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[Music] 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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and for a more detailed list of content warnings please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our
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website today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all
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listeners in the early afternoon of Thursday July 2 1970 a family of tourists made their way along the Great
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Ocean Road in Western Victorio known as one of the world's most scenic Coastal drives the 24 km
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Road winds around surf beaches rainforests and looming Cliffs with Seaside towns and attractions dotted in
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between one of the more iconic stops along the Route is the natural Limestone formation known as the 12 apostles which
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lies off the coast of Port Campbell National Park a 3 minutes Drive West is the Lockard Gorge named after a
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shipwreck in 1878 that claimed the lives of 54 of the 56 people board the Lockard Gorge is home to an
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inlet of protected sandy beach flanked by imposing Limestone Cliffs on Karma days the sea is a glassy turquoise blue
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but during rough surf waves thread through the gorge making the beach inaccessible Timber stairs lead up to a
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rest stop above that contains a car park walking trails and a Scenic Lookout with
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unimpeded views of the Striking coastline the family of tourists pulled into the
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car park of the Lockard Gorge and began walking up the slope towards the lookout as they neared The Cliff face
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they looked down and noticed there were fresh tire tracks in the gravel leading away from the car park and towards the
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cliffs they followed the tracks and to their horror realized that they finished right at the Cliff's
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Edge the tourists scanned the side of the cliff for any sign of a vehicle roughly 25 M below a white car
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teet on the edge of a rocky ledge with very little stopping it from toppling over into the crashing Seas
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below the tourists used their binoculars to get a better look at the car they could see it was an older model
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Fe Holden with a crushed Bonnet debris was scattered around it and the driver's side door was open over
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the water below the tourists wondered if the old car could have been pushed off the cliff for
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a thrill perhaps it had been stolen and dumped but then they noticed something unsettling a thick black hose was
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running from the exhaust pipe over the car's roof and into the driver's side window the tourists hurried back to
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their car that's when they noticed a CT near the car park had been filled with rocks
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the CT was around 1 M wide and 30 cm deep and it formed a barrier to prevent cars from getting too close to the
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cliff the Rocks had been stacked to create a bridge about the same width as a car's
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Wheels it was clear that whoever had pushed the car over the cliff had gone to considerable effort to do so
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[Music] the tourists rushed to the nearby Township of Port Campbell to report their Discovery to a local police
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officer who accompanied them back to the Cliffs of the Lockard Gorge taking turns with the binoculars
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they tried to see inside the car but the windows were smeared with salt spray from the
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sea with the driver's side door hanging open the group discussed the possibility
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that the driver if there was one could have fallen into the sea if so they would have been smashed against the
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rocks or drowned in the wild sea below leaving no hope of survival as far as the officer was
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concerned there were only two EXP explanations for the car being at the bottom of the cliff either it had been
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pushed over with no one inside or it had been intentionally driven over and might
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contain a body the hose connected to the exhaust coupled with The Rock Bridge constructed
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over the Culvert indicated a level of deliberation Beyond regular vandals and hinted at a possible
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suicide if this was the case it wouldn't be the first in the area members of the Port Campbell Rescue
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Squad arrived at the Lockard Gorge at 400 p.m. being the middle of winter they didn't have much time before the sun
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began to set with time being of the essence the task of descending the cliff was
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assigned to a rescue worker named George Who used ropes to carefully scale down the cliff
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face when George reached the car he was amazed that it hadn't toppled into the sea
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so precarious was its balance with a third of its width hanging over the Rock Ledge that George thought a gentle push
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would have centered over the edge the front of the car was smashed flat to the wind screen as though it had
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landed nose first then bounced back upright the ground around the car was littered with smashed Glass and Metal
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from the crash amongst the debris were partially eaten apples broken biscuits a roll of
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electrical tape a butter knife a plastic slip-on shoe and some 22 caliber bullets up close George could see that
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the hose over the exhaust pipe had been fitted snugly then run diagonally across
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the car roof and down into the cabin through the driver's side window the window had been wound up as
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far as it could go jamming the hose securely against the door frame with the remaining Gap then stuffed with rags
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the hose had also been tied to the roof rack in two places it was clear to George that
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whatever had happened someone had planned this very carefully George peered through the salt
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spray on the rear passenger side window taking care not to upset the car's balance on the dashboard both the choke
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L and light switches were in the off position but the keyless ignition switch was on
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a rope was tied to the steering wheel which seemed to be attached to the back of the car
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somehow the interior was filled with junk through which George caught s of a toolbox he reported this over his
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walkie-talkie and the police officer at the top of the cliff asked if he could retrieve
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it George thought his best chance was to try the rear passenger door when he pulled on the handle the
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car rocked but the door opened giving George a better look inside the back bench seat had been
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removed and the space was filled with an assortment of strange items including tarp poins sheets electrical tools a car
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battery and battery leads most concerning was the presence of several large containers of petrol
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meaning the vehicle had been a potential explosive Hazard when it tumbled down the
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cliff one spark from the battery and the whole car could have been blown to Smither and there was something else a
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distinct odor George had been in the rescue squad for long enough to be worried by that
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odor he scanned the insides of the crumpled vehicle and saw what looked like blood on the seat there was also a
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coat with blood on it it was then he noticed a 22 caliber rifle it was stuck barreled down against the clutch
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pedal George reached through the smashed wind screen and retrieved the rifle he opened the breach and found one live
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round by this point dusk was setting in and George heard those at the top of the
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cliff calling him back up he placed an assortment of items into a cardboard box and sent it up the cliff
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by rope before he was hoisted back up himself the police organized an overnight watch on the car they would
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take steps to secure it in the morning if it was still there back at the Port Campbell Police
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Station officers examined the items George had retrieved from the vehicle along with the rifle toolbox and
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Blood Stained coat there were some family photos old Bank books and a packet of biscuits
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there was also what appeared to be a handheld weapon called a Kosh which consisted of a lead pole encased in
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rubber it was clearly homemade there was also a 10 m long extension cord and five lengths of
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electrical cable each had a small alligator clip attached to one end and a normal household three pin plug on the
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other police searched the vehicle's license plate number hk6 61 in their databases records showed that it was
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registered to 41-year-old Elma Crawford his address was listed as Cardinal Road in the outer Melbourne
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suburb of Glenn Roy 240 km Northeast of the Lockard Gorge at 6:20 p.m. a glenroy police
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officer arrived at Elma Crawford's house it was an average single story Suburban brick house with a caravan Park
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on the front lawn there were no lights on and it didn't look like anyone was home the officer knocked on the front
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door but there was no answer he peered Through the Windows and couldn't see anyone
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inside next to the front door was the electrical meter box the officer opened it and found a
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loaf of bread and a small jar of coins inside at the time Bakers delivered bread to customer homes in the morning
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with payment being left out for them the fact that the bread was still there indicated it must have been sitting out
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all day while the money in the jar was probably change left by the baker the disc inside the meter box was
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still if anyone was at home using electrical appliances it would have been spinning
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profusely the officer went across the road and made inquiries with a couple of Elmer's Neighbors
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he learned that Elma lived in the house with his 35-year-old wife Theresa and their three children 12-year-old
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Catherine 8-year-old James and 6-year-old Karen Elma worked as a telephone mechanic and typically tinkered in his
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garage and fixed things around the house in his spare time he often gave the neighborhood kids
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rides on his motor scooter around the front lawn and was always willing to help fix a billy card or bike tire
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Theresa who was originally from Queensland was a stay-at-home mom the three Crawford kids attended School
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nearby none of the Crawford's neighbors knew where the family could be but one thought El was currently on holidays
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from his job the officer returned to the local police station to report that no one was
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home given the situation unfolding with the Crawford's smashed and blooded car finding the f family was
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Paramount the officer was sent back to the Crawford home with a detective and strict instructions to gain entry via
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whatever means possible they were told to be on the lookout for anything that might help
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explain the car at the bottom of the cliff with the knocks on the door still going unanswered the duo found an
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unlocked window and the officer climbed inside he found himself standing in a children's bedroom with two single beds
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in it instead of stopping to look around he went straight to the front door and let
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the detective in the two went back into the bedroom and turned on the lights both beds were unmade and the
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blankets piled on one of them were heavily stained with blood there was also a lot of blood near
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the head of the bed the officers then made their way to the main bedroom both the double bed and
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the floor were splattered with blood unwashed dishes sat in the kitchen sink and a box of cereal was left out on
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a nearby table alongside a dirty bowl and an opened bottle of milk this suggested that someone had
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eaten breakfast there as recently as that morning a set of car keys also sat on the
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table this was of particular interest to the police given that no keys had been found inside the smashed
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Holden a note had been left on the table for the Milkman which read no further deliveries until further
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notice another note had the words next of kin written on it followed by the name of one of Elma Crawford's relatives
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and a town in Ireland presumably where the relative lived between the table and the back
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door were faint smears of blood [Music] an examination of the Crawford's backyard turned up a length of black
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rubber hosing similar to the one attached to the family's smashed up car a large black patch on the grass
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indicated that a bonfire had recently been burned there leading from the back door to the garage was a trail of
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blood two metal rubbish bins sat near the wall of the garage and also had blood stains on the lids
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inside one of the bins was a small length of Blood Stained rope the police entered the
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garage leaning against the wall was the bench seat that had been removed from the
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Holden there was no sign of a Breakin or struggle at the house and nothing appeared to be
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missing a wedding ring and engagement ring both sat untouched on the mantle based on the amount of blood in
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the bedrooms investigators believed that the occupants of the home had been attacked while they were
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sleeping the amount of blood indicated they were severely injured or possibly dead by Sunrise the following morning
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investigators were relieved to see that the Crawford's Holden had managed to stay in place
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overnight after some careful planning at 9:30 a.m. police and members of Port Campbell Rescue Squad gathered at the
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top of the Lockard Gorge armed with several tractors and heavy chains they intended to attach the
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chains to the car and then use the tractors to drag it away from the edge this time George scaled The 25m
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Cliff face with another member of the rescue squad after reaching the Holden the two
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men carefully opened the back door in the morning light they could see blood on the dashboard the front seat
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and the internal roof lining but they had no time for anything more than a cursory
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examination they had to Anchor the car to the cliff as a matter of urgency once the car was Secure the men
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opened the back passenger side door again and lifted out the tarpoon inside it was then that they saw a human
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foot they began care carefully removing some of the blankets from the rear of the vehicle until they uncovered the
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body of Teresa Crawford in Tangled around her and wrapped in sheads were the bodies of her
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three children Catherine James and Karen there was no sign of Elma the bodies of Theresa Catherine
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James and Karen were sent up the cliff in stretches and trans reported for postmortem
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examination each of them were dressed in pajamas supporting the theory that they'd been attacked while they were in
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bed each of the children had catastrophic head injuries 8-year-old James and six-year-old Karen had been
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filled by a single blow while 12-year-old Catherine had suffered two one to the side of her head and one to
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the middle of her forehead two hammers were found in the Crawford's car either could have been the murder
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weapon Theresa Crawford had also suffered a head injury but hers was less obvious and severe than her
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children it looked like it could have been caused by the rubber C found in the car wreck and unlike her children this
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head wound hadn't killed Theresa but likely only rendered her unconscious the pathologist noted burn
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marks on Theresa's ear as well as the we in between her thumb and index finger one detective who was watching
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the procedure picked up the strange electrical lead that had been found in the Crawford's car which had an
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alligator clip at one end and a three-point plug at the other the alligator clip matched the
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burn marks on Theresa's ear and thumb suggesting that she'd been electrocuted by what looked like a kind of homemade
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torture device Catherine and James also had the same alligator clip marks while Karen
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showed none it was determined that the children had all been fatally wounded in their
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sleep with the oldest two then electrocuted afterwards Theresa was likely rendered
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unconscious before being fatally electrocuted laid out in the morg Theresa's stomach was visibly
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extended an examination revealed she was 3 months pregnant her fetus an unexpected fifth victim of the deadly
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attack with no sign of Elmer Crawford and nothing at the family home to suggest that an intruder had entered
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this presented only a few possibilities the first being that Elma had attacked his family and then driven
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to the Lockard Gorge to end his own life while DNA testing didn't exist in 1970 forensic examination of the Crawford
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Family smashed up holding confirmed that the blood found on the front seat roof lining and a dashboard was all typo
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blood Theresa and the children were all type A the only member of the family who was
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type O was Elma the hose attached to the exhaust pipe certainly hinted at suicide
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perhaps elma's body had fallen out of the partially open driver's side door and into the wild sea
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below the rescue squad tested all of the doors of the four three could be opened
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with relative ease the only door that couldn't be opened Beyond 20 to 30 cm was the driver side
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door it took three men to prize it open just so the police photographer could take photos of the driver's seat
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making it unlikely that an adult male had fallen out the rope that had been tied to the
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steering wheel went all the way through the vehicle with the other end jammed into the lid of the
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boot near the clutch pedal where George had extracted the rifle from the day prior there was a small engineer's
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hammer and a plastic slip-on shoe this raised the question of whether the hammer could have been stuck into
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the shoe and secured in place by the butt of the rifle in order to drive the car over the cliff with nobody behind
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the wheel given the scene was so meticulously staged investigators were cautious not to jump to
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conclusions they Den needed to run some tests a matching Mak model of the Holden
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was taken to Port Campbell it had been altered to replicate the exact condition of the
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craw for's vehicle as closely as possible the back seat was removed roof racks were attached and many of the
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items retrieved from the Crawford's car were placed inside including the petrol containers which were refilled with
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water four mannequins were stacked in the back seat their Hollow limbs filled with sand to approximate the weight of
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Theresa Catherine James and Karen a fifth mannequin was also filled with sand to approxim at Elma Crawford's
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size and weight and fitted into the driver's seat a rubber hose was attached to the exhaust pipe and positioned
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exactly as it had been on the original car while a rope was attached to the steering wheel and secured by the lid of
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the boot before the car was pushed off the cliff a cable was secured to the vehicle
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to ensure that it didn't fall into the ocean with police cameras rolling the test vehicle was driven up the access
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road and across the Culvert on the stone bridge at the point where the uphill section from the road ceased and the
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downhill run to the cliff began the car was brought to a stop the tire Impressions from the
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Crawford car was still visible and the wheels of the test car were aligned with the
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tracks it didn't take a lot of effort to push the car towards the cliff it began
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to roll under its own momentum Gathering speed as the decline increased just seconds before it left
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the cliff toop the wheels deviated slightly from the original tracks then the car sailed over the edge
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of the cliff seconds later the car crashed down onto its front end just like the
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Crawford car had but the test car didn't land flat it rolled onto its roof after
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striking the ledge nonetheless police were satisfied with the reenactment because the damage
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to the test vehicle matched that of the Crawford car in both cases the boot was breached
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and its contents moved forward into the passenger cabin the toolbox flew forward and
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damaged the front seat in the same way the mannequins in the rear of the car remained in their location and the rope
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tied to the steering wheel didn't break the test crash suggested that if anyone had been ejected from the
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Crawford vehicle on impact they would have landed on the cliff ledge not in the ocean but the test mannequin in the
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driver's seat wasn't thrown out of the vehicle at all instead it impacted with the dashboard causing damage consistent
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with a human body striking a hard surface no such damage was found in the Crawford
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car detectives were satisfied that there was never a fifth person in the vehicle
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when it left the clifftop this Lent itself to the second possible scenario Elma had pushed the car over
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the cliff the rope tied to the steering wheel and the rifle wedged near the pedals supported
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this if someone had been in the driver's seat these things wouldn't have been necessary Elma had a likely injured his
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hands while filling the C near the cliff with rocks he then touched the inside of
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the car while shifting it leaving traces of his blood inside while investigators were certain
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Elma had not gone over the cliff they wanted to make sure of it police divers braced the treacherous
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Waters below as other officers traced the route to Glenn Roy in case Elma had tried to make the journey home on foot
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and perished along the way a light plane conducted an aerial search of the area while Port Campbell's
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rugged Bushland surroundings were scoured one detective told the media we want to be absolutely certain
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that Crawford's body is not lying in the bush or has been washed up along the coastline if Crawford's body has been
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washed up we will find it after several days of persevering through icy winds and rain the search
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turned up nothing further cementing the belief that Elma had somehow gotten away the police turned to the media for
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help and elma's picture was printed on the front pages of newspapers throughout Australia anyone who might have picked
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up a male hitchhiker with an Irish accent on the night of Wednesday July 1 1970 or Thursday July 2 was asked to
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come forward no one did Elma Crawford had been born in Quebec Canada before moving to Northern Ireland
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with his mother when he was 2 months old his mother then returned to Canada without him leaving baby Elma to be
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raised by his grandparents in Ireland he migrated to Australia at the age of 22 where he later met married and
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started a family with Teresa Elma worked as a telephone mechanic for the Victoria Racing Club
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investigators visited the club to question elma's co-workers they confirmed what one
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neighbor had initially told the police that Elma had been on holidays for the past 2
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weeks it was discovered that one of the first things Elma did upon taking time off was take his wife to a solicitor to
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make Wills in each other's favor police found copies of the wheels dated the previous month of June 1970
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then with his three children out of the house at school each day Elma had a big clean
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out neighbors saw him burning several large loads of rubbish as well as taking several trips to the tip sometimes
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multiple times each day during each trip he filled his entire car with the junk Elma told his neighbors that he
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planned on using his time off to raise his garage roof so it would fit the family's Caravan
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which they'd only recently purchased some people saw him up on the roof and heard the banging of tools but
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it was clear he didn't finish the job in time because the Caravan remained parked
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on the front lawn Elma had been due to return to work on Wednesday July 1 the day before his
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car was found at the bottom of the cliffs he failed to show and didn't contact his employer or co-workers to
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explain his absence that same morning a cosmetic saleswoman named June visited the Crawford home to
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have a cup of tea with Theresa and to leave her with the catalog June told the police that she'd
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visited Theresa at around 10:30 a.m. and was surprised to find that 6-year-old Karen was home from school Teresa
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explained that her daughter had a toothache while chatting on the porch June saw Crawford walking down the
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driveway from the back of the house the two had never met before Junes said hello and Elman nodded but made no
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effort to start a conversation June then watched as he began cleaning the inside of the
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family's Holden she could see that he'd removed the back seat which was leaning against
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the front of the car Teresa didn't invite June in like she usually did and when June offered
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her a catalog Teresa refused to take it something she'd never done in the past that afternoon at around 4:00 Elmer
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was witnessed loading his car with 5 Gall Drums of petrol meanwhile sisters Katherine and
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Karen were cited walking to the local shops a Salvation Army hore was located next door to the Crawford's house and
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every Wednesday night members of the congregation gathered there for choir practice on the evening of Wednesday
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July 1 a congregation member called Malcolm arrived at the hall at 630 he noticed that the Crawford's car
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was parked in their driveway near the front gate this was unusual because the car
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was normally parked in the garage or further up the driveway malom had known Elma Crawford
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for nearly 8 years and during that time they'd always had a good relationship ship that had changed about 8 months
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prior Malcolm told police that every Sunday during the Salvation Army church services Elma began working around his
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house hammering loudly using noisy power tools and mowing the lawn Wednesday nights were usually quiet
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because the Crawford children were typically in bed but at around 8:30 on the evening of Wednesday July 1 during a
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break in choir practice Malcolm and other Salvation Army members heard odd noises coming from the Crawford
00:32:04
house at one point it sounded like someone was hitting concrete with a pick or a
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shovel doors were slammed and Loud footsteps came from the garage followed by something heavy being dragged along
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the ground after some more footsteps into dragging sounds there was a final dull
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Hollow thud like a c door or boot being slammed Shut by the time choir practice was over
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the Crawford's car was no longer parked at the end of the driveway the drive from glenroy to Port
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Campbell took approximately 3 hours it was likely that Elma had made it to the Lockard Gorge between midnight
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and 1:00 a.m. police estimated that it would have taken at least an hour to build the Rock
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Bridge over the Culvert and then maybe another half hour to guide the car over the
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cliff this meant the earliest Elma could have left Port Campbell was around 2 or
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3:00 a.m. but how had he gotten back to Glenn Roy without a car police searched the Crawford's
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garage and found a motor scooter which neighbors said Elma rode to work each day it was therefore theorized that he
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could have fixed the scooter to the roof racks of the Holden for the the trip to
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Port Campbell then ridden at home after pushing the car over the [Music] cliff a young girl named Brenda lived
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seven houses down from the Crawford Family Brenda was a friend of 12-year-old Catherine
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Crawford every weekday morning she walked past the Crawford's house on the way to school to collect Catherine so
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they could walk to school together Thursday July by too was no different but when Brenda knocked on the
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door Elma Crawford answered and said that Catherine was ill and wouldn't be going to school that
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day the Crawford house was usually full of noise in the morning but on July 2 it
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was completely quiet as though nobody else was at home Elma didn't close the door right
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away instead he stood in the doorway watching Brenda Walk Away in a way she described as
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creepy this sighting placed Elmer at home in the hours after his car was dumped coupled with the evidence that he
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had fixed himself breakfast it seemed he was in no rush to get away at around 6:00 that night hours
00:34:46
after the Crawford's car was spotted at Lockard Gorge 16-year-old Allison not her real name had been driving down
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Cardinal Road in glenroy with her brother she paid particular attention to the house with the Caravan in the front yard
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because a couple of weeks earlier she'd been passing by when she saw a massive fire in the
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backyard Allison had initially thought the house was a blaze until she realized whoever lived there must have been
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burning off rubbish passing by again on July 2 Allison saw a man walking down the
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driveway towards the street once he reached the footpath he looked up and down the Street before walking back
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towards the house when Allison saw a photo of Elma Crawford in the newspaper she
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immediately recognized him as the man she'd seen in front of the house on Cardinal
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Road if her account was correct it meant Elma was still at home after the car was
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discovered at around the same time the first police officer visited the home when police returned to the
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Crawford home at around 10:30 p.m. and broke in they noticed some small patches of the carpet in one of the bedrooms
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were still wet on the coffee table in the lounge room was a clear bottle of upholstery
00:36:10
cleaning fluid the fluid inside was frothy on the surface as though it had only been used
00:36:17
within the past few hours its cap had an inbuilt brush and there were fibers CED in it that were
00:36:24
similar to the carpet fibers in it looked like someone had tried to clean up the blood stains but
00:36:31
given up in the process given that the cleanup looked as though it had been abandoned relatively
00:36:39
recently it struck investigators that Elma could have been cleaning up the crime scene when the first officer
00:36:45
knocked at 6:20 p.m. perhaps he had thought he'd gotten away with his crime only to catch a
00:36:52
glimpse of the officer and realize it had all gone right if this was the case Cas this
00:36:58
meant that Elma had vanished sometime between the police's first visit at 6:20 and their return to the house at
00:37:07
10:30 elma's motor scooter was still in the garage along with an adult bicycle this raised the question of how
00:37:16
he fled the house in Cardinal Road there had been no confirmed sightings of Elma since he left home for
00:37:23
good had he simply walked away or taken a BT bus or had someone picked him up whatever the case investigators were
00:37:38
bewildered as to why Elma made the drastic decision to wipe out his family in the first
00:37:43
place by all accounts the crawfords were a typical friendly family no one recalled ever hearing arguments coming
00:37:51
from their house nor did Theresa ever complain about her husband when the Crawford so socialized
00:37:58
with neighbors Elma was said to be affectionate towards his wife and children who were also described as
00:38:04
being well behaved Elma earned nearly $5,000 a year or $70,000 in today's money a search of the Crawford's bank
00:38:15
accounts revealed they had a further $3,000 in savings and another 3,000 in government
00:38:21
bonds their house was almost paid off and they owned three blocks of land in Queens land as well as their Caravan and
00:38:30
car for a single income family they were very well off more so than the average whatever motive Elma Crawford
00:38:39
might have had to kill his family it didn't appear to be Financial a woman named Jennifer who
00:38:46
lived up the street regarded Teresa Crawford as a good friend she told the police that while she knew Theresa very
00:38:54
well she knew next to nothing about Elma and had barely ever spoken to him Jennifer described the crawfords as
00:39:02
a Happy Family the last time she'd seen them all was on the night of Tuesday June
00:39:09
30 Jennifer visited the Crawford home and was told that Elma had spent the day taking rubbish to the
00:39:16
tip when Jennifer asked if Elma had gone back to work yet Theresa responded no isn't it awful he should have gone back
00:39:25
a couple of days ago I think will be going back soon while the two women spoke at the
00:39:32
front door Jennifer saw Elma back the car out of the driveway and drive off the detectives asked Jennifer if she
00:39:41
knew Theresa was expecting a baby Jennifer said yes and recalled that Theresa seemed very pleased about it
00:39:51
when Jennifer had asked what Elma thought Theresa responded oh well you know [Music]
00:40:02
wmer during the search of the Crawford Home Police had found a newspaper clipping on the kitchen table that had
00:40:08
them questioning whether the news of the pregnancy was welcome taken from the age the clipping
00:40:15
was titled A Mother's Agony and featured an emotional letter to the editor in response to an article the previous week
00:40:22
about abortion reform the letter described one mother's experience as she had unsuccessfully
00:40:29
tried to terminate her own pregnancy and called for greater medical support for women seeking
00:40:36
abortions in the lounge room police also found a half-finished letter that Theresa had written to her sister in
00:40:42
Queensland it read in part I have been so upset but what's the use I'm 2 and a half months now so it
00:40:52
looks like I've had it this time we were going to come up home this Christmas but
00:40:57
won't be able to now as I'll be due the end of January so Bob will have to be careful
00:41:05
now the letter also featured the question why did you go off the pill seemingly referring to the contraceptive
00:41:13
pill it was unclear if the question was directed towards Teresa's sister or was a rhetorical question for
00:41:21
herself either way coupled with the article about abortion it led police to suspect that Theresa might not have been
00:41:29
as happy about her pregnancy as she'd led her neighbors to believe when questioned again one of the
00:41:36
Crawford's neighbors said that Teresa had confided in her that she'd suffered from postnatal depression after the
00:41:42
birth of her youngest daughter for which she'd required medication police wondered whether
00:41:49
Theresa's pregnancy could have something to do with the murders Theresa was a dedicated Catholic
00:41:57
perhaps Elma had been pushing her to have an abortion but she'd [Music] refused speculation aside Elma
00:42:07
Crawford's intent remained a mystery the only thing for certain was that this had been a deliberate and
00:42:14
carefully planned attack not only had Elma taken the time to painstakingly organize his car it
00:42:21
also appeared that he'd personally made the alligator clip device that had been used to electrocute Theresa Katherine
00:42:28
and James household fuses are designed to blow during a surge of current an examination of the Crawford's fuse box
00:42:38
showed that the regular fuses had been replaced with thick wire to prevent them from blowing during a
00:42:46
surge the available evidence indicated Elma likely planned to Stage his family's disappearance before going off
00:42:53
to start a new life perhaps he intended to tell people that Theresa and the children had moved
00:43:00
to Queensland to be closer to her family for the arrival of the new baby while he
00:43:04
stayed behind to put the house on the market if the car had gone into the water as planned Elma could have quietly
00:43:13
sold up everything taken his money and disappeared without question the bonfires letter to the
00:43:20
Milkman and visits to the tip certainly suggested he was getting ready to leave the house for good
00:43:28
detectives also wondered if the hose leading from the exhaust pipe to the driver's window was a ploy in case the
00:43:34
car was ever recovered from the bottom of the ocean perhaps elma's plan was to make it
00:43:40
look like Theresa had killed the children in a murder suicide this could also explain why
00:43:46
Teresa's head injury was less severe than the others maybe Elma had hoped that her
00:43:52
sceletal remains wouldn't show any skull fractures as the weeks passed after the bodies of
00:44:02
Teresa Crawford and her children were found not a single piece of evidence emerged to suggest where Elma Crawford
00:44:09
could be yet evidence emerged to suggest that he was prepared for a life on the run it was well known to the Crawford's
00:44:19
neighbors that Elma spent a lot of his spare time at the local auction rooms he liked to take items in such as
00:44:27
tools clothing and electrical gear which he'd leave for potential buyers he'd return later to collect any proceeds as
00:44:35
well as any of his unsold items he spent so much time on this hobby that when neighbors asked Theresa where Elma was
00:44:43
she would typically roll her eyes and say he's at the auction houses again Elma had made two visits to an
00:44:52
auction house during his time off work he'd left an assortment of items including 25 yards of electrical leads a
00:44:59
coil of wire a box of battery Clips a spade a mic two sledgehammers and several gallons of motor
00:45:07
oil he returned at the end of June to collect the money from his sales $26 in total or roughly 350 in today's
00:45:18
money for the investigators this explained how the crawfords were so well off they discovered that some of the
00:45:26
iners had recently grown suspicious that Elma was bringing in stolen goods and they'd stopped accepting his
00:45:34
business it also turned out that Elmer had been stealing copper wiring from work which he then sold to scrap metal
00:45:42
merchants in the Crawford's garage and inside their roof police found a small Warehouse of goods that could be
00:45:49
attributed back to the Victorian racing commission including everything from electrical items to rolls of toilet
00:45:55
paper although Elmer's bank accounts hadn't been touched since he disappeared given
00:46:02
his proclivity for selling stolen items it was possible that he'd been hoarding cash and had taken a large amount with
00:46:10
him being an electrician also meant he could have picked up cash inhand work along his
00:46:17
travels by now photos of Elma had been widely circulated Australia wide and there had been no reported sightings of
00:46:25
him anywhere given Elmer's Irish connection and his family in Canada inquiries were made
00:46:31
with authorities overseas but to no [Music] result by the 1-year anniversary of the
00:46:41
Crawford Family murders police were no closer to finding any answers a coronial inquest was held in
00:46:49
July 1971 during which the coroner asked the lead homicide detective if he thought Elma Crawford was responsible
00:46:56
for killing Theresa Crawford and the three children the detective was non-committal
00:47:03
saying I don't think that is my function sir it is the function of the Court the coroner rephrased the question
00:47:12
this time asking have your inquiries revealed any other like person who could have killed
00:47:18
these people the detective replied no sir they haven't the current off found El ma
00:47:27
Crawford responsible for killing his wife and three children but this didn't bring the investigation any closer to
00:47:34
finding out what happened to Elma himself in late January 1973 a year and a half after the inquest itinerant
00:47:44
worker Peter Carlson was standing in line at an employment office in the regional Victorian city of shepon when
00:47:51
he struck up a conversation with a man named Harry Harry told Peter he was currently
00:47:57
going through a divorce from his wife the two men heard there was some fruit picking work available on an
00:48:04
orchard in cobram a Riverland Town approximately 70 km away along with two other men they jumped into a cab and
00:48:13
headed straight there to begin work which included accommodation on the property on the evening of Monday
00:48:21
January 29 Peter Harry and one of the other workers headed to the cobram hotel they caught a cab back to the orchard
00:48:29
but along the journey they got into an argument with the driver the police were called and the
00:48:36
three fruit Pickers were taken to the local police station Harry was released shortly after
00:48:42
while the other two were kept overnight at 11:30 p.m. Harry's body was found on the side of cobram South Road
00:48:52
having been killed in an apparent Road accident the police officer who attended the scene took one look at Harry and
00:48:59
immediately recognized him from photographs he'd seen years prior he looked just like Elma
00:49:08
Crawford the man was carrying no form of identification or money but as the police soon learned he'd been going by
00:49:16
the name Harry Crawford the deceased man's fingerprints and dental records were taken to see if
00:49:24
a positive identification could be made with a police spokesperson telling the media if it is Elma Crawford we will
00:49:32
clear up one of the most baffling mysteries in the history of the Victoria police
00:49:38
force the results came back it wasn't Elma Crawford as the years went by unsubstantiated sightings and stories
00:49:53
about Elma trickled in including that he was in Ireland working as a Hitman for the Irish Republican
00:49:59
Army most of the sighting seemed to be either cases of mistaken identity or just
00:50:06
rumors then in 1994 the wife of one of the scrap dealers who used to buy copper wire from Elma Crawford was visiting the
00:50:14
Western Australian city of bumbury some 3,300 km west of glenroy she was at a local hotel when
00:50:24
she saw a man she believed to be the accused family Annihilator the woman approached the man
00:50:31
and asked if he was Elmer Crawford he said no he was just visiting from New Zealand by the time the woman reported
00:50:41
this encounter to the police two weeks had passed police found no trace of the bumbery man but they believed the
00:50:49
sighting could be genuine in the 1970s Western Australia was sparsely populated and the more remote parts were renowned
00:50:59
for being safe havens for people wanting to vanish there was very limited use of
00:51:04
electronics that could track a person's movements and you didn't even need an ID
00:51:09
to open a bank account given elma's electrician skills it was possible that he'd secured work
00:51:16
in one of the remote mining sites and had managed to fly under the radar since if the bumbery sighting had been
00:51:24
genuine the woman's failure to report it sooner meant Elma had plenty of time to
00:51:29
disappear again there were no other credible leads until the early 2000s when an
00:51:36
unidentified male body appeared in a Texas morg the deceased had gone to Great Lengths to hide his identity his
00:51:45
fingerprints were damaged and he had false identity documents with at least four different
00:51:51
names the man lay unidentified for 5 years until facial recog nition software flagged him as bearing a strong
00:51:59
resemblance to an older Elma Crawford a living blood relative of Elma provided their DNA for
00:52:07
comparison but just as Australian police were contemplating how The Fugitive could have gotten himself to the US DNA
00:52:15
testing revealed that the unidentified man was not Elma by early 2008 37 years had passed
00:52:26
pass since the Crawford Family murders and if Elmer was still alive he would have been 78 years
00:52:33
old Victoria Police announced a $100,000 reward which they hoped might provide an
00:52:40
incentive to encourage anybody who may know of Elma Crawford's whereabouts to come
00:52:45
forward they also released an age-enhanced image of what Elma might look like if he was still
00:52:52
alive Indemnity from prosecution was promised to Anyone Who provided information regarding his
00:53:00
whereabouts one detective said there have been a number of sightings of Elmer over the years which
00:53:07
leads us to believe that he is still alive and living inter state to avoid detection it is likely that he has
00:53:15
changed his appearance in order to disguise his identity he previously worked as an
00:53:21
unqualified electrician and even though would now be of retirement age it is possible he still does a bit of this
00:53:28
type of work on the side Teresa Katherine James and Karen deserve some answers and we believe
00:53:36
somebody out there has information that will bring those people responsible to Justice in 2017 a former truck driver
00:53:47
who went by the name nugget came forward to report a possible sighting of Elma Crawford in the remote pilra region of
00:53:54
Western Australia according to nugget he struck up a conversation with a man who said he'd
00:54:00
moved to the area from Melbourne in 1970 nugget asked the man where his wife was to which he responded that she was
00:54:09
long gone nugget then asked the man why he'd left Melbourne the man responded I had to leave in a hurry I
00:54:19
did something terrible detectives had recently been to Western Australia blowing up on another
00:54:27
reported sighting of Elma Crawford it was then that Nugget had a light bulb moment you aren't that bloke the
00:54:35
Victorian coppers were up here looking for a couple of weeks ago he asked according to nugget the man's body
00:54:43
language completely changed it looked like he realized he'd said too much true crime author Greg foggy grew
00:54:55
up in Cardinal Road glenroy he was 9 years old at the time of the Crawford murders and fully aware
00:55:03
of the tragedy that had befallen the family growing up Greg and his friends regarded the old Crawford house as
00:55:11
haunted he remained fascinated by the case into adulthood likening its infamy to the 1966 disappearance of the three
00:55:19
Bowmont children as covered in episode 100 of CAS vile Greg felt compelled to look into
00:55:26
the Crawford case further and ultimately wrote a book about it titled almost perfect over the 3 years it took to
00:55:35
research and write the book Greg put ads in the newspapers asking anyone who knew
00:55:40
anything about the crawfords to contact him several people came forward including one former neighbor who had
00:55:48
never given a statement to police while all other neighbors had described Elmer as friendly and Placid
00:55:55
this neighbor claimed they once saw Elma fly into a fit of rage while trying to fix his
00:56:01
car frustrated that whatever he was doing wasn't working Elma smashed every panel of the car with a tire
00:56:10
iron over the years Greg heard many stories about where Elma Crawford could be in 1970 Australians could travel to
00:56:20
New Zealand without documentation Elma could have traveled to New Zealand before continuing onwards
00:56:27
from there he might have been harbored by family members or other supporters in Ireland while there are no records of
00:56:36
Elma traveling overseas it doesn't rule out the possibility that he was traveling under a false
00:56:42
name a man named Alan also reached out to Greg saying he knew a man that worked as an electrician in Western Australia
00:56:50
who looked just like Elma Crawford this man spoke with an Irish accent and was Ki when questioned about
00:56:58
his past Alan was so convinced that the man was Elma that he sent Greg a photo Greg had the photo analyzed but
00:57:08
when comparing it to pictures of Elma the years were not the same shape if he is still alive Elma Crawford
00:57:16
would now be 95 years old the $100,000 reward still stands anyone with information is urged
00:57:25
to contact Crim Stoppers homicide detectives recently stated that they have not given up hope
00:57:32
that the five decade Long Cold Case might be solved one day with all the mystery surrounding the
00:57:41
case and the focus put on Elma very little has been reported publicly about Theresa Katherine James and
00:57:48
Karen memories of their lives before the tragedy are held close by those who knew
00:57:54
them best like Catherine's friend Brenda she was the last person to speak to Elma prior to his
00:58:03
disappearance every day that Brenda walked to school following the murders she pretended that Catherine was by her
00:58:11
side in 2005 Brenda gave her first ever interview to the age newspaper saying that she still thought of Catherine her
00:58:20
mother and siblings every time she drove past to their old house on Cardinal Road
00:58:27
Brenda said I often wonder what she'd be doing now how her life would have been had she
00:58:35
lived [Music]