What was it like being married to Kevin Correll?
Okay, it was a mixed mixed bag. You know, there was many sides to Kevin, good side, bad side. Get the emotional already. Sorry, it's just hard to talk about it. You can take your time. That's stupid, It's not stupid.
I'm sorry to be opening these wounds. You do want to do this, I do, It's just really hard. I'm Ashley Hanson and this is episode nine of Dear Rochelle, a podcast by True Crime as Australia. We're investigating the unsolved murder of twenty three year old Rochelle Charles. At the beginning of Rochelle's inquest, there were nine persons of interest. At the conclusion, only one man remained uncleared, Rochelle's boss,
Kevin Stephen Carell. In recent episodes, you've heard disturbing allegations from women and men accusing Kevin of serious crimes, including stalking, threatening violence, attempted sexual assault and rape. In the nineteen eighties, Kevin was acquitted of four separate sex assault changes. Kevin also strenuously denies any involvement in Rochelle's murder and has never been changed by police. At the conclusion of the inquest into Rochelle's death, the coroner made an open finding.
You've heard a lot about Kevin's dark past. One thing we've learned during this investigation is that you never know who will find the courage to break their silence. Next.
My name is Elise. That's not my real name. I was married to Kevin Correll for thirteen years.
This episode is a little bit different. It's just a lease in me unpacking her life with Kevin Correll. She left him four years before June two thousand and one, when Michelle was killed. Even with everything you've already heard, Elisa's story is likely to shock you and a heads up. This episode deals with some confronting topics, including allegations of family violence. When did you first meet Kevin?
That would have been in Ah, my goodness, I was still married to my first husband then when I first met him because he was a DJ at the club my first husband, I worked at the club and they used have a go on a Thursday night and a Saturday night, and Kevin was one of the DJs. And I actually knew his partner first. As in partner, I mean the guy that he worked with. I worked for
try to think of his name, Darryl. Darryl and I met him first, and then Daryl introduced me to Kevin, and you know, just everybody knew Kevin like he was the DJ there, so everybody knew who he was. I think the first time Kevin ever noticed me, I was actually about seven months pregnant with my son, and funnily enough, I was just disco dancing seven months pregnant. But that's what we did back then. No, he actually asked Darryl about me, that's right. He said, you know, who's that like,
she's pregnant, who's she married to? And said my husband's name? Because they didn't like each other. Apparently I didn't know that a couple of years later, well quite a few years later when I think about it, because my son was seven when Kevin and I started dating.
What was he like when you started dating him?
Wonderful? Honestly, it was he just swept me off my feet basically, And yeah, I just thought he was just the ants pants. I just thought he was absolutely wonderful. He could be so much fun. He was very generous, like to a fault. He was a pleaser. He tried, always tried to please most of the time, enjoyed his company. He was a fun person to be around. As I said, he had many sides. And when it snapped that, you know, it was just like it was like someone flicked a
switch and it wasn't just his demeanor. His whole face would change. He had his star sign his Gemini and that's two faces, and that was Kevin. That's a nice face and then this ugly face that I didn't even look like the person that I knew, and I mean physically his face would change. That's yeah, and you just never knew when that was going to happen.
What was the moment that you realized that maybe he wasn't the person that you thought he was.
So that's where he was very clever, because that snuck up on me. That was just little things here, you know, things that you maybe notice but don't notice, if you know what I mean, Like it'd be like a okay, and he'd cover it up, like then he'd be nice, he'd cover it up. It was like a joke. He'd make everything to be a joke. So it's really slowly snuck up on me until it was just like one day it was just a big explosion, you know that thought, I don't know why am I here? Like, how did
this happen? How did I get here?
How bad did things get? When you were with Kevin?
They could get pretty bad? Yeah, he'd you know, you have Every couple has their normal arguments, but with Kevin it was a whole other story. It would be a big blow up. And then he'd just speak to me for like two to three weeks, not speak to me, what not one word, and then I'd end up apologizing and everything had been all right. And it got to the point where I started to write down what the argument was about, because after two to three weeks, I'd
forgotten what the argument was all about anyway. So I started to write it down so that when he tried to convince me that it was my fault that we had this argument, I could say, well, no, it wasn't. This is what it was about. So the very first time I did that, that's what his face changed, and it was like, oh, you're going to be a smart ass about it, are you? You know you're going to start writing things down, keeping you know, keeping notes of things that I do. And it said, what do you
think you are? A detective? You know, and just made it like this whole big thing out of it. And all I was trying to do was prove a point to him that you know that you're just sook. You'd go up, you sulk the two to three weeks, and I have to live with you like that. I don't want to live with someone like that. He just drag this thing out and make me suffer. That was what it was. It was suffering.
Did he ever physically hurt you?
He had done. It wasn't a regular thing. It wasn't like you know you have about domestic violence and it happens, you know, day in day out, that typic thing. Though not ever like that. But he did, Yes, yes he was. It was one night we'd been out. This is the main one that sticks in my head because the other ones were just little, when I say little, compared to
this one. We'd been up with my sister and her partner, her boyfriend for dinner and they were driving, so they dropped us home and I must have said something or done something during the night that didn't like I can't remember what it was, now, but I knew he was cranky with me all the way home in the car. I knew he wouldn't speak to me, and I just kept getting filthy looks from him, and even my sister like she kept looking back over and you know, are
you okay? And yeah, you know. I didn't want to make a seen in front of them. We got home and I don't know how i'd ended up, but I ended up in my son's bedroom, and I think I might have been going to go and sleep in there for the night to get away from him. And he came in and he just pushed me back on the bed and he was like punching into me while I was on the bed, and my sister knew that something was going to happen, so she came up knocked on the front door, and that's the reason he stopped. It
happened over thirteen years, probably three times. So And I also said to you about domestic violence. I grew up with it, so that's how I saw domestic violence, how my father was. So what Kevin did to me was nothing like what my mother went through. So you know, now I'm older and I understand domestic violence better. I see that it was domestic violence, but his was more emotional, more what's the word. I'm looking for COEs of control. Yes,
controlling that type of domestic violence. See, I didn't even know that existed before.
Yeah, how did he try and control you?
Well, he bought me my first mobile phone so that he could keep track of me. I thought he was being really nice and buying me a mobile phone, and it was so he could know where I was all the time, because he knows, well, he knew saying he knows, he knew that I wasn't a good liar. So if he rang me and I wasn't where I was supposed to be, he knew that I wouldn't be able to lie about it. I would stutter or stagger, you know,
like just not be able to think like that. Well, I'm, you know, here where I'm supposed to be, you know, I just knew that he knew that I wasn't where I was supposed to be. And it might have just been that I'd left where I was supposed to be early and called him to see a friend or something like that, But no, I wasn't where I was supposed to be. So controlling otherways, well, money, he controlled money. He didn't want me to work. That was the one
thing he didn't want me to work. So while I wasn't working, he had the money, and I used to sayed him and even made up a name for it. I called momo money of my own? Can I have some?
Like?
So, I've got some money in my wallet, you know, if I want to go and buy something you want, you said, well, where do you want to go? What do you want to buy? I'll get it for you, you know. So he just didn't want me to be out and about and all that sort of thing. So and I ended up going back to work anyway. I thought he's not going to get the better of me with that one, so I just you know, And he didn't like it, but he got used to it and he was okay with it in the end.
So how fearful were you of him during your relationship.
Most of the time? Not, That's the strange thing about it. Most of the time. Not until he had one of his snaps, and that that's when I was scared then. But most of the time, no, I wasn't scared. We got on really really well together. We could sit and talk for hours and never run out of conversation. There was always a thing too, if we were out anywhere, any guy looked at me, if he like I might have noticed that any guy looked at me. He would notice that some guy was looking at me, and he'd
get really angry at that. And I'd said, I can't control what other people do. Do you want me to go to every single man in the place and say, do not look at me at all. You know that I'm going to look like a nutcase, you know, just I'm not doing anything to attract like making them look at me. Just control yourself. He would just get so angry if anybody ever looked at me. So he was quite jealous, very jealous, very very jealous. Yes, extremely jealous. Yeah,
just tell me how to wear my hair. Don't wear it this way because that looks too nice. You only wear it like that when you're with me.
Can you talk me through any of the moments where you were fearful of Kevin?
Oh, that night when my sister knocked on the door that night, I was extremely fearful.
Then.
Yes, did he ever threaten you?
Yes, he did threaten me. He threatened to if I ever left him, he would hunt me down and find me. He would cut me up in little pieces, bury me on the beach. In individual spots to cover me in lime so nobody could smell that there was body parts there. Yeah, And then there was another time. Now we were either going down to Nur because Kevin worked down at n Hora, but that was later and I'm not sure why we were going to Nour. I just I can't remember why
we were going there. But we drove past GIRoA Beach and I mentioned as we'd driven past, and said, that's a really nice caravan park on that side. I said, what a lovely spot to have a caravan park, because she just got to walk across the road and there's seven mile beach there, like that would be a fun place to take a family like to go and stay there. And he said to me, and I said, look at all that bush there, and he said, yeah, look at all that bush there. He said, that'd be a good
place to bury somebody. Just make sure you behave yourself. And that's what he said to me then. So then I sort of didn't think much of it at the time, as things sort of happened over the years, so I thought more about it.
Rochelle was killed by someone she knew. His burnt body was found on a lonely South Coast Road found in bush in GIRoA.
She was murdered.
What do you remember about him when he said this? Were you in a car with him?
Yeah, we were just driving along. It was just we weren't arguing, hadn't been an argument. There was no reason for him to say something like that. But that was the type of thing that Kevin could just say offhandedly, you know, quite often. Yeah, it's just I don't even know why he's why he would think said that at that time. There's nothing that I can remember. As I said, I know, we definitely were not arguing at that time, so there was no reason for him to say that.
But he would say strange things like that, and I sometimes I just said to him, where did that come from? Why did you think of that? Like it would have nothing to do with what was happening around us at that moment, but he would just come off with offhanded things like that.
So the particular threat where he said he was going to chop you up and bury you on a beach, and this other threat of you'll end up in there there was Arilla Beach actually that's where he picked How clear is that in your mind?
The Warrilla beach is the most clearest because that was actually describing what he would do to me, So of course that stuck with me. The giau of Beach one was more of a like an offhanded thing. Even though I remember it, it wasn't something that terrified me. You know. It was just like, I'd better watch what I say then or I'll end up there. But it was more of me thinking that was a joke thing at that time, because that was the first time he'd ever said it
to me. The beach one was, you know, he's telling me he's going to cut me up in little pieces and dig holes all over Rula Beach and bury me and put lime on me. I thought lime was to dissolve a body, but apparently it's to stop the smell. I didn't know that he knew that. I've never forgotten it, never ever forgotten it.
Do you have a memory of what year or month he threatened you the.
Rule of beach one. I know we were living in our house. We were there from ninety three, well I was there from ninety three till ninety seven, so it was in that time. Then I couldn't say exactly when.
Let's go back to nineteen eighty three. Is that when you met Kevin.
I'm pretty sure it was towards the end of eighty three.
Yeah, by this stage Kevin had been accused of serious sex assaults. When did you first hear that he'd been accused of sexual assaults?
Not very long into dating, I would say within the first year. He started to tell me a few things here and there. Yeah, he wasn't guilty of it that, you know, Just I asked him to explain, like, what happened? What was going on? You had this all come about? And it was all to do with apparently, this is what he told me. He was dating someone high up
in the police force. He was dating one of their daughters, and this father didn't like Kevin, so he's determined to get him out of his daughter's life, and so he started to make up all these accusations about him, that he Roger Rogerson was involved in it. And I don't even know where that came from. Why he thought it. Maybe Roger Rogerson was in the news at that time. I don't know. Yeah, but he just wound this big story that I believed. It sounded very believable, so I
believed him that he wasn't guilty. That was all circumstantial evidence against him. And yeah, this this is how this high up policeman was going to get rid of him out of his daughter's life.
In that time. You clearly believed him, Is that right?
Yes? I did. I believed one hundred percent that he was not guilty. Absolutely, I believe that. Yeah, he had me totally convinced. I went to a court case with him.
The alleged victim has spoken to the podcast and we've called her Nicole.
The knock at the door, I opened it and it was bam, instant melaclava. The knife was held up here. He pushed me back. He told me that into the bedroom and get my clothes off. He just came straight at me and it was just closed, hard fist.
And I just went down.
It was like I just went smacked down on the bed.
Did you believe Nicole had been attacked when you sat there in the courtroom.
Oh, yes, I believe she'd been attacked, But I didn't believe she'd been attacked by Kevin. I thought it was a case of mistaken identity.
Remember them saying that they have to go and have a look at the munk shots and to don't worry if you see him in the photos, it'll just jump right out, an't you. And that's exactly what happened when I was looking through all the photos. It just jumped, Yeah, literally jumped.
And what led you to believe that she'd got it.
Wrong when she was asked by Kevin's solicitor. Obviously there was a whole lot of questions beforehand, but it came up to what he was wearing on that day, and I'm pretty sure she said it was a sleeveless T shirt, like a tank top, that type of thing. And then his solicitor asked her, so, did he have any markings on him, like track marks or tattoos or anything like that, and she said, no, he had nothing on his arms.
And that's when I knew that it wasn't Kevin, because Kevin had tattoos on his arms and he'd been having them removed. This was before I had met him, been having them removed. And the scars were actually worse than what did the tattoo look like. They were very raised and lumpy, and they looked like burns. So even if she didn't see tattoos, she would have seen burn marks on him. Just knew that. I thought, well, that it's not Kevin, So I knew one hundred percent.
What do you believe now?
I believe it was him. I can still remember when the jury came back and one of the juris that was a lady Dura, and I think she must have known who I was, even though I was just sitting in the audience. She at me and gave me a smile, So I knew that he was going to be not found guilty.
And how has that played on your mind over the years.
I I just can't believe I was with somebody like that. I just as I said, if I knew back then what I know now, there's no way I especially would never have taken my children into a relationship like that.
When you marry Kevin, what was his name Cornwall? And how long after? Your marriage did not be changed?
Very long after? I was only actually Cornwall was on my marriage certificate. But basically straight away we use the name Correll.
Do you know why he chose the name Correll?
Which I think it was just something he thought up. I don't know that he'd ever heard anywhere, because he just said to me, I've chosen a name that I'm going to change my name to And I said what is it? And he said Correll And I said, Oh, that's a nicer name than Cornwall. I didn't like the name Cornwall.
Did he tell you why he wanted to change his name.
Because of all the things that had been going on before, so he could start afresh, have a clean slate, It would not be associated with the name Cornwall whatsoever. Basically, yes, so it would be easier to get a job and that type of thing, just to have a clean, fresh start.
How convincing was Kevin?
Extremely, Like I've never known anybody in my life that could tell a story so convincingly that there was no margin of err out there that you just go, that doesn't sound right. It was I don't know how where it came from, how he figured the sort of stuff out that he could make it so convincingly.
And how quickly could Kevin come up with a story that.
Quick, snap my fingers that quick that We'd be with friends and I we'd be talking and out of the blue would come this lie And I think, how did you think of that light so quick? Like it's not like you knew what the conversation was going to be about beforehand. But in the blink of an eye he made up this lie. And as I said, I knew when he was lying because what he's telling the lie, he had his hand over his mouth, and I thought, you're lying. That never happened. And I'd say to him
later on, why did you say that lie? He said, sounded like a good story, you know, just made the night more interesting, Just something flippant like that.
Just when did it become apparent to you that he was a liar?
That took a while for me to get that through my thick head. Yeah, that did take a while, I guess, just the it happened, the more I just realized. You know, I never understood why he had to tell lies. People liked him for who he was, so he didn't have to tell lies and make himself sound better or bigger than what he was. He didn't need to do that. There was no need to do that. People liked him just the way that he was. So it was just
I never understood why he did it. It was like it was born in him and he couldn't help himself. That's just the way he was.
How did you respond when some of these rape allegations were broadcast on national television.
This is Michael Willisey speaking.
I'm sorry, did you participate in an interview with Mike Willersey? How did that come about?
They were doing their primos, obviously for the Willasey Show, and then I watched the very first Willisey Show, and at that stage I believed everything Kevin had said to me, and they were bringing up things that I thought were lies. So I rang the Willisey Show and said, you know you're telling lies on national TV about this man. You know it's none of it's true. So they asked me to come in and do an interview with them, which now, when I think back, I wish I'd never done that interview.
I was just young and blinded and just just swept up in the whole Kevin Aura thing.
Do you regret that you protected him back year?
Is absolutely absolutely? I do. Yeah, As I said, if i'd known then what I know now, there's no way.
When did you decide that you had to leave Kevin?
That was in nineteen ninety seven, Yeah, I'd had enough. I just I want to say that I had a nice life. I had a beautiful house, I had nice car, I had nice clothes, I had everything, but I just could not live like I was walking on eggshells all the time. It just was really starting to get to me. I just did not want to be there anymore. And I walked out, basically with a couple of suitcases of clothes and a couple of boxes. I just left everything
everything there, furniture, everything, everything. I just left. That was it.
And did he try and get you back?
Obviously I knew that was going to be on the cards because he'd done that before. So I went overseas and I stayed over there for two years in the hope that he would move on and forget about me, and then I could come back and just lived my life here without him. Did that happen? Well, yes, I went overseas and he'd still tried to find me. I found out, you know, through family members and that he was looking for me. He would likely being no stone
unturned trying to find me, and he didn't. So and two years I thought, well, I'll go back and just see what happens. I could always leave again if I had to, and he'd obviously moved on.
And yeah, were you fearful of Kevin when you decided that you were going to leave him.
Oh absolutely, I was with my staying at my mum's place for six weeks before I left to go overseas.
Yeah.
I would not walk out of the house without checking left and right and making sure there was no cars hanging around that shouldn't be there. I used to walk every day, what a good two hours, and I'd be looking over my shoulder all the time. If a car would slow down behind me, I'd check and make sure it wasn't him. It was very, very fearful for me. And I wasn't only fearful for me. I was fearful he might do something to one of my family members.
As you said yourself, you've known Kevin probably the longest out of anyone outside of his own family.
Yeah.
What makes him so dangerous.
The fact that he can just snap. It's like he's got a dark passenger or something living inside him, and the switch clicks and the dark passenger takes over. Yeah, it's scary to watch it actually, to see when that happens, because, as I said, his face changes, it contorts, it's not his face. And I even told him, I said, after one of those incidents, is a couple of weeks later or whatever. I said, your whole face changes. I said, it's ugly. It's an ugly face. And he was shocked.
He was absolutely shocked that I would say that about him and that his face would change that way. I said, I can't explain it to you, Kevin, I said, you do not look like yourself when this face takes over. It is like it's another person's face. That was very scary.
Did you get an understanding of what triggered him?
It could be anything. It was so hard to pinpoint what not to say or what not to do. It could be anything that he didn't like. And who knows what everybody like, you know, anybody likes it at any particular time. It would just you know, it could just be a word. So if you can imagine an angel all of a sudden turning black, you know, if you can see that picture, You've got an angel floating in front of you and then all of a sudden it goes black and ugly. That's the only picture.
Had he ever change while you were in a car with him?
Actually, I can remember him smack him in the face ones when we were driving, but I don't remember where we were going or what we were doing. Just just the memory came back to me. He was driving because he had a ring on. I think it was a black stone, might have been Onyx or something like that. Any pun shmun left a mark behind my ear for about a week. Yeah, he got me sort of right there. That the longer we were together, the more he started to show him his true self. He couldn't keep covering
it up, he couldn't keep hiding it. It would come out more and more. But I will say the time, the whole time that we were together, I did not know of Kevin doing anything to anybody. Ever. He would go to work, he was a workaholic, he would come home. He didn't frequent pubs or clubs. I mean we would go to clubs together, obviously, and we would see bands and stuff like that, but he was not a pub goer,
not a huge heavy drinker. I mean we both drank, but not you know, to the point where he was a drunk or doing it a day in and day out. It wasn't like that. Just I think he was a calm, fairly calm person with me compared to what I know him to be now. I don't know how to explain it. It's very hard to put it into words, but I think I had a calming effect on him, and that's why he didn't get into any trouble in the time
that we were married. There was nothing, ever, ever, that was brought up or happened while we were married.
I'm fascinated to get your insights about the relationship between a young woman who would have looked up to someone like Kevin in the workplace and how much they trusted him. Could he be capable of abusing that trust?
Absolutely absolutely. It'd work with quite a few young girls over the years, and I couldn't tell you what the roles were of these girls, but I can remember one day and I'm trying to think of the name of the car Yad. I'd gone down to see him about something, and I walked into his office and he was in there with this young girl and they were having lunch, and straight away I knew exactly what Kevin he was
flirting with her. I knew that something was going on, so I just Okay, I'll see you later, and I just left. I I was just horrified and shocked. There was another time when he had his own kyard, which was the Okay corral and i'd gone there. I walked into his office again and there was this young girl in there having lunch together. Now, normally you don't do that with your yard person. They eat outside or you've
got somewhere else for them to eat. But being that it was just a small car out of the okay, were they just having lunch together? But he said something to me, and I to this day I cannot remember, and I'm trying. I've tried so hard to remember what it was that gave me the idea that there was something going on here. And I just left, and I can still remember because I had a brand new car and I backed out of the driveway the car and
I just spun my wheels and left. And it was first time I've ever spun my wheels in my life. And I was so angry about something. But honest to God, I cannot remember what it was.
When did you hear about Rochelle's murder?
I got a phone call from my sister that the police had been to. My sister lived at my mother's place and the police had been there and they said it's to do with a murder. And my sister was just and my mum was absolutely shocked. You know they now, I would never have heard it anybody. But anyway, my sister rang and said, you know, the police want to talk to you about this murder and give me a phone number for you to ring. I had no idea. I as far as I could remember, I had not
heard about the Rochelle Charles's case. I might have seen it on the news and not really paid attention to it or you know whatever, but I had not heard about it until then when I rang the police and they told me that it would say they were looking into Kevin. What year was that, two thousand and three?
And did you talk to police?
Yes?
I did, Yes, They came out and visited me. Actually they were probably there for about half an hour and I didn't hear from them again until it came up about a sheet that they'd found and the way they put it across. And I don't know if I read it in a newspaper or heard it on the news, I'm not sure now, but it was an unusual sheet. And I remember this sheet that I had that was one of my mum's and she had it for a long long time, and it was a double bed, pure
linen sheet. And linen back then was different to what linen sheets are now. It was a very heavy, thick material, and I knew I had one of those, and I'd left that behind when I'd left Kevin, and so that made me think, an unusual sheet. Well, there's not that many of those around anymore, so I thought it might have been that sheet. So I rang the police and they said, can we bring it out and you have
a look. And as soon as I saw it, I knew it wasn't the sheet that I was thinking about, and I said, no, that's not the sheet I'm thinking about that. To me, that just looked like an everyday sheet. So I said no. So they left and then maybe I don't know, maybe six months later or something, they come out and visited again and wanted to have a chat. And I really can't remember anything much about the questions that they asked me, other than what kind of videos
Kevin liked to watch. That's the only thing I can actually remember that They asked.
Me, did you go and do a formal statement?
No?
Were you called to give evidence at the US?
I was not.
Did that surprise you would also?
Absolutely being that I'm probably the person that knewing the best out of anybody. You know, I spent thirteen years with him. Don't know anybody else that spent that long with him other than his parents.
Were you shocked in the sense that he was being investigated over a murder?
No, not really, not in that sense.
No.
When police speaking to you about your relationship with Kevin, were you forthcoming with how he treated you?
They didn't ask me. As far as I remember, they did not ask me. My mind was in a total fog with all that. I just I couldn't believe that poor girl was not yere anymore.
Could you have been in a state of shock that you didn't feel comfortable in that moment to be forthcoming about his threats?
And more than likely because I haven't really told anybody about them. I know I never told my mother any of that. She would have been absolutely devastated. I told I might have told my daughter, I'm not sure.
Yeah.
Just the only person I've really told is my partner. Now, yeah, that's who I remember. I definitely know I've told. Yeah, I just I keep stuff like that to myself. You know, I'm a very like the Royal family. Never never explain. I never complained, that's yeah.
So what's prompted you to speak now?
Just as a mother?
Yes, these are difficult things to discuss. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're going through this and you are willing to speak so freely about about that time in your life.
It was a time I tried. I just wanted to forget it. I tried so hard to forget it. I'm embarrassed and ashamed that I even is.
With him, Alice, You've done nothing wrong.
I just that poor girl, her parents, especially a mom.
Her sister. I'm a sister, I'm a mother, and I would that had happened to someone I loved. I would want someone like me to come forward.
You're being incredibly brave to speak out and talk.
About I feel I feel sometimes like it's my fault. I thought I'd brought it all on myself by being young and stupid, and I was a single mom for quite a while, and I was so happy to have someone in my life that was going to help me. That that's what it felt like to start with that. That certainly changed later on because he was not nice to my kids at all. He started off very as to them. He had them totally fooled as well. And then he showed his true colors there as well. And
I will never forgive him to that. He put a wedge between.
My kids at night. That took a long chime. It took a long time to me.
To repair it.
Get a stake, let's have a break, Okay.
What sort of a father was Kevin.
He was a very loving dad with his kids. He was very attentive towards them, probably too much. He was a bit overbearing with them, but yeah, he was. I would say he's a good daddy. He's very good with small children, not so good with older children.
Can you tell me about his family?
Yeah, they're an entity on their own. That family, I just say, I've never ever met another family like it. I don't particularly want to meet another family like it. Just a very strange, very strange group of people. Things that were set around the lunch table and stuff like that. That just absolutely shocked me. I don't actually think they were a family like everybody thinks of a family. As I said, they're in an entity of all on their own.
I was interested to ask Elise what memories she had of Kevin's brother, Raymond Cornwall. She was married to Kevin when police arrested him for a series of sex attacks, including the rape of a thirteen year old girl.
Yes, I've met Raymond of God. Yeah. Never really liked Raymond. He always seemed very sleezy to me. I remember one day I was in their dining room and the dining table and Raymond was sitting there and I was standing to his left and I had a pair of short shorts on because I was quite slim back then, and he just run his hand up the back of my leg, and you know, it made me jump away, and I knocked his hand and I said, raym and don't do that. And Ken said, what did you do? I said, rub
his hand up my leg, and he just laughed. He thought it was funny, and the whole family laughed. They thought it was funny. I didn't think it was funny, Just sleazy things like that. Yeah. The only thing I ever saw that was really strange with Raymond was he came home from work one day, he went into his bedroom and he didn't come out for twelve months, only to have a shower and eat. That was it. He
stayed in his bedroom for twelve months. And then I found out later on obviously it was because the police were looking for him.
And when they found him, Raymond confessed to his sickening crimes and went on to spend most of the next two decades behind bars. And what about Kevin's dad.
He was a sane He was a sleeve as well. Yeah, you had to give him a kiss on the cheek when you came in. So you go to give him a kiss on the cheek and he turned his face and tried to stick his tongue down your throat, and everybody laughed at that. They all thought that was really funny.
How many siblings does Kevin have?
Twelve? There was thirteen of them, and have any of them passed? I only know if his younger brother, Victor. Yeah, he committed suicide while I was with Kevin.
Did that come as a shock his suicide.
Yeah, actually it did because he had two or three I'm not sure if there was three children. I think he might have had three very young children at that stage. So yeah, it did shock me.
What sort of a stepfather was Kevin started, Well.
He wasn't a step father to them then, but when we were first dating and that he was wonderful with my kids. He was Yeah, he s bought them rotten. They thought he was the ant pants. He was just wonderful to them, and then he just slowly started to turn on them, and the majority of it went to my son. I don't know why he chose to do that to my son. Maybe it was a personality conflict.
I don't know, I could. I don't understand that because he was the adult and my son was only seven years old, you know, that's how old he was when actually Kevin was at his seventh birthday, so he was just turning seven. And yeah, he changed towards my kids and he was just he was better towards my daughter, but still he could be very, very nasty. He bought her a bedroom set at one stage, and then he got really angry with her over something I can't remember
what it was. So he sold her bedroom set and then he brought it back for her, and when they made up, like bought a similar one. It wasn't the same one back, but he bought another bedroom set for her, you know, just things like making sure their life wasn't on an even keel. He was up and down and up and down. It was. Yeah, he was really horrible to them, really horrible to them.
How would you describe the Kevin Carrell that you learned to be.
With sneaky, conniving, a liar, then, on the other hand, charismatic, funny, charming, generous, fun to be around. Everybody liked him. I don't think I ever met a person while I was with him that did not like him. In our friend group that we made. I knew there were people obviously that didn't like Kevin from before I knew him, because he just had this thing that he could he could just weave this little magic spell over people somehow, and yeah, everybody thought he was a great guy.
Is there any way you can put into words of how much hurt and pain Kevin has caused you and your loved ones?
There? I know what's But if I could go back, I wouldn't be here because I would never have known him. I would I mean, I would have known him, but I wouldn't have been ever been with him. And if I had listened to other people, I still wouldn't be here today because I wouldn't have been with him. But I wouldn't listen to other people. I thought I knew better. I thought I was an adult and I wasn't I was. I was too easily influenced, and yeah, I just it
would not have happened. If if I was a person then what I am today, that would never have happened.
When you think about Rochelle and the victim in this story, how does it leave your feeling devastated.
From day one? I just I've thought about that poor girls so many times over the years.
Now we have one of the members.
Of Rocky's team, ye and the other and as I set before, as a mum and as a sister, I can't imagine what they've been going through. And if that was someone I loved and it had been going on this long, I would absolutely be beside myself and I would pray that somebody would come forward that could help. And that's why I wanted to do this. I didn't want to do this by any means. I thought about not doing it. I just couldn't stand the thought of thought that poor mother and her sister and her father
are going through with this. I just thought if I could help in any little way, any little way at all, then I wanted to do that. It'd be probably one of the good things that I've done in my life.
Was Kevin a misogynist. How did he view women? I think he had a very low opinion of women, very much. So, Yeah, I just I don't think he liked women in general.
I really don't. I think he found them probably threatening. I think he thought they were second class citizens. I think he thought we were just he put on earth for men. Yeah, that was my impression I got from him over the years. Yeah.
Would you be willing to talk to police now about your relationship with Kevin and those threats?
Absolutely? Yeah, absolutely. I don't have that fear that I had before. I mean, I'm still worried about what is going to think when he hears this, But he's older now, so I don't have and I'm stronger, so I don't have that fear that I used to have.
What would you say to anyone that is holding back information from police?
Please don't. It's hard. I know it's hard, especially if you were close to Kevin. You don't owe him anything, You don't owe him any loyalty whatsoever. He would never do that for you. He would just help bring justice for Michelle, for her sister, for her mother and her father and anybody else that loved Rochelle. Just give them peace of mind.
I've got something to show you you ready.
Hi, I'm Christie, I'm Rochelle's sister. I just wanted to send you a message just to thank you for being willing to talk about your relationship and your experiences with Kevin, which I can only imagine it's going to be hard to relive. So thank you so much for doing.
This for Michelle.
We really really appreciate your.
Support, and so does my mum. It's women like you who make our team really, really strong, and I just really thank you for standing up and standing with us. And I just think you're incredibly fucking brave. So welcome to Teamshell.
That's lovely.
Do you feel proud of yourself for doing this?
I just don't feel proud. I don't feel proud. I feel I feel like I am trying to find the words. I feel like I'm giving or helping, helping get them a gift, hopefully the gift for a solution. You know that they can maybe sleep a little bit better at night. And as has said, it's coming way too late, way way too late. They should have had this a long time ago, and somebody should have been paying for it
a long time ago. To have had all those years out there just living their life the way that you know, not missing out on anything, and Rashel missed out on everything.
You've shown so much courage having this discussion with me about a traumatic time in your life, and we are extremely grateful.
The worst part of is now I'm going to think about it all over again, and I was trying to get over it. That's the hard part for me, because I just I never wanted to think about him again. And I can honestly say he might have over the last twenty eight years popped into my head maybe half a dozen times if that, and the only reason of that is because of this case. Otherwise I would not have thought about him at all.
What do you want people to know about Kevin Correll.
Is not to be trusted. Just run as fast as you can do not be anywhere near this man. If you're a friend, if you're involved with him, just he will only cause you grief and you don't need grief in your life. Life is too short. Just do not be involved.
Do you think that Kevin played on your vulnerability?
Absolutely? Now I look back, Yes, absolutely, absolutely he did.
Yep, absolutely, I put Elsa's accusations to Kevin Correll and hours before we publish this episode, he responded, I emailed Kevin this, Hi, Kevin, I think it's important to tell your side of the story, not just in relation to Rachelle's case, but also fresh allegations from your ex wife. These are the latest questions I put to him.
One did you ever.
Threaten to kill Elise and bury her body parts at Wrilla Beach and cover her body in line?
Two?
Did you ever physically assault Elise during your marriage? Three? Did you threaten to kill her and bury her at Jiroa Beach?
Four?
Did you ever behave in a way which was intended to leave Elise in view of her life? I look forward to your response, and here it is ree your fair and balanced inquiry. From the sensationalized headlines to your fresh allegations. Nothing has been fair and balanced during this investigation. Over the past twenty three years, I've been interviewed by detectives numerous times. I've attended the inquest and cooperated with police,
supplying my DNA and answering all their questions. The new allegations from my ex wife should help your podcast ratings sell your newspaper, so I will answer your four questions. I vehemently deny these allegations and the answer is no to all four questions. Sincerely, Kevin Correll coming soon on Dear Rochelle. Have you still got eyes on his car? Yeah?
I'm right behind it. And the way he did is to watch the shell. I can picture him now, just sort of like leering at her. Okay, he's just John the Red Lake.
And I said to him, you know exactly who I am.
He got out of the vehicle and as he did so with his hands up, his pants came down.
His doors are grooms, He's in and around everything like he's just there and exactly what I can tell these people.
So you need to get out of my.
Way, Kevin Corral, I'm actually Hanson. I'm a journalist from News Corp.
Other way, watch out, Dan.
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If you have any tips or confidential information to share with me, Ashley Hanson, please send an email to de Roshelle at news dot com dot AU. Our supervising producer and audio editor is Rehees Gunter Rachel Fountain, his executive producer and audio director. Our executive editor is Sarah Blake. Our senior jour list is Patrick Carline. Video editors are Gillian McNally, Owen Yang and Stephen Woods. Picture editors are Jeff dr Mannon and Christy Miller Sydney. Camera operators are
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