Casefile True Crime - 317: Case 271: Bonnie Clarke

Episode Date: February 10, 2024

*** Child victim, child sexual assault, sexual assault/rape *** When six-year-old Bonnie Clarke is murdered in her bed in the middle of the night just four nights before Christmas in 1982, Melbourne detectives are certain they know who’s responsible: Bonnie’s mother, Marion. Yet Marion insists an intruder must have broken into their home while she was sleeping. It would take 20 years, two other crimes, and an undercover investigation for the truth to unravel… --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-271-bonnie-clarke

I think you're a good cop. Yeah, you think I'm a good brown cop. A rookie with more to prove. It's a good time to be you. I worked for what I got. Allegiance. New episode Wednesdays. Watch free on CBC Gem. Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show

notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners. At about 7.40 on the morning of Tuesday, December 21, 1982, Frank Church headed out of his home in Westbourne Grove, Northcote, and walked towards the front gate. The rubbish bins had gone out for collection the previous night, and Frank was going to bring his empty one in. As Frank exited his front gate, he noticed his next door neighbour, Marianne, standing on the footpath outside of her home.

While Frank had resided on Westbourne Grove for the past 27 years, Marion and her six-year-old daughter Bonnie were relative newcomers. They'd moved into the inner city Melbourne Street about two years ago. Although their Victorian terrace houses sat quite close to each other, the residential street was wide and fairly quiet. Frank didn't really know Marion or Bonnie, except to exchange pleasantries whenever they bumped into one another. As soon as Marion spotted Frank, she called out to him, shouting,

Frank! Frank! As Frank looked at the young mother, he noticed how distraught her expression was and that her face was streaked with tears. Concerned, Frank approached Marion. As he neared her, she leaned into him, collapsing into his shoulder and cried, My baby is dead. What do you mean your baby is dead?

Frank asked. Shocked, Frank told Marion he'd call the police. Marion said that she'd already done so, then continued to sob and scream as she leaned heavily on Frank, seemingly unable to support herself. Frank's wife, Mavis, was just getting out of bed when she heard Marion's distraught cries. Frank began to call out Mavis' name, asking for her help. Mavis quickly pulled on a dressing gown and ran outside to investigate. Mavis quickly pulled on a dressing gown and ran outside to investigate. She only knew Marianne to say hello to in the street, but now the young mother was a sobbing wreck in Frank's arms. It's her little girl, Frank said.

Without hesitating, Mavis ran towards Marianne's home. The front door was wide open. Mavis looked into the first room, but that appeared to be Marianne's bedroom. Along the right side of the house was a long hallway, while a second, all-shaped passageway led from Marianne's room to the home's left side. Mavis hurried down the hallway, looking into each room as she passed. The second bedroom was a guest room that appeared to be empty, but the third was clearly Bonnie's.

Children's clothing and toys lay on the floor. A single bed was pushed up against one wall while a bunk bed sat opposite. On a bedside table was a lamp which was switched on. table was a lamp which was switched on. Lying on her back in the single bed was six-year-old Bonnie Clark. Her arms were straight by her sides and she was naked, with a blue duna bunched around her waist and covering the lower half of her body. Mavis immediately noticed how incredibly pale Bonnie was. She had a bloody wound just below her chest. Hoping she might be able to save the girl via resuscitation, Mavis lifted the back of

Bonnie's neck. Bonnie's skin was ice cold. Next Mavis felt for a heartbeat. She found none. Realizing that Bonnie was dead, Mavis immediately dropped her hands and hurried from the room. Meanwhile, outside on Westbourne Grove, two constables pulled up in their patrol car having responded to Marion Clarke's call. As they pulled up at her

house, they saw Marion standing on the footpath, still being held by Frank Church. Marianne suddenly pulled away from Frank's embrace and kicked out at a small terrier standing nearby. Why didn't you bark? You always bloody bark. Why didn't you bark? She screamed at the dog. The constables rushed to 6-year-old Bonnie's bedroom. It looked like an ordinary children's

bedroom, except for Bonnie lying cold and still in her bed. The Constables were joined a few minutes later by two paramedics who confirmed that Bonnie was deceased. Furthermore, Rigor Mortis had said in, indicating that Bonnie had been dead for some time. She had been digitally raped and suffered injuries to her genitals. There was no semen found at the scene. Compressions to Bonnie's neck pointed to suffocation. A three-centimeter stab wound was visible in her chest, but there was only a small amount of blood around it. Beneath her body, but there was only a small amount of blood around it.

Beneath her body, the mattress was soaked with water. Bonnie's bed was kept pushed up against one wall, and her pillows lay against this wall instead of beneath Bonnie's head. When police pulled the bed away, they found her pajamas stuffed beneath the pillows, between the mattress and the wall. The pyjama top was heavily stained with blood. Bonnie's underpants had been cut, with two slashes made by either a knife or scissors extending from the elastic waistband to the bands where each of Bonnie's legs would go. Given the amount of blood on Bonnie's pyjama top, it seemed strange there was so little around her actual wound. It appeared that after the killer stabbed Bonnie, they had rolled her over onto her stomach, then removed her pajamas and washed her with water, which soaked the mattress.

Faint smearing across Bonnie's torso indicated that her body had been wiped clean. Bonnie's torso indicated that her body had been wiped clean. Frank and Mavis Church ushered Maryam back to their home to comfort her, while the police remained at the Clark residence with Bonnie. At 8.05am, one of the Constables called Northcote Police Station to request detectives from the Crime Investigation Bureau attend the scene, along with crime scene investigators. Almost 15 minutes later, the detectives arrived and took note of the property's layout. A crime scene investigator noted there was no sign of forcible entry. The long, single-fronted weatherboard house had three bedrooms, one after another flanked by two hallways.

After the third bedroom, which was Bonnie's, there was a living room with a couch and a television set. A small coffee table was cluttered with cups and empty bottles, including one beer bottle and one soft drink. At the rear of the house was the kitchen, laundry and bathroom. Another empty beer bottle was found in the laundry. A sliding door in the kitchen led to the back garden where there was an outhouse, a hillshoist washing line with dry clothes hanging from it, two empty beer bottles and a set of tall

double gates that led to a laneway. These were closed and there were no prints or marks on either side to suggest that someone had climbed them. Marion said that neither she nor Bonnie ever went into the laneway or used the back gate at all. She also explained that while the front door was always locked, she never completely closed the rear sliding door. It was always kept slightly a jar so that one of the family's dogs, a small terrier named Troy, could go outside whenever he needed. Troy slept on a couch in the living room, while Bonnie's dog, a poodle Chihuahua cross named Moomi, slept in Bonnie's room on the bunk bed. In the kitchen, a cutlery drawer was slightly open,

prompting investigators to wonder if the killer had used one of the household knives to stab Bonnie. But no weapon matching her injury was recovered. Marion Clark briefly spoke to detectives in her home while Bonnie's body still lay in her bed, before being formally interviewed in the Presbytery of a church that also sat on Westbourne Grove. According to Marion, the previous night had been peaceful. The only hiccup had been that Bonnie didn't want to go to her own bed. She had asked Marion if she could sleep with her instead. Bonnie was afraid of the dark.

For that reason, she always slept with her bedside lamp on and kept the door slightly ajar. Bonnie's pet dog Moomi would also keep her company by curling up on the bunk bed in her room. But this wasn't always enough to calm the little girl. But this wasn't always enough to calm the little girl. Marion had been tired and reluctant to agree to Bonnie's request. The lead-up to Christmas was always a busy time, but this year, Marion's schedule was particularly hectic. She worked as a nurse and was undertaking extra full-time studies with final exams. As a single mother with no partner

to help carry the load, these commitments had left Marian extra keen for a good night's sleep. Pointing out that it was only four more days until Christmas, Marian had encouraged Bonnie to go to her own room, stating, �Sleep in your bed, Santa won't know where to find you. Bonnie agreed, and at 8.30 that night, Marion tucked her in. Marion had gone to bed before 11pm, only getting up once during the night at around 1.30am to go to the toilet. She had checked in on her daughter as she walked by her room.

Bonnie had been awake and asked her mother for a drink, which Marion got her. Both mother and daughter had gone back to sleep straight after. Shortly before 7am, Marion had been woken by the telephone ringing. It was the nursing agency that employed her, asking if she could come in for a shift right away. Marion accepted and immediately began getting ready. As she made her way to the bathroom, she glanced in at Bonnie's room. She saw Bonnie was still asleep in her single bed, her doona pulled over her up to her chin. Marion dressed and made breakfast. By 7.45, there was still no sign of Bonnie stirring,

so Marion went to wake her. As she approached Bonnie's bed, Marion instantly knew that something was wrong. Bonnie was lying completely still, and her face was extremely pale. Marion reached for the bed's doona and lifted it. Underneath, Bonnie lay on her back, her arms beside her. She was naked. Her neck appeared bruised and there was a hole in her chest. Marion said she immediately knew her daughter was dead. Distraught, she phoned the police. Unable to stay in the house where her daughter lay dead for a moment longer, Marion rushed out into the street. As she stood on the footpath outside, she saw her neighbor Frank Church and ran to him for comfort. Marion was adamant that an intruder must have broken into the home in the middle of the

night and killed Bonnie while Marion was sleeping. The case was assigned to lead homicide investigator Detective Senior Sergeant Eric Lilly. Detective Lilly was dubious of Marion's version of events. For starters, according to both Marion and her neighbours, neither of the family's dogs had barked at all during the night. Yet, whenever a stranger came to the house, both dogs were known to bark incessantly. Any intruder also would have had to navigate a very difficult layout to reach Bonnie's room.

With the home's front door closed and locked, it seemed the perpetrator must have entered by the rear sliding door that was always kept slightly open. But hanging at the back entrance to the house was a beaded curtain, which made noise when walked through or pushed aside. Along the hallway that led to Bonnie's room were a number of hanging plants suspended from the ceiling. An intruder fumbling in the dark would have been caught off guard by these, and found it difficult to access Bonnie without waking her mother. Yet, Marion insisted she'd heard nothing. None of the neighbors reported seeing a prowler in the area or hearing anything suspicious either.

Everything was pointing to a perpetrator who knew the home well. The only people who lived in the residence were Marion and Bonnie. Marion said she'd left Bonnie's father, Dennis, due to his alcoholism and occasional violent outbursts. Although this description might have made Dennis sound like a possible suspect, he had a solid alibi for the night of December 20 and was quickly ruled out of the investigation. But there was something about Bonnie's mother that gave Detective Lily pause. Although Bonnie's murder looked to have a sexual component, there was no semen present,

and the assault of Bonnie had been digital. These factors led Detective Lily to suspect that a woman was behind the crime. And the most obvious woman was Marion. Perhaps something had happened which caused Marion's temper to flare. She had snapped and killed Bonnie in an angry rage, then tried to cover up her actions by staging the sexual assault. There were other elements to the crime scene that caused the detective to consider Marion Clark. To investigators, the number of empty beer bottles recovered around the property possibly indicated poor parenting and loose morals.

Detective Lily didn't beat around the bush. During his very first conversation with Marion in her lounge room while Bonnie's body lay dead one room over, he said, You did it, didn't you? Tell us now. We can help you. You did it, didn't you? Tell us now. We can help you." Marion fiercely denied killing her daughter, replying, No, I didn't do it.

I don't understand why you say that, because you don't know me. Detective Lily wasn't dissuaded. The crime scene yielded little physical evidence. Searchers of the house and neighbouring properties by a total of 32 officers failed to uncover the weapon used to stab Bonnie. Nor did detectives find whatever item had been used to wash and wipe down her body after the murder. A white coat with a small blood stain on it was found in a laundry and was initially thought to be important, but this was later ruled out as having nothing to do with the crime. The house and items within it were dusted for fingerprints. Everything came back as belonging to Marion Clark, her daughter Bonnie, and two of Marion's acquaintances who were known to visit the home.

There were no prints to indicate an unidentified offender. As Detective Lily dug deeper into the case, his suspicions against Marion grew stronger. While most who knew her described her as a loving mother, a couple said she could be physically and verbally abusive towards Bonnie. Marianne also had a history of depression. She attributed this to a difficult period of adjustment she'd gone through after moving to Melbourne from country Victoria. However, she had recently made phone calls to her parents' helpline as she was finding single motherhood difficult. To Detective Lily, this hinted at someone who wasn't coping.

He made several requests to interview Marion again, and she always obliged. Each time she spoke to him, he used an increasingly adamant and assertive tone. After interviewing Marion on two more occasions for a total of almost five hours, Detective Lily asked if she would be willing to be hypnotized. He suggested that this might reveal if there was something she was subconsciously hiding

about the night of Bonnie's murder. Marion agreed, but then police were contacted by a solicitor that she had retained. Marion was withdrawing her consent and wouldn't be participating in the hypnotism session after all. This was clear proof to Detective Lilly that Marion was guilty. But without any forensic evidence or a confession from his suspect, there was little more that he could do. In February 1983, two months after Bonnie's murder, a young reporter for the local Northcott leader newspaper approached the suburb homicide squad for a story.

Journalist Ian Munrow was writing an article about several unsolved murders in the area, and one of the cases he wanted to cover was that of Bonnie Clark. Ian spoke with one of the North Cut detectives, but when he raised Bonnie's murder, he was reassured that there was no need to further publicise that case. The police already knew who was responsible. Yet months continued to pass with no breakthroughs. Occasionally names of other possible suspects came up. Detective Lilly interviewed at least one other individual in connection with Bonnie's murder, but this led nowhere and he remained convinced of Marion Clark's guilt. In February 1984, an inquest was held into Bonnie's murder.

Detective Lily gave evidence while Marion Clark was absent. Her lawyer attended in her place. The coroner found that six-year-old Bonnie Clark had been killed by an unknown assailant. No recommendations were made that anyone be charged, and the case continued to languish. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode sponsors. This episode of Case File is sponsored by BetterHelp. We all have many relationships throughout our lives and I'm not just talking about romantic partners. The relationships we have with friends, co-workers, family members, and other members of our community all play a big role in who we are and help shape our day-to-day experiences.

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Meanwhile, Marion Clark was experiencing unimaginable grief. Bonnie's death felt like a nightmare that she kept waiting to wake up from. As well as struggling with the loss of her daughter, Marion was overwhelmed with guilt for not allowing Bonnie to sleep with her that night as she'd requested. One day, Marion was driving somewhere when she was suddenly overcome by the need to pull over. When she did, she burst into tears. From that moment on, the loss of her daughter finally seemed real.

At the same time that she was processing Bonnie's murder, Marion felt as though all lies in Melbourne were on her. Being in crowded spaces and catching public transport became unbearable. It seemed like everyone was staring at her, judging her for being, quote, the worst kind of woman and mother. Sometimes when her phone rang at home, she would hear an unfamiliar voice on the other end, Sometimes when her phone rang at home, she would hear an unfamiliar voice on the other end, strangers calling to abuse her. You did it, just admit it, some of them said. Marion just hung up on them. Every day she half-expected the police to arrest her.

She felt as though Detective Eric Lilly was biased against her purely because she was a single mother. Marion would later tell a reporter from the Sunday Age newspaper, quote, I honestly reckon he hated single mothers. He had a real thing about single mothers. When the detective asked Marion to undergo hypnosis, she instinctively agreed. But she later reneged at her sister Jill's encouragement.

Jill warned Marion that her distress might make her vulnerable to suggestion and advised she retain a lawyer instead. Marion was stunned upon learning that some people were reportedly accusing her of being physically abusive towards Bonnie. She had yelled at her daughter on occasion as a form of discipline, but never hit her. On one occasion, Detective Lily told Marion, Nobody's going to believe you. You're just like Lindy Chamberlain. This was a reference to the mother of baby Azaria Chamberlain who disappeared during a family

camping trip in mid-1980 as covered in episode 136 of Case File. Lindy had been convicted of murdering her daughter just two months before Bonnie was killed, despite asserting her innocence from the start. Years later she would be released and acquitted. At the time, Marion knew that if it was possible for Lindy Chamberlain to be arrested, the same thing could happen to her. Marion dropped out of her university studies. She contemplated suicide. Living with her grief felt impossible.

The only thing that stopped her from taking her own life was the thought of how Detective Lily would interpret such an action. In a 2006 interview with The Sunday Age, Marion said, I thought, no, as soon as you do that, that bastard's going to turn around and say guilt got her, and he was not going to do that to Bonnie. They would have shut the book and I wasn't going to let them do that. She was worth more than that. During the first couple of years after Bonnie's death, Marion kept waiting for the pain to subside. She expected that one day she would wake up and feel normal again. But on the third anniversary of her daughter's murder, Marion realized that was never going

to happen. Quote, I realized that it was never going to go away and I was going to have to live with it, and I better get cracking on this because it was ridiculous. It was time I started to live for me, and by living for me, I would be living for her too. While attending a Catholic retreat, Marian met a man who she later married and changed her name to Marian Wishard. She left Melbourne for a quieter life in Wontagge, a seaside town almost 150 kilometres away. Marianne and her husband went

on to have four children together. Framed pictures of her babies were kept on a dresser in the family's lounge room, and in the middle was a single photo of Bonnie, holding her pet dog, Moomi. Bonnie's father, Dennis Clark, was also grappling with the mystery of what had happened to his daughter. Almost two decades passed with no developments in the case. Over that time, Dennis's health began to decline and he was diagnosed with cancer. Aware that he didn't have long to live, Dennis was desperate to see the case solved before he died. One day in 2001, Dennis was reading the newspaper when he saw an article about Victoria Police's

new cold case squad. He decided to reach out to them directly and phoned Detective Ron Ittles who had been mentioned in the article. The detective paid a visit to Dennis's home and Dennis showed him a photo of his daughter. He explained his need to see the case resolved. Detective Ittle's promised he would take a look at Bonnie's case file. Together with his colleague Tim Day, the detective dug out the original case report and poured over its pages. They also went to the media, which was something their predecessor, Eric Lilly, had refused to do. Not long after Detective Ittle's met with Dennis, he spoke with the Herald Sun newspaper,

and they ran an article about the 1982 cold case. One person who read the article was a woman in her mid-20s named Kylie Ward. 1982 Cold Case One person who read the article was a woman in her mid-20s named Kylie Ward. Kylie had a particular interest in the case. She'd been a friend of Bonnie's and had always wondered what had happened to the little girl she used to play with. She also had her own suspicions about who might have been involved. Throughout 1982, Kylie used to go over to Bonnie's house to play after school.

From January through to September of that year, Bonnie and Marion weren't the only people living there. Struggling to make Anne's meet as a newly single mother, Marion had to let out the third bedroom to a border, a 28-year-old man named Mal. There was something about Mal that made Kylie uncomfortable. She knew he made Bonnie feel the same way. Bonnie had told Kylie that Mal was really creepy. He looked at her a lot, and sometimes he would make Bonnie sit on his knee. Bonnie tried to avoid him as much as possible and Kylie noticed how cautious she seemed in his company. Even though Mal had moved out three months before Bonnie was killed, Kylie had never been able to shake the thought that he might have been the killer. After reading that Victoria Police were reinvestigating the case, Kylie reached out to the authorities

to report what she knew. Case detective Tim Day had been going over and over Bonnie's case file, but when he received Kylie Ward's tip-off, he couldn't remember reading about a border named Mal. After combing through the pages again, he finally came across the name, Mal Clarke, who was no relation to Bonnie Clarke or her family. He was the most recent of several borders who'd resided with Marion and Bonnie, and had left three months before Bonnie's murder. Mal had moved into the house next door for about a month, before leaving for his parents' house in the nearby suburb of Brunswick because he

couldn't afford the rent. It turned out that Kylie wasn't the only one who'd suspected him. Bonnie's mother, Marion, had mentioned him to Detective Eric Lilly immediately after the murder. She noted that he was the one other person who was as familiar with the home as she was. Because he had lived there for nine months, both dogs knew him well and didn't bark at him. Mal knew the layout of the house and the family's routines. Mal had been spoken to by the original investigators. He'd said he had an alibi for the night in question. He'd been working at the cinema where he was employed as an assistant projectionist.

The police in 1982 had ruled him out and gone back to the drawing board. Detective Tim Day decided to search the criminal records branch for any mention of a Mal Clarke. He couldn't find anything. The closest he could find was an offender named Joe Clarke, who had been convicted of two separate violent crimes committed in the years before and after Bonnie's murder. In June of 1980, Theresa Crowe was a 22-year-old who loved to dance. A friendly, outgoing and vivacious young woman, one of her favourite things to do was go to a disco named Chases in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Peran. Theresa became a fixture at Chases, which led to her meeting a wide circle of friends.

She was something of a social butterfly, rushing from one group to the next, and greeting those she knew with a big hug. On the afternoon of Thursday, June 19, 1980, Teresa visited her friend Zena at Zena's workplace, and mentioned that she had an upcoming date at an expensive restaurant. She seemed happy and excited. Zena asked if Teresa would like to come over to her place later that evening. Teresa said she had to drop in at the pizza shop where she worked to see if they needed her that night. If they didn't, she would come over. When Theresa didn't show up that night, Zena assumed she was working. The pair had made plans for the following afternoon, but Theresa failed to show for those, too. Although Zena was upset that her friend had stood her up, she didn't think that anything

was wrong. Several days went by with no word from Teresa. Almost a week later on Wednesday, June 25, Teresa's employer grew concerned when she didn't pick up her wages. Her landlord, Simon, was contacted and decided to go check on her. Teresa rented a small factory loft space just down the street from the chaser's disco she loved to go to. A few days earlier, Simon had left a letter that arrived for Theresa on the ladder that led to her apartment. As he approached the ladder to check on her now, he noticed the ladder was still lying there, untouched.

Simon climbed up to the trapdoor that led to Teresa's loft. He clambered into the apartment, which was a small, cluttered studio space. A few pictures hung from the brick walls. There was a television in one corner and a rack with Teresa's clothing in the other. Hanging from the middle of the room was a love-seat-style couch suspended from the ceiling with ropes, and lying on the floor next to the couch was what looked like a mannequin, tightly swaddled in a white blanket. Simon approached the mannequin and lifted a corner of fabric that was covering its head. To his shock, the face underneath was real. Look, the face underneath was real. Police were summoned. After photographing the scene, they carefully unwrapped Theresa Crow from the blanket.

Underneath, she was completely naked with her arms folded across her chest. Whoever had killed her had carefully posed her before wrapping her like a mummy. There was a horseshoe-shaped cut to her left cheek, bruises to her neck, and a number of other small grazes, bite marks, and abrasions on her body. Most notable was a long dark incision that stretched from her throat to her groin. It cut through all of Teresa's layers of skin. It cut through all of Teresa's layers of skin. Judging from the lack of blood, this cut had been made post-mortem. An autopsy would indicate that the cause of death was asphyxiation.

It was difficult for investigators to determine when exactly Teresa had been murdered. Her body showed very few signs of decomposition, even though she hadn't been seen for almost a week. However, the cold winter weather could have played a role in preserving her remains. There were some indications that Theresa had been attacked at night, just as she was readying for bed. Her face was clean of makeup, and the contact lenses she wore during the day were found in a container on a dresser. A nightie was lying on the floor near the swinging couch. Some cushions on the couch were crumpled as though someone had been lying on them.

There was also a semen stain. Investigators came up with a theory based on this evidence. One evening, shortly after Teresa was last seen, she was at home either in bed or preparing to sleep when someone showed up unexpectedly at her apartment. Teresa let the visitor in. He subsequently attacked and sexually assaulted her. Police believed the perpetrator had struck Teresa in the face with a solid object, causing the horseshoe-shaped cut to her face, then removed her nity.

He then pinned Teresa face down on the swinging couch. During the struggle, the attacker bit Teresa's back and she sustained several other bruises and grazes. Teresa's throat was also pressed tightly against one of the couch's wooden arm rests, which ultimately caused her to asphyxiate. After Teresa died, her killer cut down the middle of her body for reasons unknown, then carefully wrapped her in a blanket. The bizarre mutilation and posing of Teresa's body prompted detectives to look into

whether the killing could be a cult related. No evidence was found that confirmed this. Several hundred individuals were interviewed by investigators, and they looked into Teresa's personal relationships and social circles carefully. They couldn't find anything that pointed to a particular suspect. The case gradually went cold. More than three years later, on Friday, August 26, 1983, 25-year-old Jane, not her real name, was suddenly woken in the middle of the night in her Brunswick home. She had heard a creaking sound just outside of her bedroom. It was the floorboards. It sounded as though someone was crawling along their hallway on their hands and knees. Jane was scared. Her

husband was working the night shift at his job and the noise was too heavy to be the couple's five-year-old daughter who was asleep in her room. Jane reached for the rotary phone by her bed. As she picked up the receiver and began to dial for the police, she suddenly felt a huge weight as a large, heavy-set man pounced on top of her. He was holding a knife which he stabbed into one of Jane's legs, causing a significant injury. Then he let go of the knife and wrapped a hand around her throat. He used his other hand to smother Jane's mouth, preventing her from screaming. Desperately fighting back, Jane bit down hard on the man's thumb. Let my thumb go, he demanded. Jane ignored him, so he squeezed her throat.

This prompted Jane to stop biting. Feeling more confident, the man warned her not to make any wrong moves, or he would kill her. The man pulled Jane down to lie on the floor with him and began to talk. He said he'd just escaped from prison and that three of his friends were waiting outside her home for him. The man told Jane that he'd cut off another woman's breasts. Then he demanded she remove her niety. Jane didn't understand his request, as she had been sleeping naked and had nothing on. The man began to sexually assault her.

As he did so, Jane heard her daughter calling out to her. Perhaps woken by the commotion, the little girl had come to her mother's bedroom and was leaning over the bed, looking at her mother and her attacker lying on the floor. Hoping it was too dark for her daughter to make out the man's features, Jane explained that she and daddy were just playing a game and told her to go back to bed. After the little girl left, the man grabbed a Jane's throat and said, How easy I could kill you. I could cut you up like the other girl.

Terrified of what the man might do, Jane replied, I'll do anything you want, but please don't hurt my daughter. Over three hours, the man raped Jane repeatedly at Knife Point while telling her in detail about other violent sexual assaults he'd committed. He also bit her repeatedly. Jane tried to memorize details about the man so she could report them later. It was too dark for her to see him, but she felt the texture of his hair. It was coarse and sandy.

The man finally left just before 6.30, the time Jane's husband always returned from his night shift. But first he cleaned up the scene, removing evidence of his presence. Before departing, he told Jane, If you have a baby, I don't want you to get rid of it. Jane reported the assault to the police, providing a statement with an immense amount of details. A few days later, two Brunswick detectives began door knocking the neighborhood to see if anyone had seen or heard anything on the night in question. Next door to Jane's home was a block of flats, some of which overlooked her house.

Detectives Mark Harris and Wayne McDonald meticulously made their way through the building, eventually knocking on the door of one second floor apartment. It was answered by a tall, heavyset man in his late twenties with distinctive, wiry hair. Both detectives immediately noted that the man's hair and build were remarkably similar to what Jane had described. As they explained why they were there and began to ask if he'd noticed anything suspicious, there was something strange about the man's demeanor that also gave them both paws. He also had an injury to one thumb, consistent with a bite.

The detectives left and returned with a search warrant. Once inside the man's home, they noted that his lounge room window had a clear view of Jane's backyard. A washing basket full of dirty clothes contained several blood-soaked garments. The blood would prove to be Jane's. And then, while flipping through an old diary from the year 1980, the detectives found something else. Several newspaper clippings about a murder that had been committed that same year, the murder of Teresa Crowe. The man's name was Joe Clark.

He was arrested and taken to the local police station where he agreed to a medical examination. Following the examination, Clark abruptly told Detective Mark Harris that he had something to tell him. He announced, quote, you were right, it was me. I went next door and had sex with the woman. Clark confessed that he'd been fantasizing about Jane for some time and had been watching her from his flat. He said he was frustrated because, quote, I have never been able to get sex from any woman voluntarily. Seek of paying to see sex workers, he decided to attack Jane at a time when he knew her

husband wouldn't be home. He'd lied to her about being a prison escapee with friends waiting outside, hoping to both scare and trick her. Clark made a full confession about the rape, confirming the same details Jane had provided. The homicide detectives who'd been working on Teresa Crowe's case three years earlier were notified about the arrest. Clark had told Jane that he had cut up a previous victim. This detail, combined with the clippings about Teresa's murder found in his home, was the best lead that the cold case had ever had. When detectives from the Crow case arrived to interview Joe Clark, he made another prompt confession.

Clark had met Theresa Crowe in 1975 when he was 21 and she was 17. The pair were introduced by a mutual friend and Clark was instantly obsessed. He began stalking Theresa at the discos she was known to frequent. Clark's fixation with Theresa grew over the next five years, culminating on the night of Thursday, June 19, 1980, when he saw her at Chase's nightclub and proposed that they get married. Teresa, who didn't know Clark well, had laughed at his suggestion, then given him an annoyed look. She left the nightclub shortly after, and Clark followed her home. Clark told the detectives that he climbed the ladder that led to her

loft apartment and knocked on the trap door entrance. Theresa had answered the door in a nighty and let him inside. It wasn't the first time he'd been there. Once Teresa had let him sleep on her couch when he was too drunk to go home. Clark claimed he made them both a coffee, and that when he carried Teresa's drink over to her, she removed her nightie. Then she lay face down on the swinging couch suspended from the ceiling, and he lay on top of her, still fully dressed. Clark said he bit Theresa's back as part of a consensual sexual encounter. As he held her arms, she started to struggle.

Clark wanted to have sex with Theresa, but she refused, so instead he masturbated while lying on top of her before falling into a deep sleep. When he woke, still lying on Teresa, she was still and wasn't breathing. Panicked, Clark moved her to the floor and tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. When this didn't work, he used a sharp piece of metal to mutilate Teresa's body in an attempt to throw police off, making the accidental death look like an occult sacrifice instead. Then he cleaned the apartment, locked the door behind him, and threw the key down a drain. The detectives didn't buy Joe Clark's story for a second. They believed he'd attacked Teresa like he'd attacked Jane, removing her knighty himself,

then sexually assaulting her after forcing her face down onto the couch. With his hand holding her head down against the arm of the couch, he'd cut off her air supply, killing her. Joe Clark was subsequently convicted of Theresa Crowe's manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years, the longest manslaughter sentence ever imposed in the state of Victoria at that time. Clark later appealed the severity of his sentence and it was reduced to nine years with a minimum of seven. For raping Jane, he was given an additional four years.

Almost two decades later in 2001, Detective Tim Day was reading about Joe Clark's crimes while looking into the cold case murder of six-year-old Bonnie Clark. He'd gone looking for records of someone named Mal Clarke, who'd been named by a friend of Bonnie's as a possible suspect. According to Bonnie's childhood friend, Kylie Ward, Mal Clarke had been a border who had lived with Bonnie and her mother. His behaviour had been creepy, and Bonnie had told Kylie that she didn't like him. As Detective Day examined Joe Clarke's file, one detail stood out to him.

His occupation at the time of his arrest in 1983 was listed as an assistant projectionist at a Greater Union Cinema. Mal Clarke had also been an assistant projectionist at the same cinema. Some further digging revealed Joe Clark's full name, Malcolm Joseph Thomas Clark. He was the same person as the border who'd rented a spare room from Marion Clark, just going by a different name. Bonnie had been killed in December of 1982. This was two and a half years after the murder of Theresa Crow and eight months before the rape of Jane that led to his arrest. There was something else. In 1983,

when detectives investigating Jane's rape had searched Malcolm Clark's home, they'd found some children's socks and underwear purchased from a budget store and a greeting card addressed to Bonnie Clark. Just as they'd informed investigators working the Teresa Crow case about the clippings relating to her murder, the Brunswick detectives had notified the Northcote investigators about the possible connection to Bonnie Clark. At that time, Detective Eric Lilly was still in charge of Bonnie's case. He'd briefly spoken to Malcolm Clark shortly after Bonnie's murder, but had ruled him out as a suspect, convinced from the start that Bonnie's mother Marion was the killer. After hearing from his Brunswick colleagues, he agreed to meet with Clark again.

Clark explained away the greeting card as something he'd written for Bonnie while she was still alive, but never got around to sending. And Marianne Clark couldn't say with any certainty that the children's underwear found in his home had belonged to Bonnie. Detective Lily told his colleagues in Brunswick that Bonnie's murder didn't fit the MO of the offensives Malcolm Clark was convicted of, and said they remained certain that Marion Clark was the culprit. But in 2001, cold case detective Tim Day was struck by the similarities between all three

crimes. All involved some kind of sexual assault. All of the victims had been attacked with a knife, and all of the crime scenes had been cleaned. Every one of the victims was known to Malcolm Clark in some respect, and he was familiar with their homes and routines. On the day of Bonnie's murder, Marion had actually told detectives about Malcolm Clarke, insisting that they speak to him. Investigators had tracked Clarke down,

but ruled him out after he provided an alibi that had been at the cinema working. Detective Tim Day couldn't find anything indicating the original investigators had verified this alibi. Almost 20 years later, Detective Day wondered if he could finally do so. It took some time, but the detective managed to track down shift records for greater Union cinemas in 1982. These confirmed that Malcolm Clark had been employed by one of the company's movie theaters in December of 1982. He worked a shift there from 9.25 am until 4.25 pm on Monday, December 20, 1982, finishing well before Bonnie Clarke was attacked later that night.

Malcolm Clarke had the following day off and hadn't returned to work until Wednesday, December 22. His alibi for the time of Bonnie's murder was invalid. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, case file to continue to deliver quality content. By early 2002, Malcolm Joseph Thomas Clark was a free man. Now 47 years old, he'd received parole eight years earlier in 1994 and had built a new life for himself post prison sentence. He was working as a personal care attendant, had gotten engaged to a girlfriend, and spent

his spare time exploring his passions and hobbies. Clark was a train enthusiast and had a particular interest in Puffing Billy, a narrow gauge heritage railway that winds through the foothills of Victoria's Dandenong Ranges. It opened in 1900 and is one of the most popular steam heritage railways in the world today. Beginning in the town of Belgrave and terminating in Jambruk, Puffing Billy attracts families and tourists from Australia and all over the world. Malcolm Clark was also drawn

to the steam train, and in the year 2000 he took up a position as one of Puffing Billy's volunteer guards. He received no money for the role, but didn't mind. Being a part of the iconic railway was payment enough. One day in March 2002, Malcolm Clark was at Puffing Billy's starting point of Belgrave Train Station when he struck up a conversation with a fellow train enthusiast there. Phil was a tough-looking character who looked like an aging bikey, but he was as passionate about Puffing Billy as Clark was. The two men hit it off and over the next couple of months they built a friendship. It soon became evident that Phil was part of a gang that was involved in organized crime. Gradually Clark began to join Phil in some

of his illegal ventures, accompanying him when he burgred a factory, going to brothels with him to collect large amounts of cash, and secretly snapping photographs of a woman engaging in an adulterous affair. On Friday, May 17, 2002, Phil took Clark to a hotel lounge where a number of his criminal associates were gathered. He pointed these individuals out to Clark and provided descriptions of them. One was a corrupt police officer. Another was Steve, the head honcho who Phil had to answer to, known as the boss. Phil confided in Clark that Steve was scoping Clark out for a big job that was in the works.

A couple of weeks later, Phil took Clark on a different errand that involved meeting up with the corrupt officer out the back of Victoria Police's headquarters in St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Despite having seemingly gone on the straight and narrow since his release from prison, Malcolm Clark appeared to enjoy his new proximity to organized crime. After assisting Phil with robbing some jewelry, Clark was told he'd receive $8,000 in payment. This was in stark contrast to what he made in his job as a personal care attendant,

which had been one of the only positions available to him. With a wedding and a honeymoon to plan, Clark was appreciative of what the extra cash could pay for. On Sunday June 2, an article was published in the Herald Sun newspaper about the cold case murder of Bonnie Clark, its headline read, DNA evidence could hold the key to solving a 20-year-old child sex murder case. Malcolm Clarke read the article. It was a follow-up to a story about the case that had run the previous year and it featured

brand new information. According to Homicide Squad Detective Ron Ittles, investigators were now pursuing a line of inquiry that indicated Bonnie's killer may have been a border who resided with the family. They were aware of around 12 to 14 people who had rented rooms in the house prior to Bonnie's murder and planned to interview all of them. Thanks to recent breakthroughs in DNA technology, they were hopeful of identifying the perpetrator through some hair samples, cigarette butts, and fingernail scrapings that had been saved from the crime scene. The following evening, Malcolm Clark returned home to find a calling card had been left at

his residence. It belonged to Detective Ittles. He'd paid a visit while Clark was at work and left a message with his fiancee, Lynn. He wanted Clark to come down to the station for DNA and polygraph testing. This news sent Clark into a panic. He phoned his friend Phil right away. After telling Phil about the situation, Clark assured him, I can tell you I had nothing to do with it." Phil didn't seem fazed by the revelation that his new friend might be a suspect in a child

murder case. He told Clark, quote, If you have done it, I don't give a rat's ass, but we have got to know the full story so we can put wheels into motion. What's the polygraph going to say? Have you got anything to hide?" Clark insisted that he didn't. If you have, we can make it go away," Phil added.

Clark continued to deny any involvement in the crime, but Phil was persistent. He told Clark that he could help him get rid of the issue due to his connections in Victoria Police, but only if Clark was completely honest. I have just got my life worked out, getting my interests back, Clark complained. I never expected this to turn up. You have got no idea how I am feeling at the moment." The following day, Clark opened up to Phil some more about how he'd been a border in Bonnie Clark's home and had stayed in touch with the little girl, even after moving out. When he'd briefly rented a room in the house next door to Bonnie, he'd sometimes chat to her mother Marion over the fence. Clark claimed that sometimes Bonnie would be home alone,

which made her scared. On those occasions, he invited her in and she would sit in a beanbag and watch television for a while before heading back home upon Marion's return. Clark said he hadn't seen Bonnie after he moved back in with his parents in October of 1982. after he moved back in with his parents in October of 1982. Two months later, on December 21, he'd been at home watching the news when he saw a broadcast about Bonnie's murder the night before. That was the first he knew of Bonnie being harmed. Phil said that if Clark was now a suspect, then he wanted to help him. He cared about Clark and enjoyed working with him, but the

problem was, Word had already gotten back to Steve, the boss, that Clark might be in trouble. Steve needed this matter resolved, and in order for that to happen, Phil needed all of the information so he could help Clark beat a police polygraph test. If Clark wasn't being completely honest about the situation, Steve would abandon him without a second thought, and Clark wouldn't receive the $8,000 from the jury heist that was still being held for him. A couple of days later, Phil took Malcolm Clark to meet with Steve for an official job interview at a hotel in Crown Casino in Melbourne,

CBD. The pair went into a private suite where Steve and another associate were waiting for them. Clark sat down on a couch in front of a low coffee table while Steve sat opposite. Steve greeted Clark and Phil, then quickly got down to business. He was eager to have Clark join them, but only if he could trust him a hundred percent. Being part of their gang would be highly lucrative for Clark. He could quit his low-paying job and earn enough money to buy his own train if he wanted. The only problem was that homicide investigators were now looking at Clark as the number one suspect in the 1982 murder of a six-year-old girl. Steve told Clark that he couldn't have any more police heat on him if he tried, stating,

You, at the moment, are fucking red hot, right? He produced a document for Clark to look at. It was a three-page confidential police report, stamped with the Victoria Police seal, and dated May 15, 2002, less than one month earlier. Clark scanned the document's pages. They detailed the latest status of the Bonnie Clark investigation and how it seemed police finally had the suspect's DNA via some items recovered at the crime scene. Now they just needed a sample of Clark's DNA to compare.

Steve told Clark that detectives could force him to provide a sample via a court order, but Steve's corrupt police connections could make the matter go away entirely. It would cost $5,000, which Steve was willing to pay, but only if Clark told him everything. I am telling you, this is not going to go away, Steve said. You can deny it till the cows come home. I can't have you hanging around with us. You can see why, can't you?" Yes, Clark replied. He was silent for a long time, then he finally began to speak. Fuckin' hell, it was an accident she died.

Malcolm Clark told Steve that late on the night of Monday, December 20, 1982, he had been out drinking at a pub in Brunswick. For some reason, he had drunkenly decided to go to the home of Marion Clark to, quote, play with Bonnie. He left the pub and either walked to Marion's house in Northcote or caught a tram there. Very familiar with the area, he walked down the laneway that sat at the rear of the property and clambered over the fence into the backyard. Clark entered via the house's rear sliding door and headed up the passageway to Bonnie's

bedroom. Her bedside lamp was on and her small pet dog was sleeping on the top bunk across from Bonnie's single bed. Clark walked over to where Bonnie lay sleeping and began to sexually assault her. She woke and opened her mouth to scream, but Clark grabbed a pillow and pressed it over her face. He used his other arm to pin her down. Bonnie raised a hand in protest, but eventually her arm went limp and fell back down. This caused Clark to panic. He claimed he hadn't wanted to kill Bonnie, he just wanted to keep her quiet. Clark happened to have a small carving knife which he said he carried for protection due

to issues with some local youths. He told Steve that when Bonnie went still, he impulsively stabbed her. Quote, I think I may have had the knife and I may have… I think I may have just shoved it into… into the side of her chest wall. When the wound didn't spurt blood upwards, Clark believed this confirmed Bonnie was already dead when he stabbed her. Clark claimed he had an undressed Bonnie, but he had cleaned up with a cloth or towel which he took with him afterwards. Then he pulled her bedding up over her body up to her chin before fleeing out the back. In all, he estimated he had only been in the house for about 10 to 15 minutes. He washed his clothes the next day and eventually threw away

his shoes, but couldn't remember what he did with a knife. It had a sheath that he was worried he may have left behind. Perhaps the DNA had come from that, Clark speculated, or maybe from his saliva. He knew that no semen was left at the scene. Prior to the DNA revelation, Clark had been confident that he'd never be suspected, as he had never done anything to Bonnie prior to that night. After listening to Malcolm Clarke's confession, Steve said he had to make some phone calls and that Phil would take Clarke to go get a coffee in the meantime. Clarke and Phil got back into Phil's car. As they drove, Phil told Clarke that he had to collect something from the corrupt police

officer they knew. He began heading towards the police headquarters in St Kilda Road, driving to the rear of the building as he'd done previously. Already standing there waiting to arrest Malcolm Clark were detectives Tim Day and Ron Ittle's. After Detective Day's digging the previous year left him convinced that Malcolm Clark was the prime suspect in Bonnie Clark's murder, he began to push for an undercover operation. The Canadian model, or Mr Big, was the name given to a practice in which undercover detectives

trick suspects into confessing to their crimes by recruiting them into fake gangs. The procedure was originally developed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, during the 1960s, and it eventually made its way to law enforcement agencies in other countries, including Australia. The Canadian model was employed in the case of missing Queensland child Daniel Morkham, covered in episode 54 of Case File. It's a controversial practice that has come under scrutiny at times, but has been upheld by the Australian courts. When Detective Tim Day needed a confession from Malcolm Clark to solve the Bonnie Clark

case, the Canadian model appeared to be the ideal approach. A strategy was devised and dubbed Operation Marauder. As part of Operation Marauder, an undercover officer approached Clark as Phil, and the operation unfolded from there. For months, officers had been working their way into Clark's life, building trust with him and recording their interactions. The Herald Sun News article about a DNA breakthrough was planted to Spook Clark, and Phil had deliberately brought it to his attention. In truth, no DNA was able to be gleaned from the crime scene at all. The Victoria Police case progress report that Steve showed him was fake and similarly

designed to scare Clark. His ultimate confession had been filmed via covert cameras and microphones set up throughout the hotel room. Once Clark was done, the officer posing as Phil drove Malcolm Clark to Victoria Police headquarters to be arrested. At 7.45pm on Thursday June 6, 2002, Detective Tim Day began recording a formal interview with Malcolm Clark. Faced with his confession to the fictitious crime gang, he finally ditched his false alibi. He gave a detailed description of Bonnie's murder as he recalled it, including her bedroom, adding that he had been drunk as a skunk. He admitted to digitally raping the six-year-old, smothering her and stabbing her. Clark insisted it had never

been his intention to kill Bonnie. Quote, God knows why I went round to that place, and whatever happened, it happened, and when I came to my senses, I realized that Bonnie was deceased. Malcolm Clark was subsequently charged with the murder of Bonnie Clark, and taken away to be held on remand. By the time Malcolm Clark's trial began in Victoria's Supreme Court two years later, he had reneged his confessions and was pleading not guilty. The now 49-year-old Clark claimed that he'd only confessed to killing Bonnie because he believed that was the only way he was going to get hired by the organized crime gang.

When the undercover officer he knew as Phil took him to police headquarters and he was arrested and interviewed there, Clark thought this was an extension of his hotel room confession. His lawyer argued that Clark had believed detectives Ron Ittle's and Tim Day were corrupt officers on the gang's payroll. Not appreciating the reality of the situation, he kept up the charade instead of requesting a lawyer and maintaining his right to silence. To support their argument that Clark had made a false confession, his defence pointed to some discrepancies between his statement and the crime scene. Clark had claimed he'd left Bonnie fully dressed in her pajamas, but she was found naked

with her pajamas wedged between her bed and the wall. Clark said he'd smothered Bonnie, yet there were bruises on her neck that indicated strangulation, or that she'd been grabbed roughly. The defense argued that Clark was able to provide some correct details due to his familiarity with the victim's house and reports he'd heard in the news.

However, the prosecution pointed to details that were withheld from the media that Clark had correctly described. These included the fact that Bonnie was digitally raped, the lack of semen at the scene, the stab wound to Bonnie's chest, and the specific way it had bled. At least one media report which Clark claimed to have read had actually stated that Bonnie was killed by strangulation. However, Bonnie's autopsy was more consistent with Clark's claim that she was smothered and didn't struggle. consistent with Clark's claim that she was smothered and didn't struggle. Under cross-examination, Clark amended his story somewhat, claiming the information he decided had actually come from conversations he'd had with detectives 20 years earlier,

while incarcerated for his previous crimes. He named the case's original lead investigator, Detective Eric Lilly, as one of these detectives, and said there were others he didn't want to name. Detective Lilly did briefly speak to Clark following his 1983 arrest, but no report of this interview was made, and Clark wasn't asked to provide a formal statement. The prosecution suggested that any discrepancies between Clarke's confession and the crime scene were down to Clarke forgetting some details due to the passage of time. He's claimed that he'd believed he was still talking to gang members was impossible due to

the detectives explaining that they were from the Homicide Squad and cautioning him before commencing their interview. The jury of nine men and three women weren't told about Malcolm Clark's previous convictions for manslaughter and rape. They heard nothing about his prior victims or the similarities between their cases and Bonnie's. On Thursday, June 17, 2004, the jury delivered their verdict. On Thursday, June 17, 2004, the jury delivered their verdict. Guilty. Malcolm Clarke was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years. After learning his fate, Clarke turned around to look at the public gallery. He found Detective Tim Day and one of his undercover officers amongst the crowd and glared at them

with an enraged expression, mouthing silent threats. They stared straight back at him in reply. Two months after Malcolm Clark was sentenced, Bonnie Clark's father, Dennis, passed away. He had been battling cancer for years but lived long enough to finally see justice for his daughter. At the time of Clark's conviction, Dennis told one reporter, quote, It's the best news I have ever had. After 21 years, I am so glad. I just think I'll get on with my life a lot better and not look at everyone and say, this isn't the person. Now I know."

For Bonnie's mother, Marion Wishart, Clark's conviction was particularly gratifying. As well as knowing her child's killer was finally being held accountable, Marion was freed from the suspicion that dogtoe ever since the original investigators set their sights on her. In the years prior to the cold case team taking up Bonnie's case, police officers had occasionally called Marion to check in. But it had never felt like they were following up with the victim of a crime. It felt like they were sending a subtle message that she was still their top suspect. During the 20 years following Bonnie's murder, Marion had often woken in the middle of the night, haunted by the thought

that Bonnie's killer was free to harm others. Her fears were confirmed upon finally learning who the murderer was. Marion was distraught that the lack of police attention on Clark had allowed him to brutally rape at least one other woman in 1983. She had tried to tell investigators that Malcolm Clark could be a suspect immediately after Bonnie's body was found, but she hadn't been listened to. immediately after Bonnie's body was found, but she hadn't been listened to. Marion Wishart passed away in 2018 from pneumonia. Before her death, Marion spoke with journalist Ian Munro, who is now working for the Sunday Age. During the interview, Marion reminisced about her daughter.

Describing Bonnie as a very strong-willed, funny little girl, Marion reminisced about her daughter. Describing Bonnie as a very strong-willed, funny little girl, Marion said one of her favorite memories of how attached Bonnie was to an imaginary friend she'd named Chitty. On one occasion, the mother and daughter were on a tram when Bonnie suddenly panicked because Chitty hadn't boarded with them. To soothe her daughter, Marion asked the driver to stop, then pretended to fetch Chitty from't bordered with them. To soothe her daughter, Marion asked the driver to stop, then pretended to fetch Chitty from the street outside. All of the other passengers had a laughed as Marion put Chitty down beside Bonnie. Reflecting on the daughter she'd lost, Marion stated, she's there all the time. There really isn't a time when Bonnie's not with me. you