Original subtitles

Sarah is happy.

She is a normal young lady

and she would never go off without telling us.

What's going on?

Missing girl in Claremont.

You watch, the bosses will handball this to us.

Welcome to Macro.

On Saturday night, a second girl went missing from Claremont.

Jane Rimmer, 23.

We're proceeding on the assumption that the same perpetrator

took Sarah Spiers.

The guy who took Sarah and Jane,

he's the guy who raped me.

I think it could be the same perpetrator.

We might have a living witness.

Dental records have confirmed that the body found in Wellard yesterday

is that of Jane Rimmer, the second girl to go missing from Claremont.

We currently hold grave fears for the safety of a young woman

who was last seen leaving the Continental Hotel in Claremont

at approximately midnight on Friday.

Are you looking for a serial killer?

We certainly have fears.

Ciara's injuries are consistent with Jane's.

What about DNA?

There's a good chance. She fought hard.

OK, listen up. We may finally have someone.

Lance Williams.

He's the best suspect we've had since the beginning.

So every weekend, we're putting 50 people on the ground in Claremont.

Get in. I'll give you a lift.

(SIREN WAILS) (TYRES SQUEAL)

Police, don't move! Stay where you are.

Hands on the car.

I'm not the person you're looking for.

I didn't take anyone.

The fire poker's missing from Lance's flat.

There's a fireplace, fire iron set, no poker.

This is the weapon that caused the wound to the back of Ciara's head.

We think Lance will consent to a polygraph?

If he doesn't, he'll look guilty.

(REPORTERS CLAMOUR) I've got no comment.

Lance, the police say you are the number one

Claremont serial killer suspect.

No-one's had anything to fear from me.

You see, I'm just a person that got caught up in this whole thing.

I just did a two-hour interview with Lance Williams.

I don't think it's him.

Lance Williams fits every profile we have.

And what if you're wrong, and the real killer's still out there?

Some other guy that you know nothing about

because you've spent all this time on Lance?

There is no other guy.

Lance Williams is the Claremont serial killer.

End of story.

(TENSE MUSIC)

MAN: ..between your neck and cheek.

And then use your body weight

to really lob it forward.

And then just push forward, OK?

Give it a go. Easy enough. Alright.

Back? That's it.

Oh, wow!

This is, like, day one. That was amazing.

ALISON: Luckily, the pesky pooch was found unharmed.

Hopefully he learnt a valuable lesson

along with his owners.

Alison Fan, 7 Nightly News.

(KNOCKS ON DOOR) Mum?

Hey! Hey.

What are you doing here? I finished early.

Are we still on for dinner? Oh, you bet.

Um, I'll just finish up here. Are you still getting wine?

Yeah, sure. What sort?

As long as I'm doing stories about lost dogs, any wine is good wine.

I thought you might be back on Claremont.

Why? I heard a rumour.

It all seemed pretty hush-hush,

but it sounded like there's a team back on it.

Huh.

What the hell are you doing out here?

Took me three days to find you.

Why are you looking?

Cold Case Squad has reopened Claremont.

There's no one from Macro. Apparently they're the new breed.

They've all got forensic training.

And why are you telling me?

Don't you want in?

I spent six years on Claremont.

Look where it got me.

Don't you wanna find the guy?

I mean, are you really happy out here with all the cows?

Sarah Spiers is still missing.

I'm sorry.

(CAR DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

(ENGINE STARTS)

(THUD!)

Hi.

Mosman Park?

(ENGINE ROARS)

SONG: # Ooh

# Ooh, ooh

# Ooh

# Ooh, ooh...

# Ooh, ooh

# Ooh, ooh...

# Ooh. #

OK.

Who's this? He insisted on being let in.

Gavin Wyatt. He's driven in from... I worked on the original Macro team.

I want to join you.

I'm sorry.

I know everything about this case.

Yeah, that's the problem.

We're starting with a clean slate, out of the public eye.

OK, well, maybe I can help shortcut stuff.

Instead of having to re-read everything, I can...

I'm sorry, it's... it's not gonna work.

Alison Fan found me way out in the country.

It's only a matter of time before she finds out what you're doing.

You're obviously doing this on the quiet.

Do the bosses know you've reopened the case?

Well, it's a cold case. We're allowed to reopen...

Yeah, but I bet they don't know you've reopened

this particular can of worms.

The most famous unsolved murder case in West Australian history.

And I bet there'd be a few noses out of joint

if the old Macro hierarchy finds out you're questioning their approach.

Maybe he can explain the fire poker.

Why was Macro so sure that

Lance Williams's poker was the murder weapon?

Well, once I noticed it missing from Lance's flat,

we bought an identical poker and sent it to London.

A pathologist at the Royal College confirmed

the poker fitted the wound to Ciara's skull.

Yeah, he was wrong.

We found Lance's poker.

Where? Queensland.

Well, Lance has never been to Queensland.

Exactly. We tracked down the woman who sold the flat to Lance.

She meant to leave the whole set behind with the fireplace,

but somehow the poker was packed up by the removalists.

You guys never followed this up?

It fitted so perfectly. It made sense that she was...

Alright, well, hang on a sec.

What caused the wound to Ciara's head, then?

Wasn't a wound.

You know, everyone assumes Claremont was my worst case.

My worst case was a Christmas Day murder.

There was blood everywhere. Over presents, the manger.

That indentation?

She was hit over the back of the head...

No, she wasn't.

I was wrong. This is a Wormian bone.

What's a Wormian bone?

It's a naturally occurring skull formation

that can look like a fracture.

And no-one noticed this until now?

Well, once the poker was dismissed as a murder weapon,

we asked the pathologist to review her findings.

She called in an anthropologist.

That means what, exactly?

Lance Williams is not the Claremont serial killer.

He has to be.

OK, he was out on the street every night, stalking girls.

He fits every profile.

A loner, the prostitutes,

he failed the lie detector test...

There is not one shred of evidence that connects Lance to the murders.

There's no blood in his house, on his car, on his clothes.

No fibres, no hair.

And none of his DNA was found anywhere at the crime scene.

Then why did the crimes stop?

The second we started following Lance, they stopped.

No more girls were taken.

If I was a serial killer

and I knew the police had a suspect...

..dumbest thing I can do is kill again.

You still wanna work with us?

(PEOPLE CHATTER)

Are you sure you want back in

if they're just gonna pour shit on everything we did?

They're smart, Bobbi.

Dave's DNA trained, Nikki's a fibre expert.

They've thrown out the suspect book.

It's all about the evidence.

You're gonna solve Australia's biggest cold case

with three detectives?

Sorry, now it sounds like I'm the one pouring shit.

I hope you find him. I really do.

You miss it, don't you?

Uh-uh.

I've moved on. Corporate's good.

It is.

Some things...

..maybe it's easier to leave them behind.

Yeah.

I'm going to find him, Bobbi.

Even if it kills me.

Make sure it doesn't.

Ciara's missing thumbnail and middle finger.

I remember.

All that's left where the nail was are three red dots.

Yeah, blood.

So she's clawing at him so hard her nail has ripped off.

You'd think she'd have to scrape some of his skin.

Yeah, but the nail was never found at the crime scene.

Caught in his clothes, fell off somewhere else?

Was any of the remaining nail tested?

Yes, we tested everything, and I mean everything.

Every jar, every scrap of nail.

Some went to New Zealand, some to the FBI.

We tested every single one of these. There's nothing else.

What about AJM40?

It doesn't appear on any of the test results.

AJM...40.

Uh, AJM40.

Let's see here.

Aha! That's why.

'Debris only. Not suitable for analysis.'

Why not?

Because at the time, there wasn't enough in there to test.

I think there might be enough now.

For his services to Little Athletics,

Bradley Edwards.

(CAMERAS CLICK)

London lab called. It worked.

Fax coming through now.

(MACHINE BEEPS)

They extracted two DNA sets.

The first belonged to Ciara...

..the other to an unknown male.

We've got his DNA.

We've got the Claremont killer's DNA.

(TV PLAYS SOFTLY)

Can we have a word with Lance, please?

When is this gonna stop?

He's only just out of hospital.

Depression, anxiety. Huh! No wonder.

Mr Williams.

Uh, we wanted to tell you officially

that you're no longer a person of interest in the Claremont matter.

What does that mean?

You won't be hearing from us anymore.

I'm sorry.

You were only doing your job.

The DNA isn't Lance Williams's.

It's from the Karrakatta rapist.

What?

We tested the DNA against all the original major suspects.

The mayor, Steve Ross. Nothing.

And then I remembered your case.

Lisa. Karrakatta. And it matched?

Well, it matched Unknown Male #4.

(SIGHS) You were right, Bobbi.

Lisa was raped by the man

who went on to become the Claremont serial killer.

I need you to come back in.

Come on, just to talk to them, OK?

You know this case backwards. You can tell them better than me.

No way. I'm out. I told you.

This time we are doing everything by the book,

and when we catch this guy, we're gonna need you as a witness

to present the statement you took from Lisa in '96.

Her name was Lisa Todd. She was 17.

A year before Sarah went missing, she was partying in Claremont.

On her way home, she was grabbed from Rowe Park.

She was taken to Karrakatta Cemetery and raped.

But the rape kit didn't match anyone on file at the time.

So this Unknown Male #4, Macro was onto him as a suspect for Claremont.

What happened? Well, Lisa was a blitz attack.

It was thought all three girls willingly got into vehicles.

These are the shorts she was wearing.

Her T-shirt, underwear, shoes.

And this is the cord he used to tie her.

But we could never find any evidence the Claremont killer

tied up any of the three girls, or attacked them from behind.

What?

We've gone back over Jane's post-mortem photographs.

There's a mark on her wrist that suggests she might have been tied up.

But if the girls got into the vehicle voluntarily,

when did he tie them - how would that work?

We found other witnesses.

Girls who accepted lifts around the same time and had close calls.

This one, Katrina Jones.

Late 1995. She'd been at a wedding.

At 2:30 in the morning, she was trying to get a lift.

EDWARDS: You OK?

No. As a matter of fact, I'm not.

He offered her a lift. She said he seemed nice.

Thanks so much.

She asked what he did for a living.

He said he was a Telstra worker, like her brother.

DAVE: That's when things went wrong. Yeah, she said she picked up vibes.

She must have sensed something was wrong

because she got him to drop her off five houses back from her car.

Next minute, he was behind her.

(SCREAMS)

It's exactly what happened to Lisa.

She'd already told him she was a blue belt in taekwondo.

He backed off.

She tried to get his numberplate

but all she had to write with was lipstick.

So when was this? Late '95.

So after Karrakatta but before Sarah.

So that's what happened to Sarah.

He actually drove her to Mosman Park and let her out.

Then he came up behind her.

So these witnesses. They all got into a Telstra vehicle?

Or a white vehicle consistent with that.

We're calling them the Telstra Living Witnesses.

But after Karrakatta, we asked Telstra for a list of drivers.

We checked every single one.

In '95, Telstra logos were being changed over from the old Telecom.

Macro asked for Telstra drivers. That's what you got.

If the killer was still driving a Telecom vehicle, he missed the net.

Ha!

That is...

..unbelievable.

But the problem then is the problem now.

The Karrakatta rape was unsolved.

How do we identify Unknown Male #4?

Well, for starters, we're asking for a list of Telecom drivers

from the '90s, but that could take some time.

So we're also running his sample

against every single piece of DNA that Macro ever collected.

We DNA-tested 9,000 local men.

Plus over 2,000 taxi drivers and their cars.

Yeah, so don't hold your breath.

Gavin.

Oh.

What happened to that update you promised me?

We're still working on it.

Do you have anything?

Come on, Gav, I could run with this any time.

"Cold Case Unit secretly reopens Claremont."

It's a great story for me.

It's one night.

If you hold off, I'll give you the biggest story of the year.

When? Gav?

You know Sarah would have been 38 this year

and that her dad's still shearing 10 hours a day.

So he never has to stop and think about his missing daughter.

(HAUNTING MUSIC)

Don. Carol.

Sorry. It's not you.

We've got his DNA.

We've matched him to a precursor crime.

Now we've just gotta match his DNA with a name.

You know what I don't get?

Someone out there knows who it is.

Someone who works with him.

Someone who gave birth to him.

Do they know?

(DIALS PHONE)

ALISON: Hello? Alison.

Got a pen and paper?

It's been nearly 20 years since Sarah Spiers went missing,

the first victim of the Claremont serial killer.

Or was she?

In a sensational breakthrough,

sources close to police have revealed

they have forensic evidence

linking the man who murdered Ciara Glennon to an earlier victim.

Her identity remains a closely guarded secret.

If they've got the forensic evidence, why can't they just arrest him?

..of Claremont and brutally raped in Karrakatta Cemetery

managed to escape.

They now believe there may have been earlier attacks,

what they're calling 'precursor crimes'.

They're looking for young women who were assaulted in the Claremont area

before Sarah...

I can give Maddie a lift if you like.

Ah, yes. Yeah, OK.

Oh, have you thought more about her 21st?

Well, thinking about it's one thing, but how do we pay for it?

I don't understand why we're always so short.

You know, we're both working, I'm not spending it on anything.

So where's it all going?

(CLEARS THROAT)

Hey, Dad, can I grab a lift to uni today?

Yeah, sure, but I'm going now.

Yeah, I'm ready. OK.

See ya, Mum. Bye.

Brad? (DOOR OPENS)

We need to talk about this.

It's in all the papers, all over the TV.

You've completely blown our cover.

Someone needed to put a rocket under the case.

This will get us blasted out of the job.

But now we're actually getting calls.

Other women who were picked up in Claremont at the same time.

Crime Stoppers is getting hammered.

Yeah, and who's gonna process all the leads if we get fired, hmm?

(PHONE RINGS)

Santos.

Yep. Yep, he's here.

It's the boss.

Medcalf.

Yes, sir.

No, I understand.

Yes.

Yes, I should have consulted you.

OK.

(HANGS UP)

Are we fired?

No. No, he's, uh, he's giving us more people.

(CHUCKLES)

(CHILLING MUSIC)

(SPEAKS INAUDIBLY)

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYS THROUGH DOOR)

(GARBLED SPEECH PLAYS THROUGH DOOR)

(WOMAN GRUNTS AND MOANS ON RECORDING)

(WOMAN GROANS ON RECORDING)

Thanks. Thanks, Julie.

We are getting dozens of calls about Claremont.

From who?

Women who accepted lifts from white cars in the '90s

and never came forward.

Why not?

With all the Lance Williams talk in the papers,

they thought you already had the guy.

But, God, it's been so long now, no-one can ID him.

Any news from the DNA tests?

We've checked the sample against

every single piece of DNA on the West Australian database - nothing.

We have to wait for the international and national requests now.

That'll take months. How can we be so close?

We've got his DNA, for God's sake. Is there anything else we can do?

We want to test Jane's hair for fibres.

Jane had been to the hairdresser the morning before her death,

so any fibres in her hair

can be narrowed down to having got there after that.

You're hoping to find something from the perpetrator?

Well, it's a long shot, we know,

but the paperwork says you collected

Jane's entire hair mass during the post-mortem?

We've searched Trace. It's not there, so...

Because I sent it to Toxicology, not Trace.

At the time, I wanted to test for drugs.

I thought maybe she'd been administered

something to knock her out.

So it's still at Tox?

As far as I know.

Right, what am I looking at? Isn't it obvious?

To someone with a PhD in fibres, sure.

Let's just pretend that's not me.

(LAUGHS) OK. So this is a fibre we found in Jane's hair.

The Forensic guys managed to extract 20 of these.

Do we know what they are?

Well, some we have no idea.

Fibres you can't match with anything.

But this one, this has a name. Blue Graphite.

And it matches the upholstery of a...

Cheers.

..Holden Commodore V6 Series 1 station wagon.

Why do I know that vehicle?

Because it's the vehicle the burger boys described seeing

the night Ciara was taken.

Check her out. (BURGER BOYS LAUGH)

It was a white, late-model Series 1 VS Holden station wagon.

Did Macro look for Holden station wagons at the time?

Yep, but that search was shelved once we started focusing on Lance.

He drove a Toyota Camry.

So is this it? One fibre?

No. Other fibres collected match a different carpet

made especially for the cargo area of Holdens.

Suggesting Jane was in the cargo area

sometime after her visit to the hairdresser.

Yeah, and there's more.

Fibres found on Ciara match the carpet from the same make of car.

We're going car hunting, boys and girls.

EDWARDS: I gotta tell you something.

You getting cold feet about the wedding?

I got a criminal record.

After my first wife cheated on me,

I had...

I just... I couldn't handle it. I had a brain snap.

What happened?

There was this woman at work, and...

I took it out on her.

Sexually? No, no, it was nothing like that.

They called it a common assault. It was stupid.

I don't know what came over me.

It was like I just snapped, you know?

(SOBS) It was so dumb.

It was so dumb.

I just wanted you to know

before we got married.

(SNIFFLES)

Hey. Hey!

I just feel so ashamed.

Hey, it's OK. It's alright.

I just wanted to be honest with you.

OK. OK. It's alright.

We went through car lots, wrecking yards.

Took apart every '96 V6 Commodore we could find.

BOBBI: Nothing?

And nothing from trying to check the workers who drove Telecom cars.

They no longer have the records.

It has been 20 years.

Yeah.

Hey, are you seeing anyone?

What? No.

Pick up some random for the fun of it?

No, just try to have some sort of life outside this case.

Did I tell you we didn't get a DNA match from interstate?

It's amazing. This guy just does not have a criminal record.

He has to. No-one starts with rape and murder.

There has to be some sort of apprenticeship.

Something even before Karrakatta.

What?

You just gave me an idea.

Hey, come here. Come here.

What if this guy was involved in a minor crime and pled guilty?

It's possible his DNA was collected but never tested.

Because the police didn't have to prove his guilt.

Exactly.

We need to go back through the old files.

Any sexual offence pre-1995.

OK.

(SIGHS) This box shouldn't even be here.

This isn't even a sex crime.

Some kind of standover operation in the '90s.

What's Huntingdale?

Uh...

Looks like a series of break-ins in and around Huntingdale.

Women's underwear being stolen off the line.

Frequent sightings of a prowler breaking into houses.

Yeah, that was found at one of the assaults.

A...stockings used as a gag and bindings.

The attacker brought those with him?

Mmm.

Mostly rapists don't come with restraints.

The Karrakatta rapist did.

WOMAN: That's it.

That's what he was wearing.

This was...February 1988?

Valentine's Day.

Do you remember what he looked like?

(SCREAMS)

Dad! Dad!

No, I didn't see his face.

Uh, Gavin?

Excuse me.

We just had a call from PathWest.

They got a hit? Semen on the kimono.

It matches both the Karrakatta rapist and Ciara's left thumbnail.

Is there anything else you can tell us about your attacker?

Anything that might help identify him?

Well, at the time, I had no idea who the hell he was,

but afterwards, when I started to tell my story to people,

everyone started telling their own story about this guy

being around the neighbourhood at the time.

Other sexual assaults?

No, mostly it was pranking stuff.

This guy would run around the streets and break into houses.

He'd wear women's underwear on his head.

Everyone thought it was funny.

They used to call him the Huntingdale Weirdo.

(SIGHS)

(WOMAN SCREAMS ON RECORDING)

(DARK MUSIC)

(DOOR CREAKS)

(WOMAN SCREAMING LOUDER)

(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)

The Huntingdale Weirdo.

Jeez, he got around. There must be dozens of break-ins.

We just need one where he left prints.

Hmm.

Think I've found something.

This was an attempt to break in not too far from Kylee's house,

and only a few days after her attack.

He left...

He left prints, but he didn't get in.

Question is, do they match anyone in the system?

(HANGS UP PHONE)

Bradley Robert Edwards.

1990.

It's the only offence ever recorded against him.

ever recorded against him.

Was it a sex crime?

Apparently the file just says 'common assault',

which is why it wasn't picked up earlier.

Macro was only looking for precursor sex crimes.

Is there a witness?

There was nothing 'common' about it.

I thought I was gonna die.

(GROANS)

I have no doubt... he intended to rape me.

The level of aggression...

..it was just insane.

(GRUNTS AND GROANS)

I was on the floor with a gag in my mouth,

being dragged to the toilets.

And you told all this to the police?

Yep.

(SHRIEKS) I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

Everyone treated it like it was nothing.

I even had a meeting with his boss.

And they were saying, "Oh, he's such a nice guy.

"He was having relationship problems. He just had a brain snap."

I mean, seriously, what kind of guy

broad daylight to fix your phones

turns up to a hospital in broad daylight to fix your phones

and tries to rape a social worker?

I couldn't believe it was being swept under the carpet.

Fix the phones? Yeah.

That's why he was there. He was a Telstra technician. (SNIFFS)

(CAMERA CLICKS)

GAVIN: That's him.

That's our killer.

At the time of the Huntingdale prowler attacks,

he was an 18-year-old living at home with his parents.

This is their house.

or sightings were reported.

These are the houses where break-ins or sightings were reported.

This is the house where Kylee Cosgrove was attacked

and the kimono found.

Now, he knew this house.

Wasn't too far from where he lived with his parents.

His vehicles match.

At the time of Karrakatta, he was driving a Telecom Mitsubishi van.

This matches the description Lisa Todd gave of the cargo area

she was thrown into in '95.

His next vehicle was a white Toyota Camry station wagon,

which Sarah Spiers may have mistaken for a taxi.

But in 1997, he was driving this.

A Holden Commodore V6 Series 1 station wagon,

the exact vehicle the Burger Boys described.

And we found the car.

Miraculously, it's still in operation.

We've tracked it to a plant nursery in Chidlow.

The Burger Boys described the wheels as having teardrop-shaped cutouts.

That wasn't standard for that model Holden.

We thought they got it wrong. They didn't.

They didn't.

Now, the question is... when do we make our move?

And are we absolutely sure this is our man?

And the big problem - did he stop after Ciara?

Why would he?

He got married.

We think this gave him the stability he needed

to put a stopper to the anger.

And if that is true, then we have another problem,

because it appears the second wife has just moved out.

So we need to move now.

(DARK MUSIC)

(WOMAN SHRIEKS)

(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)

Police! Don't move! On the ground! Down on your knees!

On the ground! Down on your knees!

Stay where you are! Hands on your head!

Hands behind your back.

I have in my possession a search warrant

issued under the Criminal Investigation Act.

Right, that's for you.

Bradley Robert Edwards, you are now being arrested

on suspicion of the wilful murder of Ciara Glennon...

What? What the... ..Jane Rimmer and Sarah Spiers.

You gotta be joking.

You're also being arrested on suspicion of a break-in and assault

in Huntingdale in 1988,

and a rape in Karrakatta Cemetery in 1995.

As a person arrested on suspicion, you've got rights.

I'm gonna go through those rights with you now,

OK, so listen carefully.

Do you have to speak to me? No.

Are you aware that this is being recorded?

I'm just trying to process what's going on.

OK. Is there any property here that belongs to Ciara Glennon...

What? Don't... ..Jane Rimmer or Sarah Spiers?

Why would there be anything like that here?

Better get him out of here. Press has got wind of this.

Alright, get him out of here.

Can I just call my parents?

(HELICOPTER BUZZES OVERHEAD)

OFFICER: Watch your step.

(CAMERAS CLICK)

(REPORTERS SHOUT)

WOMAN: Detective, any comments?

OK, go. Get out of here.

(REPORTER CALLS OUT)

DAVE: You've got to find us something

from one of the girls, anything linking Edwards to them.

Ciara's brooch, Jane's clothes, Sarah, that...that key ring.

A sunflower, yeah. We'll find something. Is he lawyering up?

DAVE: Not yet. Said he doesn't want one.

Ring me when you've got something. Yeah.

DAVE: You lead in there.

You're about the same age.

Build up some rapport.

Keep it friendly, and let's make him sing.

(PHONE RINGS)

Oh, shit.

You promised me the biggest story of the year,

and then I see some blonde bimbo reporting it live?

I was gonna call you, Alison.

I can't talk right now.

Gavin?

REPORTER: The police have not yet issued an official statement.

(DOOR CLOSES) OK.

OK.

We just wanted to ask you a couple of questions.

Maybe we can just start at the beginning?

Sure.

Why don't you tell us about your childhood?

But what does my childhood have to...

Just to get to know you, you know?

OK. We...

We lived in a van for a while

because my dad was always travelling for work,

but, um, it was good, you know?

We saw my parents' friends a lot.

Had barbecues on weekends.

(SIZZLING)

Pretty normal, just growing-up stuff.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(HEAVENLY CHOIR SINGS)

(UNSETTLING SOUNDSCAPE)

(DOOR OPENS)

(CLEARS THROAT) And you wore glasses?

Yeah. Mm.

Yeah, I wasn't the best-looking kid. I got teased about it.

OK. That's hard.

Mm. So I started wearing contact lenses when I was about 20.

20. But you wore glasses before that?

Yeah.

Mm. OK.

Valentine's Day in 1988. Do you remember where you were?

Come on, mate, I can't even remember where I was last week.

Yeah. (CHUCKLES)

(LAUGHS)

Do you remember Kylee Cosgrove?

She lived not far from you in Huntingdale.

Uh, no, I don't think so.

Don't think so?

No.

She didn't go to your school?

No.

I mean, we might have... I remember...

I remember the name Cosgrove.

I think my brother used to swim at their pool or something,

but I...I don't...I didn't cross paths with any Kylee Cosgrove.

OK. Yep.

Mm.

And you know anything about a kimono?

Two birds, red flowers on the back.

No. Nothing.

Nothing.

Maybe we can back up a bit.

Can you tell us about your first marriage?

First marriage. Yeah.

I was depressed.

Um, I drank a lot.

You know why she left?

We, uh...

We had a lodger and she took up with him.

(UNSETTLING SOUNDSCAPE)

But I still kinda loved her, you know?

And her parents told my parents that leaving me

was the worst decision that she ever made.

Your wife left you around Australia Day '96?

Yeah, probably about then.

That's about when Sarah Spiers went missing.

Isn't it? Yeah.

And you found out your wife was pregnant to this lodger...

I guess... Well, if... Yeah, June. June 1996.

That's about the time Jane Rimmer went missing.

And I've got here you sold the home you bought with your first wife

in January of 1997.

That's around the time Ciara Glennon was abducted.

That's a hell of a coincidence. Is that right, those dates?

Look, I don't know anything about any of that.

I'm trying to be as honest with you blokes as I can.

Will you submit to giving a DNA sample?

DNA? Yeah, for testing.

You can oblige willingly, or we can get a court order,

but either way, yeah, we'll get it.

No, no, I'll give it. I don't mind.

I keep telling you I've got nothing to hide.

Just wanna go to sleep and wake up and this'll all be over,

you know what I mean?

(UNSETTLING SOUNDSCAPE)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Hey, Dave.

We found porn, snuff films,

women's underwear with the crotch cut out,

homemade sex toys, some stuff he's written about rape.

I mean, this guy's a psycho fuck, but...

There's nothing to connect him to the girls?

Yeah, not yet. Neither clothing, nor jewellery. Not one trophy.

He's either hidden it, or... He got rid of it.

Yeah. How's the interview going?

Uh, he's denying everything.

He's lying, Nikki. He's making shit up.

But you still have enough to charge him?

Yeah, but, you know, a confession would be bloody nice.

I'll get one. I'll get a confession. Gav.

We'll have new DNA results within an hour,

and when they match with what we found on Ciara,

we won't need a confession.

What, he gave his DNA willingly? He did.

Shit.

He either doesn't think we doesn't have anything to compare it to

or he's not our guy. He's our guy.

We'll talk soon, eh?

You bet he is.

Look.

He's sleeping.

Only guilty bastards sleep.

The innocent are always pacing.

Mr Edwards.

It's time to get up.

Now, in 1996, when you were working for Telstra,

did you drive a Holden Commodore station wagon?

Yeah.

Yeah. And a cargo area in the back?

Yeah, there was a caged area between the driver

and the rear area, but I think every Telstra vehicle looked like that.

And did you drive around the nightclubs in Claremont?

Um, I mean, I'm aware of them, I've never been to them.

I...I don't go out to Claremont.

OK, we'll just take a look at this map.

Do you know Rowe Park?

Nuh.

Are you positive? Yes!

Karrakatta Cemetery?

Yes. I was there for a memorial for a woman in 2008, I think.

No time before?

Not that I recall.

(KNOCK AT DOOR)

Come in.

(DOOR OPENS)

Thank you.

Are you aware of the women

who were abducted from Claremont in '96 and '97?

I'm aware of them. I think everybody was aware of them.

But I'm 110, I am 120% certain

that I'm not involved in any of this.

I don't know how many ways that I can say no.

Right.

DNA results have come back

and they confirm that your DNA

is a positive match for the kimono in Huntingdale...

No, that's not possible. ..in 1988...

..for the rape... No.

..of a young woman in Karrakatta Cemetery...

How can that be?

..and for the murder of Ciara Glennon in 1997.

No.

Can you explain that? I...I can't.

You can't explain that? No.

Alright. You're an intelligent man. You're not dumb.

Now, you know that your DNA is unique.

You're the only person in the whole world with that DNA profile.

I can... I can't explain that. I mean...

Just tell us what happened. I...I wish I could!

But I can't because I wasn't there!

I...I mean, you're... Hey, slow down.

You don't believe that I did it... Slow down.

..but you're the one saying that I did it.

Listen, the question I asked you

is do you understand that your DNA profile's unique?

I can't explain that! I don't understand what's happening!

Well, we found your semen

on the kimono in Huntingdale.

We found your DNA on Lisa Todd in Karrakatta Cemetery.

Can't explain that? Nuh.

And we found your DNA

on Ciara Glennon, 27 years of age,

murdered March 14th, 1997, OK?

Your DNA is on her. Impossible.

Can't explain that one either? No.

Alright. Are you an honest man?

I'm... Yes.

'Cause we interviewed your stepdaughter.

And she said that your most-prized virtue is your honesty.

I am being honest.

Are you a man who accepts responsibility for your actions?

I accept responsibility for the stuff that I have done,

not for the stuff that I haven't.

Bradley Robert Edwards,

you're now being charged with the assault on Kylee Cosgrove...

No, you've got the wrong guy. ..in 1988.

The rape of Lisa Todd in 1995

and the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon.

I did not do it!

You've got the wrong guy.

TV: I'm here to make an important announcement...

(PHONE RINGS) ..to the West Australian community.

Detectives from the Special Crime Squad

have charged a 48-year-old Kewdale man

with the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon, and attacks...

Gav. ..on other young women.

This has already been the biggest... You watching this?

..and most complex police investigation in WA's history.

Congratulations, Gav.

Hundreds of police officers... Now we have to convict him.

..over the past 20 years. You will.

The commitment of the WA Police and its officers have never wavered.

We never give up.

He didn't confess and he's pleading not guilty to every charge.

There's nothing in any of the houses that links him to the girls.

Not one trophy, not one hair, nothing.

Just tell him you got something from his car.

Yeah, we found this.

You see it?

Yeah.

But that doesn't link him to any of the girls.

You got anything else?

There was no blood or hair from them in the car.

How can there be no blood?

Well, he must have killed them where we found them.

But the fibres on Jane and Ciara match, OK?

These grey ones were found in the carpet

on the car floor and back well of a Holden Commodore.

And on the handle that adjusts the driver's seat,

13 blue fibres we can't ID yet.

But I had an idea about them.

You see it?

The shorts.

Yeah. These could be the source of the blue fibres.

We've just got to find someone who kept a pair since 1995.

I swear, OK? I didn't have anything to do with it.

It's just like with that other guy, that...public servant that they...

Lance Williams. That's it.

Yeah. That's what the cops do.

They get tunnel vision, they zone in on a guy.

But why'd they pick you, Dad? I don't know.

They're saying that they've got my DNA from an attack in 1988.

What's that, 30 years ago?

They're just trying to stitch me up, you'll see.

We'll keep supporting you, Brad. Don't worry.

So will Mum and Dad. We all believe you.

I-I don't understand how he isn't charged

with Sarah's... with her...her murder.

There's still nothing concrete that links him with Sarah, yet.

You need a body.

No.

Not necessarily.

But we could use more evidence.

Do you have any kids?

No.

In the country...

..you can sometimes fear the big city.

But our girls didn't.

They were just so...

..alive.

But we worried for them and...

..we bought them a flat in a nice part of town and a good car

and tried to keep them safe.

Still, just...

..life just...

..blows up.

It's just your worst fear.

Don't let 'em forget about her.

Charge the bastard for those other girls and forget about Sarah.

I'll make sure they don't.

Yeah.

(UNSETTLING SOUNDSCAPE)

Hey.

Which way you headed?

Mosman Park.

Oh, that's OK, I'm headed that way anyway.

Cool.

(HYPERVENTILATES)

(PHONE RINGS)

Gav, what time is it?

GAVIN: I think she must have seen his car.

It looked like a cab. She'd just called one.

So she got in and only after he started out did she realise that...

..it wasn't a cab.

Yeah, she would have panicked then.

No, but Edwards, he must have sweet-talked her.

No-one heard anything in Claremont, so somehow he got her to stay quiet.

That's what we always thought,

but how are you gonna prove Sarah got in his car?

I'll prove it. I'll prove it.

We don't know what really happened that night. No-one does.

Defence will say Sarah ran off with a guy

or went for a midnight swim and drowned or any...

I don't really care what defence has to say. She got in his car.

But you have to be able to prove it. Just take a step back, Gav, and...

I'm not stepping back. We have to get him.

For Sarah.

For their family. We have to get him. I have to get him.

I've gotta get him.

A Telstra tech named Jeff Cohen kept these since 1995.

Never even worn them.

ChemCentre tested them and the fibres from the dye lot

are an exact match to the fibres found on Jane, Lisa and Ciara.

This blue is unique to Telstra?

The dye was developed exclusively for them.

A different blue from police uniforms or any other tradies.

This puts a Telstra worker at the scene of all three crimes.

Edwards.

Car fibres, these, they're good, but they're circumstantial.

This could be from any Telstra worker.

Only the DNA on Ciara's nail puts Edwards there.

That's enough, right?

The lawyer that Edwards hired, Paul Yovich, he's smart.

He knows he'll have to create doubt about the DNA.

If I were Yovich,

I'd suggest there might have been cross-contamination at the lab.

Can he prove that?

I'm afraid PathWest has a history of cross-contamination.

But don't worry, I still think that we can convict him

for Jane and Ciara's murder.

What about Sarah? You've gotta get Sarah on the brief.

You can't let him walk on her.

Once we prove Edwards' guilt on Jane and Ciara with the same MO,

the same propensity of evidence,

we should be able to connect him to Sarah.

So you're going to add Sarah to the charge brief?

Yes. The Spiers deserve that.

But prepare yourself.

Justice Hall could still dismiss her charge for lack of evidence.

Don't let him.

Then I suggest, Detective, that you get me some more evidence

connecting Edwards to Sarah Spiers.

Doesn't matter how many times you look at it,

you still can't tell it's Edwards.

It could be him.

If he'd just turn around.

Have you seen this?

I didn't even know he was sick.

Cancer.

I got in his car.

Remember?

I said it was him.

I was so sure.

So was I.

You know, if Lance had picked up Jane or any of those girls...

..they'd still be alive.

But now you've got the right guy.

You have his DNA.

No way is he getting out of this.

That's the thing, I didn't have anything to do with the murders,

I swear.

And I've been thinking. I want to give evidence.

I want to... I want to say that at trial.

If you do that, you could be on the stand for six months in cross.

And they can ask you anything.

You have to answer, in detail and under oath.

I can do that.

Look, it is your decision in the end. Could you stop doing that?

Listen to me. Putting you on the stand, in my opinion,

that would be a mistake.

They'll push you hard, Bradley.

OK.

But all this time being locked up,

I've been searching my conscience

and I want to plead guilty

to the assaults at Huntingdale and Karrakatta.

Guilty?

Yep. Yep. I was a different person back then. I snapped.

It wasn't really me.

Plus they've got that DNA at both the crime scenes, right?

That'll hold up in court? Mm.

Those samples have been locked away for 20 years.

They'll be convincing. Right. So that's what I'm thinking.

Bradley, I can't be a party to any lies.

I'm not lying.

I did the assaults, but I didn't do the murders. I couldn't do that.

I'm not guilty of murder.

It's just the cops are pinning it on me

because they want to blame somebody.

So if you plead guilty to the assaults,

you plead early, you save the court time and money.

You could get a reduced sentence.

And of course with time in custody,

probably looking at three or four years.

That's it?

And if I can prove the cross-contamination of DNA

taken from Ciara Glennon, you could be out before you're 55.

So...

So...what about before, pleading not guilty to the assaults?

Can that work against me?

No, there's no law against lying to the police.

Justice Hall can't let lying about an earlier crime

influence his decision about the murders.

Right. So pleading guilty to the assaults is my best way forward?

If it's the truth. That's the truth.

In a shock announcement today, Bradley Edwards,

the accused Claremont serial killer,

is now pleading guilty to rape and assault charges from 1988 and 1995.

Since his arrest, Mr Edwards has steadfastly insisted his innocence.

And though he is now pleading guilty to the rape and assault charges,

he still maintains that he never killed anyone,

and will fight those charges to the utmost of his abilities.

Four years?

With time in custody, that's the minimum he could get

for the assault and rape.

For everything he did, four years? That won't happen.

Conviction on the murder charges

will get him life with no chance of parole.

If the DNA doesn't get thrown out

on some bullshit contamination argument. Gav, we'll get him.

We haven't got him for 20 years, Nik.

This guy's had the devil's luck and I'm not certain it's run out yet.

REPORTER: People lined up outside the court before sunrise,

hoping for a front-row seat.

REPORTER: ..chilling day of evidence

from the opening of the Claremont serial killings.

REPORTER: ..with a high level of public interest.

REPORTER: Edwards is charged with the murders

of Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer...

REPORTER: ..trial by judge alone. The three women disappeared...

If Trevor was alive, he'd be here.

He loved Janey so much.

We pray for Ciara all the time.

When Una and I see a girl around her...her age,

we think of her still.

Sarah had something different about her to most other kids.

She had this lovely warmth about her, didn't she?

Yeah.

ALISON: The trial of the century

in Western Australia gets underway today.

The amount of evidence that's been gathered for this case

has been staggering.

Over 16,000 DNA samples have been taken.

200 witnesses are expected to be called,

with 10,000 pages of interview transcripts.

110 gigabytes of prosecution disclosures,

a million pages of evidence.

The DNA and fibre evidence alone is said to be over 60,000 pages long.

In a 14-month period, three bright, beautiful young women

vanished from the streets of Claremont.

There were so many questions

for which the lack of answers cemented a fear

that ran through the community,

a fear that was caused by an enigma of the dark.

In the coming months, the state will demystify this enigma

and prove that there was one killer.

And that killer is Bradley Robert Edwards.

The deaths of these young women were unlawful killings.

There is no doubt or dispute about that.

The issue is the identity of the killer,

and Bradley Edwards' defence in each case is that.

It wasn't him.

(UNSETTLING SOUNDSCAPE)

WOMAN: We were happy in the marriage at first.

Um, but then he became obsessed with his computer.

So, yeah, he would come home from work

and disappear into the spare room.

He wasn't interested in me

and he wasn't present in the marriage, and stuff happened.

Oh! (GIGGLES)

MAN: We were laughing and then she kissed me.

Or I kissed her. I...

I can't remember.

He didn't say anything. He just...

..walked away.

You are one of what has become known as the 'Living Witnesses'.

Yeah.

And what happened to you in November of 1996?

I'd been at Club Bayview. I'd had a bit to drink.

Um, and there were no cabs, but I was trying to get to Shenton Park.

I didn't care how, you know? It was a different time back then.

We didn't worry about things like that.

But then I saw a car, and it looked like a taxi, and the driver stopped.

What kind of car was it?

It looked like a Holden station wagon.

Can you give me a lift to Shenton Park?

EDWARDS: Sure.

Ugh! (DOOR SHUTS)

Oh, hey, this isn't a taxi.

Oh, that's alright. I'll take you there anyway.

I didn't feel unsafe,

but something made me say that I'd left my shoes up on the road...

My shoes! I left my shoes!

..and would it be OK if I went to grab them?

So I grabbed my shoes and two guys that I'd been drinking with...

Is it OK if you take these guys too?

We're all going to the same place.

He didn't say anything. He just drove us to Shenton Park.

Did you notice anything about the car?

It was a Telecom Telstra car.

When the sample labelled AJM40,

the sample taken from Ciara Glennon's nail,

was finally tested, did you recover male DNA from it?

Yes, we did.

What was the result?

The DNA matched the profile of the defendant, Bradley Edwards.

To clarify, when sample AJM40 was originally taken,

how was it labelled?

What was written on the label of the container in 1997?

Uh...

'Debris only. Not suitable for analysis.'

Not suitable for analysis. And yet more than 10 years later,

somehow miraculously it's suitable for testing.

Not miraculously.

The advancements in DNA technology in the past...

But at the time, when it was first handled,

it was labelled 'Debris only'.

Have you considered the possibility of cross-contamination in your lab,

where a bit of DNA gets somewhere where it shouldn't?

Perhaps the right protocols aren't being used

and perhaps the same pair of gloves are being worn for two experiments.

Of course we consider it, and we take all necessary precautions

to make sure contamination doesn't happen, but in this case...

Doesn't PathWest have a poor record of cross-contamination?

I would say, of the hundreds and thousands of tests,

we have a very good record of...

When intimate swabs collected from Jane Rimmer were analysed

in 2017 by UK laboratory Cellmark,

did they show the DNA profile matching that of a male -

not you, sir - PathWest scientist?

Yes, they did.

When intimate swabs collected from Ciara Glennon were analysed in 2017,

did they yield the profile of yet another - not you, sir -

PathWest scientist?

Yes.

And we've all seen videos collected from the crime scene.

Police officers not wearing gloves.

No shoe protection. No forensic overalls.

It was a different time.

Indeed it was.

When Mr Edwards was employed at Telstra,

was he ever called to PathWest to repair the phones?

Not...not to my knowledge, no.

Not to your knowledge.

There were bombshells in court today where cross-contamination claims

had the prosecution on their heels.

The verdict in this case seems to be in the balance.

Hey, what's all this rubbish you're broadcasting about?

Do you really believe there's cross-contamination of his DNA?

I'm just reporting what was said.

He murdered three women. Are you trying to help get him off?

I'm just reporting what was said in court.

Listen, people don't want to speak to you anymore, OK?

They're fuckin' pissed off.

You heard the evidence. Edwards might be acquitted.

Everyone needs to be prepared for that.

JUDGE: Mr Yovich, the State has closed.

Is the defence ready to proceed?

Your Honour, the defence is closed.

What? You're not going to be calling any witnesses?

No, Your Honour. We will address the case in our closing statement.

Mr Edwards, can you please stand?

The decision to give evidence is entirely yours,

but given the importance of this case,

do you wish to make any statement in your own defence?

No, Your Honour.

Nearly seven months ago,

the State made reference to an enigma of the dark

and promised to shed light on that enigma.

It's the forensic evidence that has cast light

and unmasked a killer.

The fibres, the DNA.

One offender is responsible for the murders

of Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon.

Bradley Robert Edwards, we say, is the Claremont killer.

One fifth of one billionth of one gram.

That's how much DNA was found on Ciara Glennon's nail.

Your Honour, are you able to be satisfied,

beyond reasonable doubt, the DNA finding is only explicable

on the basis that the accused killed Ciara Glennon?

Contamination events are rare,

but they do happen, and they only have to happen once.

The carpet fibres, the pant fibres,

they could come from any Telstra employee.

The only actual evidence that my client might be the Claremont killer

is the DNA that was found on Ciara Glennon's nail.

Are you willing, Your Honour, to put a man in jail

for the rest of his life on that evidence?

One fifth of one billionth of one gram.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(EERIE MUSIC)

(PHONE RINGS)

Wyatt.

CARMEL: Hello, Gavin. The verdict's in.

Do you know what it says? No. Just get to the court.

REPORTER: After a 20-year police investigation

and subsequent seven-month Supreme Court trial,

we'll finally get a verdict...

REPORT: The Claremont serial killings trial...

Onlookers came here earlier today, queuing up on the steps...

This is a trial like no other.

It's a trial like no other because of its size and high degree of interest.

Three women went missing from a popular nightlife area

frequented by many young people.

It inspired a pervasive fear in the entire Perth community.

But it's a trial like every other,

because the accused is presumed innocent

and the State must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

I am satisfied that the evidence

establishes that each of the victims was abducted and killed.

The issue therefore is the identity of the killer, or killers.

Having regard to the DNA evidence and the propensity evidence,

I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt

that Bradley Edwards was the killer of Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon.

Mr Edwards chose semi-rural locations and hid the bodies

with the intention of minimising the chances of them being found

and his offences being discovered.

In respect of Ms Spiers, I have reached the following conclusions.

There are some similarities

between the circumstances of Ms Spiers' disappearance

and the death of Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon.

But they do not allow for a conclusion to be reached

that the person responsible for the killing of Ms Glennon and Ms Rimmer

must necessarily be the same person as who killed Ms Spiers.

The propensity of evidence suggests it is likely

that the accused was the killer.

But it cannot be proved beyond reasonable doubt.

So, based on those findings, the verdict must be...

..on count six,

the wilful murder of Sarah Spiers, not guilty.

(POIGNANT MUSIC)

DENIS GLENNON: We pray for Ciara all the time.

Whenever Una and I see a young woman of Ciara's age,

well, we think of her still.

I always said that Ciara... Ciara would fight for her life.

Little did I know how,

well, how...prophetic those words would be.

It's hard to understand.

We interviewed 16,000 men and his name never came up.

He was never on our radar.

And it's hard not to wonder what Sarah's life...

..and ours would be like if she hadn't been taken from us.

She would have had kids.

You say something, love?

Sarah loved kids.

This isn't over.

We'll keep looking for her.

Thanks for everything you've done for us, Detective.

You treated us right.

(POIGNANT MUSIC)

(BRITTLE PIANO NOTES)

(POIGNANT MUSIC CONTINUES)