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A therapist’s instincts uncover a dark truth

October 09, 2021 / 01:34:50

This episode covers the case of Robert Arthur Selby Lowe, a convicted sex offender who abducted and murdered six-year-old Cherie Beasley in 1991. It features discussions about Lowe's therapy sessions with psychotherapist Margaret Hobbs, his criminal history, and the investigation that led to his arrest.

Margaret Hobbs, a psychotherapist in Melbourne, specialized in treating sex offenders. She had a long history of working with criminals, including Lowe, who was referred to her after charges of indecent exposure. Despite his polite demeanor, Hobbs felt uneasy around him.

Over time, Lowe admitted to more offenses during therapy sessions, including indecent exposure to young girls. His behavior escalated, leading to an attempted child abduction. After a series of disturbing incidents, Hobbs became increasingly suspicious of Lowe.

In June 1991, Cherie Beasley went missing after leaving home to run an errand. The investigation revealed that Lowe had a blue Toyota Corolla, matching the description of a vehicle seen during Cherie's abduction. Hobbs eventually alerted the police about her suspicions regarding Lowe.

After extensive investigation and surveillance, Lowe was arrested in 1993. He was found guilty of abducting and murdering Cherie Beasley, receiving a life sentence. The episode highlights the complexities of Hobbs' role as a therapist and her moral dilemma in reporting her client.

TLDR

Robert Lowe, a sex offender, abducted and murdered Cherie Beasley; psychotherapist Margaret Hobbs struggled with her role in the investigation.

Episode

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margaret hobbs was no stranger to sex offenders after working as a parole officer for
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many years she had become a psychotherapist and ran her own private practice in the inner city victorian
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suburb of fitzroy margaret had treated killers and various other criminals but her specialty was in
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providing therapy to men who had committed sexually based offences as well as counselling these individuals
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margaret reported on them to the courts and over the course of 20 years almost every convicted sex offender in
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melbourne had been referred to her at one time or another due to the difficult nature of her work
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margaret had grown adept at compartmentalizing her life professional and compassionate she was able to
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present her composed mask to her clients even when they spoke of having done terrible things
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after each working day was over margaret would retreat to her home in the dandenong ranges a striking region on
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the eastern fringes of melbourne that is characterized by rolling hills tall mountain ash trees and dense ferny
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foliage weekends were a chance to completely switch off nestled in her picturesque setting
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margaret completely avoided all news reports and instead spent her time reading and writing
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one day in november 1984 margaret was preparing to meet a new client 47 year old robert arthur selby low
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his lawyers had referred him to margaret in anticipation of an upcoming hearing robert lowe had exposed himself to some
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school girls at a shopping center near his home and made some lewd remarks he'd been charged and was set to appear
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in a magistrates court so his defense team needed a report they could present when margaret greeted lo she noted that
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he didn't look like most of her other clients he was of average height with a lean
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build and a dressed in exceptionally neat clothes his light-colored slightly curly hair
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was beginning to turn grey and his eyes were framed by fine rimmed glasses when lowe spoke margaret detected a
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polished english accent she found him to be exceedingly polite and well-mannered
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as well as working as a salesperson robert lowe volunteered his time to the community as a church elder a sunday
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school teacher and a children's sports coach he had been married for more than a
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decade and had two sons with a ready smile and a respectful heir low appeared in every way to be an
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upstanding member of society and yet from almost the first moment that margaret hobbs met robert lowe
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there was something about him that made her skin crawl [Music] [Music] [Music] the obscene exposure charge that had led
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to margaret hobbs meeting robert lowe proceeded to court lowe was given a one-year good behaviour
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bond on the proviso that he begins seeing margaret regularly for therapy sessions
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he agreed at first lo denied that he had done anything wrong despite being charged with a crime
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he explained that he had not exposed himself to the schoolgirls as doing so was against the law
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he had spoken to them but lowe pointed out that this was not a crime yet margaret was soon able to coax some
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admissions from him lowe acknowledged that he had been previously convicted on one count of
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indecent exposure and one of theft despite his respectable appearance steady job and solid home life
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there was something about low that made margaret intuitively suspicious of him he visited for regular sessions and
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always arrived right on time armed with a neat sheaf of papers on which he would
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jot down notes as they talked but margaret sensed that his efforts to change his behavior were insincere
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he minimized and denied the nature of his crimes and was a habitual liar his dishonesty was often characterized
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by sly emissions or denying something on a technicality in a book titled the evil co-authored by
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margaret hobbs and journalist andrew rule margaret described low's slippery way of
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avoiding the truth ask him if he has a blue car and he will say certainly not if you change the question slightly and
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ask him if he drives a blue car he will say yes but point out that he doesn't own it
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[Music] over time low admitted to more and more crimes predominantly indecent exposure
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and theft as he became more comfortable with margaret lo told her how he often exposed himself to young girls
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sometimes he deliberately placed items of pornography that he'd stolen in full view of his victims hoping to shock them
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with the material he had committed these acts in his homeland of england and his adopted
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country of new zealand as well as australia where he had settled in 1967 yet thanks to his skillful lying he was
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rarely convicted when lowe was charged his punishment usually came in the form of a small fine
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sometimes he received good behaviour bonds he lived in the eastern suburb of glen
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waverley but his work as a travelling salesperson meant he visited a wide range of areas
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this enabled him to operate more stealthily than if he always struck in the same neighborhood
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[Music] in 1985 robert lowe's good bond expired and he was no longer required to attend therapy
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but he kept scheduling the occasional appointment with margaret or sometimes he called her on the phone
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she felt as though he got off on telling her about the obscene things that he'd done
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[Music] by april of 1990 robert lowe had been in and out of margaret hobbs life for five
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and a half years one day he arrived for an appointment and almost immediately announced that
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some police officers had just visited his workplace they had wanted to question him about an
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attempted child abduction margaret was shocked what happened she asked lo claimed that he hadn't done anything
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wrong he'd just stopped to talk to some schoolgirls in the inner northern suburb
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of northcutt while he was in the area for work by now margaret recognized when lowe was
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attempting to minimise a crime gently she tried coaxing more information from him with carefully
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phrased questions he eventually admitted that he'd seen the girls as he was driving down the
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street they were on so he pulled over and approached them lol attempted to engage the girls in
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conversation but when a woman emerged from a nearby shop and stared at him he decided to
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leave as he walked away he noticed a little girl playing in the front garden of her
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home did you speak to her margaret asked as described in her book the evil lo said he hadn't
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well did she speak to you then margaret persisted yes i think she did but i didn't speak to her first
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lo sounded smug margaret asked if he had suggested that the little girl go somewhere with him
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he gave a vague reply i may have i don't know margaret was deeply disturbed she couldn't help but feel that her
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client had crossed a whole new line in his offending she next saw low about one month later
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he hadn't been charged for the attempted abduction but he revealed that the police were now
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investigating him for something else this time he had just tried to chat with some 12 year old girls he'd seen at
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flinders street train station in melbourne's cbd moments after this innocent conversation
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a suspicious police officer had approached out of the blue and arrested him lo asked if margaret's son-in-law who
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was a solicitor could represent him his office was in the same building as margaret's
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after lowe left margaret decided to look into the matter further she called the police officer who had
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interviewed lowe about the matter to hear his version of events the officer told margaret that the girls
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were younger than low described approximately between 8 and 10 years old they had been standing on a railway
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platform holding some balloons when lowe walked up to them and said the balloons
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looked like quote big dicks then he asked if they'd like to go somewhere with him quote for sex
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the terrified children ran away and flagged down a police officer when the officer approached low he fled
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and had to be tackled to the ground it was obvious that low couldn't be trusted he was playing down his crimes and lying
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about the details moreover his victims were getting younger and he was becoming bolder
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instead of just exposing himself now he was attempting to engage girls in conversation and lure them away out in
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public in the middle of the day robert lowe was soon charged over the incident at flinders street station
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he asked margaret to write a report that could be used as part of his defense as
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he was planning to plead not guilty angered by his decision margaret initially refused
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she knew that lowe was guilty and was upset that he was defending their charges by pleading not guilty he would be
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forcing his young victims to testify at trial and exacerbating their suffering when she questioned why he wouldn't just
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admit what he had done lo smiled and replied you know me mug what do you think i pay lawyers for
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[Music] margaret had had enough it was clear that low had no remorse and no desire to stop his criminal behaviour
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he wasn't treating therapy seriously and instead seemed to take a perverse pleasure in the time they spent together
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calmly margaret asked her client to leave stating i really don't think i want anything
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else to do with you it's obvious you're not benefiting from coming here in fact i think you're
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getting worse shocked by her demand low refused to leave but margaret insisted realising he was fighting a losing
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battle lo stormed out of her office slamming the door as he went [Music] eventually margaret did agree to provide
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a court report but it was a damning one she made a point of noting how dangerous
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low's behaviour was proper punishment would be the only deterrent after reading what the psychotherapist
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had written lowe's lawyer decided not to submit her report it would only harm his client's defense
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in november of 1990 lowe was convicted of harassing the children at flinders street station and fined seven hundred
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dollars when margaret hobbs heard this sentencing she was very concerned surely such a poultry fine would only
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serve to further convince robert lowe that he had done nothing wrong and most likely he would go on to commit
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more offenses with impunity months ticked by and margaret hobbs moved on she was no longer treating robert lowe
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and didn't miss his absence from her life by the start of july 1991 it had been more than six months since she'd seen
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him on the morning of tuesday july 1 margaret was making the long drive from her home in the dandenongs to her office
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in melbourne it was the first day of her working week and as per usual she had avoided the
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news all weekend long as margaret drove she switched on her car radio and listened as a presenter
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ran through the latest headlines the lead story was about a little girl who had gone missing over the weekend on
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victoria's mornington peninsula just before 2 p.m on saturday june 29 in the seaside town of rosebud six-year-old
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cherie beasley had ridden her bike to a local milk bar to pick up some things for her mum
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almost half an hour later her bright pink bicycle was found abandoned in a nearby residential street
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a large-scale search of the region and its surrounding bushland had found no trace of the little girl
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police believed cherie had been abducted and held grey fears for her safety they were on the lookout for a blue
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toyota corolla as margaret listened to the report she immediately felt her sinking feeling
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although she hadn't seen him in months her mind immediately went to robert lowe she knew that he and his wife owned a
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holiday home in rosebud which was a popular tourist destination in the summer months
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sheree beasley's age and agenda fit with low's general pattern of victims and margaret had a long suspected that
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his crimes were escalating but she had no idea what sort of car he drove and there was nothing tangible
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that pointed to him as the suspect perhaps she was just being paranoid with nothing more than a hunch to go on
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margaret kept her suspicions to herself as the days passed margaret hobbs kept an eye on the news
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cherie beasley's school portrait was regularly featured in updates depicting her freckled face bright blue eyes long
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brown hair and cheeky smile yet there was still no sign of the six year old nor had police arrested anybody
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or indicated that they knew who might be responsible some victorians worried that sheree was
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yet another victim of the unidentified serial child rapist that the media had dubbed mr cruel
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covered in episode 41 of case file mr cruel attacked several girls in melbourne's northern and eastern suburbs
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during the late 1980s and early 90s mr cruel was also the main suspect in the abduction of 13 year old carmen chan
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who was taken from her home almost three months before cherie beasley vanished but despite these concerns about mr
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cruel that was robert lowe who margaret hobbs couldn't stop thinking about by monday july 29 exactly one month had
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passed since cherie's abduction that same afternoon margaret received a surprise at work
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she was in her office when her son-in-law's receptionist danielle appeared at her door
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danielle worked downstairs where margaret's son-in-law had a law firm a client had arrived at the building
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wanting to speak about a legal matter but margaret's son-in-law wasn't in would margaret be willing to talk to the
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client instead it was robert lowe margaret hadn't seen lo since his court hearing at the end of the previous year
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she agreed to speak with him and danielle sent him upstairs margaret immediately noticed he looked
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different low had always dressed smartly but that day his jacket clashed with his
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trousers and tie instead of smiling and making polite chitchat like he usually did he was rude
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and upset lowe explained that he'd come to see margaret's son-in-law about a bill
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before launching into a tirade about the negative court report she had written for him months earlier in relation to
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the flinders street station incident agitated and irritable low left abruptly his erratic behavior was out of
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character and only served to increase margaret's suspicions she went downstairs and asked danielle
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whether she had seen what sort of car low had been driving the receptionist replied that she hadn't
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but the next morning she surprised margaret by saying low had loitered in the area longer than they realized
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shortly after margaret left for the day he too had driven away from the premises
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in a blue toyota corolla two weeks later margaret received a phone call from robert lowe some
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detectives had shown up at his house early in the morning his prior criminal record and the blue
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toyota corolla he drove had brought them to his door lowe didn't own the vehicle it belonged
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to his employer but he used it daily low hadn't wanted to let the detectives inside but when they presented him with
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a search warrant and informed him he was suspected of abducting six-year-old cherie beasley he had no other option
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low's wife and sons were shocked and confused by the sudden influx of police officers to their home
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the family all held hands in the kitchen while lowe prayed aloud then some of the detectives informed lo
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that they would be taking his car in for a forensic examination and he would need
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to come with them for questioning as they bundled him into a police car other officers continued searching the
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low family home upon arriving at melbourne's police headquarters robert lowe was permitted to make a
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phone call as described in the book the evil he dialed margaret hobbs number and told
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her i'm in real trouble could you suggest the best lawyer available margaret suggested he stick with the
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lawyer that he already had and the call concluded the following month she heard from lo
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again when he scheduled his first appointment with her in almost a year the first since she had told him she
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didn't want to treat him anymore it turned out that detectives had questioned low for more than four hours
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but he had resisted their efforts to obtain his fingerprints or a blood sample they had to let him go as they had no
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actual evidence to hold him low turned up for his appointment looking messy and disheveled
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as he explained to margaret things have gone off the rails a bit since you threw me
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out investigators had informed lo's family what he was suspected of and questioned them at length
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none of them had been able to provide him with an alibi for the afternoon of cherie's disappearance
00:26:10
with lorraine telling investigators that she and her husband had attended a prayer meeting at their church in the
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morning when the meeting ended at 10 45 lo told lorraine and some other churchgoers that he planned to go to
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rosebud to carry out some repairs on their holiday home rosebud was roughly an hour's drive from
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the couple's house in glen waverley lorraine went home alone that morning despite multiple people hearing low say
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he was going to roseboard that day he claimed to have no recollection of travelling to the area
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later he amended this to say he had driven to his holiday home but had finished making the repairs by 1250 and
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was back in glen waverley by 2pm shortly before cherie was abducted but lorraine disputed this
00:27:14
she said her husband hadn't arrived home until after 5pm and he'd immediately stripped off his clothes and put them in
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the washing machine it was the first time she had ever seen lo do laundry in his life
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now harboring the same suspicions as margaret hobbs and victoria police lorraine asked lowe to move out of their
00:27:40
house he began residing at their holiday home in rosebard not far from where cherie beasley had
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been abducted his employer fired him and handed over his company car to detectives
00:27:59
but lowe assured margaret that he wasn't worried he wasn't guilty and if the police had any evidence he
00:28:08
would have been arrested and charged by now soon enough all of his troubles would
00:28:15
fade and life would return to normal three months after sheree beasley was abducted some teenage horse riders were
00:28:32
traveling along a country road in red hill a rural town about 10 kilometers inland from rosebud
00:28:40
suddenly the teenage girls smelled a foul odor one of their horses spooked as they
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passed a concrete storm water pipe that jutted out beneath the driveway of a property
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squeezed inside the pipe's narrow 30 centimetre entrance was a badly decomposed corpse that the girls
00:29:01
initially believed belonged to a kangaroo when they passed the same spot the following day the remains had been
00:29:09
dragged out into the open presumably by scavenging animals in the harsh light of day it was clear
00:29:18
they belonged not to a kangaroo but to a small human they were lying on a dirty bright pink
00:29:27
jumper an article of clothing that matched the pink tracksuit cherie beasley had been wearing on the day of
00:29:33
her disappearance forensic testing confirmed that the body was hers but she was too badly decomposed for a
00:29:43
cause of death to be established margaret hobbs learned about the heartbreaking discovery in the news
00:29:53
she had been following cherie's case closely ever since she'd grown suspicious of robert lowe
00:30:00
after lowe's long absence from her life he had started making regular appointments again
00:30:06
away from his family and with the police watching him closely lowe had grown to view margaret as his primary confidant
00:30:16
when margaret first saw lowe after cherie's remains were recovered she remarked i believe they found the body of sheree
00:30:25
beasley lowe appeared unfazed and merely replied have they then he abruptly added
00:30:36
i don't know the spot where they found it i've never been there i wouldn't have a clue where it was
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margaret had mentioned nothing about the body's location margaret noted that lowe was looking
00:30:55
worse with every session he had always taken pride in his appearance but he had suddenly stopped
00:31:03
shaving and was wearing mismatched clothes the papers that he always brought with
00:31:09
him were also starting to look messy as he scrawled notes to himself crossing things out and rewriting over the top
00:31:18
convinced that lowe was responsible for cherie beasley's murder margaret tried frequently to draw information from him
00:31:27
it was obvious that he enjoyed their conversations about the little girl viewing them as a kind of cat and mouse
00:31:34
game gradually he would admit to more and more things though he always twisted away from confessing at the last minute
00:31:46
the more that they spoke about the case the more low began to discuss the location where cherie's body had been
00:31:53
found upon learning that it was in red hill he said that he thought he might know which
00:32:00
spot it was he and his wife had driven to the area once but lowe insisted he never got out of
00:32:08
the car and didn't see a stormwater drain margaret suspected that low was in the
00:32:16
process of making a partial confession he had a tendency to deny things outright before slowly revealing that he
00:32:25
knew more than he was letting on he wouldn't admit outright involvement in one of his crimes but would change his
00:32:32
stories over time and twist the truth to minimise his culpability margaret fetched a street directory and
00:32:41
handed it to low asking him to show her where he thought the location was he turned to the map of red hill and
00:32:50
pointed to a spot with a pen that he was holding about here he said margaret took the directory from him and
00:33:01
shifted it up ever so slightly so the tip of the pen touched the page staining it with
00:33:08
ink it marked the exact same spot where cherie beasley had been found not long after this low arrived for an
00:33:22
appointment carrying a small backpack and a plastic bag taking a seat in his usual chair he
00:33:29
placed each bag on either side of him on the floor then he looked at margaret and asked
00:33:38
margaret do you really think i could bury a child in a drain to be eaten by maggots
00:33:45
his expression made margaret's blood run cold she could tell he was enjoying himself
00:33:53
then she noticed there was something small and white on the back of lo's chair it looked like a piece of cotton
00:34:02
except that it was moving thinking it was a caterpillar margaret walked over to dispose of the insect
00:34:12
but as she drew closer she realised it was actually a maggot and it wasn't the only one
00:34:20
crawling all over the floor the wall and lowe's chair were hundreds of maggots margaret screamed at lowe ordering him
00:34:29
out of her office he grabbed his backpack and exited leaving the plastic bag behind
00:34:37
margaret saw that was where the maggots were crawling from without looking inside she bundled the
00:34:44
plastic bag up and ran downstairs to throw it in a bin months went by lowe spent the summer travelling
00:34:58
interstate first visiting sydney and then going further north to queensland by this stage his wife lorraine had told
00:35:08
him she wanted a divorce and low did not take the news well in march of 1992 he began seeing
00:35:18
margaret hobbs again during one appointment lowe told margaret that he would typically forget
00:35:26
bad things he had done if he was forgiven for them he was also prone to blocking out
00:35:33
memories that he didn't want to recall margaret asked lo if such a thing could have happened with regards to cherie
00:35:42
beasley's murder what lo said next sent a chill down margaret's spine quote could i have blocked something out that
00:35:53
much taking a body and ramming it into a drain i might have done it i cannot remember it
00:36:04
despite this disturbing admission low appeared more concerned with the breakdown of his marriage than with what
00:36:11
had happened to cheray beasley in multiple sessions he told margaret hobbs of his love for his wife lorraine
00:36:19
and his desperation to reconcile with her lorraine had ended their relationship because she knew lowe was a suspect in
00:36:28
cherie beasley's murder lorraine also harbored her own suspicions that her husband was involved
00:36:37
all she wanted as she put it was for lo to tell the truth discussing this matter with margaret
00:36:46
hobbs lowe asked what would happen to him if he confessed to the crime purely in order to win lorraine back
00:36:55
margaret explained that he would likely receive a manslaughter charge how many years low queried
00:37:04
eight with probably a four-year minimum margaret replied lowe went back and forth on this topic
00:37:13
over time sometimes he outright denied having anything to do with cherie's murder
00:37:20
other times he said he would admit to manslaughter if lorraine agreed to recommit to him
00:37:28
meanwhile the police continued to haul low in for questioning about the case every so often
00:37:35
it was clear that the stress and the scrutiny was starting to get to him finally during an appointment on april 1
00:37:45
1992 robert lowe said something to margaret that changed everything if you want me to tell you the truth
00:37:55
i can tell you how i was involved yes i could tell you how i was involved margaret tried to mask her shock
00:38:08
she asked lo to repeat what he just said he did and then he added will you help me
00:38:19
margaret agreed lo began to speak he had driven to rosebud on the afternoon of june 29 1991 and noticed
00:38:32
two children arguing near a milk bar on the pean highway it was cherie beasley and a little boy
00:38:40
presumably a friend of hers lo pulled over and opened the passenger door then asked if cherie wanted a lift
00:38:50
as he put it he was trying to help her escape the disagreement with the boy cherie got in the car and low buckled
00:39:00
her seatbelt he drove in the direction of a creak he knew but as they got further and further away
00:39:08
from where he had picked up cherie the little girl began to look scared deciding he would take her back home low
00:39:16
made a u-turn still distressed cherie began coughing and choking in panic suddenly all went silent
00:39:29
low quickly pulled over and a saw that cheree had stopped breathing he attempted to revive her
00:39:37
but it was too late she had died low's immediate reaction was that he needed to dig a grave
00:39:46
but he didn't have a shovel with him realizing that there was a storm water drain beneath the road he was on low
00:39:55
decided he would hide cherie's body in there instead as he related how he shoved the little
00:40:03
girl inside the pipe lo suddenly remarked i need to go to red hill to the spot where the body was found
00:40:12
something may jog my memory margaret agreed to accompany low to red hill although she was terrified she felt an
00:40:27
obligation to extract a full confession from the man who had been her client for
00:40:32
more than seven years several days after lowe had given his version of events margaret drove down to
00:40:40
the peninsula to lowe's holiday home in rosebard where he had been living since splitting with lorraine
00:40:49
she collected low and the two drove west along the nepean highway which begins in
00:40:55
melbourne's cbd and takes motorists through the city's southern suburbs before concluding at the tip of the
00:41:03
mornington peninsula lowe provided directions first he wanted to point out the spot
00:41:11
where he had quote picked up cheree it was on a residential street called parkmoor road near a corner where it
00:41:21
intersected with nepean highway as they lingered on parkmoor road lowe pointed out an old rotting pine tree
00:41:30
growing in the nature strip by the street the tree marked where cherie beasley's
00:41:37
bright pink bicycle had been found after she went missing someone had tied a yellow ribbon around
00:41:44
it in remembrance of the little girl that's where i picked her up low explained then he told margaret to make a u-turn
00:41:56
and drive back along nepean highway while pointing out exactly where margaret should go
00:42:04
he kept a running narrative of what had happened after cherie had gotten into his car
00:42:11
after asking margaret to pull into a car park on a nearby foreshore lo said she's panicking i'm taking her home now
00:42:23
then he directed margaret to a tree-lined country road where a concrete stormwater drain lay beneath the
00:42:30
driveway of a property this is the spot low said and margaret parked the car low exited the vehicle but margaret
00:42:43
stayed seated scared that she might faint from the stress of the experience low strolled along the road then down to
00:42:54
the pipe where cherie's body had been found mourners had left flowers by its entrance
00:43:03
after a little while low returned to the car and told margaret that looks like it
00:43:13
as margaret drove her low back to his home he kept talking in detail about how he had forced sheree's body into the
00:43:22
narrow pipe quote i got down on my bottom and kicked the body down i said a prayer
00:43:32
oh god forgive me for this terrible thing i've done please take care of this child
00:43:38
something like that margaret turned slightly to hide the fact that her eyes had filled with tears
00:43:47
and wiped her face on her sleeve it seemed as though lo was excited to be reliving these memories with another
00:43:55
individual and his excitement only increased margaret's distress she dropped low off at his unit
00:44:05
declining his offer to come in for a cup of tea then she drove a short distance away
00:44:13
and pulled over to vomit case file will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening to this
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episode's ads by supporting our sponsors you support case file on the morning of saturday june 29 1991
00:51:24
six-year-old cherie beasley woke up before anyone else in her family and addressed herself in a pink tracksuit
00:51:32
after leaving the bedroom she shared with her two little sisters she carefully closed the door so she
00:51:39
wouldn't wake them she also shut her mom's door for the same reason after making herself some toast for
00:51:48
breakfast she fixed another plate for her mother kerry and carried it into her with a glass of cordial so her mum could
00:51:55
have breakfast in bed eventually the rest of the family had gotten up and at around 1pm cherie asked
00:52:04
if she could ride her bike to a nearby milk bar on nepean highway to buy some lollies
00:52:12
cherie loved her pink bicycle it had been a christmas gift six months earlier kerry agreed and also asked cheree to
00:52:21
stop at a nearby boutique that owed her money she wrote a note for cheree to give the
00:52:28
shopkeeper and also handed over an envelope with twenty dollars inside on the envelope she wrote the word
00:52:36
cigarettes an instruction for the milk shop owner who was familiar with the family and accustomed to cherie running
00:52:43
errands for her mum kerry told cherie she could spend one dollar from the change on some lollies
00:52:51
for herself the note and the envelope with the money were placed in a beige handbag which
00:52:59
cherie carried in her bike's basket cheree cycled to the boutique first and returned 20 minutes later with her
00:53:09
mother's money having forgotten about the second part of her trip kerry jotted down a few more orders on
00:53:16
the envelope a bottle of coke a pasty and a pie then cherie rode away again it was just before two o'clock in the
00:53:26
afternoon parkmoor road resident vera and her daughter susan had made plans to go
00:53:36
shopping that afternoon it was a dreary winter's day with heavy clouds hanging low in the air
00:53:45
rosebud was always bustling with tourists during the summer months but in winter it was something of a ghost town
00:53:53
escaping to a shopping mall was one of the few reasons to leave the house on an overcast day
00:53:59
[Music] vera and susan both wanted to pick up a few things from kmart a budget retailer
00:54:06
that had a franchise nearby at around 2 20 pm the mother and daughter climbed into susan's car then
00:54:15
started along parkmoor road towards nepean highway as she drove susan noticed a child's
00:54:24
bicycle popped up against the rotting pine tree next door to her mother's house it was a girl's bike colored bright pink
00:54:32
with a white woven basket attached to the handlebars and the brand name poppy emblazoned in
00:54:39
white lettering along the frame mum whose bike's that susan asked glancing over vera recognized the bicycle right away
00:54:53
she had seen a little girl riding it up and down park moore road over the past few months
00:54:58
[Music] one day as vera and her husband had been doing some repair work on their driveway
00:55:05
the little girl had walked past their home with her mother and two smaller sisters
00:55:11
the girl's mother had paused for a friendly chat and mentioned that they lived on south road which intersected
00:55:19
with parkmoor vera ordered susan to turn around and drive to south road so she could tell
00:55:27
the girl's family about the bike after knocking on a couple of doors they found the right house
00:55:34
a small fibro and timber property with a sprawling front lawn the little girl's 24 year old mother
00:55:42
kerry answered the door and listened as vera told her that her daughter's bike had been left unattended around the
00:55:50
corner [Music] sheree usually returned from visiting the milk bar within a quarter of an hour
00:56:02
so when 20 minutes had passed with no sign of her kerry was a little worried but perhaps cherie had just run into a
00:56:11
school friend and stopped to play for a little while by the time vera knocked on her front
00:56:17
door more than 45 minutes had passed upon learning that sheree's bike had been abandoned kerry's concern grew
00:56:27
substantially she asked her partner stephen to go check and he walked quickly to the
00:56:34
location vera described the bike was still leaning against the rotted pine tree inside the basket was the beige handbag
00:56:45
kerry had given cherie before she left home checking its compartments steven saw a
00:56:52
packet of cigarettes a pasty a pie and a bottle of coke as well as the envelope with change inside
00:57:00
so cherie had definitely made it to the milk bar starting to panic stephen called out
00:57:08
fishery and looked around for her she was nowhere to be seen stephen made his way to a nearby pay
00:57:17
phone and placed a call to rosebud police then he raced home to kerry with tears
00:57:24
in his eyes the police were at kerry's home within minutes they took down a description of cheree
00:57:34
borrowed a photograph of her and began door knocking the neighborhood asking if anyone had seen the little girl
00:57:42
officers took sniffer dogs out to search surrounding bushland and were joined by
00:57:48
state emergency service volunteers a police command center was set up on parkmoor road near to where cherie's
00:57:57
bike had been found the bike remained propped up against the pine tree the scene now secured with
00:58:05
crime scene tape a forensic team was summoned to examine the evidence by late afternoon the media had gotten a
00:58:15
hold of the story and radio bulletins alerted the public to the six-year-old's disappearance
00:58:23
kerry and her boyfriend were asked to provide a statement down at rosebud police station
00:58:29
kerry explained that she always told sheree to come straight home after running an errand
00:58:35
then added i don't know where my daughter is or who could have taken her i love her very much
00:58:46
police wondered whether cherie's biological father had snatched her perhaps wanting full custody of his
00:58:52
eldest child but he was away fishing with friends in victoria's alpine region he didn't learn of his daughter's
00:59:01
disappearance until he returned home late the following day when he heard what had happened he raced
00:59:09
to rosebud where his parents were already waiting with kerry shocked and upset he could barely manage
00:59:18
to speak police instead turned to their attention to the possible sightings and leads that
00:59:27
had started trickling in almost as soon as word of cherie's disappearance spread
00:59:33
there was one tip that sounded especially promising a woman had seen a little girl matching
00:59:40
cherie's description on the afternoon in question she had been riding a pink bicycle
00:59:47
but she wasn't alone riding on another bike behind her was a little boy investigators had no idea who the little
00:59:58
boy might be no parents had come forward to say their children had been playing with cherie
01:00:05
before she went missing on the morning of monday july 1 detective peter butland decided to visit
01:00:13
cherie's school rosebud primary he worked his way through the classrooms asking students if any of them had seen
01:00:22
cherie beasley with a boy two days earlier eventually an older male student revealed that his little brother had
01:00:31
said something about seeing cheree on saturday his brother was in cheray's class and
01:00:38
his name was shane detective butlin fetched shane from his class the little boy was shy and reluctant to
01:00:48
talk at first but soon he began to open up shane's initial reluctance in coming forward was because he had snuck out on
01:01:00
saturday without his parents knowledge they had gone out for the afternoon leaving shane in the care of his older
01:01:08
siblings while they listened to music upstairs shane secretly left on his bmx bicycle
01:01:16
to go buy some lollies at a nearby petrol station when he reached the petrol station shane
01:01:24
saw cherie beasley on her pink bicycle cherie was in shane's class at school and the two were friendly so they began
01:01:34
to play together they cycled towards the milk bar on the pan highway where cherie had to buy some
01:01:41
things but shane stopped on parkmoor road he didn't think he should go any further
01:01:48
so he waited there while cheree went to the milk bar as he stood by his bmx watching for
01:01:56
cherie's return a small blue two-door car turned off nepean highway and into park moore
01:02:04
road the driver braked and pulled over very close to where shane stood [Music] soon cheree reappeared
01:02:19
cycling around the corner from nepean highway and back on to parkmore road where shane was waiting
01:02:27
the blue car was still there as shane watched the driver called out to cheray to stop
01:02:36
he was middle-aged and lean with a clean-shaven face [Music] come here the man said to cherie
01:02:44
[Music] cherie reluctantly approached the vehicle still wearing her bright pink bicycle helmet
01:02:54
then the man got out strode over to cherie picked her up and put her in the front passenger seat
01:03:02
quickly he walked back to the driver's side and jumped back in reversing into a u-turn he almost ran
01:03:10
over cherie's pink bicycle which lay discarded in the middle of the road then the man turned back onto nepean
01:03:19
highway the entire abduction took place in a matter of seconds shane was scared and didn't quite
01:03:28
understand what had happened he didn't think cheree had wanted to go with the man
01:03:36
shane kept standing there alone soon after the car disappeared with sheree inside some other motorists drove
01:03:46
up parkmoor road and noticed sheree's abandoned bike they stopped and wheeled it over to a
01:03:53
nearby tree assuming its owner was off playing nearby with friends after seeing this
01:04:02
shane rode his bike home and crept inside without his siblings realising that he'd ever gone out
01:04:09
when his parents returned home a little after 3 p.m shane was still playing in the same spot that he'd been when they
01:04:17
left hours earlier detective butlin was impressed with shane's recollection upon re-examining the crime scene at
01:04:29
parkmoor road the detectives saw that tire marks on the bitumen perfectly matched the vehicle maneuvers that shane
01:04:37
had described shane didn't know enough about cars to identify the vehicle's specific make or
01:04:44
model but now investigators knew they were looking for a two-door car that was small and blue
01:04:51
likely a hatchback there was something else some early media reports had mistakenly
01:04:59
reported that cherie's pink bike helmet was found at the scene alongside the bike
01:05:06
but police had never come across the helmet in any of their searches and shane said that when the man had
01:05:13
grabbed cheree she was still wearing it the detectives knew that they had to release this updated information as soon
01:05:22
as possible once the media began reporting that cherie had in fact been wearing her
01:05:29
black helmet when she was taken witnesses who had previously discounted things that they'd seen began coming
01:05:36
forward a woman driving along the highway that afternoon had pulled up alongside a blue
01:05:44
hatchback being driven by a white man who looked between 50 and 60 years old sitting beside him was a little girl in
01:05:54
a pink bike helmet sobbing as the man stared straight ahead and studiously avoided eye contact
01:06:03
the woman assumed the girl was the man's granddaughter and that he'd told her off
01:06:08
for some reason or other a mother and daughter out the front of a motel on the pean highway had seen a
01:06:16
terrified looking little girl being driven in a blue hatchback the girl had a pink helmet on and stared
01:06:24
desperately at the mother through the passenger window as though trying to communicate something
01:06:31
this woman was able to help police identify the exact type of car the abductor had been driving
01:06:39
a blue toyota corolla [Music] detectives obtained a list of all blue toyota corollas registered throughout
01:06:51
the state there were more than 700 and they would have to follow up on each and every one
01:07:00
senior detective andrew gusky was responsible for calling the car's owners and asking questions in an attempt to
01:07:07
determine whether or not they might be a suspect most people were polite cooperative and
01:07:14
eager to be of assistance on the morning of tuesday july 30 detective gusky's phone rang
01:07:23
it was a man returning a call that the detective had placed a week earlier the man didn't own a blue toyota corolla
01:07:31
but he drove one that belonged to his employer unlike most of the other people detective gusky had spoken to
01:07:40
this man was standoffish and abrupt yet he also had a crystal clear recollection of what he'd been doing a
01:07:48
month earlier on saturday june 29 something that struck the detective azad he said that he'd spent the day at home
01:07:58
with his family in melbourne's eastern suburbs the man's name was robert lowe when detective gusky asked lo for his
01:08:10
phone number low had abruptly refused he explained that he had an unlisted number and didn't want to give it out to
01:08:19
anyone detective gusky's curiosity was immediately peaked he searched lowe's name in victoria
01:08:28
police's records and saw he had multiple charges for indecent exposure and defensive behavior
01:08:36
four months earlier low had been spotted lurking by the fence of a public swimming pool in the outer eastern
01:08:43
suburb of croydon a school sports event was taking place at the pool two teachers soon noticed a low chatting
01:08:54
with two young boys while touching himself when confronted he ran away to his car
01:09:02
but a teacher had managed to take note of his number plate and passed it on to police
01:09:09
soon after detective gusky became convinced that robert lowe looked like a prime suspect another member of the task
01:09:17
force showed him an interesting report from crime stoppers the service had received hundreds of
01:09:24
tip-offs in the weeks since cherie was abducted but this one seemed especially promising
01:09:32
an anonymous woman had called to report a man named robert lowe in connection with the cherie beasley case
01:09:40
she had told the operator i know a guy going through therapeutic dealings who has a history of sex
01:09:48
offenses both obscene and willful exposure and approaching young girls the woman's reference to therapeutic
01:09:59
dealings was curious then one investigator noticed something while scrutinizing court reports from
01:10:07
lowe's various charges one of the expert witnesses listed was a psychotherapist by the name of margaret
01:10:16
hobbs margaret had made the decision to call crimestoppers the same day that she
01:10:26
discovered robert lowe drove a blue toyota corolla margaret's gut instinct that he was
01:10:32
involved coupled with his sudden reappearance in her office made her sick with worry
01:10:40
when she realized he drove the exact same car as sheree beasley's abductor she knew she needed to alert the
01:10:47
authorities her tip-off combined with detective gusky's suspicious conversation with lo
01:10:55
and his prior criminal record led to lowe becoming the investigation's prime suspect exactly one month after cherie's
01:11:04
abduction detectives searched lowe's home questioned his family and took him in for interrogations multiple times over
01:11:14
the following months detectives found out he had no alibi for the day of cherie's disappearance and
01:11:22
had told multiple people at his church that he was headed for rosebud after his initial interview low was
01:11:31
placed under 24-hour surveillance and it quickly became evident he was a compulsive serial
01:11:38
predator investigators watched as he went to public areas to masturbate or approach schoolgirls
01:11:47
a search of the work car he drove revealed that lowe had collected a number of newspaper clippings about the
01:11:53
carmen chan abduction some words were underlined and he had jotted down some bizarre notes of his
01:12:01
own although they didn't believe he was involved in carmen's case as his offending fit an entirely different
01:12:09
pattern the clippings indicated low was fixated by the girl's abduction his wife confirmed that low had been
01:12:18
obsessed with the carmen chan case and spoke about it so much that she'd had to ask him to stop
01:12:26
despite all of this there was no tangible physical evidence tying him to cheray beasley
01:12:34
this didn't change when her body was found in september nothing belonging to low was recovered
01:12:41
from cherie's remains or the crime scene nor did investigators ever find the pink
01:12:48
helmet that cherie had been wearing when she was taken a nine-year-old girl who lived in red
01:12:55
hill later came forward to say she'd seen a pink bike helmet lying discarded in some bushes near her school sometime
01:13:03
in the spring but it had disappeared by the following day detectives knew they needed to work
01:13:14
harder to definitively link lowe to cherie beasley and they believed their best bet was margaret hobbes
01:13:22
her anonymous tip-off indicated she was already suspicious of him meaning he likely made incriminating
01:13:29
statements during their appointments two detectives paid margaret a visit to explain that they were looking into
01:13:38
robert lowe she cooperated with them but she wasn't able to offer the definitive evidence
01:13:45
they were looking for so the investigators decided to go a step further without margaret's knowledge they
01:13:55
secretly installed a small microphone in a van above her office ceiling her sessions with robert lowe were all
01:14:04
recorded and detectives listened in on them from a flat in the building next door
01:14:10
each time lowe edged closer to making a confession when he discussed pleading guilty to
01:14:16
manslaughter and the spot where he thought cheree might have been found investigators heard every word
01:14:26
in late march of 1992 detectives reached out to margaret and told her that one of
01:14:32
them would be acting as her liaison detective alex bartch would speak to her regularly about the case and a debrief
01:14:40
with her after her sessions with lo upon sitting down with margaret for the first time detective bartsch noted that
01:14:49
she seemed uncomfortable discussing one of her clients with a police officer at the same time he could see
01:14:58
that the strain of working with low was taking a heavy toll on margaret she seemed relieved to have someone she
01:15:06
could confide in about it all in early april lowe made his first genuine confession to margaret
01:15:16
telling her if you want me to tell you the truth i can tell you how i was involved
01:15:24
yes i could tell you how i was involved unaware that investigators were already listening in on her conversations with
01:15:35
their prime suspect the distressed margaret in turn spoke with detective barge she informed him that lowe had made what
01:15:45
she believed to be in admission and she had another appointment with him that day
01:15:52
she would keep him posted on what happened next later that same day detective bartsch
01:16:01
and his colleague detective andrew guskey sat quietly in the flat next door as they listened in on margaret's latest
01:16:09
session with robert lowe to their shock low began to detail how he had driven to rosebud on saturday
01:16:18
june 29 1991 and picked up cherie beasley he described how she had panicked and choked to death in his passenger seat
01:16:29
and the way he had subsequently disposed of her body then he told margaret he needed to visit
01:16:36
red hill seeing the exact spot where he had left the little girl might jog his memory
01:16:43
further the two detectives stared at each other they finally had him detective bartsch and another officer
01:16:55
soon paid a visit to margaret's office when she told them of her plans to drive low to red hill they told her they would
01:17:04
need to monitor the trip for her own safety detectives would tail them out to the
01:17:10
location and margaret would be given a panic button she could press if she began to feel unsafe
01:17:18
but without her knowledge the police also did something else they installed a covert listening device
01:17:26
in her car so that they could hear everything that was said throughout the journey
01:17:34
a few days after margaret took low to red hill detectives obtained a statement about the trip from margaret
01:17:42
the experience had fundamentally changed something in her before she had felt a professional
01:17:51
discomfort about working with the police against her client now she felt she had to help hold him
01:17:58
responsible for the terrible thing he had done she began recording her sessions with
01:18:05
him though she didn't tell anyone she was doing so meanwhile the detectives collated their
01:18:12
evidence on march 31 1993 they finally struck arresting robert lowe at a backpacker
01:18:22
hostel he was now staying at in the melbourne suburb of saint kilda he refused to speak with them instead
01:18:30
insisting they call his lawyer then he proudly told detective alex bartch that he was just like jesus
01:18:40
christ he would have to endure a terrible trial but all would be right in the end
01:18:47
as described in the book the evil detective bart retorted that low was half right
01:18:54
but he had no chance of being resurrected when lowe later appeared in melbourne's
01:19:03
magistrates court he was greeted by a crowd of journalists news crews and angry members of the public
01:19:12
cherie beasley's mother kerry had travelled to the city so she could see the man accused of her daughter's murder
01:19:19
finally in handcuffs when low was brought into the dark the grief-stricken kerry screamed abuse and
01:19:27
attempted to run over to him before being restrained robert lowe was charged with the
01:19:34
abduction and murder of sheree beasley denied baal and taken into remand to await his trial
01:19:49
when it came to the details of cherie's murder investigators had never believed lowe's version of events
01:19:56
his story that she had agreed to get into his car directly contrasted with the description given by shane
01:20:04
the little boy who cherie had been playing with no doubt lo's claim that she had choked
01:20:12
while panicking was another attempt to cover up the truth of his crimes as cherie's remains had been so badly
01:20:20
decomposed it was impossible to determine exactly what she had endured or what caused her death
01:20:29
as detailed in the book the evil three weeks after lowe was charged detective alex bartch received some
01:20:37
intriguing information from a colleague in victoria police's prison squad an inmate at melbourne's notorious
01:20:46
pentridge prison was sharing a cell with robert lowe while the latter was awaiting trial
01:20:53
peter reed was a violent criminal who had been convicted of murdering a police officer in 1982
01:21:02
during a series of conversations with reed lowe had supposedly made some admissions about cherie's murder
01:21:10
providing a different version of events than he'd given to police depending on a jailhouse snitch for
01:21:18
evidence was always risky those who knew reed said he was dangerous manipulative and not to be
01:21:26
trusted but the information he was providing also seemed consistent with the robert
01:21:34
lowe police had become familiar with through his psychotherapy sessions it was agreed that peter reed would wear
01:21:42
a wire and attempt to cajole more information from his cellmate reed's strategy was to tell lo that he
01:21:52
knew a lawyer who could create a fake story for lowe's defense but only if he was given a true account
01:21:59
of what had really happened he needed to draw upon facts when designing a false narrative
01:22:07
low fell for it he gave reed a very different story admitting that he'd seen cherie in the
01:22:15
area on several previous occasions before abducting her each time she had been riding her bike
01:22:23
to the local shops where she sometimes ran errands for her mother lo had followed her making a note of
01:22:32
where she lived and decided to abduct her he went to rosebud on june 29 1991 with
01:22:41
the express purpose of taking the little girl after forcing cheree into his car he
01:22:49
drove her to a remote farmland area where he brutally raped her cherie had cried and begged to be taken
01:22:57
home to her mother lo maintained that while she had choked to death this hadn't been due to a panic
01:23:06
attack instead it had resulted directly from him assaulting her when cheray started to choke lo removed
01:23:16
the pink bike helmet that she was still wearing he later discarded it somewhere after realizing that cherie was dead
01:23:27
lo drove down a country road and pushed and kicked her underwear clad body into the stormwater drain where she was later
01:23:36
found his semen had stained most of cherie's clothing so he threw the garments away in a
01:23:44
rubbish skip when reed met with detective bartsch after obtaining this confession the
01:23:53
detective noticed how pale and sick the convicted criminal appeared listening to lowe's admissions over the
01:24:01
course of multiple days had clearly taken a severe mental and emotional toll on him
01:24:08
despite this he thanked detective barch for giving him the opportunity to assist
01:24:14
in convicting a child killer robert lowe's trial finally began in october 1994 more than three years after
01:24:27
sheree beasley was murdered the prosecution alleged that the crime had been carefully planned and
01:24:34
premeditated by lowe who clearly had a fascination with such crimes as evidenced by his obsession with the chan
01:24:43
case margaret hobbs was the prosecution's star witness she testified over four days and
01:24:53
sections of the secret recordings that had been made of her sessions with lo were played for the court
01:25:01
low's soulmate peter reed also gave evidence about his own taped conversations with lo
01:25:08
as detailed in the evil everyone present in the courtroom listened attentively as
01:25:14
reed made a personal address to the jury he described himself as one of the worst
01:25:21
criminals in the system but said that even he was shocked and angered by cherie's murder
01:25:28
that was why he had decided to testify for the prosecution this admission held raid in good stead
01:25:36
with the jury despite the defense's attempts to undermine his credibility as a witness
01:25:44
throughout the duration of the trial robert lowe showed a little emotion he sat in the dark with a blank
01:25:52
expression as one reporter who was quoted in the evil wrote the only hint of feeling behind his
01:26:02
perspective and grey bearded visage was a nervous facial twitch it surfaced when witnesses gave evidence
01:26:10
that sat uncomfortably with his version of events a month after the trial began the jury retired to consider their
01:26:22
verdict after five hours they returned they had found robert lowe guilty of abducting and murdering cherie beasley
01:26:35
when cherie's mother kerry heard the verdict she cried out suffer low cherie got her revenge this time
01:26:45
rod in hell the public gallery clapped and cheered lo's face remained impassive but he
01:26:56
blinked several times upon learning his fate his ex-wife lorraine fainted and the
01:27:03
couple's two sons rushed to her aid followed shortly by paramedics the sentencing judge teared up as he
01:27:13
gave robert lowe life in prison for murder and 15 years for the abduction charge
01:27:19
he refused to give a minimum term describing the trial as the most harrowing he had ever experienced
01:27:28
addressing low directly he stated what you did was every child's fear and every parent's nightmare
01:27:41
when robert lowe was removed from the courtroom kerry shouted just remember lo cherie got a death sentence
01:27:51
you've still got your life despite bringing a child killer to justice margaret hobbs had battled with
01:28:02
her decision to assist the police and then testify against him as a psychotherapist she felt she had an
01:28:11
obligation to keep the things her clients told her in confidence and had indicated to robert lowe that she would
01:28:18
never disclose what went on during their sessions but she was so disturbed by the things
01:28:26
he told her and the brutality of his actions she felt she had no choice but to help the investigation
01:28:35
many praised margaret hobbs for her actions while others criticized her for breaking patient therapist
01:28:42
confidentiality she accepted what her critics had to say content in the knowledge that she had
01:28:50
done what she knew to be right in 1997 robert lowe lodged an appeal against his conviction arguing that
01:29:01
evidence from his appointments with margaret shouldn't have been allowed at trial due to confidentiality issues
01:29:09
his appeal was rejected and the court made clear that public interest overrides confidentiality in situations
01:29:18
where an individual in therapy has committed a serious crime margaret hobbs was left
01:29:25
traumatized by her dealings with robert lowe learning of the terrible things he had
01:29:31
done took a serious toll on her health and well-being and she suffered insomnia and nightmares
01:29:39
she wrote of the experience i took to staring at children who are judged to be aged about six watching
01:29:48
their movements and imagining one day i found a little lost girl who was about this age
01:29:57
she had lost her mother and was sobbing and stuttering out her name we found her mother and i sat in my car
01:30:05
and cried aware of the terror of the child and having lost her mother for ten minutes
01:30:15
margaret began working on a book about the case then almost six years after cherie's
01:30:21
murder on january 17 1996 margaret and her husband were driving home when her husband blacked out behind
01:30:30
the wheel their car ran off the road and hit a fence killing margaret instantly in the wake of margaret's death
01:30:41
journalist and author andrew rule completed the book she had been working on it was titled the evil and published
01:30:50
under both their names the title was chosen because margaret's dealings with lo convinced her that she
01:30:58
had quote encountered the face of evil in human form detective alex bartch who worked closely
01:31:08
with margaret during the investigation wrote a foreword for the book he described her as someone driven by
01:31:16
the desire to serve the common good regardless of personal cost in life margaret hobbs was loved by
01:31:25
those who knew her in death she is mourned by them as of mid-2021 robert lowe remains alive
01:31:36
and incarcerated for his crimes with his file marked never to be released he has continued to maintain his
01:31:46
innocence from behind bars and on the 23rd anniversary of cherie's murder he wrote a letter begging authorities to
01:31:54
reinvestigate the case was extremely distressed by this action telling 7 news he is evil
01:32:05
he's not a man after cherie's murder kerry found a living in rosebud too painful
01:32:18
being in the neighborhood constantly reminded her of what had happened to her firstborn child
01:32:25
she moved to another area of the mornington peninsula with her partner stephen and cherie's little sisters
01:32:33
in the lounge room of their new home was a small shrine to cherie five photographs of her in a frame with
01:32:40
the words our little angel at the top another large portrait of cheree hung from a nearby wall
01:32:50
for years the pink bicycle that cherie had loved so much was kept in victoria police's headquarters in melbourne in a
01:32:58
conference room alongside boxes of files from the case kerry made a point of visiting the
01:33:06
location in red hill where cherie's body had been found explaining that she had wanted to be in
01:33:12
the same place where cherie last was once cherie was laid to rest at mornington cemetery kerry and her other
01:33:22
two daughters would visit her headstone regularly cherie's sisters would bring gifts and
01:33:28
chat to cherie sometimes when kerry found herself struggling late at night she visited
01:33:36
alone the cemetery gates were locked after hours but kerry would park her car outside and talk aloud to her daughter
01:33:47
in the hopes she could hear her kerry married stephen and the couple had a daughter together
01:33:56
in an interview with the journalist from the age kerry explained that her new baby helped
01:34:02
keep her occupied but one hundred percent of the time i always have cherie in the back of my mind
01:34:11
nothing will ever replace her or be like cherie was she was just so special words cannot explain
01:34:21
[Music] [Music] [Music] you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most heartbreaking
  • 85
    Most shocking
  • 85
    Best overall
  • 80
    Most dramatic

Episode Highlights

  • Margaret Hobbs' Career
    Margaret Hobbs specialized in therapy for sex offenders, reporting to the courts over 20 years.
    @ 02m 44s
    October 09, 2021
  • Escalating Crimes
    Robert Lowe's behavior escalated from indecent exposure to attempted abduction of young girls.
    “His victims were getting younger and he was becoming bolder.”
    @ 14m 18s
    October 09, 2021
  • Margaret's Suspicion
    Margaret's instincts about Robert Lowe intensified when a little girl went missing.
    @ 19m 06s
    October 09, 2021
  • The Discovery of Cherie's Body
    Teenage horse riders discover a decomposed corpse in a stormwater pipe, later identified as Cherie Beasley.
    “They initially believed belonged to a kangaroo.”
    @ 29m 03s
    October 09, 2021
  • Lowe's Confession
    Robert Lowe admits to his involvement in Cherie Beasley's murder, revealing chilling details.
    “If you want me to tell you the truth, I can tell you how I was involved.”
    @ 37m 49s
    October 09, 2021
  • The Search Intensifies
    Police and volunteers search for Cherie, with media coverage increasing public awareness.
    “The bike remained propped up against the pine tree, the scene now secured with crime scene tape.”
    @ 58m 06s
    October 09, 2021
  • Cherie's Disappearance
    Cherie Beasley goes missing after a trip to the milk bar, sparking a frantic search.
    “The entire abduction took place in a matter of seconds.”
    @ 01h 03m 20s
    October 09, 2021
  • Lowe Becomes a Suspect
    Robert Lowe, with a history of offenses, emerges as a prime suspect in Cherie's case.
    “Detectives became convinced that Robert Lowe looked like a prime suspect.”
    @ 01h 09m 17s
    October 09, 2021
  • Robert Lowe's Arrest
    On March 31, 1993, Robert Lowe was arrested at a hostel in Melbourne.
    @ 01h 18m 18s
    October 09, 2021
  • Trial Begins
    Robert Lowe's trial began in October 1994, over three years after Cherie's murder.
    @ 01h 24m 20s
    October 09, 2021
  • Verdict Delivered
    The jury found Robert Lowe guilty of abducting and murdering Cherie Beasley.
    @ 01h 26m 28s
    October 09, 2021
  • Kerry's Ongoing Grief
    Kerry moved to escape the pain but kept Cherie's memory alive with a shrine at home.
    @ 01h 32m 35s
    October 09, 2021

Episode Quotes

  • You know me mug, what do you think I pay lawyers for?
    A therapist’s instincts uncover a dark truth
  • I'm in real trouble.
    A therapist’s instincts uncover a dark truth
  • I might have done it, I cannot remember it.
    A therapist’s instincts uncover a dark truth
  • Oh God, forgive me for this terrible thing I've done.
    A therapist’s instincts uncover a dark truth
  • Cherie got her revenge this time.
    A therapist’s instincts uncover a dark truth
  • What you did was every child's fear and every parent's nightmare.
    A therapist’s instincts uncover a dark truth

Key Moments

  • Criminal Escalation14:18
  • Police Interrogation24:57
  • Cherie's Errand52:54
  • Winter Shopping Plans53:31
  • Concern Grows56:06
  • Arrest1:18:20
  • Life Sentence1:27:18
  • Margaret's Trauma1:29:25

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown