June 7, 2025 • 37 mins
A young woman murdered in an Australian country town. People too afraid to speak for decades are finally breaking their silence. What happened in 23-year-old Rachelle Childs' final nine hours?
Now, 24 years since Rachelle was murdered, an unstoppable cold case team has assembled to drive this live investigation.
Tips from the public are pouring in - could you hold the missing piece that cracks the case?
Dear Rachelle is hosted and investigated by journalist Ashlea Hansen, who teams up with retired detective and renowned cold case specialist Damian Loone.
Listen to this preview episode and search for Dear Rachelle in your podcast app and hit "follow" to have new episodes delivered to your feed. Eligible News Corp Australia subscribers receive new episodes early at dearrachelle.com.au and enjoy access to videos, articles, interactive evidence and more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Here we have Rachelle Childs suiting up for qualifying stint.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Is it going to be a blinder?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Get the hell?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're on language loved and this is the beginning lesson.
We're gonna watch Rachelle goes, who oh where are carding now?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
And here we go.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
It's a sunny day at Wakefield Park Raceway, about a
two hour drive south of Sydney. Rochelle is wild about cars,
and she's wearing her favorite sports sonnies and gear up
in a racing suit. Her blonde hair is pulled back
in a ponytail and she's beaming with excitement. She's moments
away from jumping behind the wheel of a hotted upholder.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Can you lask rus before we go?
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (00:56):
Hey girl?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
That driving experience was a gift for her twenty first birthday,
and it's the final recording. Rochelle's family has to hold
on to.
Speaker 6 (01:10):
The death of Rochelle Child.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Twenty three year old disappeared from a pub in Bargo.
She planned to meet someone there whose burnt body was
found on a lonely South Coast road. Her body was
found in bush in GIRoA.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
She was murdered.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
The worst thing you could say to any individual, is
you're a murder and you kill my daughter.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Rochelle was killed by someone she knew.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
We'd like to find out who did it and why.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Evidence points to a crime cleverly planned, but still the
killer wasn't caught.
Speaker 7 (01:42):
My name is Christie Child's and this story is about
my beautiful sister, Rochelle Child's. She was violently taken from
us when I was just eighteen. Shechelle was vivacious, hilarious
and kind. She was everything to me growing up, my mentor,
(02:05):
my protector, my best friend. I looked up to her
so much, and now I know she's looking down on me,
willing me to find the person who killed her.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I'm Ashley Hanson and this is Dear Rochelle, a podcast
about a popular twenty three year old who was adored
by her family and friends. Nobody has ever been charged
over Rochelle's murder. From True Crime Australia.
Speaker 8 (02:38):
This is the untold story of Rochelle Charles.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Hi, how are you? For the past year, I've been
working closely with Christy to reinvestigate her sister's murder. We're
on a mission to finally expose who killed Rochelle. For
more than two decades, Rochelle's family has been fighting for justice.
(03:18):
This case should never have been left to run cold.
I've been covering crime for over twenty years in Australia
and my job as a reporter has taken me around
the world. I thought I was prepared for anything until
I started investigating this case. The chilling fear that surrounds
(03:41):
Rochelle's murder has made this story the most challenging of
my career. I've even been warned by former cops to
tread very carefully. Any advice for me following this story
you were suggesting you're going to do, I wouldn't carry
that out you.
Speaker 9 (04:00):
That's thought that you should be aware of what you
were doing.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Sometimes you get lost in your work and you don't
realize what you've done until it's too late. Well, as
I said to you before you're poking a beer.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I do take that advice seriously. But while a cold
bloody killer and suspected rapist is walking free, no woman
is safe and I just can't let Rochelle's family down.
Our investigation is uncovered damning new evidence, Innocent people who've
been too afraid to speak out for decades are breaking
their silence for a shell. You'll hear from friends and family,
(04:40):
investigators and key witnesses who've never spoken before. Some of
the brightest minds from our criminal justice system are helping
to reinvestigate her murder. Is it possible the killers through
the investigation so far off course it was impossible to
solve was the acting alone? Were there the darker forces
(05:01):
at play?
Speaker 5 (05:05):
When you're dealing with sex offenders it takes years of
experience to realize how clever they are.
Speaker 10 (05:11):
Fucking Blame on me because I'm in a by plot.
Speaker 7 (05:14):
My worst fear is that person who killed Rochelle has
killed again.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Over the years, police identified nine persons of interest or pois,
and the coroner comprehensively examined Rochelle's death, which still didn't
lead to anyone being charged. But what really gets to
the families the lack of action by police to reopen
her case. Here's Christie Child straight after a meeting with
the New South Wales Unsolved Homicide Squat in early twenty
(05:48):
twenty four. Christy's an assistant principal at a primary school,
so you know she's taken notes.
Speaker 7 (05:55):
It is that I don't know and I said so
you're not across this case and he said no, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And I said who is and he said no one.
Speaker 7 (06:03):
He said, so no one in unsolved form societies across
this case and already said no.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Christine Omman have been let down so many times. This
podcast could be their final shot through it all. They've
held on tightly to their memories.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Talking chins that were completely different personalities. She was just
out there more, you know. She was lovely and loud,
and Christy was just this soft little mouse.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
It was sweet.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
That's part of the dancing days. She looked up to
Chrissy looked up to the show. She really did. She
thought she were Ant's pants. Now they'll find they'll find together.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right up through Prime.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It was lovely. It was a really good relationship.
Speaker 11 (07:00):
My name is Lisa and I was Rachelle's best friend
for her entire life.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
We owned horses together.
Speaker 11 (07:07):
You know. We were dancing five days a week when
we were young, so that was a lot of time
we were spending. We removed a little a moving panel
in between our fences. You know, we'd jump over the
fence to jump.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
In each other's pools.
Speaker 11 (07:19):
And to have her in my life, to navigate the
good and the tough times. There were some tough times
where we grew up in Glenfield, particularly for myself being
of a Mediterranean background, and I got bullied and she
was my saving grace.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
She was amazing.
Speaker 11 (07:34):
She had away with people and away with the bullies
and had a lot of power, you know, and she
could stop them from hitting me. But she made something
that could have been utterly horrific manageable from opening barb
wide fences and helped me run through so I could
escape before they caught me to distracting them.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
CHRISTI just turned eighteen when she moved in with Rochelle
in Bargo, an hour south of the hustle and bustle
of Sydney. It's a one pub town, the kind of
place where you run into your neighbor when you pop
out to grab the milk. There's a small strip of
shops with a bakery, a supermarket, an a vet. They
were renting a modest three bedroom brick home on a
small farm in town. If Rochelle wasn't restoring Holden's, she
(08:27):
was with her animals on the idyllic six acres That
was her happy place. Sheelle needed the space mostly of
the horses, but she also had a cat and an
enormous Australian bulldog named Rolfe. By her early twenties, she
was selling used cars at a dealership in Camden, a
quaint town about half an hour away from Bargo. One
(08:50):
of the biggest perks of Rochelle's job a license to
borrow shiny cars off the lot.
Speaker 7 (08:57):
We had big plays for the weekend and she was
supposedly getting a veal ss group A otherwise known as
a walking straw, because there was one coming into the
car that her boss had told her about and she
was so excited because she got to take it home
for I believe she was having the Friday off, so
(09:18):
she was going to have this walk control for four days.
So we had big plans about where we were all
going to go in this car because it's such a rare,
beautiful car that not many people get to drive around in,
so we're all very excited.
Speaker 9 (09:36):
My name's Fierra Anda. I knew Rochelle for about two
years when we worked to Camden Holden together.
Speaker 12 (09:41):
Well.
Speaker 9 (09:41):
I was the hired as the receptionist and registration's clerk
and she was in used cars. Work was just funny,
we'd smoke, we'd have lunch together. Sometimes. It was just
a good place to work. But you know, like I
enjoyed it, she enjoyed it. She loved the talking to people,
(10:01):
and that was her gab. Anyone who came on the yard,
she'd be there talking to them. She didn't care if
they bought a car. She was just happy talking to them.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Really, locals, remember the dealerships used car office because it
was pretty iconic. They did business from inside a refurbished
red train carriage.
Speaker 9 (10:19):
So my office was in the showroom and to get
to the train station you had to walk along a platform.
It was a train platform. It was basically as if
a train had pulled up. It was an old red rattler.
Speaker 7 (10:32):
Ruschall's office was, you know, not too far in, but
it was pretty much there.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
So did you ever come here and see Rochelle?
Speaker 7 (10:40):
And she was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I was here
quite often for whatever reason, pick up things, pick her up. Yeah, now,
I was here quite often. I used to watch her
move the cars around. So here was you know, all
of the used cars, and to watch her move the
cars around to get them into the right spot. It
was like watching in ballet like it was such a
(11:02):
precision where it's just such a good driver.
Speaker 9 (11:06):
She used to do a Caf and Kim dance, you
know the CAF dance where Cat does the donkey. She'd
do that going down the platform of Camden. I would
not just stand at the showroom just laughing all the
way as she do a little dance down the platform
back to her Offen.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
The Fi owner Lisa Rochelle and her little sister Christi
were a tight crew until the seventh of June two
thousand and one, the Thursday ahead of the long weekend.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Here's Christie.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
I was at Mum and Dad's house because they were away,
so I was at their house. I remember she called
me on her way home from work. I was on
you know when you used to have like the second
line on the landline. I was on the phone to
my best mate from school and I heard the call
come through and I said, I'll just answer this quickly.
So I jumped over to the other line and it
(12:07):
was Rochelle and she was driving.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Because she always spoke so far. She just said hey, Chris, Michelle, and.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
I said, hey, I'm on the other line. Erin and
she went, oh, right here, call me back. I say okay, bye,
and that was it.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I hung up. That was the last time I spoke
to her.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
That was at exactly five point fifteen pm on Thursday,
the seventh of June two thousand and one. A minute later,
it's believed Rochelle flicked a cigarette butt out the window
of her blue nineteen seventy eight Holden Commodore as she
drove along the Old Hume Highway through Camden, heading towards
her home in Bargo. A council ranger happened to be
(12:48):
driving behind her and noted down the daytime and number
plate GV two thousand. The officer didn't see the driver,
but Rochelle was a smoker. Fine for littering was later issued,
but of course it would never be paid. Rochelle's exact
movements over the following nine hours remain a mystery. In
(13:17):
the early hours of Friday morning, security guard Craig Duck
is on duty and heading to his next job. He's
passing through seven Mile Beach, one hundred kilometers south of
Bargo in the coastal town of GIRoA, when he suddenly
compelled to stop.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
So off I get I'm driving through I've seen this
fire on the right hand side, and I've gone in.
This is where I don't forget anything because it plays
on my mind all the time. I've walked in and
I didn't think much of it. I'm trying to kick
this fire out and as I'm kicking scend onto it,
(13:56):
it's coming back at me. Fee I said, it's ain't right,
and I thought, okay, I'm only grab my torch because
this is not normal. So we went back out the
same way I went in, grabbed me a torch and
all of a sudden, I got this flash of a
gold in the face and I'm going back and there
was a Bengal on a hand.
Speaker 13 (14:20):
And I'm going Wow.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Made that phone call again a triple A in saying
this is Craig Duck again. I need police here as well.
I've got a crime scene.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
At this stage.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Rochelle's family and friends have no idea she's even missing.
Fiona recalls canceling her plans to meet Rochelle that night.
Speaker 9 (14:48):
We'd organized for these drinks on the Thursday to go
and have a drink, and I.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Said, I'm not going to go.
Speaker 9 (14:53):
I've been on the phone all night. I'm just going
to go home, and we had that conversation down in
the train carriage where anybody could have heard that conversation,
that the plans had changed, that she was just going
straight home.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
And what was the moment that you realized something was wrong.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
I got a phone call from Fiona. It was a
Friday morning, or around lunchtime, and Fie said, I can't
get hold of Rochelle and I don't know where she is.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Rochelle's rosted off on the Friday, but she tells Fiona
she's going to be popping into work anyway, but she
never turns.
Speaker 9 (15:35):
Up the Friday night. When I got down to her face,
I'd been trying all day for her. Not to have
a mobile on was really unusual, and she knew I
was coming on the Friday.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I can't find her. She's not answering her phone.
Speaker 9 (15:50):
When I arrived at her house, the lights were.
Speaker 7 (15:53):
All on, the car's not here, Ralfi hasn't been fed,
and the telly was still on, and I went, oh, okay,
So I tried to call.
Speaker 9 (16:00):
And the windows were like, the blinds were open. I
could see it looked like she'd literally just left, gotten
changed and left.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
It was Friday night that we realized something was seriously
wrong because no one had heard from her all day,
and that was very unusual. She would talk to multiple
people multiple times a day, so to not be able
to get hold of her, it was very strange. So
that's when that's when it started to get real. Friday afternoon.
(16:35):
That night, we called police stations. We called all of
the hospitals. We traveled around up and down the road
to see whether we could find maybe she had an accident,
because we.
Speaker 9 (16:45):
Were just trying anywhere to say as anything happened, is
there any police stations, you know, like just frantic.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
My best friend's missing and I'm really worried.
Speaker 7 (16:58):
And then the next day I'd printed out posters that
said missing and her picture and I can't even remember
where I went, but giving it to everyone in the community.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I had a.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
Job where I used to cook the barbecue. I had
three jobs, but one of them while I was at union.
One of them was to cook the barbecue at the
markets on a Saturday morning, and she was supposed to
come there and she was going to bring her friend's
daughter today with her. So I went there because I
thought she said she was going to come, So I
just waited for her for hours and hours and hours,
(17:31):
and I can't remember the beautiful lady I worked with there.
At about ten o'clock, she said, you need to call
your parents, and that's when I called Mama dad and
said she's missing.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I can't find her.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
The everyone was just very displaced, and Christie rang us
on the Saturday and said that I can't find Michelle.
I thought, what he mean, you can't find that? She's somewhere?
Maybe she stay did her friend's place last night?
Speaker 4 (17:55):
And what was that drive like back to Bargo.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I don't remember. It was just a big blur. I
went straight to Bargo and Chris was there. I just
remember getting all fliers and taking it out to local
pubs and places around to sif anyone has seen or
heard of her, and rang with her work and know
what they didn't know where she was.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
The search engers its second day, and then a breakthrough
on Saturday. The family is told Rochelle was supposed to
meet someone at the Bargo Hotel on Thursday night. The
pub's almost two kilometers away from her place. It's a
(18:38):
typical country pub on the main drag Back in two
thousand and one, It's painted red and green. Upstairs. You
can find a cheap room downstairs as a bistro, a
sports bar, pokies and a jukebox. Every Thursday is Paul
Competition night and also topless Waitress Night, so most punters
on a Thursday are typically men.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
I haven't been able to figure out why and why
at Bargo Pub did she go? If she did go there,
why did she meet someone there? If it was someone
she knew, why didn't she meet them at home?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Had you ever gone to the Bargo Hotel with Rachelle?
Speaker 6 (19:15):
No? Never, never. I didn't really even know she'd gone.
Speaker 9 (19:20):
I'd never heard of the Bargo Hotel. If she'd mentioned
the Bargo Hotel, it would have been one of the
first stops on that Friday night.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
She would never walk into a new place alone, and
she would never go and meet someone new alone. She
used to drag me around to parties, and as soon
as she was in there and felt confident, she'd forget
I was there. So she was a little shy in
that sort of respect.
Speaker 9 (19:45):
She knew too many people to walk into a place
on her own. She didn't have to ever walk anywhere
on her own or go anywhere.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
On her own, and she wouldn't go and meet someone
that she didn't know, and if she was going to,
she wouldn't go alone.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
While the families desperately search for any trace of Rachelle,
police are trying to make sense of Craig Duck's shocking
discovery at Seven Mile Beach.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
I don't know what I was going through. I don't
really know. I was just going through, okay, the sort
of bengle that flashed up in my eyes, so I
knew that I knew it had to be a female.
Speaker 14 (20:27):
The operator asked me a few questions, and I was like, well,
there's all this noise, and there's cars, and there's something
going on outside. My dog won't stop barking, and I
can't go to sleep, and now I think there's a
fire and I don't know what's going on, but somebody
needs to get down here because we're quite isolated. But
then it was a fairly short time after that that
I'd started hearing sirens.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Next thing you know, as a police are coming, why
are we going to get there? Or walked up beside
their truck and I said, guys, you can't tell me
this is a crime scene area.
Speaker 14 (21:05):
My name is Carmen and in two thousand and one,
my husband and I were the on site managers of
seven mob Beach Holiday Park, which is approximately five hundred
or so meters from where Rachelle was found.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Once the police got there, the officer's dawning of taking
the officer in showing her situation.
Speaker 14 (21:28):
And it's a long weekend. I've got three little boys
asleep in bed, my dog's going crazy. There's horrible noises outside.
Something's not right.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
How big was the fire at this stage?
Speaker 5 (21:41):
It was conforming to one area, but it was quite high.
Speaker 14 (21:46):
I can sense my emotions, you know, taking me back
to that moment and that sort of fearful moment and
not knowing what I was hearing. And I could hear yelling,
and then I could hear a few sort of like
awful noise, says.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
What was that twenty minutes? Like for you standing at
this crime scene, knowing what was burning.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
It was horrific.
Speaker 14 (22:12):
If I was the last person to ever hear her,
or you know, it was the last place she was
ever alive, I feel some sort of connection and I
feel so sad for her family.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
That's so emotional.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
After August time.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Back in Bargo, Rachelle's family and friends are rushing to
the local pub where her car has been found parked
out the back.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
We got into the car and I remember sitting in
the car and going, there's something wrong.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
The club block was on upside down.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
And she had a specific way that she used to
put the club block on the hand or that people
used to point down. She would point up and jam
it in the corner of the windscreen and then she'd
lock the steering wheel.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
And that wasn't done. It was upside down.
Speaker 9 (23:09):
She would sit like hanging back the sort of cruisy
arm and you know, like she'd have the smoke and
you know, like but it wasn't sort of positioned like that.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
She did used to have her seat really far back,
but it was really far back. And I remember looking
at the car, going something seriously wrong here. And she
didn't park this year. So I got out of the
car and that's when I knew something bad.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
It happened.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Christine her friends are racking their brains as to who
would have driven Rachelle's car anywhere, let alone to the
Bargo Hotel. Meanwhile, a murder investigation is well and truly
underway at seven Mile Beach, GIRoA at a nearby hospit.
A young woman's badly burned body has been formally identified
(24:05):
and South Coast detectives are making the hour drive to Bargo.
Speaker 7 (24:09):
I was at home at Bargo, probably printing out more posters,
so sitting at the computer, and I saw the detectives
pull up and was ither Davies and Peter Street. They
pulled up out the front and got out of the
car and walked in, and I was hopeful. When they
walked in, I thought, oh, they've found her, They've come
(24:30):
to tell us something.
Speaker 9 (24:32):
And they came inside. I was on the lounge. Christy
was sort of over thinking of like a piano stool
or another ground ever.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
Walked up to me and looked me in the eye,
put his left hand on my shoulder and said, your
sister's dead. She was murdered and she was found down
at GIRoA.
Speaker 9 (24:58):
When they said they they found someone at GIRoA, my
first words were, where the fuck is GIRoA? Where the
fuck is GIRoA?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
What what do you mean?
Speaker 7 (25:08):
I don't know what happened after that. I think I
screamed and Fiona was there and she was hysterical. I
couldn't even think and then I looked up and Mom
and Dad had pulled up out the front, and I went, oh,
I can't be here for this, so I went out
the back and then yeah, then I ever told Mum
and Dad.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Was at the house at Bargo. We just gotten there,
and I Dave, he detective came out to tell us,
and Christy was selling the house and the and we
knew song was terribly wrong by this point, it just
wasn't Shell. She always would ring Crystal, always contact us.
And when he said it, I said, oh, look, I
(25:48):
am that you sure like what?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
And oh yeah?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
They said that she was found on the early hours
of Friday morning. I just started the long weekend. Yeah,
she was dead.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
How do you even begin to process such devastating news.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You can't.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
You don't know what to do with it. It's just
it's just unbelievable. This doesn't happen. Yeah, it was so
hard for Christie. Was awful, time, awful.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Goosebumps just thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
It was.
Speaker 11 (26:35):
Anyway, I get in my car, drive home and then
I remember I was speaking to a friend of mine, Darren,
and then Fiona called and I'm like, oh, that's weird.
Speaker 6 (26:43):
I'm going to hang up and a speak to Fiona
and they're like, hey, we found Shell And I'm like,
oh my god, where the hell is she? You know,
with this oh I'm going to wring her neck type
of thing. And she goes, oh at hospital. I'm like, oh, okay,
which one?
Speaker 11 (26:55):
And she said, oh, sorry she no, Lisa, she's not
She's dead.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
And I just fell out of the car. No one
was home, and I dragged myself on the floor and something.
I got to the.
Speaker 11 (27:24):
Front door and then I remember ringing and straightway Michelle's
mum and just saying is it true?
Speaker 6 (27:31):
She answered, and I said is it true? And she
said yes.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
When you saw Rochelle's face for the first time in
the news days later, how did that affect you?
Speaker 5 (27:49):
I couldn't believe it. I thought, she's only your baby Wire,
Why would anyone do that to you? Too? Well, you
know read that she played cricket and meeting King of
the Road Peter Rock and stuff like that, Like just
what a lucky girl at the time, you know, what
(28:12):
a beautiful life she had in front of her.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Craig Ducker's referring to a photograph he had seen of
Rochelle with her idol Australian racing legend Peter Brock. That
photo was splashed across newspapers and national TV screens as
police hunted her killer. An autopsy couldn't determine Rochelle's cause
of debt, but it was suspected she was smothered or strangled.
(28:39):
At least one of her fingers was also detached. She
was found naked from the waist down, leading detectives convinced
she was raped. The first lead investigator into Rochelle's murder
was a cop called Ivor Davies. Christie and I headed
to meet him back at GIRoA, where Craig found Rochelle's body.
Although years ago, I'm curious to ask either how heavily
(29:04):
does a case like that weigh on you.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
You know, some things sit with you, whether it's the
one that got away, or whether it's a really really
bad one that you can't get out of your head.
And now a lot of the takers out there have
got that. I'll drive past this road on the regular
and I always look here when I'm driving through, and
I was that there had been something else which she'd
(29:31):
left me, something else, because I want a closure for
the family, and it annoyed me that we never ever
got there, and I think of her from time to time.
I can't think of anything we would have done different
because we'd done everything we could. I'm just sorry I
wasn't there to push on.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
The killer clearly wasn't trying to hide her body. What
do you make of that? Well, I think they went.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
To great lengths to hide her body, but it didn't
work out, so then it was just had hopily done
in haste. Just they've had enough. They must have been
driving around with the corpse and the body what an heiress,
And I just think that when this didn't pan out,
they've had enough. We're not going to just put a
rear torch and get the evidences get out of dodge.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Would you like this case to be reopened, because right
now it's not an active case.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Well, I'm hoping perhaps because of what you're doing, it
may inspire some sort of motivation to push on. But
I'm absolutely sure in my heart that we've interviewed the crook.
Speaker 14 (30:34):
He's in that brief.
Speaker 10 (30:39):
I feel so indebted to Ivor because I know that
he put his hand soil into it, and he's still
even though it doesn't it work for the police anymore.
He's still summarizing and thinking about it, and yeah, he's
just beautiful.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
It was on this day Christy learned more about why
this case has halted him.
Speaker 7 (31:00):
I didn't know that he was the one that lifted
Rochelle out of where she was found.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I don't even just found that out.
Speaker 7 (31:06):
Yeah, that's terrific, and that would be something I don't
think if that would never leave.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
You can't unsee that, you can't unfeel that. So, yeah,
that's horrible.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Rochelle's case was the last murder investigation either Davies would
ever work on. In the years that followed, countless more
cops would try but failed to solve Rochelle's murder. If
we're going to get justice for her family, we need
to do something bold.
Speaker 12 (31:38):
Well, you've got to think outside the square and when
you take your blinkers off in these sort of investigations
and not be narrow minded.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
So I've turned to Damien Loon, a thirty year veteran
who's known for cracking cold cases. He was the dogged
detective who was vital in the success of my inspiring
colleague Headley Thomas's podcast, The Teacher's Pet.
Speaker 12 (32:00):
So I Chronic Greeka, believing your twenty tip you've seen
in Constable Damien looms Fell all told on conducting an
investigation into the disappearance of Lament Join Dawson.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
The Teacher's PEP was one of Australia's first and most
powerful true crime podcasts, which led to the conviction of
Chris Dawson for the murder of his wife Lynn. For
decades he'd gone unpunished.
Speaker 12 (32:23):
Well, all the skills that I used through my experience
of the investigation into Chris Dawson's homicide of his wife Lynn,
I'm now using those skills to help find out who
murdered Rachelle Childs.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
I first met Damien at the airport in early twenty
twenty four to give him a copy of Rochelle's Brief
of Evidence, a closely guarded police file full of thousands
of pieces of information, statements, reports and exhibits. Damien, how
are you, Ashley Hands, Nice to meet you. Thanks for
joining the team. I haven't told Anne and Christy yet.
(33:05):
They're going to be stoked to just have someone with
your experience and expertise on the case.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
Or oh he's Damian.
Speaker 13 (33:15):
Thanks for everyone coming together so Christy and Anne, I
just want you to meet Damian Loon. I asked Damien
a couple of weeks ago if he would help us
on Rochelle's.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Case, and he didn't hesitate. He said absolutely.
Speaker 7 (33:32):
That is so cool, that's amazing. It's lovely to meet
you longtime fans.
Speaker 12 (33:38):
Oh, thanks Christy and and I know what you guys
have gone through over the years, and I can't say
I know everything. I fulfill for you. And the most
important part about what happened to Rachelle is that this
matter is solvable. But I can't promise you it'll get
that far. I'll tell you what. I have a bloody
good go at it.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
And why did you say yes to help with this one?
Speaker 12 (34:07):
I've had so many people have asked been again on
board with MADA. I've retired as a police officer. I
don't have any powers as a police officer, but this
one strikes a memory with me because it was a
young person in the prime of a life like Lynn.
Had everything look forward to, a responsible job, had a
loving family, wasn't a risk taker, and yet she's been
(34:30):
callously murdered and dumped far from her hometown in a
seaside side of giraua in a bushlang Grave and Burnt
the guy have no doubt in my mind that this
was a sexually motivated attack. Rachelle knew her killer and
she trusted him.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Can you solve this case?
Speaker 12 (34:55):
This case is solvable, and there's somewhere in this brief
defenders in this if he's named in this group, somewhere
if Fender responsible for this crime, is still alive.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
And there's so much more to unravel. On the next
episode of Dear Rochelle.
Speaker 12 (35:28):
Rochelle was placed was within three hundred and sixteen leaders
aware jdphesis's body of us vacated.
Speaker 14 (35:35):
I started thinking, gosh, this is going to be one
of those stories like Ivan.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Milat to join the dots.
Speaker 6 (35:43):
Are they connected somehow?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
They had five or six persons of interest to me,
there was a fundamental issue with the investigation.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
Fucking blame on me, not because I'm in a biplot.
Speaker 12 (35:54):
Have we got a serial killer on our hands or
have we got someone that's involved in both homicides.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
De Rochelle is a multimedia production from True Crime Australia.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
If you want to be the first.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
To find out what happens next, go to deroshell dot
com dot a you. That's where News Corp Australia subscribers
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 deroshell
(36:35):
dot com dot a U, d E A R R
A c h E w l E dot com dot
a U. If you have any tips or confidential information
to share with me, Ashley Hanson, please send an email
to Deroshelle atnews dot com dot a you. Our supervising
producer and audio editor is Rehees Gunter Rachel Fountain, his
(36:55):
executive producer and audio director. Our executive editor is Sarah Blair.
Our senior journalist is Patrick carl Video editors are Jillian McNally,
Owen Yang and Stephen Woods. Picture editors are Jeff Darmannan
and Christy Miller. Senior camera operators are Daniel Andrews and
Oscar Vieira. We sound designed by Martin Perolta, thanks also
to Greg Thompson and Lenny Panerz. Show Burreo Fayguld, Vanessa Grabb,
(37:20):
Hailey Goddard, Stephen Grice, Charlotte Carp Tina Coggins and Harry Hughes.
Special thanks to the Daily Telegraph editor Ben English and
dear Rochelle would not be possible without the help and
our wavering supporter Christian Ann Childs, Mindy Wicks, Damian Loon
and Rachelle's friends. This podcast series is hosted and investigated
(37:41):
by me Ashley Hanson
Here we have Rachelle Childs suiting up for qualifying stint.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Is it going to be a blinder?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Get the hell?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're on language loved and this is the beginning lesson.
We're gonna watch Rachelle goes, who oh where are carding now?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
And here we go.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
It's a sunny day at Wakefield Park Raceway, about a
two hour drive south of Sydney. Rochelle is wild about cars,
and she's wearing her favorite sports sonnies and gear up
in a racing suit. Her blonde hair is pulled back
in a ponytail and she's beaming with excitement. She's moments
away from jumping behind the wheel of a hotted upholder.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Can you lask rus before we go?
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (00:56):
Hey girl?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
That driving experience was a gift for her twenty first birthday,
and it's the final recording. Rochelle's family has to hold
on to.
Speaker 6 (01:10):
The death of Rochelle Child.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Twenty three year old disappeared from a pub in Bargo.
She planned to meet someone there whose burnt body was
found on a lonely South Coast road. Her body was
found in bush in GIRoA.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
She was murdered.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
The worst thing you could say to any individual, is
you're a murder and you kill my daughter.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Rochelle was killed by someone she knew.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
We'd like to find out who did it and why.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Evidence points to a crime cleverly planned, but still the
killer wasn't caught.
Speaker 7 (01:42):
My name is Christie Child's and this story is about
my beautiful sister, Rochelle Child's. She was violently taken from
us when I was just eighteen. Shechelle was vivacious, hilarious
and kind. She was everything to me growing up, my mentor,
(02:05):
my protector, my best friend. I looked up to her
so much, and now I know she's looking down on me,
willing me to find the person who killed her.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I'm Ashley Hanson and this is Dear Rochelle, a podcast
about a popular twenty three year old who was adored
by her family and friends. Nobody has ever been charged
over Rochelle's murder. From True Crime Australia.
Speaker 8 (02:38):
This is the untold story of Rochelle Charles.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Hi, how are you? For the past year, I've been
working closely with Christy to reinvestigate her sister's murder. We're
on a mission to finally expose who killed Rochelle. For
more than two decades, Rochelle's family has been fighting for justice.
(03:18):
This case should never have been left to run cold.
I've been covering crime for over twenty years in Australia
and my job as a reporter has taken me around
the world. I thought I was prepared for anything until
I started investigating this case. The chilling fear that surrounds
(03:41):
Rochelle's murder has made this story the most challenging of
my career. I've even been warned by former cops to
tread very carefully. Any advice for me following this story
you were suggesting you're going to do, I wouldn't carry
that out you.
Speaker 9 (04:00):
That's thought that you should be aware of what you
were doing.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Sometimes you get lost in your work and you don't
realize what you've done until it's too late. Well, as
I said to you before you're poking a beer.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I do take that advice seriously. But while a cold
bloody killer and suspected rapist is walking free, no woman
is safe and I just can't let Rochelle's family down.
Our investigation is uncovered damning new evidence, Innocent people who've
been too afraid to speak out for decades are breaking
their silence for a shell. You'll hear from friends and family,
(04:40):
investigators and key witnesses who've never spoken before. Some of
the brightest minds from our criminal justice system are helping
to reinvestigate her murder. Is it possible the killers through
the investigation so far off course it was impossible to
solve was the acting alone? Were there the darker forces
(05:01):
at play?
Speaker 5 (05:05):
When you're dealing with sex offenders it takes years of
experience to realize how clever they are.
Speaker 10 (05:11):
Fucking Blame on me because I'm in a by plot.
Speaker 7 (05:14):
My worst fear is that person who killed Rochelle has
killed again.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Over the years, police identified nine persons of interest or pois,
and the coroner comprehensively examined Rochelle's death, which still didn't
lead to anyone being charged. But what really gets to
the families the lack of action by police to reopen
her case. Here's Christie Child straight after a meeting with
the New South Wales Unsolved Homicide Squat in early twenty
(05:48):
twenty four. Christy's an assistant principal at a primary school,
so you know she's taken notes.
Speaker 7 (05:55):
It is that I don't know and I said so
you're not across this case and he said no, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And I said who is and he said no one.
Speaker 7 (06:03):
He said, so no one in unsolved form societies across
this case and already said no.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Christine Omman have been let down so many times. This
podcast could be their final shot through it all. They've
held on tightly to their memories.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Talking chins that were completely different personalities. She was just
out there more, you know. She was lovely and loud,
and Christy was just this soft little mouse.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
It was sweet.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
That's part of the dancing days. She looked up to
Chrissy looked up to the show. She really did. She
thought she were Ant's pants. Now they'll find they'll find together.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right up through Prime.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It was lovely. It was a really good relationship.
Speaker 11 (07:00):
My name is Lisa and I was Rachelle's best friend
for her entire life.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
We owned horses together.
Speaker 11 (07:07):
You know. We were dancing five days a week when
we were young, so that was a lot of time
we were spending. We removed a little a moving panel
in between our fences. You know, we'd jump over the
fence to jump.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
In each other's pools.
Speaker 11 (07:19):
And to have her in my life, to navigate the
good and the tough times. There were some tough times
where we grew up in Glenfield, particularly for myself being
of a Mediterranean background, and I got bullied and she
was my saving grace.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
She was amazing.
Speaker 11 (07:34):
She had away with people and away with the bullies
and had a lot of power, you know, and she
could stop them from hitting me. But she made something
that could have been utterly horrific manageable from opening barb
wide fences and helped me run through so I could
escape before they caught me to distracting them.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
CHRISTI just turned eighteen when she moved in with Rochelle
in Bargo, an hour south of the hustle and bustle
of Sydney. It's a one pub town, the kind of
place where you run into your neighbor when you pop
out to grab the milk. There's a small strip of
shops with a bakery, a supermarket, an a vet. They
were renting a modest three bedroom brick home on a
small farm in town. If Rochelle wasn't restoring Holden's, she
(08:27):
was with her animals on the idyllic six acres That
was her happy place. Sheelle needed the space mostly of
the horses, but she also had a cat and an
enormous Australian bulldog named Rolfe. By her early twenties, she
was selling used cars at a dealership in Camden, a
quaint town about half an hour away from Bargo. One
(08:50):
of the biggest perks of Rochelle's job a license to
borrow shiny cars off the lot.
Speaker 7 (08:57):
We had big plays for the weekend and she was
supposedly getting a veal ss group A otherwise known as
a walking straw, because there was one coming into the
car that her boss had told her about and she
was so excited because she got to take it home
for I believe she was having the Friday off, so
(09:18):
she was going to have this walk control for four days.
So we had big plans about where we were all
going to go in this car because it's such a rare,
beautiful car that not many people get to drive around in,
so we're all very excited.
Speaker 9 (09:36):
My name's Fierra Anda. I knew Rochelle for about two
years when we worked to Camden Holden together.
Speaker 12 (09:41):
Well.
Speaker 9 (09:41):
I was the hired as the receptionist and registration's clerk
and she was in used cars. Work was just funny,
we'd smoke, we'd have lunch together. Sometimes. It was just
a good place to work. But you know, like I
enjoyed it, she enjoyed it. She loved the talking to people,
(10:01):
and that was her gab. Anyone who came on the yard,
she'd be there talking to them. She didn't care if
they bought a car. She was just happy talking to them.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Really, locals, remember the dealerships used car office because it
was pretty iconic. They did business from inside a refurbished
red train carriage.
Speaker 9 (10:19):
So my office was in the showroom and to get
to the train station you had to walk along a platform.
It was a train platform. It was basically as if
a train had pulled up. It was an old red rattler.
Speaker 7 (10:32):
Ruschall's office was, you know, not too far in, but
it was pretty much there.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
So did you ever come here and see Rochelle?
Speaker 7 (10:40):
And she was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I was here
quite often for whatever reason, pick up things, pick her up. Yeah, now,
I was here quite often. I used to watch her
move the cars around. So here was you know, all
of the used cars, and to watch her move the
cars around to get them into the right spot. It
was like watching in ballet like it was such a
(11:02):
precision where it's just such a good driver.
Speaker 9 (11:06):
She used to do a Caf and Kim dance, you
know the CAF dance where Cat does the donkey. She'd
do that going down the platform of Camden. I would
not just stand at the showroom just laughing all the
way as she do a little dance down the platform
back to her Offen.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
The Fi owner Lisa Rochelle and her little sister Christi
were a tight crew until the seventh of June two
thousand and one, the Thursday ahead of the long weekend.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Here's Christie.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
I was at Mum and Dad's house because they were away,
so I was at their house. I remember she called
me on her way home from work. I was on
you know when you used to have like the second
line on the landline. I was on the phone to
my best mate from school and I heard the call
come through and I said, I'll just answer this quickly.
So I jumped over to the other line and it
(12:07):
was Rochelle and she was driving.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Because she always spoke so far. She just said hey, Chris, Michelle, and.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
I said, hey, I'm on the other line. Erin and
she went, oh, right here, call me back. I say okay, bye,
and that was it.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I hung up. That was the last time I spoke
to her.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
That was at exactly five point fifteen pm on Thursday,
the seventh of June two thousand and one. A minute later,
it's believed Rochelle flicked a cigarette butt out the window
of her blue nineteen seventy eight Holden Commodore as she
drove along the Old Hume Highway through Camden, heading towards
her home in Bargo. A council ranger happened to be
(12:48):
driving behind her and noted down the daytime and number
plate GV two thousand. The officer didn't see the driver,
but Rochelle was a smoker. Fine for littering was later issued,
but of course it would never be paid. Rochelle's exact
movements over the following nine hours remain a mystery. In
(13:17):
the early hours of Friday morning, security guard Craig Duck
is on duty and heading to his next job. He's
passing through seven Mile Beach, one hundred kilometers south of
Bargo in the coastal town of GIRoA, when he suddenly
compelled to stop.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
So off I get I'm driving through I've seen this
fire on the right hand side, and I've gone in.
This is where I don't forget anything because it plays
on my mind all the time. I've walked in and
I didn't think much of it. I'm trying to kick
this fire out and as I'm kicking scend onto it,
(13:56):
it's coming back at me. Fee I said, it's ain't right,
and I thought, okay, I'm only grab my torch because
this is not normal. So we went back out the
same way I went in, grabbed me a torch and
all of a sudden, I got this flash of a
gold in the face and I'm going back and there
was a Bengal on a hand.
Speaker 13 (14:20):
And I'm going Wow.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Made that phone call again a triple A in saying
this is Craig Duck again. I need police here as well.
I've got a crime scene.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
At this stage.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Rochelle's family and friends have no idea she's even missing.
Fiona recalls canceling her plans to meet Rochelle that night.
Speaker 9 (14:48):
We'd organized for these drinks on the Thursday to go
and have a drink, and I.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Said, I'm not going to go.
Speaker 9 (14:53):
I've been on the phone all night. I'm just going
to go home, and we had that conversation down in
the train carriage where anybody could have heard that conversation,
that the plans had changed, that she was just going
straight home.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
And what was the moment that you realized something was wrong.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
I got a phone call from Fiona. It was a
Friday morning, or around lunchtime, and Fie said, I can't
get hold of Rochelle and I don't know where she is.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Rochelle's rosted off on the Friday, but she tells Fiona
she's going to be popping into work anyway, but she
never turns.
Speaker 9 (15:35):
Up the Friday night. When I got down to her face,
I'd been trying all day for her. Not to have
a mobile on was really unusual, and she knew I
was coming on the Friday.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I can't find her. She's not answering her phone.
Speaker 9 (15:50):
When I arrived at her house, the lights were.
Speaker 7 (15:53):
All on, the car's not here, Ralfi hasn't been fed,
and the telly was still on, and I went, oh, okay,
So I tried to call.
Speaker 9 (16:00):
And the windows were like, the blinds were open. I
could see it looked like she'd literally just left, gotten
changed and left.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
It was Friday night that we realized something was seriously
wrong because no one had heard from her all day,
and that was very unusual. She would talk to multiple
people multiple times a day, so to not be able
to get hold of her, it was very strange. So
that's when that's when it started to get real. Friday afternoon.
(16:35):
That night, we called police stations. We called all of
the hospitals. We traveled around up and down the road
to see whether we could find maybe she had an accident,
because we.
Speaker 9 (16:45):
Were just trying anywhere to say as anything happened, is
there any police stations, you know, like just frantic.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
My best friend's missing and I'm really worried.
Speaker 7 (16:58):
And then the next day I'd printed out posters that
said missing and her picture and I can't even remember
where I went, but giving it to everyone in the community.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I had a.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
Job where I used to cook the barbecue. I had
three jobs, but one of them while I was at union.
One of them was to cook the barbecue at the
markets on a Saturday morning, and she was supposed to
come there and she was going to bring her friend's
daughter today with her. So I went there because I
thought she said she was going to come, So I
just waited for her for hours and hours and hours,
(17:31):
and I can't remember the beautiful lady I worked with there.
At about ten o'clock, she said, you need to call
your parents, and that's when I called Mama dad and
said she's missing.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I can't find her.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
The everyone was just very displaced, and Christie rang us
on the Saturday and said that I can't find Michelle.
I thought, what he mean, you can't find that? She's somewhere?
Maybe she stay did her friend's place last night?
Speaker 4 (17:55):
And what was that drive like back to Bargo.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I don't remember. It was just a big blur. I
went straight to Bargo and Chris was there. I just
remember getting all fliers and taking it out to local
pubs and places around to sif anyone has seen or
heard of her, and rang with her work and know
what they didn't know where she was.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
The search engers its second day, and then a breakthrough
on Saturday. The family is told Rochelle was supposed to
meet someone at the Bargo Hotel on Thursday night. The
pub's almost two kilometers away from her place. It's a
(18:38):
typical country pub on the main drag Back in two
thousand and one, It's painted red and green. Upstairs. You
can find a cheap room downstairs as a bistro, a
sports bar, pokies and a jukebox. Every Thursday is Paul
Competition night and also topless Waitress Night, so most punters
on a Thursday are typically men.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
I haven't been able to figure out why and why
at Bargo Pub did she go? If she did go there,
why did she meet someone there? If it was someone
she knew, why didn't she meet them at home?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Had you ever gone to the Bargo Hotel with Rachelle?
Speaker 6 (19:15):
No? Never, never. I didn't really even know she'd gone.
Speaker 9 (19:20):
I'd never heard of the Bargo Hotel. If she'd mentioned
the Bargo Hotel, it would have been one of the
first stops on that Friday night.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
She would never walk into a new place alone, and
she would never go and meet someone new alone. She
used to drag me around to parties, and as soon
as she was in there and felt confident, she'd forget
I was there. So she was a little shy in
that sort of respect.
Speaker 9 (19:45):
She knew too many people to walk into a place
on her own. She didn't have to ever walk anywhere
on her own or go anywhere.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
On her own, and she wouldn't go and meet someone
that she didn't know, and if she was going to,
she wouldn't go alone.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
While the families desperately search for any trace of Rachelle,
police are trying to make sense of Craig Duck's shocking
discovery at Seven Mile Beach.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
I don't know what I was going through. I don't
really know. I was just going through, okay, the sort
of bengle that flashed up in my eyes, so I
knew that I knew it had to be a female.
Speaker 14 (20:27):
The operator asked me a few questions, and I was like, well,
there's all this noise, and there's cars, and there's something
going on outside. My dog won't stop barking, and I
can't go to sleep, and now I think there's a
fire and I don't know what's going on, but somebody
needs to get down here because we're quite isolated. But
then it was a fairly short time after that that
I'd started hearing sirens.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Next thing you know, as a police are coming, why
are we going to get there? Or walked up beside
their truck and I said, guys, you can't tell me
this is a crime scene area.
Speaker 14 (21:05):
My name is Carmen and in two thousand and one,
my husband and I were the on site managers of
seven mob Beach Holiday Park, which is approximately five hundred
or so meters from where Rachelle was found.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Once the police got there, the officer's dawning of taking
the officer in showing her situation.
Speaker 14 (21:28):
And it's a long weekend. I've got three little boys
asleep in bed, my dog's going crazy. There's horrible noises outside.
Something's not right.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
How big was the fire at this stage?
Speaker 5 (21:41):
It was conforming to one area, but it was quite high.
Speaker 14 (21:46):
I can sense my emotions, you know, taking me back
to that moment and that sort of fearful moment and
not knowing what I was hearing. And I could hear yelling,
and then I could hear a few sort of like
awful noise, says.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
What was that twenty minutes? Like for you standing at
this crime scene, knowing what was burning.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
It was horrific.
Speaker 14 (22:12):
If I was the last person to ever hear her,
or you know, it was the last place she was
ever alive, I feel some sort of connection and I
feel so sad for her family.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
That's so emotional.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
After August time.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Back in Bargo, Rachelle's family and friends are rushing to
the local pub where her car has been found parked
out the back.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
We got into the car and I remember sitting in
the car and going, there's something wrong.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
The club block was on upside down.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
And she had a specific way that she used to
put the club block on the hand or that people
used to point down. She would point up and jam
it in the corner of the windscreen and then she'd
lock the steering wheel.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
And that wasn't done. It was upside down.
Speaker 9 (23:09):
She would sit like hanging back the sort of cruisy
arm and you know, like she'd have the smoke and
you know, like but it wasn't sort of positioned like that.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
She did used to have her seat really far back,
but it was really far back. And I remember looking
at the car, going something seriously wrong here. And she
didn't park this year. So I got out of the
car and that's when I knew something bad.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
It happened.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Christine her friends are racking their brains as to who
would have driven Rachelle's car anywhere, let alone to the
Bargo Hotel. Meanwhile, a murder investigation is well and truly
underway at seven Mile Beach, GIRoA at a nearby hospit.
A young woman's badly burned body has been formally identified
(24:05):
and South Coast detectives are making the hour drive to Bargo.
Speaker 7 (24:09):
I was at home at Bargo, probably printing out more posters,
so sitting at the computer, and I saw the detectives
pull up and was ither Davies and Peter Street. They
pulled up out the front and got out of the
car and walked in, and I was hopeful. When they
walked in, I thought, oh, they've found her, They've come
(24:30):
to tell us something.
Speaker 9 (24:32):
And they came inside. I was on the lounge. Christy
was sort of over thinking of like a piano stool
or another ground ever.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
Walked up to me and looked me in the eye,
put his left hand on my shoulder and said, your
sister's dead. She was murdered and she was found down
at GIRoA.
Speaker 9 (24:58):
When they said they they found someone at GIRoA, my
first words were, where the fuck is GIRoA? Where the
fuck is GIRoA?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
What what do you mean?
Speaker 7 (25:08):
I don't know what happened after that. I think I
screamed and Fiona was there and she was hysterical. I
couldn't even think and then I looked up and Mom
and Dad had pulled up out the front, and I went, oh,
I can't be here for this, so I went out
the back and then yeah, then I ever told Mum
and Dad.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Was at the house at Bargo. We just gotten there,
and I Dave, he detective came out to tell us,
and Christy was selling the house and the and we
knew song was terribly wrong by this point, it just
wasn't Shell. She always would ring Crystal, always contact us.
And when he said it, I said, oh, look, I
(25:48):
am that you sure like what?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
And oh yeah?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
They said that she was found on the early hours
of Friday morning. I just started the long weekend. Yeah,
she was dead.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
How do you even begin to process such devastating news.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You can't.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
You don't know what to do with it. It's just
it's just unbelievable. This doesn't happen. Yeah, it was so
hard for Christie. Was awful, time, awful.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Goosebumps just thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
It was.
Speaker 11 (26:35):
Anyway, I get in my car, drive home and then
I remember I was speaking to a friend of mine, Darren,
and then Fiona called and I'm like, oh, that's weird.
Speaker 6 (26:43):
I'm going to hang up and a speak to Fiona
and they're like, hey, we found Shell And I'm like,
oh my god, where the hell is she? You know,
with this oh I'm going to wring her neck type
of thing. And she goes, oh at hospital. I'm like, oh, okay,
which one?
Speaker 11 (26:55):
And she said, oh, sorry she no, Lisa, she's not
She's dead.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
And I just fell out of the car. No one
was home, and I dragged myself on the floor and something.
I got to the.
Speaker 11 (27:24):
Front door and then I remember ringing and straightway Michelle's
mum and just saying is it true?
Speaker 6 (27:31):
She answered, and I said is it true? And she
said yes.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
When you saw Rochelle's face for the first time in
the news days later, how did that affect you?
Speaker 5 (27:49):
I couldn't believe it. I thought, she's only your baby Wire,
Why would anyone do that to you? Too? Well, you
know read that she played cricket and meeting King of
the Road Peter Rock and stuff like that, Like just
what a lucky girl at the time, you know, what
(28:12):
a beautiful life she had in front of her.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Craig Ducker's referring to a photograph he had seen of
Rochelle with her idol Australian racing legend Peter Brock. That
photo was splashed across newspapers and national TV screens as
police hunted her killer. An autopsy couldn't determine Rochelle's cause
of debt, but it was suspected she was smothered or strangled.
(28:39):
At least one of her fingers was also detached. She
was found naked from the waist down, leading detectives convinced
she was raped. The first lead investigator into Rochelle's murder
was a cop called Ivor Davies. Christie and I headed
to meet him back at GIRoA, where Craig found Rochelle's body.
Although years ago, I'm curious to ask either how heavily
(29:04):
does a case like that weigh on you.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
You know, some things sit with you, whether it's the
one that got away, or whether it's a really really
bad one that you can't get out of your head.
And now a lot of the takers out there have
got that. I'll drive past this road on the regular
and I always look here when I'm driving through, and
I was that there had been something else which she'd
(29:31):
left me, something else, because I want a closure for
the family, and it annoyed me that we never ever
got there, and I think of her from time to time.
I can't think of anything we would have done different
because we'd done everything we could. I'm just sorry I
wasn't there to push on.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
The killer clearly wasn't trying to hide her body. What
do you make of that? Well, I think they went.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
To great lengths to hide her body, but it didn't
work out, so then it was just had hopily done
in haste. Just they've had enough. They must have been
driving around with the corpse and the body what an heiress,
And I just think that when this didn't pan out,
they've had enough. We're not going to just put a
rear torch and get the evidences get out of dodge.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Would you like this case to be reopened, because right
now it's not an active case.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Well, I'm hoping perhaps because of what you're doing, it
may inspire some sort of motivation to push on. But
I'm absolutely sure in my heart that we've interviewed the crook.
Speaker 14 (30:34):
He's in that brief.
Speaker 10 (30:39):
I feel so indebted to Ivor because I know that
he put his hand soil into it, and he's still
even though it doesn't it work for the police anymore.
He's still summarizing and thinking about it, and yeah, he's
just beautiful.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
It was on this day Christy learned more about why
this case has halted him.
Speaker 7 (31:00):
I didn't know that he was the one that lifted
Rochelle out of where she was found.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I don't even just found that out.
Speaker 7 (31:06):
Yeah, that's terrific, and that would be something I don't
think if that would never leave.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
You can't unsee that, you can't unfeel that. So, yeah,
that's horrible.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Rochelle's case was the last murder investigation either Davies would
ever work on. In the years that followed, countless more
cops would try but failed to solve Rochelle's murder. If
we're going to get justice for her family, we need
to do something bold.
Speaker 12 (31:38):
Well, you've got to think outside the square and when
you take your blinkers off in these sort of investigations
and not be narrow minded.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
So I've turned to Damien Loon, a thirty year veteran
who's known for cracking cold cases. He was the dogged
detective who was vital in the success of my inspiring
colleague Headley Thomas's podcast, The Teacher's Pet.
Speaker 12 (32:00):
So I Chronic Greeka, believing your twenty tip you've seen
in Constable Damien looms Fell all told on conducting an
investigation into the disappearance of Lament Join Dawson.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
The Teacher's PEP was one of Australia's first and most
powerful true crime podcasts, which led to the conviction of
Chris Dawson for the murder of his wife Lynn. For
decades he'd gone unpunished.
Speaker 12 (32:23):
Well, all the skills that I used through my experience
of the investigation into Chris Dawson's homicide of his wife Lynn,
I'm now using those skills to help find out who
murdered Rachelle Childs.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
I first met Damien at the airport in early twenty
twenty four to give him a copy of Rochelle's Brief
of Evidence, a closely guarded police file full of thousands
of pieces of information, statements, reports and exhibits. Damien, how
are you, Ashley Hands, Nice to meet you. Thanks for
joining the team. I haven't told Anne and Christy yet.
(33:05):
They're going to be stoked to just have someone with
your experience and expertise on the case.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
Or oh he's Damian.
Speaker 13 (33:15):
Thanks for everyone coming together so Christy and Anne, I
just want you to meet Damian Loon. I asked Damien
a couple of weeks ago if he would help us
on Rochelle's.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
Case, and he didn't hesitate. He said absolutely.
Speaker 7 (33:32):
That is so cool, that's amazing. It's lovely to meet
you longtime fans.
Speaker 12 (33:38):
Oh, thanks Christy and and I know what you guys
have gone through over the years, and I can't say
I know everything. I fulfill for you. And the most
important part about what happened to Rachelle is that this
matter is solvable. But I can't promise you it'll get
that far. I'll tell you what. I have a bloody
good go at it.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
And why did you say yes to help with this one?
Speaker 12 (34:07):
I've had so many people have asked been again on
board with MADA. I've retired as a police officer. I
don't have any powers as a police officer, but this
one strikes a memory with me because it was a
young person in the prime of a life like Lynn.
Had everything look forward to, a responsible job, had a
loving family, wasn't a risk taker, and yet she's been
(34:30):
callously murdered and dumped far from her hometown in a
seaside side of giraua in a bushlang Grave and Burnt
the guy have no doubt in my mind that this
was a sexually motivated attack. Rachelle knew her killer and
she trusted him.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
Can you solve this case?
Speaker 12 (34:55):
This case is solvable, and there's somewhere in this brief
defenders in this if he's named in this group, somewhere
if Fender responsible for this crime, is still alive.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
And there's so much more to unravel. On the next
episode of Dear Rochelle.
Speaker 12 (35:28):
Rochelle was placed was within three hundred and sixteen leaders
aware jdphesis's body of us vacated.
Speaker 14 (35:35):
I started thinking, gosh, this is going to be one
of those stories like Ivan.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Milat to join the dots.
Speaker 6 (35:43):
Are they connected somehow?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
They had five or six persons of interest to me,
there was a fundamental issue with the investigation.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
Fucking blame on me, not because I'm in a biplot.
Speaker 12 (35:54):
Have we got a serial killer on our hands or
have we got someone that's involved in both homicides.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
De Rochelle is a multimedia production from True Crime Australia.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
If you want to be the first.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
To find out what happens next, go to deroshell dot
com dot a you. That's where News Corp Australia subscribers
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 deroshell
(36:35):
dot com dot a U, d E A R R
A c h E w l E dot com dot
a U. If you have any tips or confidential information
to share with me, Ashley Hanson, please send an email
to Deroshelle atnews dot com dot a you. Our supervising
producer and audio editor is Rehees Gunter Rachel Fountain, his
(36:55):
executive producer and audio director. Our executive editor is Sarah Blair.
Our senior journalist is Patrick carl Video editors are Jillian McNally,
Owen Yang and Stephen Woods. Picture editors are Jeff Darmannan
and Christy Miller. Senior camera operators are Daniel Andrews and
Oscar Vieira. We sound designed by Martin Perolta, thanks also
to Greg Thompson and Lenny Panerz. Show Burreo Fayguld, Vanessa Grabb,
(37:20):
Hailey Goddard, Stephen Grice, Charlotte Carp Tina Coggins and Harry Hughes.
Special thanks to the Daily Telegraph editor Ben English and
dear Rochelle would not be possible without the help and
our wavering supporter Christian Ann Childs, Mindy Wicks, Damian Loon
and Rachelle's friends. This podcast series is hosted and investigated
(37:41):
by me Ashley Hanson
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com