Search for Tegan

With evidence mounting that Keli Lane may have been wrongly convicted of her baby’s murder, a public appeal has been made to find Tegan

The judge who oversaw the Supreme Court trial that saw Keli Lane jailed for 18 years for murdering her newborn baby Tegan has revealed he was “never” absolutely certain of her guilt, or even that the baby was dead.

“In my mind, I’ve never been certain,” Justice Anthony Whealy QC revealed when interviewed for the ABC documentary Exposed: The Case Of Keli Lane. “And now, years later, I haven’t changed my attitude.”

He found the experience so “harrowing” he never presided over another criminal trial – and he is just one of several key players who believe that, based on the facts presented in court, there is “reasonable doubt” about Lane’s guilt.

Former detective Sharon Rhodes, who began investigating the case in 2006, 10 years after Tegan’s disappearance, says police had “absolutely nothing” to conclusively prove Lane murdered Tegan when the trial began two years later in 2008.

“I used every trick in the book,” Sharon told ABC investigative journalist Caro MeldrumHanna. “An undercover strategy, covert DNA samples, every resource that was available. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. We didn’t have anything.”

Sharon, who was medically discharged with PTSD after the investigation, also refuted Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi’s claim the prosecution case was “99.9 per cent ready” when the trial began, insisting the police were still trying to find evidence.

The documentary also found the police timeline did not add up. Hospital notes show Lane was discharged at 2pm and would not have time to kill and dispose of her newborn baby before attending a wedding an hour later and more than 30km away. In court it was said she left hospital “between 11am and 2pm”.

The motive – that the promising water polo player couldn’t care for a baby and compete at the Sydney Olympics – was also rendered suspect when her coach revealed she was never in contention for selection.

Lane has always maintained she gave Tegan to the baby’s father, a man named Andrew Morris or Norris. Police did find an Andrew Morris who said he may have had a one-night stand with her but had not taken the baby. However, when tracked down by the ABC, Andrew said he wasn’t sure it was Lane he’d had sex with. “I was led [by detectives] to believe that’s who I slept with. It snowballed and just got bigger and bigger. I didn’t feel… I couldn’t turn back,” he said.

“The biggest hope for me is that someone comes forward with my daughter,” Lane says of proving her innocence.

Now the ABC has appealed for help to find Tegan, who would today be 22, and solve one of Australia’s biggest crime mysteries.

‘There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. We didn’t have anything’