
there she used her friendships with prominent musicians to organise fundraising concerts for promising young
01:14:19
musicians to study overseas as a young woman kathleen lived briefly in london it was there that she purchased one of
01:14:30
her most beloved possessions an antique bechstein piano unable to part with it kathleen had it
01:14:38
shipped back to australia when she returned home where it took pride of place in her lounge room
01:14:46
it was never determined whether the songbook on its stand that was turned to chopin's the funeral march was a clue
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left by her killer or just a morbid coincidence [Music] [Music] you