Speaker 1: I don't know how many hundred people were there, but
Speaker 1: it was just he's sort of walk and he says, oh,
Speaker 1: where am I? And what's gone?
Speaker 2: Is this?
Speaker 1: This is surreal and he was looking at you and
Speaker 1: you're trying, you know, you don't really want to look
Speaker 1: at people say hi or whatever. It's just tough that
Speaker 1: this was going through that very tough.
Speaker 3: Did you ever think is the killer in this church? Yep?
Speaker 3: Do you think he was?
Speaker 1: Yep? Because it would have made them look like, you know,
Speaker 1: they cared.
Speaker 4: I believe that the person who killed her was at
Speaker 4: her funeral. I realized that.
Speaker 3: You're listening to episode four of Dear Rochelle, a podcast
Speaker 3: by True Crime Australia. I'm Ashley Hanson. This is the
Speaker 3: untold story of Rochelle Chance, a twenty three year old
Speaker 3: who was brutally murdered. Her killer has never been caught.
Speaker 4: My memory of that day is really blurry. Everything around
Speaker 4: that time is really blurry. I can't remember much at
Speaker 4: all because it was just, Yeah, it was traumatic. Well,
Speaker 4: her funeral was huge in my head. There was a
Speaker 4: thousand people there.
Speaker 5: It was packed, there were people out of the doors
Speaker 5: and it's a big church.
Speaker 6: My memory It was mostly young people, like people Rochelle's age.
Speaker 6: The crowd was big enough that there was standing room only.
Speaker 3: They'd come to say goodbye to twenty three year old
Speaker 3: Rochelle Chance. Her funeral was held at Mary Mother of
Speaker 3: the Church in Macquarie Fields in Western Sydney. The priest,
Speaker 3: father Michael Healey, had also presided over Rochelle's holy communion.
Speaker 3: It was a crisp winter day and the sun was shining.
Speaker 4: And they had to stop traffic to let the procession through.
Speaker 3: I remember just being in a zone.
Speaker 5: I did the eulogy, you know, getting up and speaking,
Speaker 5: and yeah, I knew I had to be brave, so
Speaker 5: I had to just put on a real armor.
Speaker 7: We'd put together some music and stuff like that for
Speaker 7: the funeral service, and I remember writing a letter to
Speaker 7: her to go into in with her.
Speaker 5: A really surreal experience, almost like I was watching it,
Speaker 5: not experiencing it, because I just I was very good
Speaker 5: at not letting myself feel. For a chapter there.
Speaker 7: It screams volumes about the person she was and the
Speaker 7: circle of friends and what she meant to people. You know,
Speaker 7: it was the biggest funeral I've ever attended, and even
Speaker 7: to this day I've ever attended.
Speaker 5: I remember but putting my suit on, and I was
Speaker 5: so skinny and gross, and I just remember feeling I
Speaker 5: was withering away, you know, physically, mentally, my soul, everything.
Speaker 3: Rochelle's dark Graham was known for his speeches at weddings
Speaker 3: and birthdays. He's an actor voicing the hardest speech of
Speaker 3: Graham's life, his daughter's final goodbye.
Speaker 8: Thank you friends for being here today. I can't begin
Speaker 8: to describe the sorrow in my heart. For the last two
Speaker 8: weeks have seen us living out the family's greatest nightmare.
Speaker 8: The only thing that has sustained us is a love
Speaker 8: shown by you. Your thoughts, your words, your tears, your
Speaker 8: prayers have all helped us I mentally. Over the past
Speaker 8: two weeks, Shelle's friends and workmates have told us many
Speaker 8: wonderful stories. The time that Rachelle was late for work
Speaker 8: because she had to rescue a ball from appen Road,
Speaker 8: the time that Shell stopped in traffic in Queen Street,
Speaker 8: the main street in Campbelltown, to rescue an injured glass,
Speaker 8: and one very special story where a sixty five year
Speaker 8: old lady described how Shell was a great companion to
Speaker 8: her when she was going through some very difficult times.
Speaker 8: Shell was a very special person. In many ways, she
Speaker 8: was a son I never had. Her approach to life
Speaker 8: was full on. She never saw a challenge too big.
Speaker 8: She had an insatiable thirst for life and for making friends.
Speaker 8: After five minutes with Shell, you felt she was your
Speaker 8: best mate, and you knew the friendship would laugh forever.
Speaker 8: I know Shell would be sitting up there saying, come on,
Speaker 8: get over it. So to help us get over it,
Speaker 8: I would like to leave you with a vision of Shell.
Speaker 8: I would like you all to look up to the ceiling,
Speaker 8: to the beams of shining light through the windows. Now
Speaker 8: close your eyes. Picture Shell, that beautiful girl, that long
Speaker 8: blonde hair, and those big blue eyes, that cheeky green
Speaker 8: and that infectious laugh. See how beautiful she is, See
Speaker 8: the fun she's having and the chaos she's creating. Now
Speaker 8: freeze from that memory, place it in your heart, and
Speaker 8: take it wherever you go. My little angel will be
Speaker 8: looking after you. I love you, Bubbs fly free.
Speaker 3: In the week since Rachelle's murder, police had cast a
Speaker 3: wide net, but they were convinced she knew her killer.
Speaker 3: Detectives had boots on the ground at the funeral, anticipating
Speaker 3: her murderer might be there too.
Speaker 7: I remember standing away from the burial site and I
Speaker 7: had a detective beside me, asking do you know who
Speaker 7: that person is? Do you know who that person is?
Speaker 7: Do you know who that person is? And I'm like,
Speaker 7: I've got no idea all these people are.
Speaker 9: I think Rochelle's killer was at the funeral.
Speaker 3: What makes you so confident of that? Is it because
Speaker 3: you profile this killer is someone who knew Rochelle and
Speaker 3: also that Rachelle trusted, so therefore would have to keep
Speaker 3: a persona that they.
Speaker 9: Cared well, that's right, And if you weren't there, that's
Speaker 9: a red flag. That's a big question mark for me.
Speaker 9: You know, that's something would stand out and what the
Speaker 9: investigators would be looking for finding out who's who in
Speaker 9: the zoo. And you're trying to seek a close companion
Speaker 9: of Rochelle's, you're also looking for the emotional side of things.
Speaker 9: Are we seeing big crocodile tears from somebody that really
Speaker 9: doesn't seem to care too much about her or didn't
Speaker 9: care much about her? Are we seeing some odd behavior?
Speaker 9: Are we seeing someone who's really being there? The cops
Speaker 9: wouldn't have stood out as being cops, so they would
Speaker 9: have filtered into that the people around Rachelle's funeral as unknowns,
Speaker 9: and he wouldn't be looking for a cop. That wouldn't
Speaker 9: be an interval. I can guarantee you that, and this
Speaker 9: is what we do. You try and seek out the behaviors.
Speaker 3: Does any one particular person stand out to you at
Speaker 3: the funeral?
Speaker 10: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I remember staring at him at the court case and
Speaker 5: he wouldn't make eye contact with me. I remember staring
Speaker 5: at him at the funeral and he wouldn't look at me.
Speaker 5: I remember the distance he had from everybody else at
Speaker 5: the funeral. He just made me feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 3: Yeah, more conscious of who was there. At this stage,
Speaker 3: detectives had a growing list of persons of interest. It's
Speaker 3: believed at least four p or wys were there that day.
Speaker 3: Plice were looking very closely at all the men in
Speaker 3: Rochelle's life. Here's her best friend Lisa leading up to
Speaker 3: her death. What was Rochelle's love life like? Yeah, a
Speaker 3: bit all over the place.
Speaker 5: Men loved her just she just had that personality, you know,
Speaker 5: that warm, friendly, gorgeous soul. And she was into guy stuff,
Speaker 5: you know, so that was just a winning recipe for
Speaker 5: all of them. You know, she was attractive, bubbly, friendly, funny,
Speaker 5: but love cars, you know, and love cricket and you know,
Speaker 5: all these things that they loved.
Speaker 2: So she would bond very quickly and.
Speaker 5: Easily, but never really And this is one of the
Speaker 5: things I hate for her is that I don't think
Speaker 5: she ever really got to experience deep and meaningful, reciprocal love.
Speaker 5: Do you think she was looking for love? Yes, I do,
Speaker 5: I do, unbeknown to herself. Again with hindsight, yes I do.
Speaker 5: I think the girl that she was and deep down
Speaker 5: not the you know what everyone would see, she wanted
Speaker 5: someone special for sure. She just didn't find her person,
Speaker 5: I guess, you know. And in the meantime just had
Speaker 5: had fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we talked about boys.
Speaker 11: A lot, you know.
Speaker 5: That was a big part of that really type part
Speaker 5: of our friendship was where she was living at the time, Embargo,
Speaker 5: and I was living with my parents about forty five
Speaker 5: minutes away. It was Monday nights. It was sex and
Speaker 5: the city night. I put my PJS on, I get
Speaker 5: my warmest blanket because it was always at culture house
Speaker 5: and I'd drive there and we'd cook dinner and we
Speaker 5: just talked about boys like NonStop, you know, and fun
Speaker 5: stuff and you know, light and yeah, and we'd cook
Speaker 5: dinner and then we'd watch Sex in the City and
Speaker 5: then I would stay over and drive back the neck.
Speaker 5: It was just a thing, you know, a thing that
Speaker 5: we had.
Speaker 3: Fiona used to pop over for girls night too.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so there was me, Lisa and Rochelle.
Speaker 3: So I still have this fond memory.
Speaker 7: She made a salad.
Speaker 10: I don't know what we were having with the salad,
Speaker 10: but I always remember she crushed up dorito's She's doritos
Speaker 10: and put them on the salad, and it's just been
Speaker 10: something that has stuck with me for ember.
Speaker 7: I just remember who puts the rito's on a salad.
Speaker 3: Unique recipes aside, friendships were a big part of her life,
Speaker 3: and so was navigating dating and love.
Speaker 5: In her early twenties. She'd been in a long term
Speaker 5: relationship that had gone to shit. You know, by that
Speaker 5: stage it had been there was an unhealthy relationship and
Speaker 5: how they lived and how much she carried all the
Speaker 5: finances and the bills and the burdens, and you know,
Speaker 5: probably he led her astray a little bit. So I
Speaker 5: was happy when that one ended.
Speaker 12: Oh we had a bit of a crunch become a shell.
Speaker 3: Lisa is talking about a familiar voice you've heard before
Speaker 3: in Dear Rochelle.
Speaker 4: Got a shell the winning car, mister Shane wats did?
Speaker 11: Shane like, Hi, it's.
Speaker 3: Been sonny, tad Sonny.
Speaker 11: It's good, good bit of track temperature.
Speaker 1: His daughter was nice. It was a nice friend. She
Speaker 1: was a very funny guy and they just jelled. She
Speaker 1: enjoyed the his personality that was funny. I still got
Speaker 1: a soft spot for her.
Speaker 3: When Christy and I went back to Bargo to see
Speaker 3: her old house, Christy filled me in on Rochelle and
Speaker 3: Shane's breakup.
Speaker 4: I think leave people very long. I think that was
Speaker 4: only here for a month or two. But it was
Speaker 4: so much fun. I remember when Rochelle and Shane lived here.
Speaker 4: We had Shane's little brothers Gemini that they were doing
Speaker 4: up in the garage, and we made a rally track
Speaker 4: in the paddock and we poured water on part of
Speaker 4: it so that we had like a bit that was
Speaker 4: wet and we used to race around and I remember
Speaker 4: it had no windscreen, and I remember getting in the
Speaker 4: passenger seat and Rochelle was driving and Shane was timing
Speaker 4: her and we came around the corner and she kind
Speaker 4: of lost it and then regained it, but we were
Speaker 4: off the track, so we had to go like around
Speaker 4: a tree, and she didn't slow down though, she just
Speaker 4: kept going.
Speaker 3: So how did you come about to live with Rochelle?
Speaker 4: So Rochelle and Shane broke up, and you know, to
Speaker 4: help her pay the rent, I moved out of mom
Speaker 4: and Dad's and moved in with her. Not that I
Speaker 4: paid for much of the rent she because I was
Speaker 4: at Union at the time.
Speaker 3: So what was their breakup?
Speaker 13: Like?
Speaker 3: How would you describe it? Oh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I think I don't think it was
Speaker 4: a great breakup. They used to fight a lot, but
Speaker 4: they were both hot headed. They probably weren't a good mix.
Speaker 7: Oh look at.
Speaker 14: Them, Look at the slower I can't remember.
Speaker 3: See that's Shane with Rochelle at Wakefield Park Raceway as
Speaker 3: they're getting ready for their big race. They small Shelle's
Speaker 3: all time favorite cart near the track.
Speaker 14: I'll just go park over there next to the WALKI
Speaker 14: was the fastest walking from in Australia.
Speaker 3: And Graham and CHRISTI have always loved Shane like family.
Speaker 3: Rachelle had broken his heart, but nothing could prepare him
Speaker 3: for losing her forever. And strangely, it was Sash from
Speaker 3: the Rebels who broke the news to him. Shane Spray
Speaker 3: painted cars and he'd previously sold a carter Sash, so
Speaker 3: they knew each other, but they weren't close. Graham Charles
Speaker 3: has spoken to Sash while he was looking for Rochelle,
Speaker 3: and after the tragic news came through, Graham asked him
Speaker 3: to break it to Shane.
Speaker 14: I got a phone call from that Sash, the Rebels
Speaker 14: guy or whatever it is.
Speaker 12: Weird.
Speaker 14: Thet thing was he was the one that actually told me,
Speaker 14: and he said just warning, you know, like they will
Speaker 14: probably think you're a suspect. That's that's when that idea
Speaker 14: was in my head from him. I was like, what,
Speaker 14: what are you even talking about? And then yeah, I
Speaker 14: got a phone call from Mum and everythincoln they all
Speaker 14: come racing down.
Speaker 12: Yeah. I don't recall much after that.
Speaker 14: We punched a few holes in walls and tried to
Speaker 14: run off into the car, but everyone was high in
Speaker 14: the keys and yeah, trying to calm me down, people
Speaker 14: were saying to me, oh, you know, you're going to
Speaker 14: be a suspect, and I'm like, what do you mean?
Speaker 14: Like I loved her, I still love her, like I
Speaker 14: love her like crazy, you know, I said, how am I?
Speaker 14: And they're like, oh, you're the ex boyfriend. You know
Speaker 14: you're a jealous ex boyfriend. I'm like, oh wow.
Speaker 3: Really, even though Shane and Rachelle had a messy breakup,
Speaker 3: he still loved her, and he blamed himself for not
Speaker 3: being able to protect her.
Speaker 12: Well, she wanted me to go. We were like, you know,
Speaker 12: whispling up? She's you need to go and start your life.
Speaker 12: And I knew she was a strong girl. But yeah,
Speaker 12: I don't know. I just feel like I shouldn't have left.
Speaker 3: But you had no idea she was in any danger.
Speaker 14: No exactly exactly, I had no idea of that. But yeah,
Speaker 14: still you look back now and you're like, what if
Speaker 14: only you know it's only done things differently or something.
Speaker 12: I don't know.
Speaker 14: Nothing could change it obviously now, but yeah, it still hurts.
Speaker 12: I still think about it a lot.
Speaker 3: And how long did it take for you to pull
Speaker 3: yourself together after this happened?
Speaker 14: And oh I was a mess for quite a few years.
Speaker 14: So I was like in a house where i'd move
Speaker 14: with some friends at Ingleburn there, and you know, we
Speaker 14: were partying and smoking pot and playing games and.
Speaker 12: Stuff like that, and just yeah, it was pretty miserable.
Speaker 14: Tried to, you know, just build cars and take my
Speaker 14: mind off it through building cars and that.
Speaker 12: But it's a pretty tough time.
Speaker 14: And then I met my wife who I'm with now
Speaker 14: through that house, and ye got.
Speaker 12: Out of that house and moved on with moved on
Speaker 12: with life.
Speaker 3: Is she the best thing that happened to you since
Speaker 3: losing myself?
Speaker 12: Yeah?
Speaker 14: Yeah, And that's the thing too, Like I could still
Speaker 14: like imagine now, like Rachelle would still come over, do
Speaker 14: you know what I mean, Like she was that kind
Speaker 14: of girl.
Speaker 12: And even my new wife like she'd love a drink
Speaker 12: with Rachelle, you know what I mean. Like it's it's
Speaker 12: like we left a really good friends.
Speaker 14: Our biggest problem was I think we're better friends and
Speaker 14: not lovers, you know what I mean.
Speaker 12: Like we were We're very had a lot of.
Speaker 14: The same taste and cars and everything, and I think
Speaker 14: we were just better off friends. So I should have
Speaker 14: just stayed and just yeah, I don't know. I still
Speaker 14: still blame myself sometimes, but it's tough. Shame yeah, yeah,
Speaker 14: I still think about it a lot.
Speaker 3: Sorry, don't apologize. Yeah, it's just so hard to fathom.
Speaker 3: And you wrote a letter to Shane. What prompted that?
Speaker 3: Just to keep in touch and say, you know.
Speaker 1: You always in our thoughts and you know, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: things didn't pan out.
Speaker 14: I just wanted the best for their daughter and stuff,
Speaker 14: so they could see that in me, And yeah, I
Speaker 14: consider myself to be a kind person and will do
Speaker 14: anything for anyone.
Speaker 12: Take the shirt off me back if they need it.
Speaker 3: Rochelle was newly single and excited about her future. This
Speaker 3: is two thousand and one. There's no Tinder bumble hinge,
Speaker 3: but there were online chat rooms. Can you tell me
Speaker 3: about Nathan the guy that she met in Queensland over
Speaker 3: the internet because the Internet would have only just been
Speaker 3: emerging into garzand and I.
Speaker 7: She said too, I'm going to Queensland for Easter. And
Speaker 7: I'm like, oh, come, I'm not doing anything. So she
Speaker 7: got a statesman off the lot and Lisa and her
Speaker 7: and I went to Queensland. We went to the Gold
Speaker 7: Coast and met this Nathan.
Speaker 5: This complete stranger who we never even seen.
Speaker 3: That's shell.
Speaker 2: She's like, yeah, I've got a goodeeling about this. Let's go.
Speaker 2: I think this, you know, this guy sounds pretty cool.
Speaker 3: And what was that road trip like with Rochelle? Was
Speaker 3: she a bit of a character? Oh god, yeah?
Speaker 7: At Grafton, at the momhile service station and just little
Speaker 7: dares like she do cartwheels. We pulled over into a
Speaker 7: into a cane field actually, and we got the car balled.
Speaker 7: These the three women taking photos of us in the
Speaker 7: cane field, and the car got stuck and we were
Speaker 7: just laughing our heads off trying to get this car
Speaker 7: on stuck and yeah, good signs, good times.
Speaker 5: Idiots, all of us really all a little bit too trusting.
Speaker 5: I do look back at that, you know, they're knowing
Speaker 5: what happened to Rachelle and.
Speaker 2: She thinking what the actual f were we thinking? You know,
Speaker 2: driving all.
Speaker 5: That way to see some guy who we did not know,
Speaker 5: who could have been like, thank god he wasn't, you
Speaker 5: know to my knowledge. We stayed in his house and they,
Speaker 5: you know, had a fun weekend together and then we
Speaker 5: drove back.
Speaker 3: Would she have gone alone? Was she a risk taker? Now?
Speaker 7: That's why she said I'm going to Queensland?
Speaker 12: Do you want to come?
Speaker 7: He seemed like a nice guy, and he actually came
Speaker 7: to Nelson Bay later that next month or something to
Speaker 7: come and see her.
Speaker 3: It's important to tell you about the girl's trip to Queensland,
Speaker 3: not just for the memories, but because that road trip
Speaker 3: didn't go down well with Rochelle's boss at Camden Holden,
Speaker 3: Kevin Correll.
Speaker 4: He was sort of teaching at the robe, so she
Speaker 4: looked at him, in my opinion, like a mental kind
Speaker 4: of father figure. She ad taught him. She'd looked up
Speaker 4: to him. I could see it at the way that
Speaker 4: she interacted with him. She was very trusting and she
Speaker 4: genuinely enjoyed people's company. She took the time to really
Speaker 4: get to know people. She loved marking around with people
Speaker 4: and having a joke, and she built friends really really quickly.
Speaker 4: She established really good relationships really early with people.
Speaker 3: Kevin, a father of two, was twenty two years older
Speaker 3: than Rachelle, and it often lent her cars from the lot,
Speaker 3: not a perk. Everyone was afforded.
Speaker 5: My understanding, and I don't think I read between the lines.
Speaker 5: I think she probably articulated this.
Speaker 2: But he had a crush on her.
Speaker 5: She navigated that relationship to her advantage.
Speaker 3: I think from what you saw. Could Kevin have played
Speaker 3: favorites with anyone? Did you get a sense of that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, And I think he was doing that with Rochelle,
Speaker 7: like at the time. It's sort of sometimes it was
Speaker 7: like that mentoring. But I don't know more. And I'd
Speaker 7: like to say father daughter, but not other daughter.
Speaker 12: I don't know more.
Speaker 7: Like he liked her, he liked her, It's my perception.
Speaker 5: I don't think it was a romantic relationship at all.
Speaker 5: I don't think she was remotely interested in him at all.
Speaker 5: But I think he had a crush on her. But
Speaker 5: he was also her boss, so I believe there's probably
Speaker 5: some power play that he had over her there. But
Speaker 5: she was a little aware of that and was just
Speaker 5: managing that so that she could still probably work, earn
Speaker 5: good money and borrow cars that she liked.
Speaker 3: Do you think Rochelle realized that Kevin may have fancied her.
Speaker 7: I think so. I do recall a conversation that I
Speaker 7: can't remember. I remember standing at the door of the
Speaker 7: showroom and Rachelle's shushing me because I was talking about
Speaker 7: Nathan coming down and boys being at Nelson Bay, and
Speaker 7: she shushed me. When she was on the phone to him,
Speaker 7: So it was like she didn't want him to know that.
Speaker 5: That's say I was a creepy old guy in my head.
Speaker 5: I don't think it's normal to be afraid of telling
Speaker 5: someone about your personal life if they're your boss.
Speaker 7: I think that he may have said some stuff to
Speaker 7: her that, you know, I hope you're not meeting up
Speaker 7: with any fellas or you know.
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 7: It just didn't sit right with me. That's your boss.
Speaker 7: He shouldn't care about what you were doing on the
Speaker 7: weekend or who you were meeting or what you were doing.
Speaker 12: That's your boss.
Speaker 3: And what do you read into that.
Speaker 7: Well, that's more than a boss should.
Speaker 3: So she didn't tell Kevin that she was going to
Speaker 3: meet a guy that she'd met online.
Speaker 5: Definitely not No, that was definitely a thing we had
Speaker 5: to keep secret.
Speaker 3: And what did she tell you specifically about why she
Speaker 3: wanted to that kept secret from Kevin?
Speaker 5: There was definitely like a little bit of fear, but
Speaker 5: fear in the sense. My interpretation of that fear, I
Speaker 5: should say, was that it was just more his her boss.
Speaker 5: She navigated that relationship to her advantage. I think, you know,
Speaker 5: in terms of him lending her cars, for example, when
Speaker 5: we went to see Nathan.
Speaker 7: I mean, she just was a bubbling person that people
Speaker 7: just were drawn to. It was a guy from Beau
Speaker 7: Repairs that was our a little bit of a thing
Speaker 7: for her.
Speaker 5: I think he had a crush on her too, and
Speaker 5: I think there was a little bit of playful texting
Speaker 5: back and forth between them.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I don't know that that was going anywhere, but it
Speaker 5: was I think light. Maybe Lee worked at the local
Speaker 5: Beau Repairs tie shop. That's how we met Rachelle the
Speaker 5: night before she was murdered. That had a secret rendezvous.
Speaker 5: Let's hear part of his statement to police. These are
Speaker 5: his words, but not his voice.
Speaker 15: On Wednesday, sixth of June in two thousand and one,
Speaker 15: I had spoken to Rochelle at work during the day.
Speaker 15: We arranged to meet later that night after she'd gone
Speaker 15: to her sister's boyfriend's place for a birthday party. This
Speaker 15: was at Raby. During the night, I sent her messages
Speaker 15: and spoke to her on my mobile. The conversation was
Speaker 15: about when we were going to meet. I met up
Speaker 15: with Rochelle at about nine o'clock at a picnic spot
Speaker 15: at Elderly, just over the northern side of the bridge.
Speaker 15: I got into her car. We talked for a while
Speaker 15: and did some kissing. This lasted for about an hour.
Speaker 15: I then told her I had to go as I
Speaker 15: was getting tired. She then tried to start her car,
Speaker 15: but because the radio had been turned on, the battery
Speaker 15: was flat. I then drove her in my car to
Speaker 15: Camden Holden where she got the booster pack. I then
Speaker 15: drove her back to her car and we got it started.
Speaker 15: She then drove off towards Bargo.
Speaker 5: I then went home.
Speaker 15: Rochelle spoke to me on the weekend about getting a
Speaker 15: VL walk In short, which was her favorite car. She
Speaker 15: told me that Camden Holden had just bought one and
Speaker 15: she was getting it as a loan car. Rochelle asked
Speaker 15: me if I would like to go with her for
Speaker 15: a drive in it on the weekend. She said she
Speaker 15: wanted to go for a drive at night as she
Speaker 15: had the weekend off. She told me she was meant
Speaker 15: to pick the car up Friday afternoon. She told me
Speaker 15: Kevin was going to loan her the car.
Speaker 3: I'm guessing, as you're listening to this, you probably fall
Speaker 3: into one of two camps right about now. You're either
Speaker 3: going What the hell is a walking short like I was?
Speaker 3: Or you're thinking sick? I can picture it right now.
Speaker 3: I'd love to take one of those for a spin.
Speaker 16: The Holden Commodol v l SS group a walking shawl
Speaker 16: or otherwise known as a walkie, one of the most
Speaker 16: iconic Australian cars of all time, once.
Speaker 3: Dubbed the plastic Pig.
Speaker 16: A classic panorama silver blue muscle machine where it's classic
Speaker 16: spoiler and ground hugging arrow kit. It looks like a
Speaker 16: brick stuck on the road under the hood bos a
Speaker 16: powerful fuel injected V eight engine running its idolized twin
Speaker 16: throttle body intake or twin throats in common or vernacula.
Speaker 3: The Walkie was a product of.
Speaker 16: A Bogan boom that swept across Australia in the late
Speaker 16: nineteen eighties. Only seven hundred and fifty walkies were built,
Speaker 16: making them extremely rare and today they're worth a fortune.
Speaker 16: A valuable collectible. They can fetch up to half a
Speaker 16: million bucks.
Speaker 3: That's Ben Hill, a modi mechanic who's an old friend
Speaker 3: of the child's family. Remember he took a look at
Speaker 3: Rochelle's old hold It. What were the subject of cars
Speaker 3: Damien Loone is also interested in the walking short. For him,
Speaker 3: it's less about the thrill of reving a sick ice
Speaker 3: blue muscle machine and more about whether it's the key
Speaker 3: to solving Rochelle's murder.
Speaker 9: There's some suggestion of a walking show. She was going
Speaker 9: to have a walking show for the weekend and Kevin
Speaker 9: Corell from the yard, her boss, may have promised her
Speaker 9: a walking shore for the weekend. That would have sent
Speaker 9: her while because she's a car enthusias to particularly commodols
Speaker 9: or Holden's.
Speaker 3: How critical do you think the walkenshaw is in this puzzle?
Speaker 9: Well, if it's used as a ployee to lure you somewhere,
Speaker 9: then it is very significant. But have we ever found one.
Speaker 3: We know was the used car sales manager at Camden Holden.
Speaker 3: Rochelle's boss, Kevin Correll, wielded a fair bit of power
Speaker 3: over her. There was also some trouble brewing in the
Speaker 3: books in the background, and within days of the funeral
Speaker 3: which he attended, Kevin was fired. Here's the car yards
Speaker 3: general manager, Jim Morrison. What action did you take against
Speaker 3: any employees about this fraud scandal that you uncovered?
Speaker 6: All we did was take it to the detectives. The
Speaker 6: business owner sort of played it fairly close to his chest.
Speaker 6: We didn't make it well known amongst the rest of
Speaker 6: the staff. We thought made jeopardize think, so it was
Speaker 6: better to keep it low key.
Speaker 3: Take me back to that moment when you decided, along
Speaker 3: with the business owner that somebody had to go.
Speaker 6: That was not long after Rochelle's death, one to two weeks.
Speaker 6: I know there was certainly that manager's meeting which was
Speaker 6: a few days after. I know the business owner he
Speaker 6: had some concerns with the manager at the times, and
Speaker 6: other discrepancies and things, and there's the things that I'm
Speaker 6: not privy to, but he just had enough concerns that
Speaker 6: he made the decision to terminate the person.
Speaker 3: Were you involved in that meeting of sacking Kevin, Yes,
Speaker 3: I was present. How did it go down? And what
Speaker 3: was the reasoning you gave to Kevin as to why
Speaker 3: he was being sacked?
Speaker 6: The business owner basically controlled the meeting. I was literally
Speaker 6: there as an observer. Kevin was it certainly wasn't happy,
Speaker 6: and you recall that, but I can't remember what was
Speaker 6: actually said at the time.
Speaker 3: Kevin Carell has always denied to frauding Camden Hold. No
Speaker 3: charges have ever been laid in relation to those allegations.
Speaker 3: Kevin has also always denied any involvement in Rochelle's murder
Speaker 3: and has never been charged. Well, hear more on Kevin later.
Speaker 3: But Damien Lun, what are your thoughts on the other
Speaker 3: men in Rochelle's life that were looked at closely by
Speaker 3: police very early in the investigation.
Speaker 9: When you're investigating these homicides, you always look at the
Speaker 9: person who they're close to, and certainly the ex boyfriend Shane,
Speaker 9: he would certainly be one of my intended targets to
Speaker 9: first of all find about his alibi, etc. And anything else.
Speaker 9: But there's nothing to connect him to Rochelle's homicide. So
Speaker 9: I believe now that he's out of the frame.
Speaker 3: What about Lee, the young guy from Beau Repairs that
Speaker 3: she saw the night before she was murdered.
Speaker 9: Well, here's an interesting case in this about it because
Speaker 9: we believe that Rachelle saw him the previous night before
Speaker 9: a homicide. Now, again, someone who has contact with Rachelle
Speaker 9: needs to be looked at closely, but his movements on
Speaker 9: the Thursday night could be accounted for, so he has
Speaker 9: provided an alibi that's fairly well rock solid, and he
Speaker 9: was cleaned very quickly.
Speaker 3: And what about Nathan and internet romance? Now, he lived
Speaker 3: in Queensland and they'd met up a couple of times,
Speaker 3: but there's no evidence to link him to the crime.
Speaker 3: So what are your thoughts on this internet relationship.
Speaker 9: Well, Nathan and Rachelle hooked up together via the Internet,
Speaker 9: but he came from another state and it was a Queensland,
Speaker 9: a long way away from where Rachelle lived. And there's
Speaker 9: no evidence that ever linked him to this crime. And
Speaker 9: he was quite candid and frank in his admission that
Speaker 9: he'd met with Rachelle, but there's nothing to say that
Speaker 9: anything untoward happened.
Speaker 3: The night before Rochelle was murdered, Lee told police that
Speaker 3: Rachelle had told him that she was being loaned to
Speaker 3: walk in show from her boss, Kevin. What do you
Speaker 3: glean from that evidence.
Speaker 9: Well, we know Rachelle loved her motor vehicles and she
Speaker 9: was really excited to be loaned this walk commodore, which
Speaker 9: in its era was the most fantastic commodore made by
Speaker 9: the Holden Group. And you have to wonder why the
Speaker 9: motives of Kevin for doing that and she was very
Speaker 9: excited to be having this car for the weekend, and
Speaker 9: you have to understand think why Kevin would be doing
Speaker 9: this and what's the underlying reasons for it.
Speaker 3: What about the remaining poise. We've covered off Sash, We've
Speaker 3: covered off Shane, the ex boyfriend, and a few other
Speaker 3: men that we know of, and then there are two
Speaker 3: other men who knew Rochelle. What do you read into
Speaker 3: their evidence and why they were looked at and ultimately
Speaker 3: ruled out.
Speaker 9: There were two men and because of their contact with
Speaker 9: Rachaelle via mobile phone on the Thursday afternoon, well immediately
Speaker 9: would have become persons of interest in this case. Their
Speaker 9: alibis were checked thoroughly and they were just friends of Rochelle.
Speaker 9: They were eliminated from the investigation as any further offender
Speaker 9: or offenders in the possible suspects of Rachelle's homicide. I've
Speaker 9: read the statements and also read the review by the
Speaker 9: officer in charge of Rochelle's homicide, and I'm quite satisfied
Speaker 9: that they had nothing to do with Rachelle's homicide at all.
Speaker 3: Rochelle's neighbor Bruce, was also a person of interest. What
Speaker 3: are your thoughts on him.
Speaker 9: Well, he's another one of certainly of interest where he's
Speaker 9: got some sort of romantic connections with Rochelle, and there's
Speaker 9: a day's secret there that he fancied her.
Speaker 4: I've always been quite suspicious of Bruce because I just
Speaker 4: found him. I don't know, he just always gave me
Speaker 4: a bad vibe.
Speaker 12: I just don't like him, and.
Speaker 4: He always just sort of would turn up out of nowhere.
Speaker 9: And I think Rachelle even said that she didn't mind him,
Speaker 9: but she had problems with the fact that he was
Speaker 9: married with a couple of kids, and he's also the neighbor.
Speaker 5: I think he gave her attention and she liked that,
Speaker 5: but I don't think she was interested in him. That
Speaker 5: would be my take on that. I remember him coming
Speaker 5: over once when we were having a girl's night and
Speaker 5: I remember just thinking, oh, god, dude, like, I don't
Speaker 5: know who you are or why you're here, but clearly
Speaker 5: this is a girl's night. I'm giving you the signals
Speaker 5: that I don't want to hear. But he ended up
Speaker 5: staying and I think a right twenty three, earning my
Speaker 5: own money, and I remember paying, you know, for the
Speaker 5: food to be I'm like dangn my fucking food. You know,
Speaker 5: why are you so? I remember being irritated with him,
Speaker 5: and I remember just thinking, why are you hanging around
Speaker 5: like nobody wants to hear? You know? But he just
Speaker 5: ate food. I think he even had a whole drink
Speaker 5: with us and then eventually left. But I just remember
Speaker 5: being irritated by him. I had an ick factor with him.
Speaker 9: He next that he had a thing for her, but
Speaker 9: nothing sexual, just to hugging a kiss here and there,
Speaker 9: and I think he was hoping for more. But I
Speaker 9: think she told him straight away that nothing else is
Speaker 9: going to happen.
Speaker 5: Also sent her flowers a couple of time, which is
Speaker 5: ill because he has a wife or had a wife.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so there was a bit.
Speaker 5: Of discomfort for me with him. I didn't like, I
Speaker 5: want to say full maybe falsefulness, but I just didn't
Speaker 5: like that a guy thought it was okay to come
Speaker 5: into her house stay somewhat unwelcomed, given that the other
Speaker 5: guests clearly didn't want him there, and dine with us
Speaker 5: and you know, not contribute anything. And yeah, there was
Speaker 5: no part of her that was Yeah, I think into
Speaker 5: him or ever thinking about pursuing him. I think she
Speaker 5: just liked the idea of someone giving her attention. And
Speaker 5: we've all been in that chapter. But I didn't like him,
Speaker 5: didn't warm to him, didn't want him there.
Speaker 3: And how did Rochelle react when he sent her flowers.
Speaker 11: To her work?
Speaker 5: I can only imagine actually how she would have reacted
Speaker 5: and how swiftly she would have made up a story
Speaker 5: about who they came from.
Speaker 4: The thing I'm really pissed off a bit is that
Speaker 4: they pulled the task force so early, and when I've
Speaker 4: asked to go to Queensland, because that's when where Bruce
Speaker 4: and his wife kind of ran off to really quickly,
Speaker 4: they said no because of budgeting issues. But that my
Speaker 4: dad has said to them before when they've said that,
Speaker 4: you know, we've already spent one hundred thousand dollars on
Speaker 4: your daughter's case, he said, you want me to write
Speaker 4: your check. You know, we would have paid for them
Speaker 4: to go to Queensland. We would have taken them to Queensland.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: It's just ridiculous that it was a budgeting issue that
Speaker 4: stopped them from going to Queensland and getting that evidence
Speaker 4: back then when memories were fresh, and now we've got
Speaker 4: to do it again. Now when it's twenty three years later.
Speaker 3: Years later, Bruce would be cleared as a person of
Speaker 3: interest during a coronial inquest. Here's what Ivor Davies remembers
Speaker 3: about questioning Bruce and his dad at the station in
Speaker 3: two thousand and one.
Speaker 11: We've pulled in pursings a time. Unfortunately, we were really
Speaker 11: really pressed and it all sort of happened one really quick.
Speaker 11: So when they were going at back to the closet
Speaker 11: about eight o'clock in the evening, and I'll in a
Speaker 11: police station, fat I hope not just watching them in
Speaker 11: the truck and the interior livens on.
Speaker 13: And at this time I'm watching them because I'm thinking,
Speaker 13: these guys, you're up in their neck. I couldn't hear,
Speaker 13: of course, because but I can see the intense conversation.
Speaker 13: It was almost like they were biking at each other.
Speaker 3: On the next episode of Deer Rochelle, I remember saying
Speaker 3: to Iva Davies, you know at that time that she's
Speaker 3: told me something.
Speaker 5: I'm sure she's told me something, and I'm sure I'm
Speaker 5: forgetting it. And I went out a hypnosis and I
Speaker 5: would just being Rochelle.
Speaker 4: So I called him and said she's missing that was
Speaker 4: so weird.
Speaker 11: He's not concerned at all.
Speaker 3: Did it surprise you when the rebels bike is turned up?
Speaker 4: It did, but it also reaffirmed what thought that this
Speaker 4: is a red hearing place by someone.
Speaker 9: There's no doubt about it. There's a red odd suspect.
Speaker 8: The sense of fear he created as a woman, you
Speaker 8: wouldn't leave the house.
Speaker 3: De Rochelle is a multi media production from True Crime Australia.
Speaker 3: If you want to be the first to find out
Speaker 3: what happens next, go to De Rochelle dot com dot AU.
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Speaker 3: to podcast episodes and breaking news in our live investigation
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Speaker 17: Dot au, DAI, r C h ewl E dot com
Speaker 17: dot a U. If you have any tips or confidential
Speaker 17: information to share with me, Ashley Hanson, please send an
Speaker 17: email to De Rochelle at News dot com dot a you.
Speaker 17: Our supervising producer and audio editor is Rehys Gunter Rachel Fountain,
Speaker 17: his executive producer and audio director.
Speaker 3: Our executive editor is Sarah Blake. Our senior journalist is
Speaker 3: Patrick Carline. Video editors are Jillian McNally, Owen Yang and
Speaker 3: Stephen Woods. Picture editors are Jeff dr Mannin and Christy
Speaker 3: Miller Sendy. Camera operators are Daniel Andrews and Oscar Viera,
Speaker 3: with sound designed by Martin Perolta. Thanks also to Greg
Speaker 3: Thompson and Lenni Panerz, Show Burreo Fayguld, Vanessa Graham, Hailey Goddard,
Speaker 3: Stephen Grice, Charlotte carb Tina Coggins and Harry Hughes. Special
Speaker 3: thanks to The Daily Telegraph editor Ben English and Dear Roschell.
Speaker 3: Would not be possible without the help and our waivering
Speaker 3: support of Christian Ann Childs, Mindy Wicks, Damien Lone and
Speaker 3: Rachelle's Freenden. This podcast series is hosted and investigated by
Speaker 3: me Ashley Hanson