Podcast sparks new murder hunt
Police in Australia have started to dig for the remains of Lynette Dawson after her mysterious disappearance 36 years ago was examined by a popular podcast.
Dawson, a nurse and mother of two, vanished in 1982, aged 33, two days before her husband, Chris, a sports teacher, moved his schoolgirl lover into their home.
Dawson did not report his wife missing for six weeks, and said that he thought she might have run away to join a religious cult.
Police reportedly launched an excavation at the couple’s former home due to the public interest in the case after it was made the subject of a podcast,
which attracted 18 million downloads. It follows a series of cases that have been freshly investigated or retried due to broadcasts such as the podcast and the television shows
and Announcing that the dig was under way in Sydney, police said that they had begun a five-day search of the home in the affluent waterside suburb of Bayview and indicated they may wish to speak to Dawson again even if the search finds nothing.
‘‘This is all about getting justice for Lyn,’’ said Detective Superintendent Scott Cook. ‘‘At the end of the day, it’ll be a hand dig.’’ Asked if the renewed investigation was likely to lead to charges, he said: ‘‘Absolutely.’’
Two coroners’ inquests, in 2001 and 2003, recommended that a ‘‘known person’’ be charged with murder.
Dawson, a former professional rugby league player, has always insisted that he was innocent.
His then 16-year-old lover Joanne Curtis moved in after his wife’s disappearance. They were later married for six years and had a daughter before divorcing. She claimed in a police interview in 1997 that she left Dawson because he was allegedly violent. Curtis is not a suspect, and has assisted with previous police inquiries.
During a police search of the house in 2000, Curtis suggested that they look around the swimming pool, where they found a cardigan belonging to Dawson that had cuts consistent with a stabbing.