Casefile True Crime - Case 65: Allison Baden-Clay

Episode Date: November 4, 2017

When Brisbane based real estate agent Gerard Baden-Clay woke up at 6 AM on the morning of April 20 2012, there was no sign of his wife, Allison. This wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, as Allison sometimes went for early morning walks around their Brisbane neighbourhood. She was always home in time to get the couple’s three daughters ready for school, but when 7:15 rolled around, there was still no sign of her. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Anna Priestland For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-65-allison-baden-clay

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, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Scout's Law A scout is to be trusted. A scout is loyal. A scout is friendly and considerate.

A scout belongs to the worldwide family of scouts. A scout has courage in all difficulties. A scout makes good use of time and is careful of possessions and property. A scout has self-respect and respect for others. That's motto, be prepared. In April 1823, the first known Europeans set their eyes on the Brisbane River. They were four ticket-of-leave convicts, those who had been granted freedom to live and work outside of convict settlements.

They came across the rich and fertile Brisbane River by mistake. The four men had attempted to sail south from Sydney before being caught in a severe storm. And instead of sailing south, they drifted north to Brisbane. They spent 21 days at sea delirious and confused, believing they were drifting south, when in fact they travelled 1000km north along the east coast of Australia into Morton Bay, ending up at the mouth of the Brisbane River. When they arrived, one of the four men was dead. The river was spiritually significant and provided endless fish for the local indigenous

people of the tourable nation living along its banks. They were the original owners and custodians of the area that is presently known as Brisbane. When Captain James Cook and three other navigators visited the area around Morton Bay in the later part of the 1700s, not one of them managed to locate the Brisbane River. It was hidden behind the islands inside Morton Bay, out of sight. One of those navigators, Matthew Flinders, actually spent 15 days looking for the river mouth and still didn't find it. But the convicts did.

At almost 350km long, the river is extensively vegetated with hundreds of different species of native plants and trees. Many parts of the river are so dense with scrub and trees that the banks are impenetrable on foot. Other areas are more open with rainforest, Queensland blue gums and wattles. As the river snakes its way through Brisbane all the way to Ipswich, there are many dense areas along its banks that days or even weeks can pass and no one sets foot there. There are plenty of places you can go unnoticed, people passing within a few feet of you,

without knowing you were there. Alison Baden Clay was born Alison Dickey in 1968. She grew up 40km east of Brisbane in the city of Ipswich. Originally intended to be Queensland's capital city, Ipswich is sandwiched between the coastal capital and the rural and agricultural inland areas. There was originally a hub for limestone and coal mining and spawned a strong working class culture. Today, it still has huge historical buildings with over 6000 heritage listed sites.

Alison's parents, Jeff, a firefighter and Priscilla, a school librarian, were born and bred in the area. The family were firmly cemented in the strong hard working community. Alison had an older sister and a younger brother. Alison was a keen and accomplished ballerina and at just 10 years of age, she was dancing with the Australian Youth Ballet Company. She was a reserved and sensitive child who gathered all her strength and confidence and put it into her stage performances around the country.

At age 12, she travelled to the UK to dance. She was determined but she had a shy and reserved side and often felt extremely anxious about being good enough to succeed. Alison got her determination from her mother and her softly spoken nature from her father. The tight-knit family did well at rallying around in a crisis and supporting each other. This was obvious when at age 15, Alison was dropped from the ballet school and the life she thought she was set for wasn't to be. She was stoic and strong on the outside but she was devastated.

She had a strong family to support her and she was close to her school friends so she got through it. Alison had been given a taste of travelling as a teen so it was no surprise she spent her early adult years travelling and working in Europe with a year teaching English in Japan. Alison was independent, she was laid back and she was always happy. By age 22, Alison had an arts degree with a major in psychology. She knew six languages to varying degrees and was accomplished in Japanese after having lived there for a year.

She fell in love and got engaged to a young man she met on Heron Island in Queensland. They moved back to Ipswich together and bought a house. In 1993, at age 25, Alison entered the Miss Brisbane pageant. She missed the limelight of her ballet years and thought it would be fun to try out. She came in first and then went on to Miss Queensland. She didn't win but she enjoyed the experience while it lasted. As her stage dreams fizzled out again, so did her engagement. There were no hard feelings but it just didn't feel right.

Alison began working at Flight Centre Travel Agency in Ipswich and moved swiftly up the ranks. By the mid-90s, she was the Queensland Human Resource Manager at their central office in Brisbane. The office was big, taking up more than one floor and it was a social office. Workmates often went out for lunch together and for drinks on a Friday night. There was a young man who also worked there. He was the team manager for Flight Centre's 24-hour call centre. He was charming and polite and oozed the confidence that Alison was drawn to.

His name was Jared Baden Clay. After attempting to set her up with a colleague, Jared realised it was he who wanted to date Alison and it wasn't long before he swept her off her feet. Jared treated her like a princess and just like her younger days, Alison felt on top of the world. But Alison's family and friends hadn't warmed to Jared like she had. They found him arrogant and cocky and it seemed like he thought he was a little too good for them.

Some of her close friends questioned the relationship. They didn't like Jared at all. Even as a grown adult, he seemed to ask his parents for their advice on everything. He only really made decisions based on their approval and opinions and still called them Mummy and Daddy, even in public. There were just things that didn't sit right. Alison argued that it was just motivated and driven, possibly that came off as arrogant and uninterested, but she assured them he was the real deal.

She was smitten and they were happy for her. Jared Baden Clay was born in England in 1970. He lived his early years in Zimbabwe, then moved to Australia with his brother, sister and parents when he was 10 years old. His great-grandfather, Lord Baden Powell, founded the Scouts. It was a badge of honour for the hundreds of family members who forked off every branch of the Baden Powell family tree. Jared and his family grew up proud of their scouting heritage and talked about their legacy

at every chance. The World Scout Bureau estimates that there are 28 million members of the Scouting Association worldwide. Having a great-grandfather at the forefront of the organisation led to great expectations for members of the family. While living in Zimbabwe, they used the surname Clay, but when the family arrived in Australia, they added Baden, likely as a nod to their famous ancestor, and so became the Baden Clays. Jared grew up in a world where Scouts honour wasn't just something he pledged at gatherings

and camps. It was a way of life. He and his family lived by the motto, be prepared. It was no surprise to the Baden Clays that their son had met and fallen in love with Alison, such a bright and successful woman. Jared's father Nigel advised him on how to propose and when and where to do it. They were a family who carefully mapped everything out and followed through with each and every plan.

Where Alison was more free and easy, Jared was a planner. He was more content if he knew what was ahead of him. The Baden Clays were close, so close that Jared married Alison on his parents' wedding anniversary in 1997. After they were married, they worked overseas where Jared attempted to push his career into higher management jobs, but it never worked out. When he lacked in success, he made up for a tenfold in ambition. He hit constant stumbling blocks on his road to business prowess, and in the end, it became

obvious that he wasn't going to make it in Europe like he thought. When he and Alison decided to return to Australia, he went back to work at Flight Centre. He was placed in a team focusing on jump-starting the company's online business. It was the new millennium, and businesses, even large ones like Flight Centre, were only really testing the waters in the world of online sales. When the department failed, Jared was laid off, and he sued them for breach of contract. His lawsuit didn't go anywhere. In mid-2001, Alison and Jared had their first child.

Throughout this pregnancy, and to the next two that soon followed, Alison found she was suffering from depression. She'd always been anxious, even when she was young, and she had really dark times in her late teenage years after being dumped from the ballet, but this was different. She recognised something was really wrong. The doctor she saw was quick to notice that a few years earlier, when the couple had been travelling, Alison had taken anti-malarial medication that had been found later to cause hallucinations, nightmares, anxiety, depression, and even psychosis.

These effects were thought to linger in the body, and there was a chance that this medication had been a trigger for her depression. With the help of her doctor, she managed to get her depression well under control. While Alison was content being the gentle mother, having put her career on hold to raise their three daughters, Jared was determined to make money, and in 2003 he became a registered real estate sale agent. He encouraged his father to join him, and when he landed a partnership at a real estate agency in Turinga in Western Brisbane, he insisted that both of his parents be part of

the team too. It was a package deal. Less than a year later, Jared started up his own agency, a franchise of a different company, right next door to his current employers. Alison continued to stay home with the kids while Jared tried to make it as a real estate agent. He saw himself as a high flyer of the industry. He was seen by others as being overly confident and almost cocky, but some found him charming.

Real estate agent Peter Newing said that Jared had a lot of self-importance. He promoted himself wherever he went. His plans were big. By 2006, the Baden-Clase had moved into a rental property in Brookfield, on the western fringes of Brisbane. Brookfield is a wealthy, fairly rural area. It's known for its large homes with tennis courts and pools, but it's not overly showy. It's got money, but the people are casual about it.

For a young family with business-minded parents, it was a desirable place to live. Although Jared and Alison couldn't afford to buy a home, they found a cheap family rental. What it meant for Jared was that he was living amongst those who wished to emulate. In the years between 2006 and 2012, Jared's desire to be somebody continued to grow. He had three partners in his real estate business, which had both rental and sales divisions. Alison was doing well. Her anxiety and depression was well looked after, but with three young children and a husband who spent every waking moment bettering himself in his career, the relationship started

to feel distant and stressed by 2008. Alison had confided in friends and family about her worries and concerns for the marriage, but by mid-2009, she started withdrawing from talking about it, even with many of those closest to her. She got Jared to agree to some marriage counselling, and a session led to Jared admitting he was considering ending their marriage. Alison fell apart. She knew they had drifted, and raising a family had changed everything.

She understood how different their lives were to the carefree days before they had children, and she knew he was under immense pressure at work. But she couldn't bear the thought of him leaving. She felt Jared was about to hit a midlife crisis. By 2011, Jared's agency had a team of people. They had outgrown the office and made plans to move a couple of suburbs closer to Brisbane. In the January of 2011, just as they were getting into the new office, Brisbane was hit by a serious flood.

The Brisbane River broke its banks, and thousands of homes and businesses were ruined. The real estate market took an enormous hit. Jared's business was seriously affected, and the pressure on him grew. Jared and his three partners were each responsible for different aspects of the business. Jared had previously been on the ground, running the sales, but now he managed the accounts, and started to employ new members to make the sales instead. Around the time they moved offices, his partners became aware that the agency was struggling financially.

They had trusted that the information Jared had given them regarding finances was correct, but suddenly they discovered gaping holes in the books that Jared couldn't explain. After discovering the true nature of their financial position, Jared's partners requested he get rid of some staff, as they were paying people to do the work that Jared could be doing himself. Jared agreed, so he let go of his sales agent, Tony McHugh, and went back to selling himself. By the end of 2011, one business partner had left, and Jared wasn't getting along with the other two.

They didn't trust him anymore. So Jared made an offer to buy them out, and in early 2012 they agreed. He had until June 30th, the end of the financial year to pay them. Allison came in part-time as general manager. She knew the business well, and it was a cost-effective way to get the business going again. The ups and downs went on. Jared went back and forth, changing his mind countless times on whether he wanted to end the marriage.

Allison was stressed and felt unstable. She had her medication doubled to help her get through the rough patch, and although on the outside it seemed like she was doing okay, she wasn't talking much. She was internalizing. Allison and Jared's family home was a simple, single-story, blue weatherboard place with a flat roof built up into the hill of the property. Compared to the many grand homes in the area, their place was simple and humble. The double garage sat lower than the rest of the house because of the slope, and one

of the garages had cardboard boxes cast off to the side, filled with clothes Allison planned to give to Jared, but she hadn't made it there yet. Six sets of windows spanned the house. Each frame painted white, with solid timber sunshades angling out above each window. It's the sort of house that young, well-off families buy and renovate or knock down in order to build large, modern, and glassed-in homes which open out to the bush and forest all around. But the Baden-Clayes didn't own it.

They had been renting there for six years, and although Jared was a prominent real estate agent, they weren't in the position to own their own home. At least, not in Brookfield. A long driveway hides the house from the street, just like most of the houses in the area. There is lots of native trees around, and no front fence. The grass was ready for a mow, and the garden looked a little forgotten. But there wasn't much time in either Jared or Allison's life for garden upkeep. They were both barely keeping their heads above water.

Jared was stressed. His wife was upset at him all the time. His colleagues weren't happy with him. Real estate was slow, and the bills were continuing to stack up. On Thursday evening, April 19th, 2012, Allison left work and went to the hair salon. Jared went home separately. Allison was attending a real estate conference in Brisbane the next day. Allison went home after her hair appointment and put the girls to bed just before 7pm,

giving them a kiss and a packed good night. One of the girls later got up for a glass of water, at which time Allison was sitting on the couch watching TV, and Jared was walking down the stairs in his pajamas and shoes. A little while later, Jared and Allison sat down to talk. They did this every second night for around 10-15 minutes. It was a suggestion made by their marriage counsellor that week. Allison could speak uninterrupted about how she was feeling. It was her time to ask Jared questions, anything she liked.

The conversation was an attempt for openness. After their talk, Jared went to bed. Allison stayed up to watch the footy show. It was about 10pm. The following morning, on April 20th, 2012, Jared woke up around 6am. Allison wasn't in bed. Their three daughters, then aged 10, 8 and 5, weren't awake yet. Jared got out of bed and walked through the house to see if Allison was already up, or

if she had fallen asleep on the sofa. She had done that in the past. But she wasn't there. Jared assumed Allison must have gone for her early morning walk, something she usually did around 6am. But that would be odd, considering she had the real estate conference that day, and she had mentioned wanting to leave by 7. She thought she mustn't be far away, so he went to the bathroom for a shave.

At 6.20am, he sent Allison a text. Good morning, hope you slept well. Where are you? None of the girls are up yet. Love, gee. He went to one of his daughters when she called out from her bedroom. She was wondering where her mum was. She was always there when the girls woke up in the morning, or at least in time for breakfast.

Jared had shaving foam all over his face when he said she'd gone out for a walk, and would be back soon. He went back to shaving, and then returned to his daughter a few minutes later, and asked her to help put band-aids on some shaving cuts on his face. At 6.45am, Allison still hadn't returned home. Jared grew concerned. He didn't want her to be late for the conference, so we tried calling her phone, but she didn't answer.

He sent her another text message, saying the girls were ready, and could she text him back or call. He then called his father Nigel and sister Olivia. They lived close by, and one of them could watch the girls, while the other helped him look for Allison. Within minutes, they were on the streets surrounding their home, looking. Maybe she was hurt, and had twisted her ankle walking or something. At 7.15am, one hour and 15 minutes after he awoke to find Allison gone, Jared called

police emergency. Allison not returning from a walking time to get the girls off to school was totally out of character. Go ahead Teltra. 2-5-3-9-6-0. Thank you. Police emergency. What's your location?

Hi. Good morning. Brookfield. Where about in Brookfield sir? 5-9-3 Brookfield Road. And what's happening there? I don't want to be alarmed because I've tried the 1-3-1 number that just went on forever. My wife isn't home.

I don't know where she is. When did you last see her sir? Last night when we were at the bed, when I went to bed. I got up this morning and she wasn't there, and that's not unusual. She often goes through a walk in the morning. I've texted her and called her a number of times. I think she has her phone with her. What time does she normally get back when she goes for a walk?

Well, this morning she was planning to, she has a seminar in the city. So she was planning to leave by around 7. Okay. And then she's not back home yet. Okay. Alright. And what's your wife? I'm now driving the streets.

My father's come over and to look after my children. Yeah. Okay. So what's your name first of all? I'm sorry. Gerard. G-E-R-A-R-D. And your last name Gerard?

Baden Clay. D-A-D-D-M. Yep. Hyphen C-L-A-Y. And what's your wife's name? Allison. She's two Ls. And same surname?

Okay. And how old is Allison? Um, 44. Okay. So you didn't see her before she got up this morning? No. Okay. Alright.

And how tall is your wife? Um, another, um, about five, six, something like that I think. Okay. And what kind of hair has she got? I'm sorry. She's just had it done last night. It's sort of a blondy, browny, reddish sort of thing. Yep.

And how long is it? Uh, shoulder length. Shoulder length? Uh, shoulder length. Okay. Okay. What I'll do, I'm gonna put a broadcast on for the police to keep a look out for your wife.

Um, are you going to go back home? Cause if- I'll get the police to come and see. I-I need to go home and get the kids ready for the next call. Yep. Alright Gerard. I'll get the police to come and see you. Okay.

What's the best contact number for you? Zero-four-hundred. Yep. Four-fine-single. Yep. Okay. Just give the call back if she hasn't returned before police get there, okay? The two responding constables, Leah Hammond and Kieran Ash, pulled up into the driveway

of the Bade and Clay home. The house stood out to them as it was older and less ostentatious than many of the other homes in the area. As they pulled up, Gerard's sister Olivia was walking out of the house with the three girls to take them to school. Behind her was Nigel, Gerard's father. The constables asked Gerard what was happening. They noticed the cuts on the right side of his cheek and listened as he explained that

Arleson went for a walk most mornings around 5am and she would usually follow one of two routes that were no more than two kilometres long. The main thing was that she would always return home in time for the kids breakfast and that morning in particular she wouldn't have wanted to be late because she had the real estate conference. The constables asked to go inside to talk, it didn't seem too worrying at first, maybe Arleson had just walked a little further that morning. But as the conversation continued, things just didn't feel right, something was off.

One of the two constables excused themselves from the conversation and walked away to call their superior officers to attend the house, Senior Sergeant Narell Curtis and Sergeant Andrew Jackson. When they arrived at the property, they could both see why the constables were worried. They immediately noticed the vertical scratches on Gerard's lower right cheek. Gerard brought up the cuts almost immediately saying he had cut himself shaving that morning. He explained that he had to get the girls ready for school and Arleson wasn't home, so he was rushing and that's how he cut himself.

But the officers didn't think they looked like shaving cuts, they looked like they were made by anything but a razor. They were fresh and weeping a little. One was around three centimetres long and the other, about a centimetre or so away, was around two centimetres long. They were relatively wide, measuring about a quarter to half a centimetre in width and they were not completely straight. Things weren't feeling quite right, so Sergeant Jackson turned on his tape recorder.

Gerard, in relation to your worst movements today, what time do you think she got up? Where did you sleep together last night? I was saying before, I don't actually know, I'm a heavy sleeper and I store them. I went to bed before she did last night. What time did you go to bed? Where was she when you last saw her? Watching the footage show. So she was sitting in the lounge?

And it's not? What time would that have been, mate? So about 2,200 hours? It's not. 19th? Uncommon. Sorry, it's not unusual. Maybe once a week, or what night or so, one of us does sleep on the couch because we fall

asleep watching TV or something like that, whether she slept there or not, I don't know. She does go walking in the morning. How often does she go walking? She's going to say regularly, but it's intermittently. And if possible, she'll get up at about five, but it's easier in the summer if she wants. Would it be roughly once a week, twice a week, three times a week? Two to three times a week. As I was explaining before, we're both trying to lose weight, and we have a holiday that

we go on Labor Day, and she came to lose weight, we just would go with four other families. So last night, she wouldn't have her hair done and stuff like that, so. Okay, so she had her hair done last night? Yeah, well, the third time, it was coloured and made. What is she normally wearing when she goes jogging, walking? One of two outfits, usually. She has a black one and a grey one. Which one's missing?

The grey one. Grey outfit. So what does this outfit consist of? It's like a tracksuit, a light grey thing. Is it a singlet top or a shirt? She has a singlet top, but she sometimes wears a stoppie gel or something over the top of that. And the pants they like? They're like three-quarter length things.

They're a daggy old. The ones she bought, some new Lorna Jane ones in black, but they're here. And she only wears sand shoes when she's wearing them? She does, just runners. Are the sand shoes still in the house? They're not. She either leaves them at the front door or just in a chuck. Okay.

So as far as we can ascertain, she's dressed in grey jogging clothes and she has runners on. Now, is there anywhere that she would be likely to go around here to visit anyone or...? She wouldn't visit somebody or she wouldn't tell the best of my knowledge. She never has. Would she have taken her work clothes at all? Would you know? I mean, could we ring the office manager to make sure she's not actually in that seminar? Yeah.

I'll take it. This is her will. It is. So she's taken no money with her? No. Look, I'm not trying to alarm you, but at this stage, we're probably going to have to call out our criminal investigation branch just to cover all bases. And they may want to speak to you just about your wife's movements and those sort of things,

but I think at this point, we probably just need to ramp it up just to try and locate your wife as quickly as possible. We need to. We need to do this. I'm just going to make a phone call now. I'm just a bit confused that you set an alarm there. Oh, no, just that other police will be coming in. Yeah.

I'm just going to get them to come out and have a chat to you, Jared, because this is just not what we normally have with missing persons. And it's not how things normally go. And we just need to make sure that we've got everything right. And I'm going to get the troops to drive that. At the end of the day, your wife won't walk in at five pence time. Yeah. And we stand everyone down.

But in the meantime, we better off doting the I's, crossing the T's and getting the cars out there and having a look for them. Is that it? Like I said, guys, before, I'm happy to answer all the questions in the world and that sort of thing that's going to help. But I want to jump back in my car and drive the streets or something. I want to have a feeling like, what are we doing here? The police felt something else was off.

Jared was shaved, showered and fully dressed in a suit with shirt and tie, even cuff links. For a husband whose wife was missing, he didn't seem too worried. In fact, he was quite relaxed. The beds had been made and the house seemed to have been cleaned right before they walked in. They could smell it. The house was filled with the unsurprising clutter of family life. Drawers and dresses had piles of opened mail and paperwork piled up. Toys and school stuff was scattered around.

And Jared and Alison's room was pretty full of clutter as well. It didn't appear to be the type of family home that was cleaned every morning before work and school. It was a red flag. Jared was in such a hurry to get his kids ready for school while Alison was missing that he called his family to help. He was out looking for her, yet he somehow found the time to clean up and make the beds. While at the house, police saw Jared's father Nigel carrying the family's vacuum cleaner out and attempt to place it in his own car. Jared then took the officers aside. He had something he wanted to tell them. He didn't want them to think he was hiding something.

He took a deep breath and told the officers that he had previously had an affair, but it was over long ago. He didn't feel it had anything to do with what was going on, but he thought they should know. He said he and Alison hadn't been arguing. He couldn't understand why she would leave and not return as she was really looking forward to the conference. She had even been to the hair salon the night before. Sergeant Jackson called in detectives and started to organize a search. He didn't like what he was hearing. He had a feeling that Alison wasn't going to walk back up the driveway.

Based purely on intuition, he declared the house a crime scene. The cars were taken for forensic testing, including the car owned by Jared's visiting father. Rather than doing everything he could to figure out where his wife was, Jared became a little difficult and a bit closed. Sergeant Jackson had called in every available officer. Within an hour, there were around 80 officers and SES workers on foot as well as on police horses. Inspector Mark Lang was in charge of the search effort. It was unusual for a large-scale search to begin within hours of someone being reported missing, but police were adamant from the very early stages that Alison was in grave danger,

so getting people on the ground quickly was the number one focus. Firefighters, friends, family, and local residents also joined the search. It seemed the whole of Brookfield were there to help, even people from Ipswich and surrounding areas attended. The search would become one of the biggest and most detailed in Queensland's history. The clubhouse at Brookfield Oval, just 200 metres away from the family home, became the command post for the search. When the girls finished school that day, they were unable to go back home. Jared took them to his parents' house and they bunkered down in an attempt to give the young girls some normality. Alison's family arrived as soon as they heard.

Jared told them not to worry about the shaving cuts he had gotten that morning. He even had one of his daughters help him put band-aids on. It looked suspicious, but really, it was nothing. Jared was then faced with having to tell them all about his and Alison's marriage problems. He told them about the marriage counsellor and that Alison had increased her medication, and then he told them about his affair. He said it was a long time ago and it was definitely over. He had just been stressed and had a lapse of judgement.

He assured them that it had nothing to do with why Alison had disappeared. They hadn't been arguing. He didn't know why she had gone. Alison's family and friends were worried. They knew she had suffered bouts of depression and they knew there had been some troubled moments in the marriage. But to hear this now, their worries grew. Everyone was torn. All those who knew Alison never believed for a moment she would leave her children. It just wasn't in her nature. But they also knew that there was a chance she wasn't herself.

She may have had more trouble coping than they ever realised. Journalist David Murray spoke to us about first hearing about the case and how the media reacted. The first hint of any trouble at Alison and Jared's house was the gathering of police there. I was working that day as a journalist at the Sunday Mail newspaper in Brisbane. And I got a call saying, do you know why there are so many police at Brookfield? There were police cars and officers in uniform and plain clothes detectives walking around everywhere. Brookfield's a really peaceful community and this was unusual. At first I thought maybe it's a drug raid.

But then I got a call back from the same person saying there's a forensics van there now. It looked serious. It raised the prospect of something more sinister going on. It didn't take me long to find out that this was the home of Alison and Jared Bate and Clay. Now, Jared was a prominent local real estate agent. At first glance they looked to be a completely ordinary family. That day police put out a media statement saying that they were looking for a missing mum. But to me it looked like it was far more than a simple missing person's case. Police were treating it so seriously it looked from day one to be a full-scale investigation.

Meanwhile, by mid-morning the criminal investigation branch had arrived at their house led by Detective Senior Constable Cameron McLeod. Their first port of call was to thoroughly go over the home for any signs of foul play and to see if they could find any clues as to where Alison may have gone. During the neighborhood canvas they discovered that more than one person had heard either a short sharp yell or a scream. One neighbor was startled enough to get out of bed and check outside. Another had to quieten their dock who was barking out into the night air. Although the noises were unusual, none of the neighbors were worried enough to call the police.

Not through lack of care or worry. But seeing as there were no follow-up screams and a car was heard to screech off down the street afterwards it was assumed the noises had come from joyriders. Focusing on the children became Jared's number one priority. He and his family kept themselves at his parents' house and shielded the children away from the media. But people started talking. From the very beginning there were whispers about Jared not bothering to help with the search. People felt he wasn't concerned about his wife.

He wasn't crying or begging for answers. The community started to wonder if he was hiding something. By the afternoon Superintendent Mark Ainsworth had put a team of investigators together. Alison's phone was missing and they needed to try and establish its location. Jared told them that when Alison had found out about his affair the year before he agreed to have the app find my friends on their phones so she would always know where he was. Detectives got onto the app and tried to locate Alison's phone while Jared was asked further questions. Jared quote

It does, the officer replied. Jared, and that's part of the reason I think that you're here. It doesn't look like a shaving cut, replied the officer. The police had also noticed something else. Jared had a cut on the palm of his hand. When questioned about it he said he was at a mate's house helping him renovate the day before and he cut his hand while trying to change a light bulb. Detectives told him they would have to photograph his injuries.

Jared walked outside the house and dialed a number on his mobile phone. There was Tony McHugh, the woman he previously employed in sales at his real estate agency. The woman his business partners had asked him to let go of. The woman he'd had the affair with. When Tony answered her phone she was still feeling upset from their conversation the night before. Jared had phoned her while Alison was at the hair salon. He told Tony that Alison would be attending the real estate conference. Tony was livid.

She couldn't understand why he hadn't told her sooner. She knew Alison would be upset seeing her there and the two of them in a room together was too much to bear. So Tony told him she'd had enough. It was time for Jared to tell Alison the truth. He had to tell her he was leaving her for good and he was leaving her for Tony. Tony wanted Jared to break the news to Alison that night. Jared had been lying. His affair with Tony wasn't over.

Far from it. In the seven months since Alison found out, it only took Jared three months to go back to Tony. And he had promised Tony that by the first of July he would be a free man and he would be 100% committed to her. That date was the day after he planned to buy his business partners out. Everything in his life was working towards that day. When Tony received the call from Jared that morning and he told her that Alison was missing, her heart sank. She thought he must have finally broken the news and Alison wasn't able to handle it.

So she took off. Jared told Tony that he was being suspected by police and that they should lay low in regards to their relationship. Police were still trying to find Alison's phone. They were using both their own triangulation and the Find My Friends app. The following morning, Jared and his sister went down to the search command post at Brookfield Oval. An officer pressed Jared for some more clarity around a few issues, including what Alison was wearing. Jared, who appeared to have gone down to help aid in the search, couldn't get out of there quick enough. He said he had a doctor's appointment.

Police had asked him to have a doctor verify the razor cuts on his face and the cut from the light bulb on his hand. Jared had no problem in complying. He said he had nothing to hide. At a team meeting, detectives discussed Jared's cuts. Someone suggested they should have them photographed properly and that they should also have a closer look to see if he had any more injuries. The other detectives agreed and Jared was called into the police station. He was cool and calm, unfazed by the second request to photograph him. He was well aware that it was a suspect and although he often became unhelpful while answering questions, he wasn't angry or flustered. At the station, they asked him to remove his shirt.

Forensic officer Dr. Leslie Griffiths examined him and found large marks on his upper torso. There was a mix of fine red scratches in areas of what looked like particular hemorrhaging. Patches of pinhead-sized burst of blood vessels caused by extreme pressure or pulling or rubbing of the skin. There was another mark going from his underarm up towards his shoulder and a yellow bruise in the center of his chest that appeared at least 18 hours old. Jared told police that he'd had an allergic reaction to a caterpillar bite and he never thought to mention it. Police let him go home, knowing they needed expert advice if they were going to have any proof he was lying. The following day, two days after Alisson went missing, acting Inspector Ewan Taylor received a call. He was the coordinator of the forensics team.

A blood stain had been found in Alisson's car. There was a contact smear of blood which drips down to the floor of the vehicle in the third row seating area. It was visible to the naked eye. There was a single strand of blonde hair attached to it. Jared was called back into the police station. The police had a medical examiner ready to inspect the marks they had found on his chest. But Jared never made it. He had a minor car accident on the way to the station and he was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The accident occurred when he was driving past the Indooroopilly shopping centre.

Jared drove up an embankment hitting a concrete pile. After the accident, Jared was lying on the ground outside his car and began crawling as if he couldn't move his legs. He wasn't going fast enough to be seriously injured but it was enough to warrant a trip to the hospital and the car needed to be towed. Detectives knew that they couldn't re-examine his chest marks now. There would be too much doubt over what marks were new and what marks were previously existing. Alisson's parents Priscilla and Jeff made a public appeal to help find her. Their grief was immense and they were hardly able to get their words out. The search continued and Alisson's parents were permanently stationed at the search command post at Brookfield Oval.

They never left, just in case someone came forward who knew something. Some of Alisson's friends and family told police worrying things they had seen during Alisson and Jared's marriage. Some had seen emotional abuse and others felt that he was more than capable of physical violence. The search area was increased to include three more suburbs surrounding Brookfield. Police asked everyone in the new expanded areas for their help to look for any sign of Alisson on their properties, some of which were vast with dense bushland. Everything from industrial garbage bins and disused mine shafts up to 30 metres deep were checked. Police divers searched dams within a 2 kilometre radius of the Badden Clay's home. Jared was still not allowed back home so he continued to hole up at his parents' place.

His side of the family retreated. They knew what was being whispered. The press camped outside waiting for him or anyone else to leave the house. There seemed to be a stark difference between Alisson's family and friends who kept a constant vigil and were out there every day searching, and Jared and his family who stayed away behind closed curtains and avoided the search. They were often seen dodging the media by hiding and running between different cars or driving away from the house separately. No one could understand why. A Channel 9 reporter was outside trying to get an insight into what was going on, when to her surprise, Jared and his sister Olivia walked outside and spoke to her.

Jared struggled to get his words out. He looked like he was choking back tears while his sister Olivia had a genuine look of worry on her face. Jared said, quote, I'm trying to look after my children at the moment. We've got three little girls, and he paused and gained his composure before continuing. We really trust that the police are doing everything they can to find my wife. We just hope that she will come home soon, and I need to go now to an appointment. This unintended statement was Jared's only public appeal.

As he walked off back towards the house, Olivia made an appeal for the public to come forward and help in any way they could. Olivia and Alisson were close, and Olivia was struggling with the idea that something may have happened to her. As the search continued into its eighth day, a prayer vigil was held for Alisson at the local church. It wasn't just the family and friends of Alisson who were struggling to cope. The community was also struggling to deal with her disappearance. People rallied for Alisson's family and for her daughters. Police set up a mannequin wearing similar clothing to what Alisson was described as wearing by Jared. Over 400 emergency service members and volunteers continued searching the surrounding areas.

Volunteers came from all over, old school friends of Alisson's, fellow real estate workers, and old colleagues from Flight Centre. People were coming together to search for the woman who they all said touched their lives in some way. The usual dry Brisbane area received heavy rain on the eighth night of Alisson's disappearance, the first downpour in months. But it was something on everyone's mind who feared Alisson's body was out there. Behind the closed doors of the Indooroopilly police station, detectives were putting together the small pieces of the puzzle to Alisson and Jared's lives. They had a good idea that Jared wasn't being entirely truthful about his cuts and marks, and that he wasn't being completely open about his mistress, Tony. They knew he called Tony the morning Alisson disappeared. They also knew that he called her a couple of days later as well, this time from a pay phone, and he sounded stressed.

During this second call, Jared told Tony that the police knew about their relationship and that they would be contacting her. He also told her that police believed Alisson may have met with foul play. He wanted to know if she had said anything about them still currently seeing each other. What Jared didn't know was that Tony was actually speaking to police at that very moment. He had interrupted an interview. Jared had told police that it was no longer seeing Tony, that the relationship had been over ever since Alisson found out about it seven months earlier. But Tony had told police the truth. They had continued the affair, and Jared had promised Tony it was her he wanted to be with.

He loved her. He had some stuff to sort out, but from July 1st it would be official between them. July 1st was Alisson's birthday. By this time, the media was starting to notice a big difference in the behaviour of Jared. When approached, he would often run inside his parents' house, or run for a car and speed away. On one occasion, he even jumped a fence to avoid being seen. Police and others in the community were starting to notice the divide between Alisson's family and the Baden-Clay family. Alisson's family were involved around the clock.

The town felt Jared's absence. Dave Murray spoke to us about the community's reaction at the time. There were two sides to the case. There was this very public search for Alisson, and then there was the homicide investigation going on in the background. The search was enormous. It was run out of the Brookfield show grounds, and the public's interest just snowballed. You had a mum of three very young girls missing. She was out there somewhere, and everyone wanted to find her. But you also had this really strange situation where her husband was nowhere to be seen.

It was obvious there was a divide between Alisson's family and Jared and his family, and of course people started speculating. The media reported the facts as they were known, and tightly controlled the comments on the case, due largely to Australia's strict defamation laws. But on crime forums online, it was a free-for-all. It was the first case in Australia that really took off on these forums. Literally tens of thousands of comments were made about it. Brookfield had its own very active grapevine, and that was fueling it. People started talking about an affair Jared was said to have been involved in with a staff member, and financial difficulties. And this cloud of suspicion just grew and grew.

In the early morning of the 30th of April 2012, the 11th day of Alisson's disappearance, Darrell Joyce, a professor of horticulture at the University of Queensland, walked his kayak down to the Brisbane River. Collow Creek runs directly into the Brisbane River at Anstead, in Brisbane's west. Darrell began paddling upstream on the smaller and quieter Collow Creek. He could see the Collow Creek Bridge up ahead, with its tall concrete pylons leading up 14 metres to the road bridge, which was always busy at that time of morning. The scrub land on the side of the creek was dense and steep, with most areas not accessible on foot. The banks were thick with mud. He caught a glimpse of something on the edge of the creek bank, directly underneath the bridge.

As he paddled closer, he noticed a clothing. His kayak drifted past, before he realised that the clothing looked just like clothing he had seen on a mannequin set up on the roadside. The clothing was covered with leaves and debris. Darrell was unable to turn around. The current was too strong. But as he looked back, he had no doubt what he had just seen. He quickly paddled home and called the police. When police got to Collow Bridge and saw the body down on the creek bank, the road was closed and the forensics team was brought in. Alisson was clothed, still wearing her running shoes with her laces tied and her walking gear.

Her arms were uncomfortably tangled in the jumper she was wearing, and it was pulled up over her head. Her hair was matted and muddy with foliage in it, just like her water-soaked clothes. Her engagement ring and wedding band was caked in mud and still on her left ring finger. Dr Nathan Mill, specialist forensic pathologist, was called to the scene. He arrived with two other pathologists. They viewed the body from the top of the 14 metre bridge and watched as two officers were winched down with the help of the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service. Milne conducted a preliminary exam under the cover of the marquee which had been set up on the bridge. Alisson was not recognisable enough to be visually identified.

Milne determined her body shade signs that were consistent with her being deceased for 11 days. There were no visible signs of foul play. Alisson was taken to the morgue for a full autopsy, including scans to determine if there were any fractures or injuries which could have contributed to her cause of death. Police stationed themselves at a roundabout between the Baden Clay's home and the Collow Creek Bridge in the hope that a passing motorist may have seen something. The Baden Clay's home was 14 kilometres away from the bridge. Alisson's mobile phone still hadn't been located. The Find My Friends app had narrowed its location down to a 150 metre radius of Alisson and Jared's house, but several searches had resulted in no find. With the recovery of Alisson's body, search teams were sent out again to try and find her phone.

Nearby where Alisson's body was found was a 15 hectare property that belonged to the Scout Association of Australia. Police increased the area to be cordoned off. When Alisson's family heard the news, they were at the search command post at Brookfield Oval. It wasn't just Alisson's family who broke down. Police and the community alike were unable to control their grief. Jared's parents emerged from their home and lowered the Australian flag in their front yard to half-mast. Jared said he was devastated by the loss of his wife, and in a public statement released by his lawyer, he said that his primary concern was the care of his three daughters, who were unable to come to terms with what had happened to their mother.

The autopsy reports stated that both the neckband and waistband of the jumper Alisson was wearing were up around her neck. It could have been moved or pushed to this position after death, but it could not be ruled out that it was used as a ligature. No definite injuries could be identified during the autopsy, although that determination was greatly limited by the state of decomposition. The wording in the report was, no injuries or other findings to account for death. There were no injuries consistent with being washed around in moving water. There were no injuries to suggest sexual assault. The only evidence of any injury was an apparent bruise on Alisson's inner left chest wall. This bruise, which was not 100% confirmed, could not be linked to any disease or fracture,

and may have resulted from impact to the chest with a probable degree of mild force. Some granular matter was found behind one eye, which may suggest hemorrhaging from blunt-force trauma. But again, this wasn't able to be confirmed 100% due to the degree of decomposition. The autopsy reports stated, quote, The degree of decomposition was significant, and this limited interpretation of all facets of the post-mortem examination. It is most likely that the effects of decomposition destroyed or concealed evidence of the cause of death. The circumstances are certainly in favour of an unnatural cause of death. The report went on to explain that drowning also had to be considered, because Alisson was in such close proximity to the creek.

There was also the question if she fell from the bridge, but her body didn't show the fractures and injuries consistent with falling 14 metres. Also, her body was found directly underneath the bridge, so she would have had to have been moved after falling. There was the chance, however, that she fell into the water, which would have caused minimal injury, then drowned, and washed up on the bank. Although it was noted as something which could not be ruled out, Milne found no evidence of this occurring. Alisson's cause of death was certified as undetermined. Police had gained information about Jared and Tony's affair from Tony herself. They had also been speaking to friends of the couple, as well as Jared's work colleagues, who were able to shed light on what had been going on day to day. When Jared hired Tony in 2008 to join his new team, he already knew her, as he had sold the property Tony and her then-husband owned.

It only took a matter of months for them to kick off a full-blown affair, four years prior to Alisson's death. Back then, Tony wasn't shy in telling Jared that she'd had an attraction to him from the very beginning. Her marriage was struggling too, and it seemed all she needed was a final reason to end it. That reason came one night when her and Jared were both back late at the office. Before long, Jared's colleagues and business partners knew full well he was looking up with Tony. Neither of them were very good at hiding it, but they denied it nonetheless. Work dinners, conferences, and local celebrations were awkward events for Jared's colleagues who knew what was going on. Often they were told Alisson couldn't make it, and then during the event Jared and Tony would disappear together.

Sometimes Jared and Tony would act like a happy couple, flirting in front of everyone. Occasionally, to the horror of those who knew, both Alisson and Tony would end up at the same event, and it was obvious Tony would feel awkward and leave. It was the end of 2009, almost a year and a half into the affair, when Jared's business partners got the truth out of the pair. Jared was still lying to their faces, but it was Tony who finally admitted it. She was worn down by the deceit. Jared had been telling her for so long he would leave Alisson, but he never did. Time after time another excuse would come up. Tony just wanted it out in the open. Two years into the affair, during a discussion with Alisson, Jared admitted he didn't love her anymore, but he still didn't leave her. 2011 came around and the affair was still going on, but Alisson was still completely oblivious to Jared's double life.

It was as though Jared couldn't bring himself to lose Alisson. That was the year his business partners threatened him that it was not good for business, that was stressful for everyone, and a time that Jared chose between Alisson and Tony. In September 2011, seven months before she disappeared, Alisson found out about the affair. It had been going on for three years at this point. She had asked Jared before if he was seeing someone else, and he had denied it. But this time, when she asked again, he admitted everything. He was tired of lying. He told her he was seeing Tony from the office. Alisson's entire world fell down around her as she lost all the ability to comprehend what he was saying. Jared told her he didn't love Tony. He loved Alisson and the children, and wanted to be with them. Jared did what he had done countless times before. He chose Alisson.

Jared's affair with Tony ended in an argument. Tony had always been told by Jared that he didn't love Alisson, that it was her he wanted to be with. But every time he faced the reality of ending his marriage, he wasn't able to do it. Jared fired Tony at the request of his business partners, and he stopped contacting her outside of work. Jared decided he needed to focus on turning his business around. One business partner had already left, and his goal was to buy the other two partners out completely. He just needed the money to do it. But three months later, he changed his mind, and asked to see Tony again. He took his wedding ring off, and said to her, I love you, and I'm going to be leaving my wife. They continued the affair, and Jared planned their future together. He told Tony he would marry her one day.

As far as Alisson knew, however, the affair was over, and Jared was committed to making their marriage work. On the 3rd of April, 2012, two weeks before Alisson's murder, Jared wrote Tony an email. Quote, I have given you a commitment, and I intend to stick to it. I will be separated by July 1st, 2012. Then, a few days before Alisson's disappearance, Jared wrote another email to Tony. He told her he loved her three times, then finished with the words, leave it to me, Neil. Struggling to pay his debts, and needing money urgently to buy his remaining two business partners out, Jared was hitting up everyone for cash.

Three of his best friends came up with some money in excess of $270,000. That helped him clear some credit card debt, but things were snowballing. Police looked into Jared's finances and realized the full extent of his debt. He owed around $1 million. They started wondering if Jared had held out for so many years on ending his marriage, because he knew a divorce would make his financial situation even worse. He simply couldn't afford one. Just before Alisson disappeared, Jared decreased her life insurance to save money on the premiums.

But the grace period on those changes hadn't ended yet, so her insurance was still sitting at around $1 million when she disappeared. The day after Alisson's body was found, Jared phoned the insurer to lodge a claim. When analysts examined the home computer, they found that minutes before Jared made the emergency call to report Alisson missing, he got on his computer and googled, right to silence. They believed Jared was familiarizing himself with his legal rights at 6.30 in the morning, when he thought his wife was just out for her morning walk. But Jared claimed he had done that search previously, while watching the TV show, The Good Wife.

And for some reason, the search had reloaded on the morning Alisson went missing. Jared had told police in his interview that Alisson had brought up the affair shortly after they got the kids to bed. They had a chatter about it. It wasn't heated, but Alisson was definitely upset. Then he said he had enough and went to bed. That was the last time he saw her. On May 11th, 2012, Alisson's funeral took place in Ipswich. Nearly 600 people showed up, with many spilling out onto the front lawn of the Anglican church. As a large black and white photo of Alisson stared back at the packed church, her brother and sister gave the eulogies. At the end of her sister's eulogy, she said, quote,

Alisson, there are many questions unanswered. Many pieces of the puzzle unsolved. We, your family, pledge to you we will have them answered. Jared held the hands of his three daughters as they placed posies on the coffin. Meanwhile, media continued to camp outside Jared's parents' house 24 hours a day. Dr. Gordon Guymer, the director of Queensland's Herbarium, worked closely with the investigation to help determine the last movements of Alisson before her death. He studied the leaf material which was found in Alisson's hair and around her head and shoulders. The aim was to determine her final movements and possibly even her movements after she was killed. Dr. Guymer ascertained there were six species of leaves present in Alisson's hair.

It would be assumed that those six species of leaves would be present along the creek and on the creek bed. He went down to where Alisson's body was found and conducted further tests. Of the six species of leaves, he could only find evidence of two of those species, either in the foliage along the creek itself or in the scrub leading up to the road. This meant that the leaves had come from elsewhere. He then took his investigation to the family home. After an examination of the yard, he was able to match all six species of leaves to those present in the Baden-Clay's garden. Specifically, the area around the back patio.

This meant there was a higher chance that Alisson had been in the foliage of her own garden prior to arriving at the creek bed. In order to prove there was no doubt, Dr. Guymer walked the 14km from the Baden-Clay's house to the Colo creek bed. He walked along the winding roads and thick bush and scrub land to see if there was any other location to match the leaves. There wasn't. There was no way the leaves got in Alisson's hair while walking to the creek. The only location where all six leaf species were present was at home in her garden. This pointed directly to an altercation at the house. On the morning of June 13th, 2012, Jared was taken into Indooroopilly police station.

His three daughters were taken to a different police station and into police care until Alisson's parents arrived to collect them. After pursuing 1500 different lines of inquiry and gathering 500 witness statements, Jared Baden-Clay was arrested for the murder of Alisson Baden-Clay. Jared maintained his innocence. He was handcuffed and escorted to a waiting police car to be taken to the Brisbane Watch House. Dave Murray, journalist and author of the book The Murder of Alisson Baden-Clay, describes how the media were reacting at the time. Everyone had an opinion about Jared and whether he was guilty or innocent. The police were saying very little about their investigation and a lot of the facts wouldn't come out publicly until after he was charged,

but he was doing his best to look guilty. He was virtually on the run from the media and there was a good reason why. What we didn't know at the time was that he had these scratches on the side of his face. It was what made police so suspicious of him in the first instance, that they'd never talked about the scratches publicly and Jared had managed to avoid any detailed inspection from the cameras. When we started growing this beard, which was odd for someone who was usually looking so clean-cut and professional, we didn't know at the time but it was to cover the scratches. Then his business imploded and he had to move into a smaller office and his financial problems could no longer be hidden.

The rumours about his affair were confirmed by some of his closest associates and you had these things that would give him motive to kill his wife. That didn't prove he was a murderer and it was unclear whether he was going to be charged. For journalists it was by far the biggest case we'd ever covered, probably ever will cover. People were talking about very little else. The following day, Jared appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court. His lawyers lodged a bail application in the Supreme Court. During the bail application hearing, the prosecutor Danny Boyle argued that Jared had a financial motive for killing his wife.

He also cited entries in Allison's journal that suggested he may have been having an affair with a co-worker. Justice David Bidees said that Jared posed a significant flight risk and a bail was refused. A Supreme Court judge granted Allison's father temporary control of her estate, including her life insurance policy. In December 2012, six months after his arrest, Jared's defense lawyer lodged a second bail application in the Supreme Court. He argued that the Crown's case had been weakened by the results of a post-mortem examination, which showed that Allison had traces of an antidepressant drug in her blood, leaving open the possibility that she took her own life. The bail application was again rejected.

On March 11, 2013, the committal hearing began. More than 40 witnesses testified and 330 witness statements were presented. The arguments against Jared were clear. He stood to gain a $1 million life insurance payout, which would clear him of debt. And he was having a long-running affair. In response to criticism that Jared wasn't involved in the search for Allison, his defense team stated that the police told him to stay away from the search, in case he stumbled upon a crime scene.

This was denied by police, and it was made clear by them that Jared's decision to stay away from the search was when he made for himself. Forensic officer Dr Leslie Griffiths testified that the injuries to Jared's face seen and photographed on the day of Allison's disappearance were the result of being scratched by Allison's fingernails. It was implausible to say the deep scratches on his face were from shaving. Two GPs were called to testify. This is because the morning Jared went to have his scratches checked out, the first appointment didn't go the way he wanted it to. The doctor was not convinced of Jared's story about the marks and scratches.

So he visited a second GP in the hope that that doctor would believe his scratches were from shaving cuts. The cut on his hand was from changing a light bulb, and his chest marks were from a caterpillar bite. Numerous neighbors who had heard yells and screams on the night Allison disappeared all testified. Former cabinet minister Dr Bruce Flegg, who lived almost one kilometer down the road, explained that he had two distressing screams from his house. He walked outside to see if he could see or hear anything further, but he didn't. Just like the other witnesses, Dr Flegg didn't think it seemed alarming enough to call the police. He then went on to tell the court that in the months leading up to Allison's murder,

he had been approached by Jared, who requested to borrow $400,000 to buy his business partners out. Dr Flegg refused this request. Neil Robertson, a police electronic evidence analyst, told the court that Jared's iPhone was plugged in to be charged after 1am the night Allison disappeared, which contradicted Jared's statement that he had slept solidly all night, not realizing Allison wasn't in bed. Although it was believed that Allison's phone was in a 150 meter radius of her house, it was never located.

Dr Gordon Geimer, the director of Queensland's Herbarium, who had made the discovery of the leaf species in Allison's hair, presented his evidence to the court. His testimony was followed by Professor Meryn Zalutski, an entomologist. He was asked whether the marks on Jared's chest could have been caused by a caterpillar bite. He said that some caterpillars do have poisonous hairs that could cause irritation and pain, but he found no evidence of such caterpillars existing in the Brookfield area. Tony McHugh, Jared's mistress, also took the stand. She confirmed that Jared told her to lay low in the days after Allison's disappearance.

She also said that Jared told her that he couldn't afford a divorce. Homicide detective Sergeant Peter Roddick told the court that they used covert surveillance on Jared's phone during the investigation, and they were forced to issue Tony with a warning during her interview. Quote, Jared's phone records showed the cause he had made to Tony, most of which were to check what she was saying to the police. At the conclusion of the committal hearing, Jared was committed to stand trial. His parents and his sister told the media that they believed in his innocence,

and that they would continue to support him. Jared's trial commenced on June 10, 2008. Two years after his arrest. The trial was presided over by Justice John Byrne. 77 witnesses gave evidence on the stand. Justice Byrne warned the jury of seven men and five women not to discuss the case outside of the court, and to refrain from both mainstream media as well as social media. He requested that they focus purely on the evidence presented to them,

considering how highly publicized they were. They focused purely on the evidence presented to them, considering how highly publicized the investigation and the court proceedings had been already. Dave Murray describes the amount of attention the trial received. The interest in Jared's trial was like something we'd never seen. From the beginning, members of the public were arriving very early, before the courthouse opened, to line up so that they could get a seat. So many people came that a second court was opened with a live video stream for the overflow.

Then a third court was opened, the biggest in the entire courthouse, and you had these three courts full of people for the one trial, plus a separate media room. Court officials started handing out numbered tickets to get people in in an orderly way. The size and tension seemed to grow every day. Alison's large family would turn up after she went missing they'd taken to wearing yellow, her favorite color. They'd been told not to wear yellow for the trial, because it could influence the jury. Jared's family were there every day too, and they seemed to be commonly wearing purple. No one really knew why, but one interesting observation is that purple is directly opposite yellow on the color wheel.

Australian law doesn't allow court proceedings to be televised, so the only way to catch a glimpse of Jared was to be in the court itself. The case was so infamous, people told me they'd travelled thousands of kilometers to be there. As the case reached its climax, and with Jared actually testifying, people started arriving at five and six o'clock in the morning. The building didn't even open until eight thirty, and the proceedings didn't start until ten a.m. Consultant Crown Prosecutor Danny Boyle and Todd Fuller QC presented a marriage full of emotional abuse, infidelity and greed. The court was shown photographs of Alison's body lying in its unnatural pose, covered in mud and foliage on the bank of the creek.

Their key witness was Tony McHugh, who told the court of the three years of hiding behind Alison's back, and the promises Jared made to her. She truly believed Jared loved her. When Alison first disappeared, Tony thought Jared must have told her he was leaving her for good, and Alison simply ran away of her own accord because she was so upset. The prosecution claimed that Jared killed Alison and dragged her out the backyard over the patio where the leaves gathered in her hair. He then took her towards the carport where he put her in the back of her own car and drove to the Colo Creek Bridge. In the darkness, he carried her body down the steep embankment in order to dump her on the edge of the creek in the hope that her body would be washed away.

Jared sat in the dock quiet and almost uninterested. Even when photos of his wife's decomposing body were displayed in front of him, he looked on unfazed. Nathan Milne, the forensic pathologist who examined Alison's body at the scene and the following day at the morgue, took the stand confirming that there was no substantial injuries that could immediately confirm cause of death. He mentioned the small bruise on the internal lining of her chest wall, which may have been caused by blunt force trauma. It was Milne's opinion that Alison had been placed under the bridge in the location she was found, within hours of her death. This was determined during her post-mortem examination as there were features such as hypostasis, which is the settling of blood with gravity. The blood had settled on her right side, just the way she was found.

Although it couldn't be 100% ruled out, he found her no evidence to suggest drowning or falling from the bridge. Jared was represented by Michael Byrne QC, not to be confused with the prosecution deputy director Michael Byrne QC, who had prosecuted Brett Cowan for Daniel Morkham's murder earlier that year, Case 54 of Casephile. He argued that the razor did cause the cuts on Jared's face and that there was no physical evidence to prove otherwise, likewise with the caterpillar bite. He also focused on Alison's depression, cross-examining friends and family as well as her psychologist. He was trying to establish whether Alison's mental health may have led her to walk off dazed or to take her own life. The court heard that although it was true that Alison had suffered post-natal depression throughout her pregnancies and her young daughter's lives, she had been carefully keeping herself in check and her doctors felt she was in a good place with her treatment.

It also came out that Alison was in a good mood the morning before she disappeared. She spoke to another mother at the school about all the things she was looking forward to at the time. The jury was presented with recordings from police interviews with Jared and Alison's daughters on the day of Alison's disappearance. Their youngest daughter said, Mummy went off for a walk, I think, and we think she twisted her ankle. Jared had been unemotional throughout the trial up to this point, but when he saw his daughters on the screen, he started to cry. On the video, Alison and Jared's middle daughter sat talking to detectives. She was crying so much that she was struggling to get her words out.

She said that on the night her mum disappeared, Alison put her to bed exactly the same way she did every night, singing her a song. Then Alison came back in later and checked on her again before she herself went to bed. When the detective asked her how she knew this, their daughter replied, because she said she would. Pages of Alison's diary were read out from the days prior to her disappearance, as well as other entries going back to 2010. The words, scrawled in a lined notebook, showed her sadness at the breakdown of her marriage and her shame at her belief that she wasn't good enough to hold onto it. The journal mentioned Jared laughing as he told Alison how different she was to Tony. Alison wrote, quote, In a section titled Fear, Alison wrote,

In a section titled Relationship Rescue, In 2010, Alison wrote A Gratitude List, Two days before Alison disappeared, she indicated she knew Jared and Tony had started their affair again. She wrote, On the opposite page of the notebook was a drawing of a floor plan of a house. It was Tony's apartment, and it was drawn by Jared at Alison's request. There was a circle around a room. Bedroom one.

The crown believed this was drawn during the 15 minute discussion the couple had the night Alison disappeared, just the hours before her life ended. The defence implied that this was an indication of her state of mind. She was so depressed, she took her own life. When Jared took the stand, the air in the court was tense. It was the moment of truth for both sides. Jared's barrister asked him whether he contacted Alison's life insurance company on May 1st, 2012, the day after her body was found. Jared became emotional and replied, That was why I made the call. When asked if he was under significant financial or relationship pressure, he answered, That's not correct. Alison and I were working together very well on both our relationship and the business.

Financially, the business was turning around and we were moving forward. Things were getting better. He denied that he was leaving Alison for Tony, stating, My intention was to end any relationship with Tony McHugh and solidify and continue to rebuild the relationship with Alison for our future together. During cross-examination, Jared denied he was ever in love with Tony. He agreed that he had deceived Alison for more than four years, as well as deceived Tony and his own family. But he denied that in the months leading up to Alison's disappearance, he renewed his affair. And he also denied that he had set up a fake email address to email Tony. When the question was put to him that he couldn't live without Tony, he denied it, saying,

I often said to her things in order to placate her, what she wanted to hear. I hoped it would calm her down. I wanted to keep having sex with her and had no intention of leaving my wife. His defense barrister asked how long he had been married to Alison. Jared replied, We would have been coming up to our 14th wedding anniversary. As Michael Byrne went on to his next question, the most pointed question of the day, and the one question every single person in the courtroom wanted to hear answered, it was clear that Jared had got his dates wrong. As Michael Byrne began asking, Mr. Baden Clay, did you kill Jared interrupted, cutting him off mid-sentence?

Sorry, it would have been coming up to our 15th. Michael Byrne then repeated the question. Jared answered, No, I did not. On July 15, 2014, the jury reached their verdict. Jared Baden Clay was found. Guilty. As Alison's parents, her older sister and her younger brother prepared victim impact statements for the court. Jared cried and shook in the dock. Alison's sister Vanessa said in her statement, I feel cheated that I never got to say goodbye. I have been robbed of a life together with my sister.

We will never get to have that one last cup of coffee together or exchange parenting advice and share highlights of our children's lives. I miss her, the way she smiled. I look at her photo and wonder what could have been. Her life, her dreams were cut short and the lives of many changed forever. Alison never allowed depression to take over her life. She was never so debilitated that she could not function. Like any other mother with three children in a household to run, she was busy, tired and stressed. Alison's father, Jeff said in his statement, Alison had been convinced that she was inadequate and not a good wife and mother. She was constantly trying to improve herself and her appearance to measure up to the expectations of her husband.

She tried hard to save her marriage. Finally, in the end, she paid the ultimate price for her marriage and the love of her three daughters. Jeff also said later, not part of his victim impact statement, I gave you permission to marry my daughter, but I didn't give you permission to harm her. Jared was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 15 years. Shortly after the verdict, Jared and his lawyers appealed, claiming he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice. After the verdict was handed down, Alison's family and friends released yellow balloons outside the Brisbane Supreme Court in honor of her favorite color. In July 2015, a year after Jared's conviction, Alison's family and friends set up a charity, Alison's Gift, to help kids who experience trauma.

Alison's sister, Vanessa, spoke about how lucky the three girls were that they had strong family and community support, but they recognized that not all children would have such immense support or resources in a similar situation. Vanessa spoke to the Courier Mail newspaper, quote, We want Alison's legacy to continue. We want her memory to live on in the community. By helping children who have been through trauma and financial hardship, we can give back to them, because the community supported us so well when our three girls needed it the most. On December 8th, 2015, almost a year and a half after his conviction, Jared was successful in his appeal. He had his murder conviction downgraded to manslaughter.

Three judges in the Queensland Court of Appeal ruled that there was not enough evidence to show that Jared intended to kill Alison. His legal team successfully argued that the conviction should be overturned, because Jared might have accidentally killed Alison during a violent argument about Tony and then covered up what he had done in a panic. The judges agreed, and Jared's resentencing was scheduled for 2016. The community was outraged. The whole country was outraged. A petition was started calling on the Queensland Attorney General to uphold the original conviction. It had more than 120,000 signatures in two weeks. The petition read,

We the people of Australia are outraged by the decision of the Queensland Court to reduce Jared Baden Clay's conviction for the murder of his wife Alison to the lesser charge of manslaughter. We are requesting the Queensland Attorney General files an appeal against this decision. Rallies were held, and there was mass public outcry at Jared's conviction being reduced to manslaughter. As a result, the High Court of Australia agreed to hear a rare appeal of the appeal court's decision. The High Court of Australia is the highest court in the country. There was nowhere else to go if this was unsuccessful. Alison's friends and family all wore yellow ribbons as they filled the courthouse, along with many of the detectives who worked tirelessly on the case. The Queensland Court of Appeals decision came under immense scrutiny.

Justice Patrick Kane said Jared didn't claim he accidentally killed his wife Alison when he had the chance at trial, and his evidence was actually inconsistent with any notion at all that there was an unintended killing by him. Justice Bell said it was not easy necessarily to kill a person without intending at the least to do grievous bodily harm. The High Court reached their decision in August 2016. They threw out the decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal and reinstated Jared's murder conviction. He was ordered to serve his original sentence of life with a minimum term of 15 years. Queensland Law Society President Bill Potts spoke publicly of the decision. Arguably one of the most high-profile and emotive cases in Queensland's legal history.

What this simply means is the justice system works. The original decision was in line with the understanding of the law at that time, and the High Court's decision reflects the current interpretation of the law. This is a decision not just for Queensland or for the Baden-Clay family. It is a decision for all Australians. The way in which circumstantial evidence may be used and post-defense behaviour may be used has now been clarified by the High Court. That in turn can be utilised across a range of cases that are waiting in the wings. This is an important precedent.

He said it was now up to the Queensland Parole Board to decide if Jared Baden-Clay should ever be released. Alison's friend and spokeswoman for the family, Carrie Ann Walker, spoke with relief. Quote, The law has acknowledged what we who were closest to her knew from that very morning Alison went missing. That is, that she was murdered. Jared Baden-Clay murdered his amazing wife, Alison. Today's decision brings an end to Jared's attempts to smear Alison's name. If somewhere in doubt is to his true nature, his behaviour after Alison disappeared and during the trial must have removed that doubt.

Her legacy will be her beautiful three girls, who surrounded now by their memories of Alison and the love and support of Alison's devoted family are thriving in their busy lives. All who know them are confident they will go on to achieve great things. I am in awe every day of how well Alison's parents, Jeff and Priscilla and her sister Vanessa deal with their day-to-day busy lives. The girls are certainly a tribute to them. In early 2017, it was ruled that Jared would not see a cent of Alison's life insurance money. It will be transferred into the trust funds set up for Alison and Jared's three daughters.