July 31, 2023 • 26 mins
Imagine the shock of receiving an anonymous phone call declaring your daughter is dead, and chalking it up to an accident. That's the chilling mystery that revolves around the disappearance of Trudie Adams, a young business college student who mysteriously vanished in 1978 after an innocuous night out at the Newport Surf Life-Saving Club.
I'm Carla Morgan, your host, and together, we will delve deep into the unfathomable theories surrounding her case. From her alleged involvement in an international drug smuggling ring to potential police corruption we will pick apart every detail of this haunting narrative.
Throughout this journey, we will question the unsettling injustice for Trudie and the countless other victims of heinous abductions and rapes in the same area around the same time. Join me as we seek the truth behind these unsolved mysteries, in hope of gaining closure for the victims and their families.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carla Morgan (00:00):
It was a dark Saturday night in 1978 when
Trudie left her friends at theNewport Surf Life-Saving Club
and hitched a ride home toAvalon.
Everyone hitched back then inthe Northern Beaches.
It wasn't anything unusualexcept that on this night in
June, trudy never made at home.
What followed was four policeinvestigations and one coronal
(00:25):
inquest, all of which pointed toone very good suspect in
Trudie's disappearance andsuspected murder.
But to this day Trudie's familyare still waiting for answers.
What happened to Trudie?
Where is she now?
Who is responsible and how canwe find her?
This episode contains contentrelated to abduction and sexual
(00:53):
assault and is not suitable forchildren.
Today, I'm delving into themissing persons case of Trudie
Adams.
Last seen getting into a fawn-coloured panel van on Barrenjoey
Road, North of Sydney, NewSouth Wales, almost 40 years ago
.
I'm Carla Morgan and this isBOLO, a podcast covering cold
(01:19):
and active missing persons caseswith the aim of helping
families bring their loved oneshome.
Trudie Adams was an 18 year oldbusiness college student when
she went missing.
She had blonde hair, green eyesand was 162 centimetres tall.
In 1977, the year before Trudywent missing, she featured in an
(01:44):
Australian documentary filmcalled Highway One.
It shows her and her friends inseveral scenes at Avalon Beach,
which is in the northernbeaches area of Sydney, and
filmmaker Steve Otton has saidabout Trudy that "she was always
happy and smiling, that nothingwas ever a problem.
The northern beaches is known bylocals as the insular peninsula
(02:07):
.
It's like a small town in a bigcity where everyone knows
everyone.
It's also where Australia's hitsitcom Home and Away is filmed,
in the idyllic sands of SummerBay.
It's crunchy and elite now, butin the late 70s and early 80s
the northern beaches had a dark,seedy side that held many
(02:28):
secrets.
The northern beaches was ahotspot for the drug trade at
this time, and because Trudy hada trip planned to Bali just
before she went missing, peoplespeculated that the reason she
went missing was because she wassomehow involved in an
international drug smugglingring between Australia and Bali.
(02:50):
In fact, trudy's motherbelieved that this is what
happened to her, that she knewtoo much and had got involved
with the wrong people.
However, there's no evidencethat links her to the drug trade
, so this theory has beendismissed by police.
If you've ever listened to thepodcast The Teacher's Pet by
(03:11):
renowned journalist HedleyThomas, you'll be aware of the
allegations of grooming andchild sexual assault by several
teachers of high school studentsin the northern beaches area in
the late 70s and 80s.
The behaviour of these teacherstowards students went largely
unreported until Hedleyuncovered students who were now
(03:33):
middle- aged and ready to talk.
There's one case in front ofthe courts at the time that this
podcast is being recorded, andif you head over to the
Teacher's Accuser Podcast,you'll be able to follow the
case in real time.
The accused in this instance isthe same person found guilty of
murdering his wife, LynetteDawson, in order to marry this
(03:55):
particular student.
But back to the late 70s andthe night of the 25th of June,
trudy was out with friends at adance at the Newport Beach Hotel
.
She was wearing a green floralblouse and black jumper that
night.
Also at the hotel was herex-boyfriend Steve Norris.
(04:16):
He was a very recent ex asthey'd only broken up a few days
earlier.
Trudy wasn't feeling great asshe'd just had a vaccination
that day for her upcoming tripto Bali.
So around midnight she decidedto call it quits and head home.
Steve Norris was watching fromthe window of the club when he
(04:38):
saw Trudy leave the club, walkacross the car park and wait at
a well-known hitchhiking spot onthe corner of Neptune and
Barrenjoey Road.
He saw a fawn-coloured panelvan pull up and when it pulled
away Trudy was gone.
He was worried about herhitchhiking, so he then left the
hotel.
(04:58):
Then he hitched a ride with alocal the six minutes from
Newport to Avalon where Trudylived with her parents, and that
ride has been confirmed by thelocal that took Steve.
That night, when Steve Norrisarrived at Trudy's house, he
didn't find Trudy.
He only found her mum, Connie,who was still up waiting for her
(05:21):
.
Connie was immediately worriedwhen she learned that Trudy had
hitched a ride home and hadn'tgot there yet.
If wasn't planning on cominghome, she would have called her.
And she had told Steve and herfriends that she was going home.
So where was she?
Steve borrowed a bike fromTrudy's place and spent the
(05:42):
early hours of the morninglooking for her down at the
beach and around the area.
But when he couldn't find herafter a few hours he went back
home to his parents house wherehe stayed for the rest of the
night.
Later that next day, trudy'smum, Connie, reported her
missing to police.
(06:03):
Steve, Trudy's ex was a goodfirst suspect and police honed
in on him pretty quickly.
He was someone who was inTrudy's inner circle of friends.
He was a very recent ex.
He was the last person to seeher.
Some reports not all say thatthey argued that night at the
hotel before she left.
(06:24):
Steve was questioned repeatedlyby police and he was very open
and very helpful to theinvestigation.
He also helped in the searchfor Trudy and he was eventually
ruled out by police.
Four days after Trudy wentmissing, an anonymous male
(06:44):
called the local police stationand said quote the girl is dead.
It was an accident.
She's half way up MonavaleRoad, then hung up.
Trudy's mother also received avery similar call that day.
So these calls naturallysparked huge searches for Trudy
(07:07):
in that area and into theneighbouring Ku-Ring-Gai Chase
National Park.
This national park is a massivearea, so it's around 15,000
hectares, or 150 squarekilometres of really dense
bushland.
There are pockets of creeks,waterways, rocks and lots of
(07:29):
sandstone ledges.
It's a really difficult area tosearch, but searched they did
for six weeks solid in thatbushland until they eventually
called it off.
(07:52):
Six months into theinvestigation police looked into
the Roselands lads.
This was a gang who were notfrom the northern beaches, who
were not operating in that areaat all, but one of the guys in
this gang had a girlfriend wholived in the area a pretty
tenuous link.
It was rumoured that they hadconfessed or were bragging about
(08:13):
Trudy's abduction and murder,and people were convinced enough
to report this to police.
They were investigated at thattime.
Then they were investigatedagain in 1995, which is 17 years
later, and again in 2008.
They then appeared in the 2011inquest.
There was nothing tosubstantiate the reports or the
(08:37):
rumours, and the members whowere at the inquest vehemently
denied any involvement.
Trudy's case was huge at thetime and huge for the area.
There was a lot of mediacoverage and what did happen as
a result of Trudy'sdisappearance is that police
started receiving a ton of callsfrom young women who were
(08:59):
locals, all coming forward toreport their own experience of
abduction and rape.
These attacks all occurredaround the same area as Trudy
was in on the night she wentmissing.
They often occurred while theywere attempting to hitchhike and
they all took place between1971 and 1978, all against young
(09:24):
girls and women aged between 14and 20 and curiously or not so
curiously, as we find out lateron these abductions and rapes
stopped after Trudy went missing.
The attacks were eerily similar.
The young women were forced atgunpoint into a vehicle by two
men.
(09:44):
Both were wearing disguiseslike wigs and glasses.
The victims were taken to aremote area of bushland where
they were brutally attacked andraped.
Sometimes, polaroid photos weretaken of the victims and the
perpetrators would look throughthe victims' belongings, find
their addresses and drop themoff close to where they lived.
(10:06):
Afterwards, the women and girlswere threatened with death or
harmed their families if theytold anyone or reported it to
police.
In all, 14 girls and youngwomen came forward to report the
attacks.
Knowing that most victims ofsexual assault do not report
(10:26):
their crimes, we can safelyassume that there were many,
many more attacks than the 14who were brave enough to come
forward.
At the time, women were victimblamed, not believed, told there
was no evidence, and all ofthese things still happen today,
which is why rape victims oftenchoose to stay silent.
(10:49):
In this case, these young womendid come forward.
14 of them came forward and,spoiler alert none of them have
seen justice, none of them havehad anyone held to account, not
one.
I find this astounding that 14rapes can occur in one area with
(11:09):
one very good suspect thatwe're coming to, and that
suspect is never spoken to bypolice, let alone investigated.
Just another reason why rapevictims stay silent because the
trauma of reliving the assaultis enough.
And you do it.
For what?
Nothing, nothing happens.
(11:32):
Remarkably, one of these womenwas able to take police to the
area where she was taken.
Police searched the area andthey found a mattress, a blanket
and some clothing.
This area was in theKu-Ring-Gai Chase National Park
close to Monavale Road, andpolice were hopeful they would
(11:53):
find something there to tie backto Trudy, but nothing of
Trudy's was ever discoveredthere.
There was no physical evidencefound tying the rapes to Trudy.
This doesn't mean police ruledout these rapists as possible
suspects in Trudy'sdisappearance.
She was the same age as thesewomen.
(12:14):
She was in the same area asthese women.
She was even seen getting intoa vehicle of similar description
that one of the perpetratorsowned at the time.
This perpetrator was identifiedby several of the rape victims
as Neville Tween.
Tween was a known criminal whoowned a light colored panel van
(12:36):
and lived in the area near wherethe rapes took place.
Tween had been in and out ofprison his entire life.
He was a career criminal whospent time in the Northern
Beaches in the 70s, when hewasn't in prison, he was
arrested and charged over anabduction and sexual assault of
a 19 year old man, whichoccurred in 1973, so three years
(12:59):
before Trudy's disappearance.
What had happened was Twaindidn't like the pot he'd been
sold, so he took this young manwho sold him the pot out to the
bush, made him dig his own grave, made him put on female
underwear, then sexuallyassaulted him and took Polaroid
photos.
The young man reported it topolice and when police searched
(13:23):
Tween's home, they found thephotos of the assault and he was
arrested and charged.
Tween had an accomplice forthis assault, a man by the name
of Gary Batt, and they bothspent six months in jail for
this attack.
Gary Batt and Tween later had afalling out, and when Tween
threatened Gary to disappear, hedid, fleeing off to a different
(13:46):
state to get away from Tween.
At the 2011 inquest, batt saidthat Tween was a violent and
evil man, so Tween has beenidentified by some of the rape
victims as the perpetrator.
He lived in the area.
He owns the same type of carthat Trudy was seen getting into
.
He has a history and servedtime for abduction and violent
(14:08):
sexual assault.
Why the heck wasn't hequestioned by police at that
time.
Apparently, when police went toquestion him, his solicitor who
in some reports is said to haveunderworld connections
intervened and said that Tweenwas not to be questioned.
The solicitor denies this everhappened, but if it did, it
(14:29):
could easily have been perceivedas a threat and for the cops to
stand down or not look anyfurther at Tween.
And it worked.
Because they didn't.
I have many questions.
Where did the mattress go, theclothing that was found?
Was it kept as evidence?
It would have been too earlyfor DNA, but if they kept
(14:52):
samples it could have beentested in the 80s or even 90s
for DNA evidence.
If Tween was the perpetratorand they had his DNA, he could
at least be tried for theserapes and sexual assaults.
So nothing happens with Trudy'scase and it goes cold.
(15:14):
Tween left the northern beachesafter Trudy's disappearance
which, if you'll remember fromearlier, is when the rapes also
stopped.
So let's fast forward to theearly 90s when we learn that
(15:36):
Tween was working for the policeas a paid informant.
He was working for a man calledMark Standen, a federal police
officer.
Standen would work his way upthe ranks to eventually hold the
position of Australia's CrimeCommission Investigator.
Standen's job as CrimeCommission Investigator was to
(15:58):
investigate organized crime,while it's clear he did more
than investigate, because thisguy is currently serving a
22-year sentence for conspiringto import 300 kilograms of
pseudoeffedrine in to Australia.
So here's a little timeline.
Mark Standen and Tween work aspolice officer and informant in
(16:22):
the early 90s.
In 2006, Tween was arrested ondrug charges and went to prison.
Standen distanced himself fromTween at this time.
In 2008, Standen was arrestedon drug importation charges and
went to prison.
(16:42):
In 2009, Tween was questionedfor the very first time
regarding the rapes on theNorthern Beaches and Trudie's
disappearance.
Trudy disappeared in 1978.
(17:03):
So someone was brave enough atthat time to question Tween
while he was in prison, whilethe Crime Commissioner of
Australia was also in prison.
But nothing came of it andwe're really not sure why, but I
have a theory.
So clearly, Standen was workingwith Tween on drug-related
(17:23):
informing, but there areallegations that it was more
than that, allegations that theywere actually close family
friends with a family connectionthat went way back.
Standen denies this.
He says their friendship wasjust friendship and he distanced
himself from Tween once he wasarrested in 2006.
(17:45):
In fact, he states that he wasthe one responsible for bringing
Tween down.
Standen also maintains that heis innocent, so Tween goes to
prison in 2006.
Standen follows in 2008, bothfor drug importation charges.
Perhaps their friendship movedinto a work relationship.
(18:06):
Then they became partners inthe drug trade.
That would certainly explainTween being protected by someone
like Standen or even someonehigher up than him.
I can't think of a betterreason for why he was never
questioned for the rapes or inrelation to Trudy's
disappearance and that he wasonly ever questioned once after
(18:28):
Standen was himself in prison.
Even if Standen was protectingTween back then, which I suspect
would be because Tween wasgiving him some high-profile
criminals, why, then, wasn'tTween investigated after both he
and Standen were in prison?
He was questioned, but that wasit.
Perhaps because, like Imentioned earlier, there was
(18:50):
someone much higher up thanStandon who was protecting them
both.
The coronial inquest took placein 2011.
Trudy's family and friendsreally had their hopes set on
obtaining an outcome of sorts.
During the inquest, Tween wascombative, arrogant and
argumentative.
When questioned about the rapesand Trudy's disappearance, he
(19:13):
denied everything and he firedback with his own questions,
asking well, why was I neverinterviewed then?
Why was I never charged?
If there was evidence that itwas me, then you tell me why I
was never interviewed.
The determination from thecoroner was that Trudy met with
foul play.
That was it.
There was no physical evidenceagainst Tween, but plenty of
(19:37):
circumstantial evidence.
People have been convicted inthis country without a body,
without any physical evidence,but it's a moot point because
Tween died in prison in 2013.
So, with Tween dead and Standendenying any knowledge, there's
not much further we can get.
However, what about Tween'saccomplice?
(19:58):
The young women who wereattacked said there were two men
.
We know that Tween wasidentified by some of the women,
and so was his associate,Raymond Johnson.
It turns out that they wereboth arrested in Sydney four
months after Trudy went missing.
Sydney is less than one hoursouth of the Northern Beaches.
They were arrested with guns,wigs and false beards in their
(20:24):
possession.
However, this information wasn'tgiven to the detectives who
were covering the rapes andTrudy's disappearance.
Had that information beenpassed on, it might have been
enough at the time to bring theuntouchable Tween to justice.
There's barely a skerrick ofinformation that I could find on
(20:45):
Ray Johnson, except that hedied in prison before the 2011
inquest.
There are so many rabbit holesto go down with this case
International drug running,organised crime, potential
police corruption.
But it's pretty clear there's atruckload of circumstantial
evidence against one man And nowthat man is dead we could be
(21:07):
looking into those who areclosest to him at the time.
If you would like a deep diveinto the case, there's a great
ABC documentary called Barrenjoey Road on iView which I'd
encourage you to check out, andI'll put a link in the show
notes for you.
Connie, Trudy's mum has passed,but Charles Trudy's dad and
(21:28):
Trudy's brother still want anddeserve answers.
Trudy's family want to bringher home.
Trudy would be 63 years old now.
Where is the justice for her?
Where is the justice for the 14victims of those abductions and
brutal rapes?
This excerpt is from the NewSouth Wales Police website.
(21:51):
Homicide Squad detectivesworking Trudy's case suspect
there are still more victims ofthe sexual assaults on the
Northern Beaches at the time.
They would like the women toknow that support is available
for them and they are encouragedto contact Strike Force Keldy
detectives.
Their information, despite thepassage of time, might be
(22:14):
crucial to helping us chargethose responsible in this case.
The NSW government has put up a$250,000 reward for anyone who
provides information that leadsto the arrest and conviction of
the person or personsresponsible for truly suspected
death.
If you or anyone you know knowanything at all, please contact
(22:44):
Police Link on 131-444 or callCrime Stoppers on 1800 333-000.
Thanks for listening to Bolo.
If this episode has brought upfeelings for you and you need
support, please reach out toLifeline on 1311-14 or RESPECT
(23:11):
on 1800.
Respect.
You can connect with me onInsta @bolo.
pod, or email me bolo.
pod@ icloud.
com.
Or if you have a case you'dlike me to cover, I have a form
you can fill in on my Instaprofile.
It was a dark Saturday night in 1978 when
Trudie left her friends at theNewport Surf Life-Saving Club
and hitched a ride home toAvalon.
Everyone hitched back then inthe Northern Beaches.
It wasn't anything unusualexcept that on this night in
June, trudy never made at home.
What followed was four policeinvestigations and one coronal
(00:25):
inquest, all of which pointed toone very good suspect in
Trudie's disappearance andsuspected murder.
But to this day Trudie's familyare still waiting for answers.
What happened to Trudie?
Where is she now?
Who is responsible and how canwe find her?
This episode contains contentrelated to abduction and sexual
(00:53):
assault and is not suitable forchildren.
Today, I'm delving into themissing persons case of Trudie
Adams.
Last seen getting into a fawn-coloured panel van on Barrenjoey
Road, North of Sydney, NewSouth Wales, almost 40 years ago
.
I'm Carla Morgan and this isBOLO, a podcast covering cold
(01:19):
and active missing persons caseswith the aim of helping
families bring their loved oneshome.
Trudie Adams was an 18 year oldbusiness college student when
she went missing.
She had blonde hair, green eyesand was 162 centimetres tall.
In 1977, the year before Trudywent missing, she featured in an
(01:44):
Australian documentary filmcalled Highway One.
It shows her and her friends inseveral scenes at Avalon Beach,
which is in the northernbeaches area of Sydney, and
filmmaker Steve Otton has saidabout Trudy that "she was always
happy and smiling, that nothingwas ever a problem.
The northern beaches is known bylocals as the insular peninsula
(02:07):
.
It's like a small town in a bigcity where everyone knows
everyone.
It's also where Australia's hitsitcom Home and Away is filmed,
in the idyllic sands of SummerBay.
It's crunchy and elite now, butin the late 70s and early 80s
the northern beaches had a dark,seedy side that held many
(02:28):
secrets.
The northern beaches was ahotspot for the drug trade at
this time, and because Trudy hada trip planned to Bali just
before she went missing, peoplespeculated that the reason she
went missing was because she wassomehow involved in an
international drug smugglingring between Australia and Bali.
(02:50):
In fact, trudy's motherbelieved that this is what
happened to her, that she knewtoo much and had got involved
with the wrong people.
However, there's no evidencethat links her to the drug trade
, so this theory has beendismissed by police.
If you've ever listened to thepodcast The Teacher's Pet by
(03:11):
renowned journalist HedleyThomas, you'll be aware of the
allegations of grooming andchild sexual assault by several
teachers of high school studentsin the northern beaches area in
the late 70s and 80s.
The behaviour of these teacherstowards students went largely
unreported until Hedleyuncovered students who were now
(03:33):
middle- aged and ready to talk.
There's one case in front ofthe courts at the time that this
podcast is being recorded, andif you head over to the
Teacher's Accuser Podcast,you'll be able to follow the
case in real time.
The accused in this instance isthe same person found guilty of
murdering his wife, LynetteDawson, in order to marry this
(03:55):
particular student.
But back to the late 70s andthe night of the 25th of June,
trudy was out with friends at adance at the Newport Beach Hotel
.
She was wearing a green floralblouse and black jumper that
night.
Also at the hotel was herex-boyfriend Steve Norris.
(04:16):
He was a very recent ex asthey'd only broken up a few days
earlier.
Trudy wasn't feeling great asshe'd just had a vaccination
that day for her upcoming tripto Bali.
So around midnight she decidedto call it quits and head home.
Steve Norris was watching fromthe window of the club when he
(04:38):
saw Trudy leave the club, walkacross the car park and wait at
a well-known hitchhiking spot onthe corner of Neptune and
Barrenjoey Road.
He saw a fawn-coloured panelvan pull up and when it pulled
away Trudy was gone.
He was worried about herhitchhiking, so he then left the
hotel.
(04:58):
Then he hitched a ride with alocal the six minutes from
Newport to Avalon where Trudylived with her parents, and that
ride has been confirmed by thelocal that took Steve.
That night, when Steve Norrisarrived at Trudy's house, he
didn't find Trudy.
He only found her mum, Connie,who was still up waiting for her
(05:21):
.
Connie was immediately worriedwhen she learned that Trudy had
hitched a ride home and hadn'tgot there yet.
If wasn't planning on cominghome, she would have called her.
And she had told Steve and herfriends that she was going home.
So where was she?
Steve borrowed a bike fromTrudy's place and spent the
(05:42):
early hours of the morninglooking for her down at the
beach and around the area.
But when he couldn't find herafter a few hours he went back
home to his parents house wherehe stayed for the rest of the
night.
Later that next day, trudy'smum, Connie, reported her
missing to police.
(06:03):
Steve, Trudy's ex was a goodfirst suspect and police honed
in on him pretty quickly.
He was someone who was inTrudy's inner circle of friends.
He was a very recent ex.
He was the last person to seeher.
Some reports not all say thatthey argued that night at the
hotel before she left.
(06:24):
Steve was questioned repeatedlyby police and he was very open
and very helpful to theinvestigation.
He also helped in the searchfor Trudy and he was eventually
ruled out by police.
Four days after Trudy wentmissing, an anonymous male
(06:44):
called the local police stationand said quote the girl is dead.
It was an accident.
She's half way up MonavaleRoad, then hung up.
Trudy's mother also received avery similar call that day.
So these calls naturallysparked huge searches for Trudy
(07:07):
in that area and into theneighbouring Ku-Ring-Gai Chase
National Park.
This national park is a massivearea, so it's around 15,000
hectares, or 150 squarekilometres of really dense
bushland.
There are pockets of creeks,waterways, rocks and lots of
(07:29):
sandstone ledges.
It's a really difficult area tosearch, but searched they did
for six weeks solid in thatbushland until they eventually
called it off.
(07:52):
Six months into theinvestigation police looked into
the Roselands lads.
This was a gang who were notfrom the northern beaches, who
were not operating in that areaat all, but one of the guys in
this gang had a girlfriend wholived in the area a pretty
tenuous link.
It was rumoured that they hadconfessed or were bragging about
(08:13):
Trudy's abduction and murder,and people were convinced enough
to report this to police.
They were investigated at thattime.
Then they were investigatedagain in 1995, which is 17 years
later, and again in 2008.
They then appeared in the 2011inquest.
There was nothing tosubstantiate the reports or the
(08:37):
rumours, and the members whowere at the inquest vehemently
denied any involvement.
Trudy's case was huge at thetime and huge for the area.
There was a lot of mediacoverage and what did happen as
a result of Trudy'sdisappearance is that police
started receiving a ton of callsfrom young women who were
(08:59):
locals, all coming forward toreport their own experience of
abduction and rape.
These attacks all occurredaround the same area as Trudy
was in on the night she wentmissing.
They often occurred while theywere attempting to hitchhike and
they all took place between1971 and 1978, all against young
(09:24):
girls and women aged between 14and 20 and curiously or not so
curiously, as we find out lateron these abductions and rapes
stopped after Trudy went missing.
The attacks were eerily similar.
The young women were forced atgunpoint into a vehicle by two
men.
(09:44):
Both were wearing disguiseslike wigs and glasses.
The victims were taken to aremote area of bushland where
they were brutally attacked andraped.
Sometimes, polaroid photos weretaken of the victims and the
perpetrators would look throughthe victims' belongings, find
their addresses and drop themoff close to where they lived.
(10:06):
Afterwards, the women and girlswere threatened with death or
harmed their families if theytold anyone or reported it to
police.
In all, 14 girls and youngwomen came forward to report the
attacks.
Knowing that most victims ofsexual assault do not report
(10:26):
their crimes, we can safelyassume that there were many,
many more attacks than the 14who were brave enough to come
forward.
At the time, women were victimblamed, not believed, told there
was no evidence, and all ofthese things still happen today,
which is why rape victims oftenchoose to stay silent.
(10:49):
In this case, these young womendid come forward.
14 of them came forward and,spoiler alert none of them have
seen justice, none of them havehad anyone held to account, not
one.
I find this astounding that 14rapes can occur in one area with
(11:09):
one very good suspect thatwe're coming to, and that
suspect is never spoken to bypolice, let alone investigated.
Just another reason why rapevictims stay silent because the
trauma of reliving the assaultis enough.
And you do it.
For what?
Nothing, nothing happens.
(11:32):
Remarkably, one of these womenwas able to take police to the
area where she was taken.
Police searched the area andthey found a mattress, a blanket
and some clothing.
This area was in theKu-Ring-Gai Chase National Park
close to Monavale Road, andpolice were hopeful they would
(11:53):
find something there to tie backto Trudy, but nothing of
Trudy's was ever discoveredthere.
There was no physical evidencefound tying the rapes to Trudy.
This doesn't mean police ruledout these rapists as possible
suspects in Trudy'sdisappearance.
She was the same age as thesewomen.
(12:14):
She was in the same area asthese women.
She was even seen getting intoa vehicle of similar description
that one of the perpetratorsowned at the time.
This perpetrator was identifiedby several of the rape victims
as Neville Tween.
Tween was a known criminal whoowned a light colored panel van
(12:36):
and lived in the area near wherethe rapes took place.
Tween had been in and out ofprison his entire life.
He was a career criminal whospent time in the Northern
Beaches in the 70s, when hewasn't in prison, he was
arrested and charged over anabduction and sexual assault of
a 19 year old man, whichoccurred in 1973, so three years
(12:59):
before Trudy's disappearance.
What had happened was Twaindidn't like the pot he'd been
sold, so he took this young manwho sold him the pot out to the
bush, made him dig his own grave, made him put on female
underwear, then sexuallyassaulted him and took Polaroid
photos.
The young man reported it topolice and when police searched
(13:23):
Tween's home, they found thephotos of the assault and he was
arrested and charged.
Tween had an accomplice forthis assault, a man by the name
of Gary Batt, and they bothspent six months in jail for
this attack.
Gary Batt and Tween later had afalling out, and when Tween
threatened Gary to disappear, hedid, fleeing off to a different
(13:46):
state to get away from Tween.
At the 2011 inquest, batt saidthat Tween was a violent and
evil man, so Tween has beenidentified by some of the rape
victims as the perpetrator.
He lived in the area.
He owns the same type of carthat Trudy was seen getting into
.
He has a history and servedtime for abduction and violent
(14:08):
sexual assault.
Why the heck wasn't hequestioned by police at that
time.
Apparently, when police went toquestion him, his solicitor who
in some reports is said to haveunderworld connections
intervened and said that Tweenwas not to be questioned.
The solicitor denies this everhappened, but if it did, it
(14:29):
could easily have been perceivedas a threat and for the cops to
stand down or not look anyfurther at Tween.
And it worked.
Because they didn't.
I have many questions.
Where did the mattress go, theclothing that was found?
Was it kept as evidence?
It would have been too earlyfor DNA, but if they kept
(14:52):
samples it could have beentested in the 80s or even 90s
for DNA evidence.
If Tween was the perpetratorand they had his DNA, he could
at least be tried for theserapes and sexual assaults.
So nothing happens with Trudy'scase and it goes cold.
(15:14):
Tween left the northern beachesafter Trudy's disappearance
which, if you'll remember fromearlier, is when the rapes also
stopped.
So let's fast forward to theearly 90s when we learn that
(15:36):
Tween was working for the policeas a paid informant.
He was working for a man calledMark Standen, a federal police
officer.
Standen would work his way upthe ranks to eventually hold the
position of Australia's CrimeCommission Investigator.
Standen's job as CrimeCommission Investigator was to
(15:58):
investigate organized crime,while it's clear he did more
than investigate, because thisguy is currently serving a
22-year sentence for conspiringto import 300 kilograms of
pseudoeffedrine in to Australia.
So here's a little timeline.
Mark Standen and Tween work aspolice officer and informant in
(16:22):
the early 90s.
In 2006, Tween was arrested ondrug charges and went to prison.
Standen distanced himself fromTween at this time.
In 2008, Standen was arrestedon drug importation charges and
went to prison.
(16:42):
In 2009, Tween was questionedfor the very first time
regarding the rapes on theNorthern Beaches and Trudie's
disappearance.
Trudy disappeared in 1978.
(17:03):
So someone was brave enough atthat time to question Tween
while he was in prison, whilethe Crime Commissioner of
Australia was also in prison.
But nothing came of it andwe're really not sure why, but I
have a theory.
So clearly, Standen was workingwith Tween on drug-related
(17:23):
informing, but there areallegations that it was more
than that, allegations that theywere actually close family
friends with a family connectionthat went way back.
Standen denies this.
He says their friendship wasjust friendship and he distanced
himself from Tween once he wasarrested in 2006.
(17:45):
In fact, he states that he wasthe one responsible for bringing
Tween down.
Standen also maintains that heis innocent, so Tween goes to
prison in 2006.
Standen follows in 2008, bothfor drug importation charges.
Perhaps their friendship movedinto a work relationship.
(18:06):
Then they became partners inthe drug trade.
That would certainly explainTween being protected by someone
like Standen or even someonehigher up than him.
I can't think of a betterreason for why he was never
questioned for the rapes or inrelation to Trudy's
disappearance and that he wasonly ever questioned once after
(18:28):
Standen was himself in prison.
Even if Standen was protectingTween back then, which I suspect
would be because Tween wasgiving him some high-profile
criminals, why, then, wasn'tTween investigated after both he
and Standen were in prison?
He was questioned, but that wasit.
Perhaps because, like Imentioned earlier, there was
(18:50):
someone much higher up thanStandon who was protecting them
both.
The coronial inquest took placein 2011.
Trudy's family and friendsreally had their hopes set on
obtaining an outcome of sorts.
During the inquest, Tween wascombative, arrogant and
argumentative.
When questioned about the rapesand Trudy's disappearance, he
(19:13):
denied everything and he firedback with his own questions,
asking well, why was I neverinterviewed then?
Why was I never charged?
If there was evidence that itwas me, then you tell me why I
was never interviewed.
The determination from thecoroner was that Trudy met with
foul play.
That was it.
There was no physical evidenceagainst Tween, but plenty of
(19:37):
circumstantial evidence.
People have been convicted inthis country without a body,
without any physical evidence,but it's a moot point because
Tween died in prison in 2013.
So, with Tween dead and Standendenying any knowledge, there's
not much further we can get.
However, what about Tween'saccomplice?
(19:58):
The young women who wereattacked said there were two men
.
We know that Tween wasidentified by some of the women,
and so was his associate,Raymond Johnson.
It turns out that they wereboth arrested in Sydney four
months after Trudy went missing.
Sydney is less than one hoursouth of the Northern Beaches.
They were arrested with guns,wigs and false beards in their
(20:24):
possession.
However, this information wasn'tgiven to the detectives who
were covering the rapes andTrudy's disappearance.
Had that information beenpassed on, it might have been
enough at the time to bring theuntouchable Tween to justice.
There's barely a skerrick ofinformation that I could find on
(20:45):
Ray Johnson, except that hedied in prison before the 2011
inquest.
There are so many rabbit holesto go down with this case
International drug running,organised crime, potential
police corruption.
But it's pretty clear there's atruckload of circumstantial
evidence against one man And nowthat man is dead we could be
(21:07):
looking into those who areclosest to him at the time.
If you would like a deep diveinto the case, there's a great
ABC documentary called Barrenjoey Road on iView which I'd
encourage you to check out, andI'll put a link in the show
notes for you.
Connie, Trudy's mum has passed,but Charles Trudy's dad and
(21:28):
Trudy's brother still want anddeserve answers.
Trudy's family want to bringher home.
Trudy would be 63 years old now.
Where is the justice for her?
Where is the justice for the 14victims of those abductions and
brutal rapes?
This excerpt is from the NewSouth Wales Police website.
(21:51):
Homicide Squad detectivesworking Trudy's case suspect
there are still more victims ofthe sexual assaults on the
Northern Beaches at the time.
They would like the women toknow that support is available
for them and they are encouragedto contact Strike Force Keldy
detectives.
Their information, despite thepassage of time, might be
(22:14):
crucial to helping us chargethose responsible in this case.
The NSW government has put up a$250,000 reward for anyone who
provides information that leadsto the arrest and conviction of
the person or personsresponsible for truly suspected
death.
If you or anyone you know knowanything at all, please contact
(22:44):
Police Link on 131-444 or callCrime Stoppers on 1800 333-000.
Thanks for listening to Bolo.
If this episode has brought upfeelings for you and you need
support, please reach out toLifeline on 1311-14 or RESPECT
(23:11):
on 1800.
Respect.
You can connect with me onInsta @bolo.
pod, or email me bolo.
pod@ icloud.
com.
Or if you have a case you'dlike me to cover, I have a form
you can fill in on my Instaprofile.
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