WEBVTT - 01: Chasing Amy 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:06.480 This podcast contains information and details relating to suicide. We 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:11.840 urge anyone struggling with their emotions to contact Lifeline on 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:19.040 thirteen eleven fourteen thirteen eleven fourteen or visit them at 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:29.440 lifeline dot org dot AU. A twenty four year old 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:38.920 devoted mother of two fleeing a violent relationship. As bags 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:45.280 pack car running, her daughters strapped into the backseat. 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.120 Mom told me that she needed to go back inside 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:49.920 to grab something. 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:50.720 Panic. 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.320 Amy is dead, Sir aim his dead? 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:57.120 Eight confusion about five minutes, say sit not to suicide. 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:57.920 One hundred percent. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:00:59.320 This is emergency. 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:05.400 What do you think is really the honest truth about Amy? 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:07.560 The Truth About Amy? 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:22.039 Episode one O. 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:30.160 Amy Wensley and her daughters, six year old Maya and 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:38.479 Tay who's almost four, lived in Serpentine, Western Australia. It's 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.440 a small town about fifty five kilometers southeast of Perth. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.840 They were in a small fibro house with Amy's partner, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:54.240 David Simmons, situated on acreage owned by his father Robert. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:59.920 In the late afternoon of Thursday, June twenty six, Amy's 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.440 girls were seated in the back of a running car 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:08.679 on that rural property where they lived. Their bags were 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:13.160 packed with clothes and toys, waiting for their mum to return. 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:17.320 After she'd headed back inside the house for a few 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:27.240 of her own belongings, including makeup and her passport. Tay 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:34.760 starts singing Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star, Naya Watchers Simmons go 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:41.720 back into the house. Neither girls will ever see their 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:42.280 mum again. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:49.640 Who picked up from school? 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:50.600 My mother? 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:52.720 And what did she do when she used to pick 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:54.000 you up? When she saw you? 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:55.760 She would. 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:00.320 Hug me and I would run up to her. My 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.040 arms would be wide open so I could cuddle her, 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.000 and her arms would be wide open so she could 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:07.480 cuddle me. 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.639 All right, So I'm just wondering if there's anything specially 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:13.959 you want to tell me about your mum. 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:20.600 Yes, what she promised, and she said she'll never break 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:24.160 a promise, that she'd take us to the movies like 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:32.040 she never did when just before she passed away. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:33.720 What was Mum's favorite color? 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:35.520 Pink? 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:40.760 My favorite color too? Was mum up in heaven? 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.280 This is Tay a couple of years after Amy's death. 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.320 Yes, I loved her more than anybody. 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.240 Tay didn't grow up with either parent, having been estranged 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:58.680 from her father, David Simmons, for most of her life. 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.600 As the years were by, she gets upset at how 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:09.000 the memories of her mum fade. It's now been ten 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:13.920 years since Amy died. The twenty four year old's crumpled 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:17.040 body found slumped in a tiny corner of the bedroom 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:23.279 she shared with Simmons, her skull shattered after the firing 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:29.960 of a double barrel shotgun at close range. Strangely, the 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:39.560 doorknob is missing on the inside. I'm Allison Sandy. Some 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.279 of you will know me from other podcasts such as 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.000 The Lady Vanishes and Shot in the Dark, which is 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.599 how I came to learn about the story of Amy Wensley. 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.320 For those of you who have heard that one, you'll 0:04:54.320 --> 0:05:01.920 notice some striking similarities between Gwen Grover and Amy. Both 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:06.240 were of low socioeconomic working class backgrounds and victims of 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:12.520 domestic violence. Those tasked to investigate their deaths made quick 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:18.159 judgments of suicide and failed to follow proper procedure. But 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.920 probably worst of all, the agencies they work for seem 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:26.719 more interested in supporting and justifying bad behavior than owning 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:31.320 up and learning from their failures. By this, I mean 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:35.800 they cherry picked evidence supporting their original decision and ignored 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:40.400 that which didn't. This alone is incredible to me because 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.640 the purpose of police is to protect and serve, uphold 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:49.479 the law, and administer it fairly. I knew to tell 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:53.159 this story I needed someone on the ground in wa 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:58.839 A seasoned, no nonsense, tough talking investigative journalist, an expert 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:03.080 in interviews who only ask the hard questions, but isn't 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:09.680 afraid to push for answers, the truthful answers. Someone who 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.720 has a lot of experience, isn't daunted by obstacles, and 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:18.120 doesn't care if he ruffles some feathers, particularly of people 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:22.880 in power. Many of you who know Liam Bartlett will 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.440 know he embodies all of these well qualities. 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:34.039 Yes, thanks, Al, I think it's true. I've been in 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.440 this journalism game for a long time now, coming up 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.680 to almost four decades. Let's call it thirty odd years 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.520 for the sake of not sounding too much like a dinosaur. 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.919 But in all that time, and really, one of the 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.479 reasons I chose to be a journalist in the first 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.719 place is that I am a believer in holding people 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:58.080 to account when they've done the wrong thing to other people, 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.680 whether it be politicians, or police, or shire counselors or 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.880 health workers, or bosses or bureaucrats or con menal criminals. 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:11.320 I think justice is always a concept worth fighting for, 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:16.200 and to find justice, real justice, you must get to 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:21.840 the truth without the truth, Separating fact from fiction obviously 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:26.240 is impossible. And even though journalism has changed in many 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.920 ways over those thirty odd years, one thing that remains 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:37.040 constant to me is that the truth still matters, and 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:41.400 that's why we want to find the truth about Amy. 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.880 It's crucial for her family and loved ones left behind. 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:51.960 They deserve the truth. That's the least they deserve, and 0:07:52.360 --> 0:08:01.960 it's crucial for justicerely come across a case like this 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:07.680 where authorities have been so determined to stick to their narrative, 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:13.680 to stick to their version of the story, despite overwhelming 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:19.040 evidence to the contrary. Even a decade ago, it was 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.360 widely known, if not reported, that domestic violence was the 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:26.640 scourge of our nation. And while this issue is finally 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:31.520 starting to garner political attention as the media reporting ramps up, 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:36.800 our research has revealed that in just one family protection 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:43.280 unit in Wa alone, an average of one hundred referrals 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:48.920 come in each and every week. That's in one family 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:54.720 Protection unit. Now there are seventeen of those units seventeen 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:59.560 districts in WA, and statistics show that only about ten 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:07.320 percent of domestic violence cases are actually reported. Amy's was 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:14.720 one of those unreported until after she died. After Family 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:19.960 Protection Unit workers interviewed Amy's mother, Nancy, the alarm was 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:25.760 raised to detectives on her case that further investigation was required. 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:32.320 David Simmons was arrested twice, having denied any involvement in 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:37.000 her death. He was let go both times and never charged. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.880 Throughout the course of this podcast, we will reveal the 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:48.000 pattern of behavior of the key people involved, will interview witnesses, 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:53.640 dissect known evidence, present new evidence, and provide an in 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:58.199 depth analysis of the inquest. We will then provide details 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:02.240 on how this case can and hopefully move forward and 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:07.960 justice finally be found for Amy. 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.640 While researching Shop in the Dark, I learned the rate 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.560 of gun use by women taking their own lives between 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.080 nineteen oh seven and twenty twenty two was at most 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.840 zero points six percent per one hundred thousand of population 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.760 at any given time, according to the Australian Institute of 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:30.200 Health and Welfare. Some may argue the reason it's so 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.120 low is because women typically don't have access to firearms. 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:40.880 Others say it's simply a vanity issue. For people who 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.280 knew Amy, and even those of us who were drawing 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:45.800 on everything available to us to try to get to 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:51.240 know her, It's clear Amy cares about her appearance. Amy 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.920 was a pretty girl who loved dressing up and taking 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:58.000 a selfie. There were hundreds of these stored on her 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.480 pink iPhone, which authorities is found hidden in one of 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.440 the boots she was wearing at the time of her death. 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.840 Similarly with her daughters, so many photos of her pulling 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:14.040 faces with them, wearing detox masks, and just goofing about. 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:16.199 Her. 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.840 Friends describe Amy as a girly girl, always well groomed, 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.840 often made up. She was also petite and quite thin, 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.599 just one hundred and sixty five centimeters tall and fifty kilos. 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.319 On the night she died, it takes less than an 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:37.199 hour for police detectives to decide she somehow propped up 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.319 a double barrel shotgun on a bed while crunched into 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.680 a tiny space behind the bedroom door, and shot herself 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:48.640 through the temple. To do this, evidence shows the gun 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.000 would have had to have been horizontal and hurled and 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:57.199 triggered with her left hand. By eight point thirty pm, 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:02.280 forensics was called off and Amy's death deemed non suspicious. 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:08.600 Amy died just over three hours prior. Her case was 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:12.280 destined to become yet another unexplained sudden death, to fly 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.200 under the radar until the intervention. 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.079 Just one moment, because already I feel like this thing 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:23.640 into two of this woman. It's ten years of of 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:29.520 all the cost of emotion, and it's encompassed so much 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:33.440 of my life. It has come my life, and Amy 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.480 is the first thing that in my life all the time, 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:41.280 every day she's been there, and everything is about her 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.400 and anything to do with her. I drop everything immediately 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.600 for her. For this ten years of my life I'd 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:55.280 been spent trying to prove Amy's innocence because she's not 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.560 here to do that for herself. And when she has 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.839 members of a police force pointing the finger at her 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.080 and blaming her for her own death and she's not 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:08.760 here to prove them wrong and to prove that she 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.760 didn't do this, it's a really tough fight. So ten 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.440 years of my life has been trying to do that 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.600 for Amy and to get her justice. So that her 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.480 girls can live in peace, so that her mother can 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:26.600 have some sort of a peace. You know, she's my sister. 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:32.520 Nancy is not the same person. She's so so different, 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.400 and she hasn't been the same since that night, you know, 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:42.720 ten years on. Just recently, Amy's eldest daughter turned sixteen 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:47.600 years old and got an ell. And I know that, 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.600 you know, the children are going to grow up and everything, 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.320 But when I hear that, when I hear that she's 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:57.040 just got Earl's and she's just turned sixteen, It's like, 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.319 it's like it shakes me out of where I am, 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.440 to remind me I'm no longer in twenty fourteen. I'm 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.800 still stuck in twenty fourteen, still stuck there, trying to 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.720 prove Amy is innocent and did not do this. While 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:15.080 the world still moves on. Her children are growing and 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:20.320 everything's changing that my life hasn't, and everything that I've 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.000 done for her hasn't changed. I'm still there and I'm 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:23.800 still fighting. 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:29.360 Anna Davy is Amy's auntie. But why are you? Why 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:38.400 has it fallen to you to be the family champion? Sorry, 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:45.120 you're right, because it is a big burden, isn't it. 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.480 It is a heavy burden. It's a really heavy one 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.480 to carry. But I've got the shoulders for it. Liam, 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:55.640 I've got the shoulders for it. As Amy's mother, Nancy 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.400 is a very devastated person, and she is a very 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:03.440 broken person. She's not capable of doing this. It is 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.680 too much for her to try and fight a system 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.640 that is just trying to sweep this under the carpet 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.760 and not do anything. So how could I expect her 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:18.280 to do any of this when just talking about Amy. 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.360 She couldn't do that. For months and months after Amy died, 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:23.720 it was too painful. I had to do it. I 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.760 had to. It's not a matter of really of falling 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.320 on me. It was me wanting to do it. It 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.480 had to be me. I wanted to. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.800 But month after month, year after year, ten years of it. 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:41.280 I'm not a quitter. My love for Amy runs deep 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.720 and I'm not quitting. This is not over. You know, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.440 somebody knows the truth, and I'm not quitting. 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.600 When did you first realize that this story of suicide 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:53.800 just does not add up? 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.360 The moment Nancy told me The moment she told me 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.360 over the phone that police went to her house and 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.680 said that Amy took a life right then. As soon 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.760 as she told me that, I didn't believe it because 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.440 I was so confused. And my question to her was 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:18.880 did they find a suicide note? Because it happened in 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:23.320 less than twenty four hours, the suicide finding, so for 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:25.160 it to happen so quickly, they must have found a 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:29.840 suicide note evidence pointing towards that. And she told me 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.120 she didn't know. That's where it all began for me, 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.800 the moment they said suicide and in less than twenty 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.000 four hours, How could anyone believe it? 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.600 What obvious sign did they see that they could have 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:46.480 come to that conclusion so quickly? 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:51.760 When I started asking those questions, they weren't giving me answers. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.120 They don't want to share anything with you and whatever. Eventually, 0:16:55.880 --> 0:17:01.160 after some time, you get told things and you think, well, 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.320 that doesn't really convince me. You haven't provided me evidence 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:07.359 to show that. You're just giving me words. And what 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:12.119 you think, Well, you know she was on antidepressants, so 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:14.800 there are a lot of people on antidepressants. They don't 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.720 go and kill themselves. What does that prove? It proves nothing. 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:21.320 Was it also about your perceptions of the sort of person? 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:27.400 Amy was, oh, yes, yes, I knew Amy as a mother, 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.960 as a young mother, and those children were so important 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:34.439 to her that I knew straight away she would not 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.280 do this. I know she would not do this. It 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.680 is not her. She's a fantastic mother. Everything was about 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:44.439 her children. Everything. It was about their education, it was 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.560 about their safety. She used to follow the school bus 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.560 when her eldest daughter started school. She'd put her on 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.040 the bus and then she'd drive behind the bus and 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.919 in fact, lamb in her mobile phone, the bus driver's 0:17:57.960 --> 0:17:59.880 phone numbers in there. Why is that? 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:00.920 You know what I mean? 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.320 Like, she wanted to make sure her daughter was okay. 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:04.160 That's detail. 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:06.520 It is detail, and it is making sure that your 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:10.119 child is safe. She also sought advice from a friend 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:14.320 who worked in childhood education about her youngest daughter, who 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.320 she thought was probably not progressing where she should be. 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.320 So she went and discuss that. So everything was about them. 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.480 I want you to think very carefully about this. Was 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.159 she the sort of num in any world that you 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:31.879 can imagine, who would leave her two little girls in 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.280 the car with the engine running and then go back 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.560 inside the house and shoot herself dead. 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:44.840 Absolutely not. There is no way she would have done that. Now, 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.359 Let's pretend for a moment that she did this, but 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:52.560 she didn't. Let's pretend the mother I know Amy to be, 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.320 she would have put those children in the car. She 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.160 would have driven to her mother's house, and she would 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.640 have dropped those children off and possibly said mom will 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:02.960 be back soon, love you bye, gone back to the 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.640 house and killed herself if that's what she was going 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.760 to do. Because she knew her eldest daughter could unclip 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.680 the seat belt from her child's seat, she wouldn't want 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:15.359 her daughter to run in and find her like that, 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:16.840 do you know what I mean? 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:17.520 And she wouldn't. 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.119 She just wouldn't. She would not want her children to 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:21.840 find her like that. 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:24.440 That's the part I don't understand in all this, because 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:29.840 everything points to planning on her behalf. Her mom phones her, 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.600 she plans to come to her mom's place. Your sister, yep, 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.480 she plans for the kids, because she packs their bags, 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:42.560 she puts the kids in the car. Everything is planned. 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.160 She tells one of the girls they're going to watch 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:50.680 a movie that night, so in the immediate horizon, her 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:55.760 world is planned. And then somehow we're to accept that 0:19:55.800 --> 0:20:01.159 she simply goes back into the bedroom and shoots herself 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:02.400 with a double barrel shotgun. 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:07.359 Yeah, it's utterly ridiculous. What she was doing with everything 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.600 that you just said is called escaping. That's what it is. 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.639 She is escaping a situation. I believe she's getting her 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:18.600 children away from a violent situation. She has just been 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:23.040 physically assaulted, verbally abused, and she is getting away and 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:24.520 she's taking her children with her. 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:30.359 According to people closest to Amy, the relationship between Amy 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:34.399 and her partner David, was almost always volatile. 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.600 Sami was a single mom, and I think she was 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.360 working part time at a tavern or a pub, and 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.679 she met one of the regulars that go there, and 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:49.199 I guess, you know, he flooded her. Perhaps he was 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:53.080 probably really nice to her, and she started dating him. 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:56.800 And it wasn't long after that that she felt pregnant 0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:59.080 with her second child, and she had a child for him, 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.480 and they moved in together, and I just things progress 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:05.879 from there, you know, after a while. I guess I 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.600 like to call it a mask. You know, it's like 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:12.240 a prince charming mask. They come in the long full 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:16.360 of compliments and flattery and flowers and all that sort 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.520 of things, and then they get into a relationship, and 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:23.280 I believe the mask starts to fall off, and I 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:26.719 think Aily saw that, and I think that things that 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:32.560 started to become violent. He became controlling of any jealous, 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:37.199 accusing her of being unfaithful. You know, I only know 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:40.640 these things because it all came to light after she died, 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:43.600 because it's not something that you're going to tell your family, 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:48.120 you know. Whether whether a person is ashamed or embarrassed, 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.600 or they don't want to put friends or family in danger, 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:57.080 I don't know, but I think things became quite violent 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:00.840 and quite ugly not long after she or maybe before 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.359 she had the child to him. And on the twenty 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:10.439 sixth of June twenty fourteen, she had a daughter up 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:13.760 from school and was turning home and a fight had 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:15.440 occurred between her and her partner. 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:22.359 Nancy rings her daughter Amy at about five pm to 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:27.240 find her hysterical. This is a reenactment of that call. 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:28.880 I fucking hate him. 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:31.639 He'd better not have hit you. Did he fucking hit you? 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:36.199 We use voice actors to reenact key moments throughout the 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:38.240 entirety of this podcast. 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:40.359 He grabbed me by the throat and he threw me 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:41.040 to the ground. 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.960 What pack your shit? Pack some of the girl's stuff 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:46.280 and come here. I don't care if you stay here 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:48.680 a week, a month, a year, I don't care. Get 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:55.320 here now. In fact, I'll come up and I'll get you. No, mom, hey, mom, oh, 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:58.119 I will I'll see you soon. I will come. 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:03.080 When she hangs up, Amy has less than fifteen minutes 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:04.120 left to live. 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:15.840 Amy was shot in the head with a double girl 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:21.720 shot and then and then the person who was on 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:25.000 the proper of her partner and his friends, the baby's 0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:27.359 two children in the car, drove to the roadhouse to 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:30.480 make a triple zero call ambulance. 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:33.119 What's theaters the emergency two. 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:36.360 Seven A three Southwestern Highway serventine. 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:39.480 Okay, tell me exactly what happened. Somebody shot themselves in 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:42.240 the head. Okay, are you with that person at the moment? No, 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:44.879 I'm not. I had to drive down the service station 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:48.600 because my phone's broken. I have two kids, and my 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:53.680 wife has shot itself. Okay, how old is she? How 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:54.320 old is she? 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:55.040 Twenty three? 0:23:55.240 --> 0:23:58.680 Okay? I just she's dead, all right, So she's not 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:02.000 conscious or breathing. Yes, I've got kids in the car. 0:24:02.320 --> 0:24:04.240 I'm going to have to take him to Okay, yeah, 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:06.639 all right, and I have a mate standing on the highway. Okay, 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.280 can you please just come and take her or do something. Yes, 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:12.639 we're going to get that organized. So that was R. J. Simmons, 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:16.560 R and B. Simmons, R and B. Simmons. Okay, what 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:19.680 was your name, sir, David Simmons. David Simmons. W What 0:24:19.720 --> 0:24:22.040 did you fucking do that? Okay, I'm going to get 0:24:22.040 --> 0:24:24.600 that organized for you straight away. All right, thank you 0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:26.680 very much, all right, all right, see bye. 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:35.680 According to ambulance records, this call happened at five eighteen pm. 0:24:36.000 --> 0:24:42.600 They proceeded to immediately alert police. Simmons, who was with 0:24:42.720 --> 0:24:46.600 his best mate Gareth Price at the time, says he 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:54.240 also calls his father, Robert, but his dad doesn't answer. Robert, 0:24:54.440 --> 0:24:57.800 who is at home in a much bigger house nearby 0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:02.280 on the same property, does, however, receive a call at 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:06.160 five twenty three pm from the Saint John ambulance operator 0:25:07.440 --> 0:25:11.320 who advises they just received a call for that address 0:25:11.640 --> 0:25:16.800 from David Simmons requesting an ambulance. Robert says he doesn't 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:19.840 have a clue what's happened, but there are two houses 0:25:19.920 --> 0:25:22.440 on the property and he will head to the other 0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:28.520 one to find out, so he drives down to the 0:25:28.600 --> 0:25:32.680 house where Amy and her daughters are living with his son. 0:25:33.880 --> 0:25:38.760 He smells gunpowder, spies the shotgun from outside the room, 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:43.080 pushes the door open, and walks straight into the bedroom. 0:25:44.359 --> 0:25:48.240 He cracks the four to ten boito open and proceeds 0:25:48.240 --> 0:25:53.000 to unload a spent and live cartridge, placing both of 0:25:53.040 --> 0:25:57.240 them on the bedside table. He closes the gun and 0:25:57.359 --> 0:26:02.320 puts it back on the floor. When Robert Simmons turns around, 0:26:02.720 --> 0:26:05.639 he sees blood spatter on the wall behind the door 0:26:06.240 --> 0:26:10.919 and takes a look. He says it was a gray 0:26:11.240 --> 0:26:16.080 or khaki jacket over the head and upper body, so 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:22.639 he pulls it off and it's Amy. He immediately calls 0:26:22.760 --> 0:26:26.920 wa police. He is an excerpt of what was said. 0:26:27.320 --> 0:26:29.920 The time is five twenty eight pm. 0:26:30.720 --> 0:26:34.080 I live in Serpentine two seven eighty three. Saint John's 0:26:34.080 --> 0:26:36.760 ambulance just rang me and there'd been a call mate 0:26:36.760 --> 0:26:39.240 from here. I've come down the hill to where my 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:43.120 son and partner lives and she's dead. Someone shot her. 0:26:44.359 --> 0:26:45.800 I think it must have been my son. 0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:46.800 He's not here. 0:26:47.560 --> 0:26:50.320 My son made the mistake, but she's been shot in 0:26:50.359 --> 0:26:51.720 the head and she's dead. 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:54.280 Okay, see your daughter and Laura's dead? Is that right? 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:59.199 I think so, yes, pretty much. I didn't see her 0:26:59.200 --> 0:27:02.040 behind the door. I didn't see until I just walked in. 0:27:02.680 --> 0:27:05.240 She's behind the She's behind the door, and I just 0:27:05.280 --> 0:27:07.439 saw the feed and they had a jacket over her 0:27:07.440 --> 0:27:10.520 head and I just took the jacket off. I can't 0:27:10.560 --> 0:27:13.600 believe this has happened. I don't know where my son is. 0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:16.640 The ambulance people wrung me and they said you'd better 0:27:16.680 --> 0:27:19.159