WEBVTT - The Kapunda Triple Murder & An Unsuspecting Killer 0:00:11.502 --> 0:00:14.262 You're listening to a MoMA Mea podcast. 0:00:14.982 --> 0:00:18.502 Mama Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters. 0:00:18.662 --> 0:00:23.022 This podcast was recorded on It's November twenty ten and 0:00:23.142 --> 0:00:26.742 Christopher Rowe and his girlfriend Coralianne are on holidays in Queensland, 0:00:26.942 --> 0:00:29.782 enjoying the spring sun and some downtime ahead of the 0:00:29.822 --> 0:00:33.902 busy Christmas period. He reads something online from his hometown 0:00:33.942 --> 0:00:37.982 of Capunda, South Australia. Three people have been found dead. 0:00:39.022 --> 0:00:41.622 He notices a photo attached to the article is of 0:00:41.822 --> 0:00:46.222 his street, so he jumps on Facebook. My family live 0:00:46.262 --> 0:00:49.582 on that street, he writes, can somebody check on my parents? 0:00:50.662 --> 0:00:56.502 Pretty quickly he gets a reply, all's good, someone writes, Relieved. 0:00:56.662 --> 0:00:59.702 Chris gets back to his holiday, but it doesn't take 0:00:59.782 --> 0:01:03.462 long for the truth to come out for that well 0:01:03.502 --> 0:01:09.142 meaning and misinformed locals comment to be proven wrong. As 0:01:09.222 --> 0:01:12.262 Chris answers a phone call from a detective, he can 0:01:12.342 --> 0:01:17.622 hardly believe what he is hearing. His mum, Rose, dad Andrew, 0:01:18.182 --> 0:01:21.982 and little sister Chantelle have all been stabbed to death 0:01:22.142 --> 0:01:24.422 in his family home. Now, an eighteen year old man 0:01:24.462 --> 0:01:26.822 will face court today over the murder of a family 0:01:26.862 --> 0:01:29.862 in the South Australian town of Capunda. Andrew and Rose 0:01:29.982 --> 0:01:32.422 Rowe and their sixteen year old daughter, Chantelle were found 0:01:32.502 --> 0:01:34.662 stabbed to death in their home last week. A large 0:01:34.662 --> 0:01:37.502 crowd of locals gathered outside the police stations who hear 0:01:37.542 --> 0:01:41.102 from detectives. The crime will be described in the media 0:01:41.182 --> 0:01:47.662 as a blood bath, disturbing confronting all three victims stabbed 0:01:47.822 --> 0:01:53.182 multiple times. The brutality of the crime shocks the local community, 0:01:53.422 --> 0:01:57.502 which is thrown into the global media headlines. To this day, 0:01:58.022 --> 0:02:01.222 it's described as one of the state's most savage crimes 0:02:01.782 --> 0:02:04.862 and resulted in one of the harshest penalties handed down 0:02:05.382 --> 0:02:16.462 in South Australian history. Kapunda is a rural Australian town 0:02:16.902 --> 0:02:19.062 which at the time of the murders had a population 0:02:19.222 --> 0:02:22.382 of about three thousand. It sits on the edge of 0:02:22.462 --> 0:02:25.542 the Barossa Valley, an hour north of Vdelaide and is 0:02:25.542 --> 0:02:29.142 what you might call a low level tourist destination. It's 0:02:29.222 --> 0:02:32.662 home to Australia's first commercial metal mine, which you can 0:02:32.702 --> 0:02:37.222 now tour. It's a stereotypical Ossie town in that everyone 0:02:37.422 --> 0:02:40.142 knows everyone and many of the locals live there their 0:02:40.302 --> 0:02:44.022 entire lives. At the time of this crime in twenty ten. 0:02:44.222 --> 0:02:48.142 There were only two police officers stationed there permanently. The 0:02:48.222 --> 0:02:50.982 last thing they expected to find inside the Harriet Street 0:02:51.022 --> 0:02:54.102 home in the early hours of November eighth was this. 0:02:55.422 --> 0:02:59.382 The victims had more than one hundred wounds between them. 0:02:59.662 --> 0:03:03.542 The man responsible was someone no one would have expected 0:03:03.622 --> 0:03:07.702 capable of such a horrific triple murder. Brian Littley is 0:03:07.742 --> 0:03:11.662 a journalist who covered this case extensive for the Advertiser. 0:03:12.142 --> 0:03:15.542 He knew Kapunda well and captain touch with the sole survivor, 0:03:15.622 --> 0:03:22.862 Chris for many years after the crime. Brian joins us. Now, Brian, 0:03:23.382 --> 0:03:26.542 tell me about the Roe family. Who were they and 0:03:26.582 --> 0:03:29.342 what did their life in Kapunda, South Australia look like? 0:03:30.662 --> 0:03:34.622 I think the Roe family there was Andrew the father, 0:03:35.102 --> 0:03:39.502 and rose Mary or Rose that she went by, typical 0:03:40.222 --> 0:03:45.822 country family, two children, Christopher who had moved out of 0:03:45.862 --> 0:03:48.382 home and was living with his girlfriend but nearby and 0:03:48.542 --> 0:03:51.262 that'd have their weekend catch ups. And then of course 0:03:51.662 --> 0:03:55.702 Chantell sixteen year old in the midst of us schooling 0:03:55.782 --> 0:04:00.022 but also looking to branch out and do some work, 0:04:00.102 --> 0:04:03.182 casual work around in the community or in the towns, 0:04:03.422 --> 0:04:06.702 getting those cafe jobs or little jobs to earn some 0:04:06.742 --> 0:04:10.182 pocket money and getting around seeing her high school friends. 0:04:10.822 --> 0:04:14.662 They were your typical country family, had been living in 0:04:14.742 --> 0:04:19.902 Capunda for some time. Not born and bred through Capunda, 0:04:19.942 --> 0:04:23.542 but had set up and were established in the town 0:04:23.902 --> 0:04:27.902 and known around the town as good, friendly, kind people 0:04:28.502 --> 0:04:30.262 and nice members of the community. 0:04:30.742 --> 0:04:34.662 Do we know anything about the weekend before the murders 0:04:34.742 --> 0:04:36.862 what the family was up to. I know Chris was 0:04:36.902 --> 0:04:37.862 out of town, wasn't he. 0:04:38.502 --> 0:04:42.182 Yes, well, Chris was with his girlfriend Cora Lee on 0:04:42.222 --> 0:04:44.342 the Gold Coast, had gone there for a holiday and 0:04:45.262 --> 0:04:47.942 I think he'd been there for close to a week 0:04:48.422 --> 0:04:52.222 away Andrew and Rose. There's not much known about what 0:04:52.382 --> 0:04:54.502 they had been up to across that week. And we 0:04:54.622 --> 0:04:58.862 know that the week before Bill O'Brien, who was at 0:04:58.862 --> 0:05:01.662 that stage running to be mayor and went on to 0:05:01.702 --> 0:05:05.102 become the mayor and has been a long standing mayor, 0:05:05.222 --> 0:05:09.462 is still mayor or closely associated with the local government 0:05:09.622 --> 0:05:12.302 council there at the moment. Bill's a lovely bloke ran 0:05:12.382 --> 0:05:15.382 the supermarket, but he'd said that he'd run into Rose 0:05:15.422 --> 0:05:17.822 the week before and had a chat with her in 0:05:17.862 --> 0:05:21.142 his supermarket in the main street of Kapunda. So they 0:05:21.182 --> 0:05:26.342 were moving around doing their normal thing, but not standing out. Chantell, 0:05:26.502 --> 0:05:29.942 we know that she had been across that weekend in 0:05:29.982 --> 0:05:32.262 a few little places or speaking to a few people. 0:05:32.622 --> 0:05:35.662 A party at the neighboring town of Freeling. We think 0:05:36.182 --> 0:05:39.982 there's also other parties in Kapunda and bits and pieces. 0:05:40.022 --> 0:05:42.542 So moving around with friends groups and catching up with 0:05:42.582 --> 0:05:45.982 friends groups is how it played out, what we learned 0:05:46.022 --> 0:05:49.742 about Chantelle's movements, and that's critical going on later on. 0:05:50.382 --> 0:05:54.902 The bodies of Rose, Andrew, and Chantell, who was only sixteen, 0:05:55.542 --> 0:05:59.902 were found on a Monday in November twenty ten. Do 0:05:59.982 --> 0:06:02.582 we know if anyone raised the alarm or how that 0:06:02.702 --> 0:06:03.982 crime scene was discovered? 0:06:04.622 --> 0:06:10.582 From what we understand it was actually Christopher's boss had 0:06:10.622 --> 0:06:13.342 gone to check. I'm not sure about the details of 0:06:13.422 --> 0:06:15.302 him and why he would have gone to check, but 0:06:15.862 --> 0:06:18.862 he'd gone to call in on the family home somewhere 0:06:18.902 --> 0:06:23.182 around eleven o'clock on Monday the eighth November, maybe to 0:06:23.262 --> 0:06:26.822 drop something in, just to say get a something like that, 0:06:26.902 --> 0:06:31.862 and he discovered the bodies of Andrew and or discovered 0:06:31.862 --> 0:06:35.862 the scene I should say, with Andrew, Rose and Chantel, 0:06:36.302 --> 0:06:40.542 as we know now brutally brutally murdered and stabbed. It's 0:06:40.582 --> 0:06:45.702 a seasoned police call it now the most horrific scene 0:06:45.742 --> 0:06:46.622 that they've ever seen. 0:06:47.622 --> 0:06:50.742 I don't want you to go, you know, into too 0:06:50.782 --> 0:06:52.862 much detail that you're uncomfortable with, but to help us 0:06:52.862 --> 0:06:56.742 set the scene. What happened to that family in that house? 0:06:59.422 --> 0:07:03.222 Yeah, I think you know. I've had this explained to 0:07:03.262 --> 0:07:05.942 me by some police who were in there, who were 0:07:06.502 --> 0:07:10.102 first on the scene, and as I said, they talk 0:07:10.142 --> 0:07:13.342 about up being the most brutal and horrific scene that 0:07:13.382 --> 0:07:17.382 they'd ever ever seen. We know that he came out 0:07:17.382 --> 0:07:20.622 and caught at the details about that scene read out 0:07:20.662 --> 0:07:24.342 by Judge Sulan when they were finally prosecuting and sentencing 0:07:25.262 --> 0:07:32.702 the killer, Jason Downey, that Chantel had been stabbed thirty 0:07:32.702 --> 0:07:36.462 three times and raped to the point where she'd been 0:07:36.622 --> 0:07:40.102 stabbed and wasn't killed, and then raped and then stabbed again. 0:07:41.222 --> 0:07:45.462 Andrew was stabbed twenty four times in the back, and 0:07:46.422 --> 0:07:50.262 from what police have described to me or some people 0:07:50.862 --> 0:07:55.622 I've heard through those channels in those investigations, Andrew didn't 0:07:55.662 --> 0:07:57.502 have a chance of even getting out of the bed 0:07:57.862 --> 0:08:02.182 and was rendered incapable of being able to defend his family. 0:08:02.222 --> 0:08:06.382 I guess for me, I think as horrific as both 0:08:06.422 --> 0:08:09.102 of those ends are, I think it's a description of 0:08:09.142 --> 0:08:12.942 what happened to Rose, who was stabbed more than fifty times, 0:08:13.502 --> 0:08:18.822 which which really impacts me and would impact anyone. She 0:08:19.062 --> 0:08:23.382 was said to be crawling on the ground trying to 0:08:23.622 --> 0:08:27.622 escape the madness that was happening in and around her 0:08:28.262 --> 0:08:30.662 when she was stabbed again and again. You know, the 0:08:30.862 --> 0:08:35.382 efforts by the killer to clean up the mess, and 0:08:35.382 --> 0:08:38.862 then only to go back and stab people again, for 0:08:39.142 --> 0:08:43.422 blood to fall over that mess again again. So it's 0:08:44.742 --> 0:08:48.582 it was a frenzied, crazy attack, which is just mind 0:08:49.022 --> 0:08:53.982 boggling to think that someone could even continue to be 0:08:54.102 --> 0:08:57.462 in such a rage or such a out of control state. 0:08:57.942 --> 0:09:02.182 Well that's more than one hundred stab wounds alone, and 0:09:02.382 --> 0:09:05.942 you know, any murder is horrific. But you know that 0:09:06.262 --> 0:09:09.262 visceral language that you describe the police officers using, you 0:09:09.502 --> 0:09:13.382 disturbing confront a blood bath, a massacre like it's It 0:09:13.422 --> 0:09:16.142 doesn't get more brutal and horrible than this. 0:09:17.942 --> 0:09:20.262 No, it doesn't. And I've got to say that you 0:09:20.302 --> 0:09:24.022 know those details it took, they went put up early 0:09:24.262 --> 0:09:27.462 on in the piece. It's only over time that those 0:09:28.542 --> 0:09:32.302 details really started to come out, I guess after the 0:09:32.582 --> 0:09:34.942 after the court case as well, and they started to 0:09:35.382 --> 0:09:39.462 flow out, and we heard more murmurs of what police 0:09:39.502 --> 0:09:42.262 had been confronted with when they were the first into 0:09:42.302 --> 0:09:45.622 the scene. And I've got to assume that, you know, 0:09:46.262 --> 0:09:49.422 those police officers, hardened police officers who've seen a lot, 0:09:49.502 --> 0:09:53.822 you know, were and still are probably struggle to cope 0:09:53.902 --> 0:09:57.262 with what they saw in that house, so very disturbing. 0:09:58.142 --> 0:10:02.622 I've read reports that a neighbor actually heard some screaming 0:10:02.702 --> 0:10:06.742 that night but didn't end up reporting it. Were there 0:10:06.782 --> 0:10:08.862 many other kind of witness reports that came out. 0:10:09.582 --> 0:10:12.582 Yeah, that was one the things that had very early 0:10:12.622 --> 0:10:16.382 in the police investigation that at about one am in 0:10:16.422 --> 0:10:20.862 the morning, a neighbor had heard I think Andrew's loudly 0:10:22.062 --> 0:10:25.662 loud voice, some screams from one of the ladies, one 0:10:25.702 --> 0:10:29.102 of the girls, And that is in the police sort 0:10:29.142 --> 0:10:32.782 of investigation from the very outset that that was something 0:10:32.822 --> 0:10:37.182 that had triggered. Other than that, there was very little 0:10:37.862 --> 0:10:42.862 from that night that would alert anyone to a crime 0:10:42.942 --> 0:10:47.222 being a crime happening in that town. I think the 0:10:47.262 --> 0:10:50.142 person they have thought it was a domestic dispute and 0:10:50.182 --> 0:10:55.662 nothing more. But it wasn't an ongoing, ongoing cries for 0:10:55.742 --> 0:11:00.382 help or scenes. It was you could just imagine a 0:11:00.462 --> 0:11:04.142 father rendered incapable of protecting his family, whether he was 0:11:04.862 --> 0:11:09.862 already dead, a terrified young teenage girl she was hiding 0:11:09.902 --> 0:11:12.822 under the bed. He pulled her out from underneath the 0:11:12.862 --> 0:11:17.022 bed and stabbed her again. And a mum who was 0:11:17.382 --> 0:11:22.222 unable to escape this madman. What was going on inside 0:11:22.262 --> 0:11:27.022 that house, whether they couldn't scream in fear and shock, 0:11:27.702 --> 0:11:29.502 incapable of doing that at that time. 0:11:30.342 --> 0:11:34.182 My mind immediately goes to Chris, who wasn't there, and 0:11:34.222 --> 0:11:38.142 he was on holiday with his girlfriend. I'm assuming he 0:11:38.182 --> 0:11:41.382 got a call. Do we know how he found out 0:11:41.462 --> 0:11:43.382 how quickly he was able to make it back. 0:11:44.822 --> 0:11:48.142 Yeah, we know that he did get a call. Well, 0:11:48.142 --> 0:11:50.702 obviously got a call and was alerted to it, and 0:11:51.102 --> 0:11:53.102 I believe he was able to get back by that 0:11:53.142 --> 0:11:57.582 Monday afternoon or evening. He was raced back there, raced 0:11:57.582 --> 0:12:00.262 back to what his whole family had been murdered. And 0:12:01.302 --> 0:12:04.422 you know, I spent a bit of time with Chris 0:12:05.302 --> 0:12:09.782 as in the years after. It was three years after 0:12:09.862 --> 0:12:13.102 that I I spent time with Chris and Coraly, and 0:12:13.302 --> 0:12:15.702 it was the last real touch point I had on 0:12:15.742 --> 0:12:20.182 this story was to do an interview with the pair 0:12:20.302 --> 0:12:23.182 as they awaited the birth of their child, and it 0:12:23.342 --> 0:12:26.622 was lovely to be sitting there and doing that. I'd 0:12:26.622 --> 0:12:30.462 had a little bit of contact with Chris throughout that time, 0:12:30.542 --> 0:12:36.062 but obviously family and friends, community police, all of those 0:12:36.062 --> 0:12:38.902 people you'd expect were very protective of him, and I'd 0:12:38.982 --> 0:12:42.182 like to think that I respected that, and our coverage 0:12:42.262 --> 0:12:44.742 respected that as well. We did a lot of our 0:12:45.342 --> 0:12:50.782 liaison with the family through Chris's cousin, Kylie Duffield, and 0:12:51.702 --> 0:12:56.222 she became a real powerful and strong and fantastic spokesperson 0:12:56.222 --> 0:13:00.982 for the family. The torment that Chris went through, you know, 0:13:02.062 --> 0:13:05.942 even even to the point of well, he had a 0:13:05.942 --> 0:13:10.502 absolute alibi and the Gold Coast had he organized the 0:13:10.582 --> 0:13:14.822 killing of his family and what or had he led? 0:13:15.902 --> 0:13:18.582 Was he up to something that led them to be attacked, 0:13:19.022 --> 0:13:22.822 It would have been so tormenting. And you know, he 0:13:22.862 --> 0:13:26.222 was a really strong and powerful young man at the 0:13:26.262 --> 0:13:28.822 time to be able to even cope with that and 0:13:28.822 --> 0:13:33.142 get through Yeah. Yeah, he raced back and I know 0:13:33.222 --> 0:13:36.382 that he was a pillar of strength for the people 0:13:36.422 --> 0:13:38.262 around him, and he had a lot of people around 0:13:38.302 --> 0:13:41.062 him to support him as well, though he was pretty 0:13:41.142 --> 0:13:43.542 stood fairly strong in the circumstances. 0:13:44.142 --> 0:13:48.782 Was Coapunda you know regularly in the news. You know, 0:13:49.262 --> 0:13:50.662 as far as I can see, a bit more of 0:13:50.662 --> 0:13:53.382 a sleepy rural town, a little bit of a tourist location. 0:13:53.622 --> 0:13:55.782 But this would have kind of really put it on 0:13:55.822 --> 0:13:56.222 the map. 0:13:57.102 --> 0:14:00.662 Yeah, like for the wrong reasons. Yeah. No, Copanda is 0:14:00.702 --> 0:14:05.542 a fabulous place. It's a lovely sleepy country hamlet. Really. 0:14:06.662 --> 0:14:10.422 It has a really rich history and probably quite a 0:14:11.982 --> 0:14:15.942 I imagine it's had a fair share of trouble and strife, 0:14:15.982 --> 0:14:19.062 but nothing like this. So you know, it's part of 0:14:19.102 --> 0:14:23.102 the Copper Triangle with the Cornish miners and so had 0:14:23.102 --> 0:14:25.902 the copper mine there, and at one stage I think 0:14:26.062 --> 0:14:29.622 had the number of pubs in Capunda. There was somewhere 0:14:29.662 --> 0:14:32.982 around thirty pubs in Kapunda, and even at this stage 0:14:32.982 --> 0:14:35.342 in twenty ten, there's still a lot of little pubs 0:14:35.382 --> 0:14:38.542 in there. So you can imagine the rough and tumble. 0:14:38.582 --> 0:14:40.902 It is a rough and tumble town. It's got a 0:14:41.022 --> 0:14:45.102 rich Catholic history. It's also got a number of tunnels 0:14:45.102 --> 0:14:49.182 that run below the town, very intriguing township, but nothing 0:14:49.262 --> 0:14:49.502 like this. 0:14:50.062 --> 0:14:52.862 You said you were tasked with, you know, chatting to 0:14:52.902 --> 0:14:57.182 the locals as part of your team's investigation. What was 0:14:57.822 --> 0:15:00.782 their reaction like to something like this happening in the town. 0:15:01.022 --> 0:15:03.062 At the start, as you mentioned, we didn't know the details, 0:15:03.102 --> 0:15:06.062 but they did know that three members of a family 0:15:06.142 --> 0:15:08.742 had been killed in the one house. 0:15:09.102 --> 0:15:13.462 I had a shock at that devastation that a family 0:15:13.582 --> 0:15:19.062 from their community had been so horrifically murdered. And as 0:15:19.102 --> 0:15:24.582 it filtered out, of course there's that immediate grief and outrage. 0:15:25.062 --> 0:15:29.782 Then the fear really set in because and it was 0:15:29.822 --> 0:15:32.982 within a few days I think that the township of 0:15:33.062 --> 0:15:36.542 Capanda started to sort of work out that hey, this 0:15:37.422 --> 0:15:39.742 isn't likely to be well, they thought it was someone 0:15:40.382 --> 0:15:42.462 from outside of town. It'd have to be, wouldn't it, 0:15:42.462 --> 0:15:44.422 because no one in their town, that the people that 0:15:44.462 --> 0:15:46.582 they lived with, their neighbors, isn't going to do anything 0:15:46.662 --> 0:15:51.742 like this. But within a few days, the efforts of 0:15:51.742 --> 0:15:54.382 the police were starting to see it that way that 0:15:54.462 --> 0:15:58.822 we think this could be one of your own, and 0:15:58.942 --> 0:16:02.622 that level of fear really rose, so they were quite scared. 0:16:02.902 --> 0:16:07.982 They I think walking around the town people did try 0:16:08.022 --> 0:16:11.302 to go about their lives as usual and try to 0:16:11.382 --> 0:16:14.382 keep that face of you know, we're still we're getting 0:16:14.422 --> 0:16:18.142 along with things. We're supportive of every effort that the 0:16:18.182 --> 0:16:20.942 police make. But then you've got media from everywhere. All 0:16:20.982 --> 0:16:23.462 the eyes are on it. So everyone was on tenterhooks 0:16:24.022 --> 0:16:30.262 and they were scared. So even I found myself knowing 0:16:30.302 --> 0:16:33.502 a lot of people there, they were reserved in what 0:16:33.542 --> 0:16:37.342 they might come forward with and a bit frightened about 0:16:37.382 --> 0:16:39.462 talking with you, And so it made it pretty hard. 0:16:40.062 --> 0:16:44.382 Were the police sharing any clues in those early days 0:16:44.742 --> 0:16:47.302 or were they kind of keeping things pretty under wraps. 0:16:47.342 --> 0:16:50.102 I know that there was a really widespread search, you know, 0:16:50.502 --> 0:16:53.822 underwater land everything. 0:16:54.302 --> 0:16:56.862 I know that over time I've been critical of police, 0:16:56.862 --> 0:16:59.062 and at the time I was critical of police because 0:16:59.742 --> 0:17:02.422 not about keeping things under wraps. I understand that that's 0:17:02.502 --> 0:17:04.822 the way that things need to be. And something that 0:17:04.902 --> 0:17:08.542 was quite of interest to me was the head of 0:17:08.582 --> 0:17:11.502 Major Crime and Grant Moyle. He'd been in the job 0:17:11.542 --> 0:17:16.342 for two days before this murder happened. And you know, 0:17:17.382 --> 0:17:20.942 I'd no Grant Moyle from He's a few years older 0:17:20.942 --> 0:17:22.702 than me, but he grew up in the same township 0:17:22.742 --> 0:17:25.582 as me and my mum used to babysitting. There was 0:17:25.622 --> 0:17:30.342 this journo cop battle like, you're the investigative editor, Brian, 0:17:30.422 --> 0:17:34.182 but I'm the investigator, say, there's always been that with police. 0:17:34.862 --> 0:17:40.982 I think that police did a good job from the 0:17:41.022 --> 0:17:47.022 outset in putting together a plan to try to that 0:17:47.102 --> 0:17:52.942 would likely capture the suspect or the lightly suspect. It's 0:17:52.982 --> 0:17:56.182 just that this crime was different. So I think what 0:17:56.262 --> 0:18:00.182 they would normally go into trying to capture a person 0:18:00.182 --> 0:18:02.302 that they looked in the wrong spots to start with early, 0:18:02.742 --> 0:18:05.622 but arether the wrong spots probably not, That's how you'd 0:18:05.622 --> 0:18:08.222 approach it. I don't think anyone believed that it was 0:18:08.262 --> 0:18:12.222 someone from Capunda that would have that, so certainly not 0:18:12.262 --> 0:18:14.982 the person it turned out to be. But police went 0:18:15.102 --> 0:18:18.902 doing the things that you might expect him to do 0:18:19.262 --> 0:18:23.342 from the start. So there was a security guard security 0:18:23.382 --> 0:18:27.062 patrol who patrolled Kapunda and would have been the most 0:18:27.262 --> 0:18:30.422 likely person to go to to ask for had you 0:18:30.502 --> 0:18:33.662 seen anything. He'd been out that Sunday night. In fact, 0:18:33.742 --> 0:18:37.182 he responded to an alarm at the Compunda Primary School 0:18:37.582 --> 0:18:40.342 at around ten o'clock on the Sunday night. It turns 0:18:40.342 --> 0:18:43.782 out that that primary school's a couple of blocks shy 0:18:43.822 --> 0:18:47.062 of where Jason Downey lived at the time. The police 0:18:47.102 --> 0:18:51.142 hadn't even been to the local security patrol guy to 0:18:51.222 --> 0:18:55.462 say did you see anything the one person who had 0:18:55.462 --> 0:18:58.382 reason to be driving around Kapunda late at night on 0:18:58.422 --> 0:19:02.422 a Sunday night. They didn't particularly go to the people 0:19:02.462 --> 0:19:07.302 that Chantelle had had contact with over that weekend. So 0:19:07.582 --> 0:19:10.902 Chantelle was the only person that you could closely track 0:19:10.982 --> 0:19:13.742 where she went from place to place and what she 0:19:13.822 --> 0:19:18.342 was doing. So I made a discovery some three or 0:19:18.342 --> 0:19:22.222 four days into that investigation that they hadn't spoken to 0:19:23.062 --> 0:19:27.702 Chantelle's boss, who she'd messaged not more than two hours 0:19:27.702 --> 0:19:30.222 before she was murdered to say that she wouldn't be 0:19:30.262 --> 0:19:32.822 at work the next day. Was in a neighboring town 0:19:33.382 --> 0:19:38.302 in Urutpa place that I know, Cafe Divine. She'd worked 0:19:38.302 --> 0:19:42.342 there for a week. But even the cafe operator, the boss, 0:19:42.702 --> 0:19:45.342 who had the message on her phone from Chantelle saying 0:19:45.582 --> 0:19:47.942 I'm not going to be in tomorrow. I feel crooked, 0:19:48.422 --> 0:19:50.942 police hadn't spoken to her, and she was flabbergasted at that. 0:19:50.982 --> 0:19:53.102 Why wouldn't they speak to her if you're going to 0:19:53.102 --> 0:19:57.982 try to track these movements. So yeah, police did a 0:19:58.022 --> 0:20:01.022 good job in the circumstances. I think they'd do a 0:20:01.062 --> 0:20:04.182 lot better job knowing that this is the crime that 0:20:04.302 --> 0:20:07.062 happened and what had happened, So the debrief would have 0:20:07.102 --> 0:20:08.902 set some new parameters. I think. 0:20:09.262 --> 0:20:11.622 Well, it did take, you know, eight days or so 0:20:12.182 --> 0:20:18.182 to arrest their suspect. Was Jason Downey's name floating around? 0:20:18.822 --> 0:20:21.542 Do we know now from the start was he an 0:20:21.542 --> 0:20:22.822 early person of interest? 0:20:23.702 --> 0:20:26.222 I was certainly not in the police eye, as you know. 0:20:26.502 --> 0:20:29.102 I think if he was a person of interest, they 0:20:29.102 --> 0:20:31.582 would have had him in there earlier to speak with 0:20:31.662 --> 0:20:35.622 him at least, And the circumstances of him being brought 0:20:35.662 --> 0:20:38.782 in even suggests that, you know, even then they weren't 0:20:38.862 --> 0:20:41.422 too short that he was the right person. They were 0:20:41.462 --> 0:20:44.942 just going on a bit of a hunch. But I guess, 0:20:45.262 --> 0:20:49.782 you know, his actions, certainly to go and put flowers 0:20:49.822 --> 0:20:52.542 at the gravesite and move around and go back to 0:20:52.582 --> 0:20:57.542 work normally and work each day activities that he didn't 0:20:58.502 --> 0:21:00.942 stand him out as a person of interest. No one 0:21:00.982 --> 0:21:02.862 was jumping up and down and saying we think it's him, 0:21:02.902 --> 0:21:06.262 we think it's him. But I think there was one 0:21:06.982 --> 0:21:09.902 event in that week in the eight days that certainly 0:21:10.822 --> 0:21:13.862 some eyes had started to turn towards him as if 0:21:13.942 --> 0:21:17.782 he might be the person that had some involvement in it. 0:21:18.102 --> 0:21:20.622 There was a Christmas party that he went to with 0:21:20.702 --> 0:21:25.782 his workplace and they looked at him. One of the girls, 0:21:25.942 --> 0:21:30.022 their partner of one of his fellow mechanics at this 0:21:30.142 --> 0:21:34.102 Christmas party, took a photograph of him because they thought 0:21:34.342 --> 0:21:38.902 that he was acting oddly and strangely. And she sent 0:21:38.902 --> 0:21:42.662 this photograph to us in the days shortly after Jason 0:21:42.662 --> 0:21:45.182 Downey's arrest, and we obviously we couldn't run it for 0:21:45.502 --> 0:21:48.942 some months until he appeared in court. But you know 0:21:49.182 --> 0:21:52.222 the explanation from the girl who made contact and sent 0:21:52.262 --> 0:21:55.382 that photograph to me, she said, I took it because 0:21:55.422 --> 0:21:57.062 I thought that he'd killed those people. 0:21:57.502 --> 0:22:00.702 That's kind of creepy, isn't it. 0:22:00.662 --> 0:22:05.582 It's really creepy. And the photograph, you know, it didn't 0:22:05.622 --> 0:22:10.382 help Jason Downey's cause to look any anything of innocent. 0:22:10.422 --> 0:22:13.022 It's because it was a days when you didn't have 0:22:13.102 --> 0:22:17.142 the red eye flash reducer. So you know, this photograph 0:22:17.142 --> 0:22:19.822 that's striking. He's got these devil eyes in it as well. 0:22:19.942 --> 0:22:24.622 So when we did run that photograph eventually after he'd 0:22:24.942 --> 0:22:28.062 appeared and the suppressions on his identity were lifted. You know, 0:22:28.102 --> 0:22:31.302 it was a face of unmasking, a face of evil, 0:22:32.022 --> 0:22:36.782 and it certainly the photo did sit there appropriately to 0:22:36.942 --> 0:22:38.502 paint the picture of an evil person. 0:22:39.622 --> 0:22:42.662 You mentioned something briefly that I wanted to bring back 0:22:42.742 --> 0:22:45.542 up the fact that he visited the flowers the shrine 0:22:46.102 --> 0:22:48.782 that was kind of caught on Like you could watch that. 0:22:48.902 --> 0:22:52.782 It's on video, It's on news camera footage, and it's 0:22:52.862 --> 0:22:55.342 kind of it's very eerie to look at in retrospect. 0:22:55.342 --> 0:22:58.902 He visits and stands there for ages and gives a gift. 0:23:00.262 --> 0:23:04.582 Yeah, and wrote something I can't recall exactly what he 0:23:04.662 --> 0:23:07.622 wrote on that note, but yeah, As I said that, 0:23:07.782 --> 0:23:10.862 the media pack was there day and day twenty four 0:23:10.862 --> 0:23:15.542 to seven, pretty much inca punda and going to different locations, 0:23:15.582 --> 0:23:17.822 going to the lake that they had searched, the police 0:23:17.822 --> 0:23:21.782 had searched, and going for press conferences there. So there's 0:23:21.862 --> 0:23:25.982 always cameras on that house and cameras on the locations 0:23:26.022 --> 0:23:29.182 where police were searching, the cameras on people in the 0:23:29.182 --> 0:23:32.062 streets as the police moves through there. So it's not 0:23:32.102 --> 0:23:37.302 surprising that they captured that footage, but obviously that became 0:23:37.742 --> 0:23:42.542 quite a piece of valued footage across newsrooms. And I 0:23:42.542 --> 0:23:44.942 think also for police when they were trying to get 0:23:44.942 --> 0:23:47.662 an understanding of who they were dealing with once they 0:23:47.702 --> 0:23:50.462 had finally caught Jason Downey, what type of person they 0:23:50.462 --> 0:23:53.742 were dealing with, someone who could act so blase, And 0:23:54.062 --> 0:23:58.462 I guess it probably supports the fact that police didn't 0:23:58.502 --> 0:24:02.502 have any leads on It didn't seem outrightly as someone 0:24:02.502 --> 0:24:05.062 that they should be focusing on, because to be able 0:24:05.102 --> 0:24:07.742 to move through the community like that in a time 0:24:07.782 --> 0:24:12.902 of grief and purport to be grieving. And he'd gone 0:24:12.942 --> 0:24:16.902 and visited the boyfriend of Chantelle rote that the person 0:24:16.982 --> 0:24:20.862 that one of only a few friends that Jason Downey had, 0:24:21.102 --> 0:24:23.742 he went and visited him within two days of the 0:24:23.822 --> 0:24:28.462 murder and act as if you know, he grieved with him. 0:24:28.822 --> 0:24:33.062 Was quiet and reserved. Described by Dylan Pratt that boyfriend 0:24:33.222 --> 0:24:36.302 as you know, typical of Jason, a bit quieter than normal. 0:24:36.342 --> 0:24:40.582 But wow, I mean the guy cold hearted. 0:24:41.902 --> 0:24:44.702 M So that's the connection, isn't it. Can you tell 0:24:44.782 --> 0:24:47.982 us a bit about Jason because he is friends with 0:24:48.062 --> 0:24:53.742 Dylan and Chantelle is Dylan's girlfriend. That's the kind of link. 0:24:54.862 --> 0:24:59.302 Yeah. So Jason Downey he didn't have any friends through 0:24:59.382 --> 0:25:02.942 high school, and you know, he was doing this apprenticeship 0:25:02.942 --> 0:25:04.902 and he did one day a week at tafe, so 0:25:05.702 --> 0:25:08.702 I do think he'd sort of finished his schooling before 0:25:09.142 --> 0:25:13.902 matriculation and had gone into this trade. But he, you know, 0:25:13.982 --> 0:25:18.542 he didn't have a great life in Capunda. He'd emigrated 0:25:18.542 --> 0:25:22.302