RedHanded - Episode 325 - The Vanishing of Lynette Dawson - Part 2

Episode Date: November 23, 2023

The evidence against Chris Dawson was overwhelming from the start - so why did it take several investigations, 2 coronial enquiries and 40 years of agony for Lyon’s family for New South Wales police to even make an arrest?In our final episode on the murder of Lynette Dawson we discuss the day of her disappearance and the unfathomable lack of effort put into finding her. Not to mention why the police were so unwilling to investigate a man several officers referred to lovingly as ‘Dawso’.Follow us on social media:InstagramTwitterVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Red Handed early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Saruti.

I'm Hannah. And welcome to Red Handed. G'day. Chuck a shrimp on the barbie? No? That's out! That was a little cricket reference, not done in a regular Australian accent.

I think the Aussies are beating us right now in the Ashes. That sounds about right. Isn't that how it usually goes? We've won before. I mean, yes, in the history of the Ashes, I'm sure England have won.

We won that time and then they gave the england team um that bus parade and then freddie flintoff like threw up because he was so drunk yeah oh poor fred i think he sorted himself out now he did that huge documentary about being an alcoholic and being a bulimic yeah and now he's like i think he sorted himself out i saw he seems to yeah i saw a picture of him recently and he's looking good. And he's so fit. Good for him. Good for him. So anyway, enough Ash's talk. We are here for the second

and final part of our series on the disappearance of Lynette Dawson. And we're going to pick up exactly where we left off last time. Chris and Lyn had just been to their first counselling session. Lyn was excited. She thought that everything was going to be OK from now on and that her marriage was getting back on track.

So the night of the first counselling session, so that is on Friday 8th January 1982, Lynn's mum, Helena, phoned the Dawson house to speak to her daughter. Chris answered the phone and, according to Helena, he wasn't keen to hand the phone over to Lynn. But, she insisted. Lynn then briefly spoke to her mum saying the counselling worked, we're going to be fine. Tell the others, meaning her dad and her siblings, tell them not to worry anymore. My husband has just made me a lovely drink. On the one hand Helena was glad to hear that Lynn and Chris were working on their marriage

and things seemed to be going in the right direction, but she did think it was weird that her daughter sounded, quote, sozzled. Unsurprisingly, Lynn wasn't much of a drinker, so it was strange to hear her like that, but Helena pushed it to the back of her mind for the moment. Maybe they were just celebrating and getting a bit merry. And in any case, Helena and Lynn had plans to meet up for the moment. Maybe they were just celebrating and getting a bit merry. And in any case, Helena and Lynn had plans to meet up for the next day. So she was going to talk to her daughter properly then. The next day, according to Chris, Lynn got up early. She seemed happy. She did all the washing, made the lunches for the kids and Chris,

and then she said she was going to Chatswood Shopping Centre to return a few bits. And after she'd done that, she'd meet them all later at the Northbridge Swimming Baths. Chris had a shift at the baths, a summer job that he did, and he was going to take the kids with him. So Chris said that Lynette had him drive her to a bus stop about 10 minutes away, in Mona Vale, at 7am. Lyn said that she'd get the bus from there to Chatswood Shopping Centre, and then, like Hannah said, join them all for swimming at Northbridge Baths later in the afternoon.

Now, this plan that Chris lays out doesn't make a whole lot of sense because it would have been far easier for Chris to just drop Lynn off at the shopping centre on his way to the baths. Why does Lynn say that she needs to go to this bus stop ten minutes away and then get the bus from there? Now, in the Teacher's Pet podcast, Hedley Thomas makes the interesting point of why bother lying about this? Why bother lying that he dropped her off at the bus stop? And he suggests, was it because Chris had indeed gone out that morning at around 7am, perhaps to dispose of some evidence or something like that? And he thought, in case I've been spotted, I need a cover story for why I was out. It's interesting.

It's not really expanded upon, but it doesn't make a lot of sense as a story, but it's so specific about dropping her at Mona Vale bus station and she was going to the shopping centre. The shopping centre's on the way to the baths. Like, why? Yeah, it's just enough for you to, like, question it. But in any case, Chris went to the pool with the girls for the start of his shift although he did seem distracted from the

start because not only her his own children there he'd invited an old friend of his phil day to come to the baths as well he told phil who he hadn't seen or really spoken to in years that he needed some help he wanted phil's advice on his marriage. And Phil was only too happy to help Chris out, so he said he'd come by for a chat and a swim. Later on that afternoon, Helena, Lynette's mum, stopped by the baths as well, because that's where she was going to meet Lyn later.

But when Helena arrived, Chris asked her where Lyn was. He said that he thought that Lynn was with her. Also, why would he think that Lynn was with her when he knows that she was at the shopping centre and said she'd come to the baths? I mean, I guess you could say he knew they were meeting up, so did they meet up after the shopping centre and they were going to come to the baths together? I don't know. It just seems really faux. He's like, oh, Helena, where's Lynn? I thought she was with you.

Yeah. But of course, Helena had absolutely no idea where Lynn was. And then, as all of them were trying to figure out where Lynn might be, there was a call for Chris at the pool. He went into the office to take the call and he re-emerged a little bit later saying that it was Lynn on the phone. He claimed that Lynn had called to tell him that she was on the central coast with some friends and that she was Lynn on the phone. He claimed that Lynn had called to tell him that she was on the central coast with some friends

and that she was fine, but needed some time away and not to worry about her. Lynette Dawson does not strike me as a woman for one second who would do something like that without saying goodbye to her children. Absolutely fucking not. A non-starter. Now, this call is interesting because we don't know if the call actually happened.

If the call did happen, sure as fuck wasn't Lynette. Some people postulate that maybe it was Joanne making her daily call, but then would she call the Baths? I don't know. And also, there's just no proof at all that Chris even had this call. He just says, oh, there's a call for me at the office. Oh, I better go. Oh, it's Lynette. Right. Sure. So Chris, after this call happens, asked Helena to take the girls, Chanel and Sharon, home with her. And he said that he'd

come and get them after his shift. And Helena did as she was asked. But she was confused. Where was Lynne? This wasn't like her daughter at all. And why had Lynn invited her to the baths if she knew she wasn't going to be there? So a week passed with no news from Lynn until the following Saturday when Chris informed his in-laws that Lynn had called him again. And this time she said she needed more time and that she couldn't come home until she felt happy to do so. Chris claimed that he'd lost his temper on the phone with her, asking her, how much more bloody time do you need?

But that urgency from Chris seems odd, given that by this point, a week after his wife had taken off, Chris had already moved Joanne into the house. So you're telling me that he's like, Lynn, where the bloody hell are you? When are you coming home? But two days after she'd vanished and called him to say, I'm on the Central Coast with my mates,

he'd already moved Joanne in. So you're telling me that you're like, come home quick, even though I've moved this girl back in that caused the entire problems to our marriage in the beginning. What part of that makes any sense? None of it.

Thank you. And this is the bit that's like just a real real real nail in the coffin for me because chris like we said he had gone just two days before he moved joanne in but he didn't even wait a day before he went to get her because the day after lynn didn't turn up to the pool like she was supposed to. Chris drove through the night to Southwest Rocks to get Joanne, who was on holiday there with her friends. And he brought the now 17-year-old back to the house and told her that Lynn had left to join a religious cult. But Joanne clocked that all of Lynn's clothes, jewelryery and underwear were still in the house when she moved in.

He goes to get her. He drives fucking, I don't even know how long it takes to drive 300 miles, but he drives 300 miles to go and get her, leaving his kids with their grandma so he can go get Joanne. That is how urgent he is to make all of this happen. He can't even

control himself to make it look like let's wait a little while so nobody suspects us. He's like, no, I'm going to come get you now. Get in the car. And if the police had interviewed Joanne or even her friends who she'd been at Southwest Rocks with and therefore had witnessed Chris come and get Joanne the day after his wife vanished, then they would have had overwhelming evidence that Chris Dawson had absolutely no interest in finding his wife Lynn. And just like this, weeks passed. Lynn's family were beside themselves.

They phoned hospitals and women's refuges all over the state, but there was absolutely no sign of her. Her family just couldn't understand. If Lynn was okay, why hadn't she called them? I think you know why she hadn't called them. Lynn and her family were extremely close and if she had left because of Chris and the troubles in their marriage, why was she only calling Chris? This is one of the most infuriating things about this story. If you leave because your husband is a piece of shit, do you only call him to explain to him what's going on? Do you not call your mother, who you're incredibly close to?

Lynn had been planning a birthday party for her mum, but when the day came and went, Lynn didn't even call her mum to wish her a happy birthday or apologise for not being there. Lynn even had a painting of her girl's commission for Christmas, and when she didn't contact the artist after it was due, the artist got in touch with Chris, and Chris told her that the painting was no longer needed doesn't matter it's made pay for it yeah no he's just like uh she's gone and like we won't be needing that

painting so again not the sign of a man who is trying to find his wife it sounds like a man who knows that his wife is never coming home because he's moved a 17 year old into his house and he's like nah painting chuck it chuck it in the bin they're pictures of his kids never coming home because he's moved a 17-year-old into his house and he's like, nah, painting, chuck it, chuck it in the bin. They're pictures of his kids. He was hip-hop's biggest mogul, the man who redefined fame, fortune, and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Combs. Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about.

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Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery+. I'm Jake Warren, and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mom's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now exclusively on Wondery+. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti.

It read in part, Three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go. A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him. This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me, and it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider

some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding, and this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. None of it made any sense.

And absolutely nothing in Lynn's life looked like she had been planning an escape. Chris was the runner, not Lynn. She was, as far as I can tell, as far as anybody who knew her can tell, she was a rock. Lynn was responsible and she would never just disappear like this. But her family, it has to be said, also seemed to have been in complete denial. Lynn's little girls even told their grandmother, Helena, that Joanne, their babysitter, was at the house,

sleeping in Daddy's room with Daddy. And I'm like, Helena. And look, they pay the ultimate price. Their daughter is gone. I'm not here to shit on them. But it is unbelievable. But I think it's like they just can't bring themselves to face up the fact that Lynn might be dead. So yeah, everyone knew that Chris was having an affair with Joanne

but how did no one put two and two together and come up with murder? They all just ignore it. Lynn's family never even contacted her friends, her co-workers, her neighbours all people who could have told them even more about Chris and Lynn's tempestuous relationship. And look, again, I'm going to say it, I'm not here to blame Lynn's family. They were naive and they paid the ultimate price. The real question is, what the fuck were the police up to? Because Chris finally reported Lynn missing six weeks after she disappeared.

And unbelievably, the police just took his word for it, that his wife, who had previously never run away, had close ties to her family, and was a doting mother, had suddenly just disappeared one day to have some me time. The police didn't even search the house on Gilwinger Drive, or interview anybody who knew Lynn. Had they talked to the neighbour Julie, Julie would have told them about the fights and about Joanne. Had they spoken to any of Lynn's co-workers, they would have told them about the physical abuse. And as for Lynn's family, or any of these people

who later said they suspected Chris when Lynn vanished, why they didn't say anything is a total mystery. Chris himself didn't even give an official statement to New South Wales police regarding Lynn's disappearance for seven months after she vanished. And it's only thanks to one woman who did do something that we even have this statement anyway. It was given in August 1982. And also, very mysteriously, the file relating to the original non-investigation into this case had, just like Lynn, disappeared.

It's such a load of fucking bullshit. So the woman who did do something and is the only reason we have this original statement, this woman is Sue Strath. And Sue Strath is my hero. She was a colleague of Lynn's and when Lynn disappeared, Sue was suspicious.

She went to the police at the time, one of the only people who did. But they just fobbed her off, saying that it was Chris who was the real victim. After all, he'd been abandoned by his wife and left with two kids all on his own. And he's so good at rugby. Yeah. He's been left with three kids all on his own. Sue hounded the police over the years, admitting that she was frustrated that Lynn's family weren't doing what she was doing. Then, three years later, in 1985, when Sue had her own child,

the idea that Lynn would have left her girls became even more implausible for Sue. So, at this point, she reported the New South Wales Police to the police ombudsman, the public watchdog for policing. The ombudsman isn't a person, Jeremy. But person or no person, still nothing happened. By the time The Teacher's Pet podcast came out in 2018, there had been two coronial inquests into the disappearance of Lynn Dawson, and they had both ruled that her husband Chris should be put on trial for murder because he's a fucking murderer. And these inquests had never seen Chris's original statement

because it had just vanished in the file of documents that disappeared. So that's the thing. Even without this original statement, which we're going to go on to talk about, they still found him, most likely the person who had killed Lynna, and both of them recommended that there was enough evidence there, circumstant person, to get her original complaint and see what action, if any, was taken. Nothing was really done, surprise, but guess what they did have? They had the original handwritten statement signed by Chris Dawson, given seven months after his wife vanished. And that is like a real, real win. Because what's happened is when the ombudsman report is made the police clearly have to send some of their information some of the file to the ombudsman for

the investigation and they send the original handwritten signed statement that chris makes to them and then they lose the rest of the file so everybody thinks everything is gone but when sue writes the ombudsman and they send back her original complaint, it comes with the handwritten statement, which is like remarkable. And this statement shows that Chris Dawson clearly lied to the police. It also shows that his lies cover up things that make him look incredibly guilty. In the two pages of statement, Chris just lies over and over and over again. There is not one mention of Joanne, who he moved in the day after Lynn vanished. In this statement, Chris says that he and Lynette were having issues in their marriage because of Lynette's overspending. He said that they had

argued, so he had left for a few days before Christmas to be by himself. But they come back on Boxing Day because he missed his wife and kids. Absolutely not one word about Joanne or the fact that he had in fact run off with her to Queensland, but she had made him turn back and come home. The entire statement is just Chris painting himself as this hard done by husband who just wanted to make things work, but was struggling. In the statement Chris also mentions that he's being advised by a police detective from Manly and it really comes across like a subtle name drop. Like he's saying

to the police like I have friends in the police department don't fuck with me. But it also points to the larger potential issue of is this how the file went missing? Because he's not just bullshitting. There were detectives, and the detective in particular that he named Robs, in this written statement, was known to be a rugby league fanatic, and just one of the many men down at the station

who referred to Chris Dawson as Dorso. So you have to ask yourself, was everything that went wrong in this case incompetence, or was it a cover-up? Even after Sue's complaint to the ombudsman, nothing happened. Even though Sue told them about Joanne, and Chris had clearly not mentioned Joanne when speaking to police,

so why didn't that ring any alarm bells? How are you looking at this statement written by this man who doesn't mention Joanne, and then you have Sue being like, he a 16 year old fucking child that he was grooming and abusing and they're just like oh isn't it suspicious that he didn't tell us about that? They just ignore it. It's quite staggering levels of incompetence if it is or it is an outright cover-up. And the police in a very bizarre, try to blame Lynn's parents, saying that they never accused Chris either. They're not the police! Yes, they're just like, well, her parents didn't seem to suspect him.

Her parents never seemed to come and tell us that they thought Chris had killed their daughter. So why would we think that? What? Yeah, so the police, complete failure. And unfortunately, the ombudsman, complete failure as well. But we're skipping ahead a bit with this statement for now. Let's go back to the day Lynn disappeared. And remember that while this bullshit statement had been known to the original investigation team who lost the entire file on Chris Dawson, this statement was not seen by future investigators or either magistrate at the two coronial hearings. It only surfaced in 2018, thanks to the Teachers' Pet podcast and Sue Strath.

So basically, after Lynn vanished, no one was talking to anyone else. The police were just treating Lynn as a low-priority missing person, not really trying to find her at all. And it stayed like that for eight years. And during this time, Chris Dawson was certainly busy. A year after Lynn vanished, Chris managed to divorce her. And he even got Lynn's half of the house transferred to him after he convinced a judge that she had abandoned him.

Again, how has this not throwing red flags in everybody's face what lynn was just off somewhere totally unconcerned about her kids kids that she had desperately wanted for years and done things like the fucking artist picture everything points the fact that she was a loving devoted doting mother up until the day she vanished it wasn't going anywhere it wasn't going. She didn't want to sell the house. She did not want to leave. She wanted her marriage. She wanted the kids. But everybody just ignores that. But everybody's like oh yeah eight years totally unconcerned about the kids. All of her stuff that she left behind at the house. And also now she's not even bothered about the fact that

she's lost half of her share in an incredibly expensive house. It makes no sense. And then, the following year, in 1984, knowing that he now has managed to divorce Lynn, Chris Dawson married Joanne Curtis. By this point, she was 19 and he was 36. And at the end of that year, after they got married, Chris and Joanne left Bayview and moved to the Gold Coast. Chris hadn't even told Lynn's family that they were moving. They found out from a mutual family friend. Not that Chris had been allowing Lynn's parents to spend much time with the girls anyway. It's clear that Chris wanted every memory of Lynn gone from his two daughters.

And this just makes me so sad. Chris told his daughters to call Joanne mum, saying that she was their real mummy and that Lynn had just been their pretend mummy and she'd gone away because she didn't really love them anyway. Fuck. He is such a sick fuck. Yeah, that is sick. But Chris and Joanne's marriage was not a happy one. Shocker. It all started with a rather awkward and austere sounding wedding. One with no flowers. And get this.

Joanne's rings were just Lynn's old rings, resized. You can't see because it's an audio format. But I'm grimacing. It just bin, bin, bin been been. He's gross. And it gets worse because the next year Joanne had a baby. Kristen. Kristen was born on the 8th of January 1985. Exactly three years to the day that Lynette Dawson had disappeared. It's fucking mind-boggling. And while on the outside the new Dawsons may have looked perfect, they were anything but. Chris moved them to Coomber in Queensland, to an isolated house surrounded by nothing but bushland. And why had he chosen there? You guessed it, it was just a few minutes away from Paul, who had also moved house.

And while Chris wanted Joanne to play the dutiful wife, she didn't want the responsibility of all these kids. She'd later go on to say that she was angry with Lynette for leaving the children and would constantly ask Chris when she was going to come back and take them away. Joanne even told Sharon and Chanel to stop calling her mum when Kristen was born. And that pissed Chris right off. And soon his infamous temper, with no Lynette to take it out on, became a mainstay in their marriage. And I think this is another point that, because a lot of people ask the question of like, did Joanne know what Chris did?

Was she a part of the murder? I don't think so. I don't think so. I think she had her suspicions but again she has nowhere else to go she's been groomed by this man she was a child and i think she just tried there's fucking adults who are in denial about this like lynn's family of course joanne had to be in denial about it but i think she absolutely didn't have anything to do with it because i do believe her that she did say to chris all the time when is your bloody wife or ex-wife gonna come and take these kids because she didn't want it and of course it's awful it's just

so much more abuse and abandonment of these two girls Sharon and Chanel because now for her to turn around the only other mum that they've known to turn around and be like don't call me mum anymore oh it just makes me sick those poor girls Chris also kept Joanne isolated up at that house. He didn't want her making friends. Not that there was anyone around anyway. It was only when Kristen started nursery that Joanne met some of the other mums and they felt sorry for her. They could sense the tension in her relationship and thought it was weird that Joanne, who by this stage was in her early 20s, still looked like a young teenager. Chris liked her to dress simply, with no makeup,

like he wanted to keep her how she looked when they'd first met. And after six years, Joanne had had enough. And in 1990, Joanne took Kristen, left, and divorced Chris. And again, we're skirting over all of the drama in their relationship. There is physical abuse, there's emotional abuse, there's, it's everything in there. The teacher's pet goes into it in much more detail. But after she leaves Chris, Joanne goes home to Manly, and now starts telling her friends that she had no doubt in her mind that Chris had killed Lynn. Joanne felt that things were now coming full circle which is why she'd left him. Chris who was still a PE teacher had started bringing girls home to use

their family pool and this is why I say in a weird way although they're completely different personality types in so far as like in some in some ways, though not in other ways, Lynn and Joanne's lives do start to mirror each other. They do, yeah. And so yes, he starts bringing girls home, just the way he had done with her. And Joanne said that the reason she was now telling everybody her suspicions about what Chris had done to Lynette was because she needed everybody to know so that he couldn't kill her like he'd killed Lynn. Chris, of course, denied everything,

calling Joanne a manipulative liar who was just doing this out of revenge. But, thanks to Joanne, nine years after Lynette vanished, a homicide squad from Sydney paid Chris Dawson a little visit in his new Queensland house. And they put Chris on the spot, digging into how he went to get Joanne from Southwest Rocks the day after Lynn vanished and then continued to say that he wanted his wife to come home. Chris said that he was just helping Joanne out. He thought that she wanted

to come home to her mum and you're not worried about your wife who's run away or your two kids who are completely confused about where their mum is. You need to go pick up Joanne the day after your wife goes missing and again they would have had all this information if they interviewed joanne at the time they only find out about all of this because she's now telling them but joanne confirmed to police

that chris had moved her into his house and his marital bed immediately after lynn had disappeared and all of her stuff was still in the house. And she also said that Chris told her, she's gone and she's not coming back. Chris told these new investigators that Lynne had been friendly with a guy who'd been putting up a shed for them at the time. He'd given her a bunch of cultist literature. And so Chris suspected that Lynette had run off with the shed man. But at the time, he said she'd been with her friends on the central coast. And if she wanted to join a cult, why

would she leave the kids behind? Cults love kids. It's their favourite. And Chris also says now that Lyn never phoned him in the first week she was missing, even though at the time, he said that she had called him for weeks and he had been the one trying to convince her to call her mum. The investigation in 1990 was also the first time that the police took a look at the house in Bayview. But by this point, a new family had lived there for years. According to the investigators at the time, police strongly suspected homicide, but did no digging. Instead, they used ground-penetrating radar and focused on the land around the pool, thanks to a tip from Joanne, who suggested that Lynn might have been buried out there,

because the pool was apparently being built when Lynn vanished. They didn't find anything. Not that this means much at all, because something that they didn't take into account is that ground-penetrating radar only works on virgin ground. I didn't know that. I didn't know that, but yes, essentially all it's doing is detecting disturbances in the soil. Uh-huh.

And so that land had already been dug up and messed about with loads by Chris, who put in a pool, did loads of digging, put paving stones around it, and also by the new homeowners. So what were they going to find? But still, even though they hadn't found any evidence in the garden, there were so many lies and inconsistencies in Chris's interview. But for some reason, after all this, after Joanne coming forward, after them even going to the house to have a look, everything went quiet again for another seven years. Now, there are a lot of times during this case that I know you are all going to be

screaming, but why? Like, it's impossible not to feel that way when you're listening to this story. And normally, I feel like we can give an answer as to why things didn't happen but in this case I honestly don't know I don't know why the second set of investigators who were obviously serious enough that they went from Sydney to Queensland to interview this guy because of what Joanna told them they were serious enough to take a ground penetrating radar to the house on Bayview why then they just stop short and leave it again for another seven years? But for whatever reason, this homicide investigation just petered out. And the next one wouldn't start until March 99 with Detective Damien Loon at the helm. Just in case you are like me

and are bad at counting, 1999 is 17 years after Lynn went missing. Detective Loon interviewed Joanne again, and she told him that she had wanted to end the relationship. When she went to Southwest Rocks with her friends, she had ended things with Chris, but he would not stop harassing her. And she told the detective that Chris had proposed to her before Lynn even went missing. According to Joanne, after Lynn vanished, she was just brought into the house to look after his kids and to service him. And Joanne also told Detective Loon about an incident in 1982 where Chris had taken her to a random pub. She waited in the car while Chris went inside. He came back saying that he'd been in a meeting with a hitman because he wanted to kill Lynn.

But after this meeting, he had changed his mind because, quote, innocent people would be killed. Detective Loon also went back to the house in Bayview and headed straight for the pool. All the investigations seemed to focus solely on this spot because Joanne told them to. But there was tons of bushland directly behind the house on Gilwinger Drive. So where is Lynn? Who knows? Like we said at the start of last week's episode, Lynn's body has never ever been found and they only ever dig in this one specific spot. And I get it, they're following Joanne's tip but like there there's so many other places she could have been but there was something interesting that loon did find because he and his team dug up the pool area and found buried in the ground under the paving stones a pink cardigan of lynn's and it was in five pieces and had a total of 18 cuts in it.

But for some reason, after they find this fucking cardigan, they just stop digging. I can't cope. I can't cope. Like, they stopped digging even after it was confirmed by forensics that the holes in the cardigan had been created by something sharp. And the fact that they had found it in five pieces was not indicative of normal decay. Like, it had been cut up. And it had been proven to be lint. Now, as for why, the team cited budgets

as the reason for the halt to the work. And also the fact that the current owners had poured quite a lot of cement over the land in the back. But, like, that doesn't really seem good enough. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show American Scandal. We bring to light some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history. Presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our latest series, NASA embarks on an ambitious program to reinvent space exploration with the launch of its first reusable vehicle, the Space Shuttle. And in 1985,

they announced they're sending teacher Krista McAuliffe into space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, along with six other astronauts. But less than two minutes after liftoff, the Challenger explodes. And in the tragedy's aftermath, investigators uncover a series of preventable failures by NASA and its contractors that led to the disaster. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad-free and be the first to binge the newest season only on Wondery Plus. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial today. When TV producer Roy Radin was found dead in a canyon near L.A. in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death.

The last person seen with him was Lainey Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Cotton Club Murder early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Regardless, a coronial inquest was held using the evidence that Detective Loon collected. And this first inquest in 2001 concluded with magistrate recommendation that Chris Dawson should be put on trial for murder. But the DPP were like, no, I don't think so actually.

Yeah, so just to be clear, the DPP is like no I don't think so actually yeah so just to be clear the DPP is obviously the department for public prosecution so the coronial inquest and the magistrate all they can do is recommend make a recommendation of what they think having looked at all of the evidence but the DPP has ultimate final sign off on whether they want to take a case to trial or not and even though this experienced magistrate was like, you need to put this man on trial for murder, Lynette Dawson is dead. They're like, no. Yeah, the DPP claimed that the evidentiary value was insufficient to go for a murder charge. And there would be another two years before a second inquest happened.

This time, the Dawsons very much stuck together. Peter, Chris's older brother, the lawyer, defended Chris. The Dawsons said that Lynette had been seen by other people since she vanished, so therefore she just absolutely couldn't be dead. But even the husband of the woman who claimed to have seen Lynne told the court that his wife quite often made stuff up for attention. That's all they have. That's all they have to say that she was still alive. Peter Dawson, the lawyer Dawson, even tried to link Lynn's disappearance to Ivan Milat.

Which is absolutely, it's so ridiculous it's not even a joke. I don't know how he does it with a straight face. Milat was killing miles away in Belanglo National Park. And he was targeting victims way younger than Lynn. Ivan Milat is a long way away and he's very busy. So there is no evidence whatsoever that Ivan Milat was involved. But there is a lot of circumstantial evidence against Lynn's husband, Chris Dawson. I think this is one of the cases where there is the strongest amount of circumstantial evidence of any case that we've ever come across. And they're just like, nope.

So once again, in the second inquest, the coroner ruled that Lynn was dead. And the magistrate found that Chris Dawson should be put on trial for murder. But once again, the Department for Public Prosecutions refused. They now said that this was due to the sightings of Lynn, even though they were completely unfounded. Nobody who said they'd seen her could say they talked to her, could show any evidence that it was her, nothing. They also said that the lack of body was a major like inhibiting factor, despite the lack of actually looking very hard for her body which doesn't seem to be taken into account by anybody and they also said because the main testimony came from a second ex-wife

Joanne Curtis which made her testimony as far as they said unreliable because she could just be a scorned woman out for revenge so that's why they said they would not be proceeding with the prosecution. It is infuriating. Meanwhile, Chris was telling everybody who would listen that Damien Loon was just coming after him. And the reason he gives for this is just more batshit. Chris Dawson says that Damien Loon, Detective Damien Loon, was coming after him because Damien Loon and Lynn had had an affair and then Lynn had left him as

well and so Damien Loon was trying to get back at Chris. Why? That makes less than sense. And there is also not one iota of evidence. Yeah. But that doesn't seem to matter to anybody. So I don't know has anybody got the stomach for yet more fuck-uppery? Like, honestly, no. I feel sick. But we're going to have to talk about it. Because in 2007, a new head of the DPP was appointed. A man named Lloyd Babb.

And everybody suddenly had renewed hope that maybe this guy might listen and go after Chris Dawson. After all, they had two coronial inquests that they could point to saying, please look at this man. But Lloyd Babb didn't. And in 2011, it came out as to possibly why. Babb had been Chris and Paul's student years back when he had been at high school. Now, that's not his fault. He can't do anything anything about that but he didn't declare this conflict of interest for four years it's not good bab it's not good at all and the only reason i can think that he doesn't want to pursue the chris dawson case is because if he had i'm not saying he did it because i oh he loved his teacher from way back then maybe there was a bit of that but i also think it's because if he goes down that road it's going to get outed very quickly that he had been his student and maybe there would have been a conflict with him keeping that position because this was such a notorious case.

I don't know. But for whatever reason, Bab never tells anybody for four years that that is the reason. And another four years in which justice was denied. So once again, everyone on Team Lynn was back at square one. And the New South Wales DPP are notorious for not going after cases. Yeah, this wasn't the only one. Or at least they were until public pressure mounted to the point that they had no choice. And there are loads of examples of cases where they just don't do anything

until the public like start literally protesting outside their doors. Enter Hedley Thomas, the Australian, and the podcast series The Teacher's Pet. Nothing about this case moves fast. The podcast didn't air until 2018, but once episodes started to drop, the show went viral around the world, racking up millions of downloads and driving hundreds of new tips. So the DPP were finding it more and more difficult to ignore. Although they did try pretty hard,

Hedley explains, on the show, of all of the tips that they handed over, the DPP didn't follow up any of them. It makes you sick. However, as the situation reached a climax, people even saying that they would just buy the gilwinger drive house and dig up every single inch of it to see if lynn had been down there all the time the police and the dpp had no choice they had to do something and now they had all of the evidence

the leads the witnesses the teacher's pet podcast had bought to the surface, including that handwritten statement that Chris Dawson had written seven months after Lynn disappeared that made zero mention of Joanne and also contained easily provable lies about his affair. We aren't going to go into that in depth, the two-page statement that is, but Hedley Thomas does on the podcast, so go and check it out.

I think one of the best episodes is the one with the forensic linguist examining the statement, but go and find Hedley Thomas. So after Chris and Joanne divorced, he had married again for a third time. And by this point, he was living on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. And he has continued to deny any wrongdoing even after the podcast came out in 2018, saying that he still lives in hope that one day Lynette will come forward. Now, this is just so sad. Chanel, the eldest daughter, doesn't talk to her father Chris anymore. She absolutely thinks that he did kill their mum. But Sharon, the youngest daughter, still stands by her father and just blames Joanne for the whole mess. But in September 2018, after the Teacher's Pet series

released its 14th episode, New South Wales police were back again at the house on Bayview. They didn't find a body, but they didn't need one. They arrested Chris Dawson. And to be honest, I do not understand why it took so long. This is, like I said, one of the strongest circumstantial cases I think we've ever come across. And the podcast series was actually taken down in preparation for the trial, with Chris's defense calling for prosecution to be halted indefinitely, thanks to, quote, the most aggressive interference of a legal proceeding ever seen in the shape of the podcast. Like, that's literally what they go. They try, they don't even say that there's not enough evidence or anything like that. His defense

literally go take it to court and appeal saying there needs to be an indefinite halt, an indefinite stay on this prosecution because our client has been hounded by Hedley Thomas, who has unduly influenced the prosecution. And this is an unbelievable blemish on this legal proceeding. I'm like, what legal proceeding? What criminal investigation?

Nothing happened. But thankfully, this bullshit didn't work. And on Monday, the 9th of May, 2022, the trial of Chris Dawson for the murder of his wife, Lynette Dawson, began. It was a bench trial, so that's no jury, just a judge. And that's because it was decided that any jury pulled from anywhere in Australia would have been too influenced by the podcast series, so they wouldn't be impartial.

Chris, shockingly not, stuck to his guns and he pleaded not guilty. The prosecution's case was essentially this. Chris killed Lynette between Friday the 8th of January and Saturday the 9th, so sometime after her mum spoke to her and thought that she sounded sozzled. Sometime between then and the next morning. Joanne Curtis testified that when she had been staying at the Dawson's house, Chris used to put something in Lynn's drinks at night to make her go to sleep so the two of them could have sex.

So that could explain why, according to Lynn's mum, she sounded so drunk that night. And also, it brings another element to the case that we haven't really discussed before it doesn't really seem if he has been consistently poisoning lynn to have been a spur of the moment act of passion especially when you consider that chris was asking his estranged friend phil day to come to the pool to talk about his marriage yeah because like him even slipping something into lynette's drink like i don't know even just a sleeping medication when joanne is there makes sense because he wants to have the evening with joanne but she's not there she's not at the house on the 8th of january so why does he slip something in lynn's drink and then she's dead right yeah it really does seem like it was a premeditated murder

not something where he just snaps in the spur of the moment because we know he's got a temper problem. Okay, so the prosecution didn't have a body, so they couldn't present how Lynn had died or the method of disposal, which obviously, again, would have been very powerful because it would have pointed to what Chris had done. But they did put forward a powerful circumstantial

case that Chris had likely drugged his wife killed her buried her in the garden hence the cardigan that they had found and then dug the remains back up later and moved them to an unknown location although they haven't really checked the garden in that much depth so for them to say that lynn's not there is not you know certifiable i feel like this is a little bit of ass covering from them. But so far, other than that, I can get on board. And the prosecution made the case that his motive for doing this is because, like we said, he wanted it all. He wanted to be with Joanne, but he didn't want to get divorced.

He didn't want to lose the house, half his money, and also access to his girls. So during the trial, Chris's family continued to stand by him. And various people still continued to claim that they had seen Lynette after her supposed death. But, like I said before, none of these people had spoken to her, who had any evidence of what or who they said they saw. And the defence went after Joanne, saying that she was just doing this out of revenge, and that her testimony was completely tainted. And in the end, on the 30th of August 2022,

after a 10-week trial, Judge Justice Ian Harrison found Chris Dawson guilty of murdering Lynette. And he sentenced him to 24 years in prison. And considering that he was already 74 by this point and in poor health when he was eventually convicted, Chris Dawson will thankfully die in prison ultimately the judge said that his decision was based on the belief that Chris had murdered Lynette so he could pursue a relationship with a teenage Joanne and he found that her

evidence despite the claims made by the defense was not corrupted by her separation from Chris Dawson though he did disregard the whole hitman testimony part, he says that that's kind of like, I don't remember the exact terminology he uses, but he's just kind of like, we're not even going to look at that. It's completely, complete nonsense, but I believe everything else you're saying. Though I do have to say that in the Teachers' Pet podcast, Headley makes a very compelling case for this hitman theory being true. So again, we're not going to go into it. Go listen to Teachers' Pep. Judge Harrison also took issues with the calls that Chris Dawson claimed to have received from Lynn, saying the following. The only evidence that Mr.

Dawson received any calls from Lynn is from Mr. Dawson. No one apart from Mr. Dawson has ever received a phone call from Lynn Dawson since she was last spoken to on Friday, January 8th, 1982. And again, the judge pointed out that within the context of an emotional and stressful marriage breakdown, why would Lynn call him of all people and only him? Ultimately, it all boils down to the fact that Chris lies so much. There's no explanation for his lies if they weren't to conceal his crime. While it may have been more possible to disappear and start a new life back in 82,

nothing about Lynn vanishing made any sense insofar as her being alive. She had nowhere to go. She had no savings, no mental illness that has been documented. And she loved her family and her girls there is just no way that lynn would have abandoned her family she was so close to them and her daughters and i genuinely just do not think that lynn is the kind of person that would run off and of course that

much pain and that much destruction in her family for all of those decades no all of those people's lives were completely ruined and put on hold because of Lynn vanishing. She also left behind, and this is very important, all of her nursing certificates, which would have been important documents which would have enabled her to get another job. And in all the years since she vanished, Lynn has never opened a bank account,

never applied for a medical card, never filed a tax return, never travelled abroad, applied for welfare, or ever been to a doctor. She has also never sent one message to her daughters for their birthdays, for Christmases, nothing. And she didn't attend either of her parents' funerals or even say a word to her siblings, who she was incredibly close to, during those difficult times. That just wasn't

Lynette. And like she could have joined a cult and all of this might have been a result of that but there's zero evidence that that is what happened. Yeah the only thing that would make sense is she joined a cult and that's why she never speaks to anybody and that's why she doesn't need any of these things but the only mention of a cult comes from Chris. There really is no other explanation apart from the one we all think. Lynne is dead and Chris Dawson killed her. After the trial, Greg Sims, Lynne's brother, begged Chris to tell them where Lynette's body is so they can bring her home. But Chris, naturally still denying that he was anything to do with it, didn't say anything.

According to Greg, whilst justice has finally been done, the journey isn't complete. Lynn is still missing and she still needs to be brought home. Now, had we recorded this case a few months ago, that would have been the end of the story. But in June 2023, Chris Dawson was back in court, this time facing charges for the sexual abuse of Joanne Curtis, who was just 16 and a student of his when they started having sex. Because she is over the legal age of consent, but it's because he's her teacher. Yeah, exactly. So Chris claimed that he and Joanne had only started their relationship when she was 17 and no longer his pupil. That is an important distinction. But Joanne turned up at court with the receipts,

which included cards and messages that Chris had sent her, all of which fitted with her timeline of grooming and abuse. So in the end, Chris Dawson was found guilty of carnal knowledge upon a girl above the age of 10 and under the age of 17, and he will be sentenced for that crime in September. Fucking good! I know. And and also like we

kind of mentioned that but we're not going to go into detail here this blew open the can of worms of and the police investigating and looking into the other teachers who are like now grandparents in their 80s who all abused their positions of power and groomed and abused children when they were teachers at high schools. If it hadn't been for this case, none of that would have come out. So again, top marks to the Australian, top marks to Hedley Thomas and top marks to Damien Loon. Yeah. So even if you have listened to Tisha's Pet, go and listen to it again. And that sounded Mabel eating my head. And so, yes, we have kept Mabel in here for about four hours. So we double record of Lynette Dawson. But that is it, guys. That is the case of Lynette Dawson. But that is it, guys.

That is the case of Lynette Dawson. It's a really, really tragic tale. And it's just so senseless, isn't it? Because Chris Dawson, the selfish, narcissistic, self-absorbed piece of shit, did whatever he wanted to, didn't care. No one was going to get in his way. And he ruined all of these lives. Not only did he ruin Joanne's life, even though a lot of other people helped him do that.

Yes, Mabel, we are leaving. He also did he ruin Joanne's life, even though a lot of other people helped him do that. Yes, maybe we are leaving. He also destroyed the lives of his own daughters, who were completely, in the interviews you see of them, particularly Chanel, who has turned against her father. Like, she just didn't have a mum because of this man. And it's just so sad. But that's it. That's it. Well, at least he'll die in prison.

He will indeed. So that's it, guys. We'll see you next time for some other things. Bye! Harvard is the oldest and richest university in America. Thank you. We've exposed the DEI regime, and there's much more to come. This is The Harvard Plan, a special series from the Boston Globe and WNYC's On the Media. To listen, subscribe to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts. You don't believe in ghosts? I get it. Lots of people don't. I didn't either, until I came face to face with them.

Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits, and the unexplained have consumed my entire life. I'm Nadine Bailey. I've been a ghost tour guide for the past 20 years. I've taken people along with me into the shadows, uncovering the macabre tales that linger in the darkness, and inside some of the most haunted houses, hospitals, prisons, and more. Join me every week on my podcast, Haunted Canada, as we journey through terrifying and bone-chilling stories of the unexplained. Search for Haunted Canada on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.