40-YEAR HUNT FOR KILLER
DETECTIVES HOPE TO FINALLY LEARN HOW A TRIP OF A LIFETIME ENDED IN THE MURDER OF THREE FRIENDS IN OUTBACK QUEENSLAND, REPORTS KATE KYRIACOU
POLICE are taking a fresh look at the North Queensland triple murder case that has baffled investigators for 40 years.
The families of 23-year-old Karen Edwards, Tim Thomson, 31, and Gordon Twaddle, 21, could soon learn who killed the trio at Spear Creek, near Mount Isa, in 1978.
COLD case detectives are reinvestigating a 40year-old Wolf Creekstyle triple murder in outback Queensland, saying the case is “definitely solvable”.
The families of 23-year-old Karen Edwards, 31-year-old Tim Thomson and 21-year-old Gordon Twaddle could soon have answers, with investigators trawling back through old files and re-interviewing witnesses.
The three friends are believed to have been lured into remote bushland near Mount Isa and executed just days into a motorbike trip through outback Australia and down the east coast.
All three had been shot in the head with a .22 rifle. One of the men had tried to run, his body found nearly 100m from the others. They had been stripped of any identification and their jewellery removed. Karen and Tim, who were in a relationship, were travelling on a valuable and eyecatching motorbike with a homemade sidecar that carried camping gear and Tim’s doberman pup Tristie.
With them was Gordon, a family friend of Tim’s from New Zealand – also a motorbike enthusiast.
The three friends, from Melbourne and New Zealand, met in Alice Springs on September 30, 1978, and set off on October 2 for an “adventure of a lifetime” around Australia.
Their plans involved travelling through outback Northern Territory, into Queensland and across to Cairns before travelling down the east coast, finally arriving in Melbourne in time for Christmas.
They were last seen on October 5 at the Lake Moondarra Caravan Park in Mount Isa before their badly decomposed bodies were discovered in bushland at nearby Spear Creek on October 24.
Days later, investigating police were badly injured in a helicopter crash as they surveyed the crime scene from the air.
But soon, witnesses emerged with descriptions of a bearded man who had joined the trio on their travels.
It is believed the man, who possibly had a motorbike and a Toyota Landcruiser, lured Karen, Tim and Gordon into the bush, perhaps with an offer to show them around the area.
Two weeks into the investigation, police arrested 22-yearold Bruce John Preston and charged him with the theft of Tim’s valuable BMW motor- bike. Preston was fined $300 after telling detectives he spotted two men trying to start the bike and told them he knew the owner.
He wheeled it home, altered its appearance and hid it away.
“It is definitely solvable,” homicide detective Senior Sergeant Tara Kentwell said.
“The Cold Case Investigation Team and Mount Isa Criminal Investigation Branch are working collaboratively to achieve this.”
Police at the time were able to identify the bodies after discovering a watch in thick spinifex, close to where Karen’s body had been left.
Photographs of the watch and some of the clothing the victims wore were circulated to
the media. Karen’s father Jack, at his home in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong, spotted his daughter’s watch in the newspaper and contacted police.
All three families spoke about the cold case review and said they were hopeful of an arrest after so many years.
The parents of the victims have all died.
“I think my parents would have liked to know who did it,” Tim’s brother, Dr Ken Thomson, said.
“It’s not going to bring him back.
“But the thought that someone who’s done this terrible deed is still out there and possibly doing it again, they should be removed from society in some form.
“Just knowing ( who did it) brings a certain closure to it. Otherwise, it’s just open.”
Ken described his brother Tim, a schoolteacher from a family of doctors and engineers, as a “lovely, kind, generous, outgoing” man who loved his nine-month-old doberman puppy.
Tim liked to collect and restore old motorbikes and cars.
Originally from New Zealand, he spent time in Adelaide and Melbourne before moving to Alice Springs. He worked at the Hermannsburg Mission for two school terms teaching En- glish to Aboriginal children to save for the trip he had take with Karen and Gordon.
Tim had long been a close friend of Gordon’s older brother John.
John, who for years ran a motorbike repair shop in South Dunedin, New Zealand, met Tim when he brought him a Harley Davidson racing bike to fix.
They became firm friends and would go on rallies and to race meetings together, as well as lots of motorbike touring.
When Tim talked about doing a trip around Australia on his bike, John suggested his brother Gordon might be interested.
John described Gordon as a “cheeky young guy” who worked as a pastrycook. He was generous and funny.
John planned to meet them on the Gold Coast when the trio made their way to southeast Queensland.
Instead, he made the trip to Australia for a funeral.
“(An arrest) would be a relief,” he said.
“You always think, golly, was it someone that you might have known? Someone that might have been from here that was over there (in Australia) at the time?
“It’s something my brother and myself talk about every now and again … shall we go to Australia and try and do something about this?”
Karen was the eldest of five children – a feisty, independent and athletic woman who was studying to be a medical laboratory technician.
Her brother Barry said she still had a massive presence within their family.
“I think the experience is just as terrible as most people imagine,” he said of his sister’s murder.
“The person who did it should come forward himself. I mean, I wonder what sort of life he must be leading.
“To have that with you for all these years.
“Must be terrible.”
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.