by David Murray
The amateur sleuth has long been a staple in crime fiction. The idea that average Joes and Joesephines can crack cases that have stumped the professionals appeals to armchair detectives the world over. The internet has taken this fascination to a new level. About ten years ago, websites began springing up which allowed crime buffs to read about and debate high-profile crimes – Justice Quest, Official Cold Case Investigations, Porchlight International and Websleuths among them.
In the main, they focused on missing persons and cold cases. There have been instances where users have actually solved cases by linking unidentified bodies with missing persons reports. But police around the world are split on the merits of citizen detectives. Some jurisdictions in the United States upload details of crimes and missing persons cases to public websites, while others regard keen amateurs as a hindrance.
Allison Baden-Clay’s mysterious disappearance would become one of the first Australian cases to make a big impact on international crime forums. The first posting on the US-based Websleuths appeared on the day Allison was reported missing.
‘This lady is missing less than 1 kilometre from my house,’ wrote Brookfield resident ‘Kiwijayne’, who added a link to the initial police press release.
Soon more people, local and otherwise, were commenting and ‘Allison Baden-Clay of Australia’, as it was listed, appeared on the website’s list of ‘hot cases’. The Guardian reported in 2010 that the site attracted 25,000 interactive users a day. Unrestrained by laws governing mainstream media, Websleuths became the ‘go-to’ site for the latest theories and rumours – some spot on, and some wildly off beam.
It’s worth noting that before things went online, Brookfield residents were already serviced by a well-oiled, well-staffed and well-resourced rumour mill. The advent of an online forum where people could anonymously share information, opinions and theories turned it into a gossipy village on steroids. For every person commenting, more watched from the sidelines.
Speculation about the identities of some of the more prolific posters became a source of local gossip in itself. According to the grapevine, as well as your average curtain-twitchers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals were joining the fray. Brookfield lore has it that a well-regarded local, familiar with the justice system, was the person who photographed hundreds of pages of court documents on a smartphone and posted them online. Every witness statement would mysteriously appear on the internet, and the pages clearly weren’t official copies, which were available from the court registry for a hefty fee.
People weren’t merely observing the Baden-Clay investigation, they were actively seeking to participate in it, to help solve the crime or at least to satisfy their own curiosity about some of the perplexing rumours.
One rumour that had locals transfixed revolved around a chain that reportedly vanished from the Kenmore Village shopping centre car park around the time of the murder. Sleuthers became convinced it was used to either move or dispose of Allison’s body. One mum started quizzing shopping centre staff and was told security guards had indeed been searching for the chain. A local lawyer followed it up, inspecting the replacement chain and concluding it would be very easy to remove should anyone wish to pinch it in the dead of night.
Gerard’s affair with Toni McHugh was all over the internet long before it was being reported by news outlets. Over on Aussie Criminals and Crooks, blogger Robbo put McHugh’s photo online in the week after Allison’s body was discovered. With the online debate in overdrive, one Brookfield resident logged in as ‘Keyboredom’ and tried to hose things down.
‘I live very near the missing lady’s house too, so would just like to point out that living in the area doesn’t make me an expert, and local gossip in Brisbane’s “leafy western suburbs” is one of its biggest problems. People take an inch and create a mile. I can guarantee the husband would not be the only local to be carrying on a “common knowledge” affair … Everyone is so nosey he’d have to have a network of tunnels to escape the Flying Monkeys of Brookfield.’
Keyboredom was trying to stop a runaway train.
Allison’s case was truly a murder of the modern age. People were logging on to get the latest news or gossip unfiltered and uncensored. But, with no gatekeepers or fact-checkers, there were predictably some shocking stuff-ups. A series of Chinese whispers ended with real estate agent Jocelyn Frost being wrongly identified on Websleuths as Gerard’s mistress.
On 6 June 2012, Websleuths member CaseClosed compiled a ‘rumour list’ to track tips discussed online but not in mainstream media. With its references to cause of death (COD) and domestic violence (DV), it’s fascinating reading and, in hindsight, demonstrates the jumble of fact and fiction that both confused and fuelled online discussion:
Police were at the family home the night before her disappearance; Lawyer present when police arrived at family home; Children were home and said something odd to police; Victim was on medication for depression; Victim could not cope at some stage due to depression/needed GBC’s help daily; DV/broken arm/fallen down stairs, etc; COD is strangulation/bath water in her lung; Body found with missing limbs/chains, etc; Fight at a restaurant; Chains missing from Coles/construction site; Murder for hire by triads/bikies/loan sharks, etc; NBC sitting at bus stop in the middle of the night; NBC looking frail/could have dementia; Second or more mistresses; Pregnant mistress who is no longer pregnant; Blood found in one of the family cars; Scratches on GBC’s chest/bruises on chest, etc; NBC/GBC washing cars Friday morning; Family home with windows boarded up; Prado damaged prior to her disappearance; Evidence of Google searches in computers about masking DNA/accessing Life insurance; Tattooed man with a white van, with long blond hair, wearing gardening gloves seen near Kholo bridge. THE ABOVE ARE ALL RUMOURS!
Elsewhere online, Ipswich councillor Paul Tully was in no doubt about who killed Allison Baden-Clay. Police had yet to make an arrest, but Tully was ready to point the finger in his regular blog – only, everyone missed it. Tully, as always skating close to the line, used a secret code in writing about the case: the first letter of each sentence spelled out a message.
May 5 2012
The noose is slowly tightening around the killer of Brookfield mother-of-three Allison Baden-Clay.
Hopes of ever finding her alive faded quickly as the search for her body dragged on for over a week after her bizarre disappearance last month.
Even from day 1, with the rapid deployment of police and SES volunteers, the entire situation looked very grim for Allison’s family.
Her disappearance was said to have occurred during a late night walk through the suburb, with even old gold mine shafts thoroughly checked to see if she had met some accident or possibly foul play.
Until the weekend rain of 28-29 April, her body could have remained concealed forever in Kholo Creek near Mt Crosby to be long forgotten by the general public while her family grieved for decades.
So it was a remarkable twist of fate with the unseasonal April showers which finally switched the police enquiries from a missing person investigation to a murder investigation.
Brookfield residents who were stunned by Mrs Baden-Clay’s disappearance were shocked by the fact this well-respected, cheerful local mum had been brutally killed in the middle of the night in, or near, their quiet piece of Brisbane suburbia.
And the leafy, tranquil suburb of Brookfield was changed forever in the twinkling of an eye.
No one dared to speak too openly of their individual speculation as to the possible identity of the killer but the community’s private thoughts and feelings became part of the grieving process not only for the family but the wider Brookfield community.
During the 10 days preceding the discovery of Allison’s body, the local tight-knit community had hoped and prayed for a miracle.
During that time, the community worked, searched and prayed together in the belief Allison might eventually come home – but that was not to be.
In Brisbane’s western suburbs, the possi
bility of finding her alive kept the community spirit intact but it was all crushed with that terrible discovery by a canoeist at Kholo Creek near the Brisbane River, opposite Karalee.
During that time, the love for Allison by her family and the broader community was readily apparent.
In the police media conference which followed soon after her disappearance, Allison’s parents Geoff and Priscilla Dickie made an emotional appeal for her return, with their grief almost overwhelming, but in the end their heartfelt appeal was to count for nothing.
The final conclusion to this shocking crime is still to be played out but the family and the community can only hope and pray the killer is quickly caught.
Although Tully was rather more outspoken than most members of the community, he was spot-on in his last sentence.
Truth to tell
Toni McHugh scanned the room. She couldn’t see Allison Baden-Clay among the crowd at the Real Estate Institute of Queensland conference. McHugh had been braced for an uncomfortable encounter with her lover’s wife since the day before, when Gerard told her Allison was going. Toni had really given him a piece of her mind about it on the phone. But as she looked around at the crowd gathered at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre that Friday 20 April 2012, she could see neither Allison nor Kate Rankin, the Century 21 Westside staffer who was supposed to go with her.
McHugh had started a new job in property management at Blocksidge & Ferguson the week before and had been looking forward to the event – until Gerard yet again pulled the rug from under her. Since being forced out of Century 21 Westside in 2011, when Allison found out about the affair and demanded her immediate departure, McHugh had drifted from one job to the next. The stress had got to her so much that she experienced a panic attack one day at work. McHugh had hoped catching up with colleagues at the property management conference would give her a boost. The last thing she wanted was to run into her rival.
With Allison nowhere to be seen, McHugh was buoyed by the brief hope her lover had finally found some courage and told his wife the truth.
In the lunch break, McHugh phoned Gerard to find out what had happened. As soon as he answered, she could hear his distress. Allison was missing, he said.
‘She went for a walk and didn’t come back.’
‘Did you argue?’ McHugh thought back to her tense phone call with Gerard the day before.
‘No, we didn’t argue,’ he replied. He said he couldn’t think of any trigger for Allison to take off.
‘Where are you now?’
‘I’m at home now. The police are searching the place for clues.’
‘You can’t talk now, obviously.’
‘It’s not a good idea for us to talk. We should lay low,’ replied Gerard.
Immediately, McHugh’s thoughts turned to how this dramatic turn of events would change things for her. Allison had probably stormed off to get Gerard’s attention. When she inevitably turned up, he would no doubt be shocked into staying with her, yet again. McHugh had been waiting three years for Gerard to end what he claimed was a loveless marriage. After countless promises, he’d finally given a date for his departure – July 1. Now it was all bound to come to nothing, once more.
‘See you later. For all it’s worth, I love you,’ McHugh said, ending the call.
That night, as word filtered out about Allison’s disappearance, a friend sent a text to McHugh just after midnight.
‘Hey Toni! I know it’s late but a friend just shared a link on Facebook about police searching for Allison Baden-Clay. Isn’t that G’s wife? Hope I haven’t woken you. Sorry if I did. Bek xo.’
‘Yes it is,’ replied McHugh. ‘I didn’t know what the latest was. I’m extremely worried.’
‘Shit Toni, too weird! I just got woken up by Leo & happened to check Facebook while I was up & nearly choked when I saw her name. Fingers crossed she’s found safe & sound. Try to get some sleep, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’
The next day, at 9.30 am, McHugh and her twin sons were having a quiet Saturday morning at home when she had a call from a blocked number. It was Gerard, warning McHugh that police knew of their affair and would want to talk to her.
Shortly afterwards, a detective arrived at her apartment complex, asking her to attend Indooroopilly station. She did as requested, providing the first of her police statements.
‘Gerard stated that police will want to speak with me today and stated the police feared the worst and that Allison had met with foul play,’ McHugh told detectives that day. ‘He also mentioned that the police were aware of our affair. I then asked him what I should do, to which he replied I should tell the truth.’
McHugh gave police the basics of their relationship. How it had started years earlier. Its ups and downs. That it was ongoing and they were planning a life together. That Gerard had promised to come to her, unconditionally.
McHugh was still with police at the station when Gerard phoned her mobile.
‘Can you talk?’ he asked.
‘No, I can’t. I’m with the police,’ she said.
‘Just answer yes or no. Do they know we are back together?’ he said.
‘Yes,’ she answered.
Gerard had told the police the day before that his relationship with McHugh was over.
Over the following weeks, McHugh made further formal statements to police. Police wanted to know if McHugh had an alibi for the period Allison went missing. McHugh was home with her 14-year-old sons. The boys shared a bedroom and went to bed between 8.30 pm and 9 pm each night.
‘I remained at home with my boys all night that night,’ McHugh said.
Realising that the police investigation was growing more focused, McHugh started dwelling on all the messages she had exchanged with Gerard by text and email over the years. Some were intensely private. McHugh went into her iPhone and deleted exchanges with Gerard. She did the same with her emails.
Seriously spooked, McHugh was reluctant to set foot outside her St Lucia unit, but her mum called and said she needed to come out. McHugh’s parents lived in a suburb past Anstead in Brisbane’s west. On the morning of Monday 30 April, McHugh left her apartment and went to her parents’ house. To get there, she drove along Mt Crosby Road and over Kholo Creek Bridge, over the very spot where Allison’s body lay abandoned on the creek bank. Just hours later McHugh heard the news. A body had been discovered under the bridge and the road was now closed.
Gerard was back in touch with McHugh in mid-May, calling her at work. ‘I love you,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what’s gone wrong here. I know you haven’t done anything as you must know in your heart that I haven’t done anything.’
‘I know and I know you can’t talk to me or anyone else as that was the advice given to you by your lawyer.’
‘That’s right.’
‘How are you coping?’
‘Not well.’
‘I guess the next I see you will be in court?’
‘No, no,’ replied Gerard.
‘I love you and stay strong,’ McHugh said.
As the police investigation continued, McHugh talked to her former partner, Robert Mackay-Wood. Her theory, she told him, was that whoever did kill Allison would have driven out of Brookfield by the back way, along Rafting Ground Road.
‘There would have been less likelihood that they would have been seen,’ she later told police.
Police kept returning to McHugh, gleaning more details about Gerard with every contact. The affair had become central to the investigation. It was a possible motive for Gerard to murder his wife, along with the insurance payout of almost $1 million he would receive on her death.
Since Allison’s disappearance, I too had been finding out more about Gerard’s relationship with McHugh. In her photo on Century 21 Westside’s website, McHugh was well groomed. She looked dignified. She appeared to be around Gerard’s age, brunette and was wearing the company’s gold jacket.
I first phoned McHugh on Friday 27 April 2012, a week after All
ison was reported missing.
‘I’ve got nothing to say to you,’ she said, and hung up.
Over time, I spoke to multiple sources about the affair. The accuracy and relevance of the information was all too apparent.
Before publication, I phoned Gerard and told him what the story would say. I’d been trying since the start to get Gerard to open up to me, but he had rebuffed my every approach. This time he listened quietly until I finished speaking. But he wasn’t going to break his silence.
‘I’m with my daughters right now,’ he said softly, and hung up.
While he had sounded calm on the phone, the conversation was a watershed moment for Gerard because he immediately set about informing family and friends that he had been cheating on Allison for years. It was about to appear in the paper, he told them.
I also phoned McHugh again, left a detailed message on her voicemail outlining the story, then sent her a text message too. There was no reply. In one last effort to ensure she was forewarned, with a chance to respond in case she missed the messages, I phoned one of the people closest to her and asked him to pass it on.
The story about Gerard and Toni’s affair ran across two pages in The Sunday Mail on 20 May 2012. It was the first time the affair was aired in the mainstream media. It broke the news that the relationship had not ended, but was ongoing at the time of Allison’s disappearance, and was being closely examined by police.
Once the news report was out, detectives in the Major Incident Room seized the opportunity to change tack with Gerard’s mistress. It was time to show some of their hand. A pile of salacious emails between McHugh and Gerard had been recovered from their computers. And police knew McHugh was far from the only woman Gerard had been sleeping with behind his wife’s back.