Carrying body is very very heavy. When you find somewhere you want to dump a body, you don't dump it ago he I've never been there before. They don't. They go to places they know best, but they believe no one knows where they are.
I'm Ashley Hanson. This is episode three of Deershell, a podcast by True Crime Australia. Mick Ashwood spent the best part of three decades hunting criminals. He's taking us into the mindset of a killer and what he's learned about how they cover their tracks.
They go through a change, they become depressed and scared of being identified. So where they place the body, there's so much into that. So if you don't know what to do when you feel some first time, you don't know where to dump the body, you don't know how to protect yourself. What you want to do is place yourself as far asway from the victim as you can. Put them in a spot that's a long way from where anyone saw you. And these are subconscious drives in
people's heads. They don't care about the VIATO. You've got a factor that in is this person a criminal psychopath? Because they have no empathy, They feel sorry for themselves. If they get caught let's see it. They then modify their behavior so they don't get caught next time, or if it was close call, they move the bodies someone like over mylac. Bodies tend to get closer to where the person lives as they get more confident with time.
On this case stood, I don't know if it was done on their own, but because of the failing at the beginning of the investigation, that may never be known.
This is someone's life who got ripped away from them, who got completely ripped off. And she was so special, and she would have done so many beautiful things and she did, and she was so special to so many people. Yeah, I just want everyone to know that she was one of the good ones. She didn't deserve it. She was in the prime of her life, she was having fun, She really cared about the people around her.
We just all got ripped off, and her especially.
I don't know whether she knew what was happening to her or what was going to happen. I don't know how long she suffered for. I don't know how scared she was. I'm never going to know that. That's haunting.
This is the untold story of Rochelle Child's, a twenty three year old who was brutally murdered. Her killer has never been caught. To understand the motivation and mind of Rochelle's killer, detectives need to collect and examine all the available evidence. Let's recap. There's a nine hour gap in Rochelle's movements that's troubling detectives. Her last confirmed sighting was leaving Camden Holden on Thursday, the seventh of June just
after five pm. Nine hours later, her burning body was found one hundred kilometers away at seven Mile Beach in the early hours of Friday morning. The location is linked to another woman's unsolved murder, fueling suspicion a serial killer is targeting women. Police say they found no evidence of a struggle or forced entry at Rochelle's home in Bargo. Meanwhile, her abandoned car turns up at the Bargo hotel, leaving her family and investigators wondering who she was meeting and why.
Let's return to seven Mile Beach. Every time I go back there, I learned something new this trip. I'm heading there with cold case expert retired New South Wales detective Sergeant Damien Lund. He's been pouring over the brief of evidence for months and I'm looking forward to his insights. What does it feel like being here for the first time.
You'll notice that I've got the hands in my pocket. It's just out of my always good for me to as when I was a police officer, to go to the seat in the crime and you'd never know she was here. There's no rip, there's no flowers planted here, there's no area hasn't been touched. You wouldn't know if you walk, if you're walking long here, that this is where a body was found, knowing that she was here.
It's really it's really sad. It's really sad to find that a young woman in a prime of a life, her life ends here, and just a callous way that she was dubbed here and just discarded like a piece of rubbish and set on fire. The offender or offenders, he's got no regard for any human life.
Sexual predators commonly use fire to destroy evidence. Rochelle's killer doused her body in unleaded petrol, seemingly determined to leave no trace.
Well initially, Accelerate would have really gone bush car sort of thing, you know, because it burns off very quickly. The petrol. It's got a high flash point, so boom, it would have gone straight up and then would have diminished. To do that without getting injured, you'd have to use a match, you know, you'd have to stand back and flick not. You couldn't do it with the cigarette lighter.
Is it good book?
And often enough you get the singer spumer, you know, particularly on their hands on the face I linked and everything from the arsness that I've locked up, have caught torch things. They've got some sort of checking her injury, you know, they've got you can tell them that they've got their hands have been out, that their follicles on their hands have been singed in the hair and the eyebrows. Sometimes if it's enough, why here, this is a whole?
Why here? What is it? Just an opportunist excite from somewhere off the side of the road. If you could have gone in another hundred leaders in your body would have seen that flavor from the road. So did something happen?
Really?
He really hardly quick and really fast.
Detectives have always believed Rochelle's killer had intended to hide her body She was found naked from the waist down in the fetal position, next to an in ground concrete tank, the tank I went looking for with Iva Davies, the first lead investigator. Remember when Ivor arrived at the scene in two thousand and one, the tank's heavy concrete lid had been slightly pushed back, suggesting someone tried to open it. Here's iv from episode one.
I think they went to great lengths to hide her body, but it didn't work out, so then it was just had hotly done in haste. Just they've had enough. They must have been driving around with the corpse in the body for Harris, and I just think that when this didn't pan out, they've had enough. You're not going to just put a rear torch and get rid of the evidence, just get out of dodge. So just picture a concrete tank.
I don't know how deep it was, it might have been maybe a meter meter and half, but above the ground was maybe three to four hundred and it had the concrete lid on it. Stick had a meter and a half around maybe a meter. So when you slid it off, which they did to at least a quarters away, you can clearly see the gate valves, water junctions. Everything was close to the service. It wasn't like a two meter drop, so as obviously we're not going to get
the deceased in there. So I think in haste they just dropped it into the shallow, put an excillain over it, and tortured it.
Now Damien's in the same spot and mapping out the crime scene with me.
I think it was about here probably, I think it was about here. I wonder if that could have been it that hold air.
It seems to have been further in.
It.
Yeah, we look it's been filled in. There should be some sort of lid or something other on top of it, maybe some concrete. Here it is, This is where the tank was.
Oh my gosh, that's it.
Here.
It is here, now here it is that's been covered in. Looks of the original concrete. It's been taken away. And this is like a heart plastic diameter's right circular.
It's exactly the same size that ever explained.
He's so close to here.
It is here.
I can lift it up.
There's a road.
I can lift it up.
Well, you're standing on it.
I can lift it up.
Be careful.
That's the valves that we're talking about just got shells.
So do you think the reason maiming the body wasn't placed in the tank.
Was not that it couldn't fit, couldn't lift it couldn't lift it couldn't lift it. That's what probably is the more important question.
So now we're both thinking what stopped the killer from hiding Rochelle's body in the tank. Was the lead too heavy? Was it impossible to do alone? We're going to explore the evidence in more detail later on, but if you'd like to see the tank now, visit Dear Rochelle dot com dot au for exclusive access to pictures, interactive evidence from the CA, videos and more. What we do know it's Rochelle was found beside the tank, was burning, her body planned b Was it the work of someone acting alone?
Before you hear eyewitness accounts from that rainy night on the Crooked River Road which is also known as GIRoA Road. Let's listen to part of a police press conference held by detectives Scott Cook in a cold case appeal.
We believe that that commodore may have traveled between Bargo and GIRoA where she was found on the evening that she went missing. We believed that the vehicle was driven by someone other than Rochelle. But what we really need to explore further at this time is where that car went. It was seen at the Bargo Hotel in the evening of the seventh, again on the eighth, and again on the night before it was recovered by police, and so we want to try and fill in where that vehicle was.
We're particularly interested in whether the vehicle was at petrol stations. Rochelle was burned and there was accelerant we believed to be petrol all over the place.
You're going to hear about multiple sightings on different sides of the road. The tank is on the eastern side of Crooked River Road near the beach, and directly opposite is the entrance to a quarry owned by Cleary Brothers. The witnesses have given approximate times to police, allowing us to construct a timeline, but it's difficult to know the exact order in which the car switched from one side of the road to the other. It was rainy and dark.
None of these witnesses could have predicted the enormity of what they were actually seeing driving through Seven Mile Beach that evening the first suspicious sighting could have been as early as twenty past ten on the Thursday night, four hours before Rochelle's burning body was discovered. These are actors voicing police summaries of their statements.
An Australian Navy Air crewman by the name of David Bryan Oxley was heading home from HMAS Albatross at Naura. Driving north through seven Mile Beach. He saw a car parked on a left verge of Jiroa Road facing north. He noticed the tower lights were on. Mister Oxley told police he'd owned commodorees and was familiar with the tail light configuration. He identified the vehicle as a dark blue early model Commodore VB or VH. He didn't see anyone in or around the car.
That description sounds pretty similar to Rochelle's blue VB Commodore. Between ten thirty and eleven pm, another witness drove past.
Driving north along Dureua Road on June seventh, two thousand and one. Robert James Wilson had just passed Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park when he saw a blue BC Holden Commodore in a car park area on the eastern side of the road opposite the caravan park. He slid down because he thought the car might belong to a friend. He couldn't see the front of the car, but noticed
the boot was open. He told police he saw two people, one with dark hair, lying on the ground and another with sandy colored hair standing next to them.
Did Robert Wilson just see the killer standing beside Rochelle's body? She just meet us from the concrete tank. We know her body never made it inside the tank. This next sighting places the car on the other side of the road.
Between ten thirty and eleven forty PM, Marie and Dallas Akroyd were traveling home to Bomaderry when their attention was drawn to a dark, older model parked car near the gate to the Cleary brother's quarry. It stood out because it was late and isolated, and they remember seeing somebody swump down in the driver's seat like they were trying to hide. Missus Akroyd told police she believes the person was male and of a small build, but she couldn't
be sure. To Ackroyd remembers saying to his wife that seems strange. They didn't see any fire or smoke, so.
By the time the acroids traveled through. The car was on the opposite side of the road to the tank. That makes me wonder what was the killer looking for and why were they moving back and forth? All that movement is risky, suggesting they were becoming increasingly desperate and they needed to cover their tracks. Time was running out.
Around twelve thirty am, Jack Edmund had just finished work at a dairy farm who was driving north on Gireaux Road when he spotted a small car park near Cleary Brothers. Tigh beams are on. He flashed his lights to get the driver to dim them, but nothing changed.
He says his vision was impaired.
By the bright headlights. Didn't see anyone around or any smoke or fire.
Fifteen minutes later, a business owner by the name of Gerardhas was heading home from work. He owned the Cowtex Star mart in South Nara. Mister Has told police he saw a parked car facing south on Giurea Road with its high beams on.
He didn't see anyone then around two am, for the first time, flames was seen in the area.
Shelley Heatherington was driving home late from work when she spotted a fire in the bush.
Traveling through GIRoA.
She told police the flames were almost a meter high and purple and blue in color. Shelley grew up on a farm and it looked like an accelerant fueled fire to her. Then she saw a car with no headlights doing a U turn in the middle of the road right in front of her. She described the car as an older model, square shaped vehicle, similar to an old Holden.
Did Shelley Heatherington almost collide with the killer Fleeing this scene. Was the killer heading back to the Bargo Hotel to dump Rochelle's car. I'm stunned by how many close calls they had. There were no other known sightings of that car that evening. Just fifteen minutes after Shelley saw those blue and purple flames, security guard Craig Duck spotted the fire, pulled his car off the road and discovered Rochelle's body
next to the concrete tank. Rochelle's shoes, her handbag, and her mobile phone, as well as a bedsheet she kept in her boot, were later found dumped at different locations, offering an insight into the killer's likely escape route. When police were looking for evidence, they canvassed to various service stations for CCTV from Bargo to the South coast. But as you'll hear from Detective Scott Cook, some of those tapes were lost.
We're not sure whether they're missing. We may be able to still locate them. A lot of these matters from all around the state have been transferred and moved to different parts of the organization and different police stations as they close and rebuild, and often exhibits such as some of the tapes get mixed up. So we're confident we're still searching through the archives. There was a period in time when a lot of the exhibits from unsolved matters were put in boxes and sent to archives.
But I've discovered police do have two segments of CCTV in their possession. The detectives flagged suspicious. Now remember an accelerant later confirmed to be unleaded. Petrol was used on Rochelle's body, and her blue Commodore was believed to have been driven to GIRoA, just over an hour away from Bargo, so police and Rochelle's family believe her car wouldn't have made it to the South Coast without a pit stop.
Rochelle's parents that bicar was kind and often had to be filled up with petrol every twenty minutes. You mentioned petrol stations already. Is there any CCTV or that sort of technology that you will now.
Look back on.
Yes, any CCTV footage that we have and that we can locate will definitely be re examined. There are new technologies around enhancement processes that may be available.
But police can't explain why the CCTV they do have that's been flagged has never been released to the public or even shown to Rochelle's family to see if anyone in that video recording is identifiable, it will go a long way to rule it in or out of the investigation. For the first time, you'll hear why these segments of CCTV were flagged. The first recording was captured at the South Narrow Celtics service station on the night Rachelle disappeared.
These are the words written in the police log ten PM unknown for VBVH commodore pass entrance to shop parked near entrance possible unknown female out of car, blonde hair, dark top, light, slacks. Then three minutes later, same female in shop motor vehicle parked at the same position. Female has handbag over right shoulder. The car is observed at the petrol station for another seven minutes, then at ten point fifty pm, the log says Commodore blue in front
of shop reversing back. Appears to be a male in front passenger site. The petrol station that captured this security video is only a twenty five minute drive and where Rochelle's body was set alight three hours later. The second piece of CCTV was from a different petrol station nearby, the East Narrom Mobile Service station, on the same night. Just a little later, the police log reads eleven forty five unknown Comodore or dark color, two males. Driver fills
up passenger into shop. Then driver vehicle lights stayed on, blocking regio plate whilst filling up. Two minutes later, the mystery men in a similar card to Rochelle's drive off into the night. You have to wonder was it an accident the car's headlights were left on, or was it a deliberate attempt to disguise the Commodore's number plate. Now this was recorded about two hours before Rochelle was found just nineteen kilometers away. Damien and I are mulling over
the witness statements. While we're at seven Mile Beach, Damien wants to have a look at the location where Jody Fsis was discovered four years before Rochelle.
I'm just going to follow the track down here.
Herehere isn't it.
Rochelle was placed was within three hundred and sixty meters awhere Jody Thesis's body was located. And that's not uncommon for these things to occur in an investigation to throw off the investigators and put them on a different tangent for their investigation. And it's done on purpose so that the heat would come off you if you're involved in this homicide, that you deflect any in questionable conduct that you've been involved in or any suggestion that you may
have been involved. And that's what they do. And it's not out of the ordinary that these things do happen, because they'd have happened.
It would take twenty years for Jody's murder to be solved. In twenty seventeen, her husband, Stephen Frank Thesis, was found guilty of the eighteen year old's murder.
It has taken far too long to make Stephen Thesis pay for his crime and his victim's family can hardly believe the battle is finally over. The cruel, heartless and savage killer jaled for at least sixteen and a half years for strangling Jody Fsis, his eighteen year old wife of just three months in their illa war a lounge room, burying her body in a shallow grave at seven Mile Beach and claiming she had simply disappeared.
Back in two thousand and one, Jody's killer hadn't been caught, so, as it expect, the prime suspect, her husband, Steven Fisis, was investigated over Rochelle's murder. He would give evidence at Rochelle's inquest where he demonstrated he could prove he was working at a woole and Gone club as a security guard on the night Rochelle was killed. Was the fact Rochelle's body was placed so close to the spot where Jody was buried a coincidence or was this done intentionally? Damien has a theory.
It's a smart thinking because you've got an unsold thomaside already, so you put another body within that three to five hundred meters and people are going to be saying whether she was a killer on the list were. In fact it two separated homicides altogether.
Police at the time did quash this serial killer theory, but don't underestimate how many police resources it would take to get to that point. So with Stephen fsis ruled out by police and Sash no longer a person of interest, the list of pois is narrowing.
Oh, don't go.
Shit, it's got to be soon. Shan't get him up the top of here.
Yeah, come.
Yes.
Rochelle treasured her holder and she had big plans for doing it up. She was saving up to paint it cherry red, but after her murder it was cased for forensic testing. There's a story behind how Christy got it back.
So had it for ten years out at Marulin and they said that we could have it back. Did we want it back? Mum and Dad didn't want it, but I wanted it so Dad, because I was broke. Dad put new ties on it and got it transported up to my father in law's house at the time because he had property, So we had it at his house for a little while. Got moved around a couple of times until I moved in the New England region and
I've got one hundred acres up there. Then it just sat in my shed and still it sitting in my shed. So I've got it, but it's not in good nick. They kept it out in the elements, which really annoyed me because the paint was peeling off it. It's very rusty now and it wasn't. It was in mint condition when they took it. I haven't done anything with it because I look at it and go, what happened to you in that car? Were you killed in that car?
Were you dead in that car? I don't think I'm ever going to know, so I would like it to be like a tribute car for her. I'm very sentimental with things.
Christy takes the hold into her old friend and mechanic, Ben Hill. She's keen to know what it will take to turn it into the ride Rochelle had always dreamed off.
This is the most original behind Pine of the fact Sine. Yeah, you've taken to the top of the totem pole. Yeah, there's some reward shit gown on me. Who's going to rad orgy going on? I was expecting one thing.
But you've topped it.
Well, it came.
It honestly came to be looking like this from and it's just been sitting there.
So the whole rat's.
Living in it.
That's me.
But before that, you know, we're sitting out in the middle of nowhere.
They stripped it out of.
It underneath whole car. Get a bucket and sides, wash it and stand back. Get everything out of boot. Punch the rubble buns out going the boot out, seats out of it, half it out, do lousing, do louse. The whole part was it definitely amazing. A little bit of shine does. And then that's the starting point, you know what I mean. You've unwrapped the package. Then it's facing the engine off, tire par shaft out breaks can be rebuilt, Engines can be rebuilt, give boxes, all of that stuff.
But it's just getting the body right.
Fuck, it's the cost and the rust. Once you get the ship off, it's amazing. Your cars are all the time and it's it's cool.
You can see it.
I can see the bear bones under the ship once you clean the ship off.
Here.
I can't know what I'm starting with, but's it's just it's a big job.
Yes, she wanted to be it. Think our driver seriously, And I remember when I first went out to the dealership that she worked, just watching her put all the cars back in and the way she reversed with one hand, and she was amazing.
She was very good.
I didn't know where she was going to head. She started off working for the MacArthur Advertiser and then she got the position then at Cambden Holden. Christy had gone to UNI to do teaching and she regretted not going somewhere and getting something done. But I would lot to I'd love to drive racing cars. I said, that's what you want to do, but it never got that far. We have one of the members.
Of Rocky's team.
Yep, and the other and.
Who was her idol, Rocky number five? Can we come.
Away?
Yep?
Stay in the draft.
On did she meet him? Do you have a memory of her meeting him? Because I know there's that really iconic photo of them together.
She loved him.
A gift or something to receive for someone to go and meet him. I know she went and she did a race around a track here. She kicked up, but she's very happy girl.
Rochelle lived and breathed cars and she was a rising sales star at Camden Holden. She was passionate about the job, and of course it didn't hurt. She was a beautiful blonde in a male dominated industry.
My name's Jim Morrison. I was the general manager of the Camden Holden dealership for four years. I started the dealership when Rochelle had already started as a junior salesperson.
What was Rochelle like to work with?
Did she love her job?
She always seemed enthusiastic. He always pleasant, She was on the up space, she want to say. She was never miserable or christ or anything like that. She used to spend a fair bit of time in reception talking to Fionna. I'd probably chip them both a couple of times about spending too much timely that g Rochelle, Diana's got cars to register or GP only Rochelle's can't keep an eye on the yard while she's in here talking to you.
And that's just a management thing. At the same time, it wasn't a dictatorial type atmosphere, so I wouldn't do that every single time we're talking. It might be one time out of ten, because I tried to garner a just a happy, friendly environment.
Who was Rochelle working with and how would you describe the relationships she had with her colleagues?
Okay, the manager of the used cars that was fellow by the name of Kevin Carrell. I had worked with Kevin previously in another dealership. He was only there a very short time, maybe one or two months. By memory. I don't know a lot of people that know much about him. But I was actually away on a business trip. Fell I was on on the trip with who had worked with Kevin previously. I just mentioned, or did you
know Kevin Carrell from your time where you are? And he said, yeah, just careful when you shake his hand, you might want to check how many fingers you've got to make sure he hasn't stolen any I thought, okay, that's a bit of an old comment. I'll be a little bit guarded.
After Rochelle's death, in your statement to police, you said you came across some inconsistencies in a customer's paperwork.
What were they something to do with the repair that was supposed to be done prior to delivery. My memory is right, and he spoke of it being documented on the contract. I've said, well, look, I'll call you back. I've gone to find the file copy of the contract and it had no record of what he was talking about. I then contacted the customer back to say, look, I
need to see your copy of the contract. Pleased you might if I come out and visit here, which I did, and I was seeing the deposit amounts on one contract and not on another against the same vehicle, and that's when the Penny trocolt there was something underhanded going on. So we just had to take that to the detectives, which was black and white.
It's worth noting all staff at Camden Holden deny any involvement into frauding the company, and nobody was ever charged. So you uncovered a fraud scandal essentially.
Yeah.
Yeah, I would doubt that Rochelle would have been a party to it. I don't think she was just too honest and upfront. I couldn't believe she would be actively evolved in something like that.
Do you think she could have stumbled upon it and was going to expose someone potentially.
It's possible, and that was something that was put to the detectives.
And that would have left her in danger potentially.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
On the next episode of Dear Rochelle, I remember staring at him at the funeral and he wouldn't look at me. Did you ever think is the killer in this church?
Yep?
Do you think he was?
He's another one of certainly of interest where he's got some sort of romantic connections with Rochelle.
I don't know. I just always gave me a bad vibe.
I just like him.
How critical do you think the wal Conshaw is in this puzzle?
Well, if it's used as a ploy to lure you somewhere, then it is very significant.
De Rochelle is a multimedia production from True Crime Australia. If you want to be the first to find out what happens next, go to De Rochelle dot com dot au. That's where News Corp Australia subscribe its get early access to podcast episodes and breaking news in our live investigation before anybody else. And you'll also find exclusive videos, interactive evidence, feature articles and more. That's Deroschelle dot com dot A, D E A R R A C H E W
L E dot com dot au. If you have any tips or confidential information to share with me, Ashley Hanson, please send an email to De Rochelle Atnews dot com dot au. Our supervising producer and audio editor is Rhys Gunter. Rachel Fountain his executive producer and audio director. Our executive editor is Sarah Blake. Our senior journalist is Patrick Carline. Video editors are Jillian McNally, Owen Yang and Stephen Woods. Picture editors are Jeff dr Mannan and Christy Miller Sendy.
Camera operators are Daniel Andrews and Osca Vierra, with sound designed by Martin Perolta. Thanks also to Greg Thompson and Lennie Paneraz, show Burreo Fayguld, Vanessa Graham, Hailey Goddard, Stephen Grice, Charlotte Carp, Tina Coggins and Harry Hughes. Special thanks to The Daily Telegraph editor Ben English and de Rochelle would not be possible without the help and I'm waivering support of Christian Ann Childs, Mindy Wick's Dave, me In Loon
and Rochelle's Friends. This podcast series is hosted and investigated by me Ashley Hanson