July 22, 2026
Chapter 148: The Crime That Changed Brisbane-The Murder of Betty Shanks
Key Takeaways
- In September 1952, the brutal murder of 22-year-old Betty Shanks in Wilston, Brisbane, shattered the community's long-held perception of safety and innocence.
- Despite an extensive investigation, massive manhunts, and numerous theories regarding the Betty Shanks murder, the perpetrator was never definitively identified, making it one of Australia's most haunting cold cases.
- Betty Shanks was a bright, dedicated young woman who balanced her university studies, work at the Commonwealth Department of Interior, and financial support for her family.
- Evidence at the crime scene indicated Betty was strangled and sustained severe injuries consistent with being repeatedly kicked, yet no definitive motive—such as sexual assault or robbery—was ever firmly established.
In September 1952, Betty Shanks left work in Brisbane, Australia, and began the journey home.She never made it.What followed was one of Brisbane’s most disturbing and enduring unsolved murder cases. Betty was found brutally murdered, and despite an extensive investigation, numerous theories, and decades of speculation, the person responsible was never definitively identified. Was her murder a random attack, or did the killer know more about her movements than investigators ever realized? More than 70 years later, Betty’s murder remains one of Australia’s most haunting cold cases.
If there’s anyone out there that could have any information regarding the murder of Betty shanks, you can contact crime stoppers at 1800 333 000.
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57 days of torture for murdered girl’s parents. (1952, November 16). Truth, 5.
Admin, J. (2020, August 6). Unsolved murder of Betty Shanks - 60th anniversary. State Library of Queensland.
Betty Shanks murder recalled. (1953, July 31). The Evening Advocate, 1.
Clear another man in Wilston murder case. (1952, October 11). The Courier-Mail, 1
Coates, W. (1953, February 8). Betty Shanks’ mother to speak. The Sunday Mail.
Jones, C. (2024, September 18). The murder of Betty Shanks has haunted Brisbane for decades. After 72 years, it still remains unsolved. ABC News.
Lloyd, P., & Coates, W. (1952, September 21). Murder manhunt goes on all night. The Sunday Mail, 1–2.
Man with blood on his face hired cab, coroner told. (1953, February 11). The Courier-Mail, 3.
Moore, T. (2012, September 20). Betty Shanks: An enduring mystery. Brisbane Times.
More clues in Wilston check. (1952, October 23). The Courier-Mail, 1.
No tougher murder case. (1952, October 5). The Sunday Mail, 2.
Our Police Roundsman. (1952, October 18). Life that slayer destroyed was a happy one. Brisbane Telegraph, 18.
Polic expect arrest in sex murders. (1952, December 30). Warwick Daily News, 1.
Police describe man sought in murder inquiry. (1952, December 29). The Sun, 2.
Police make murder appeal. (1952, September 22). The Courier-Mail, 1.
Police tell of wide Wilston death check. (1953, February 27). The Courier-Mail, 5.
Queensland Police Service. (2026, January 7). FROM THE VAULT- UNSOLVED The Murder of Betty Shanks – September 19, 1952. Museum.
Search dead man’s past for clues to 3 murders. (1953, October 4). The Sunday Mail, 3.
Shanks Murder Turn. (1952, December 1). Brisbane Telegraph, 1.
Two murder leads new turn in probes. (1952, December 28). Truth, 1.
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Stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Betty Shanks murder happen?
Betty Shanks was murdered on the night of September 19, 1952, after getting off a tram on her way home in the Brisbane suburb of Wilston.
Has the Betty Shanks murder ever been solved?
No, despite decades of speculation, extensive police investigations, and numerous theories, the Betty Shanks murder remains officially unsolved after more than 70 years.
Where can I submit information regarding the Betty Shanks murder?
Anyone with information regarding the cold case can contact Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000.
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In the shadows of headlines and buried police reports lay
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the voices of the missing, the murdered, and the forgotten,
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Hello, Hello, Welcome to the next chapter in the Book
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of the Dead. Almost seventy five years ago, in September
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of nineteen fifty two, the brutal murder of a young
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woman devastated the community of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It
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was a quiet evening just before ten pm when two
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screams rang out in the quiet suburb of Wilston. As
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lights went on, Curious neighbors peered out their windows, but
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assuming it was some rowdy children, the residents of Thomas
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Street drew their curtains and headed to bed. Hours later,
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after the young woman is reported missing, an off duty
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police constable opened his front door to get the morning
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paper and he walked right into a crime scene. As
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the police exhausted all avenues to find her killer, the
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question on everyone's mind was who would commit such a
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horrific crime and why this is the murdyr of Betty Shanks.
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Before we get into the case, its important to acknowledge
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that the murder of Betty Shanks was pivotal in altering
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how Brisbane was perceived after decades of being considered a
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city more akin to a quote big country town than
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anything else. Heading towards the tail end of the Korean War,
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which ended in nineteen fifty three, you must remember that
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this was a different time. Brisbane had very few violent
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crimes to speak of, and it was an era where
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women could safely walk around at night alone. However, nineteen
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fifty two was the beginning of a change in Brisbane.
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While Betty Shanks's murder shattered the idea that nothing bad
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ever happened in Brisbane, her case was not the first
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that year, though it was the most violent. Three months
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before the murder, a taxi driver was killed in South Brisbane,
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and during the police's investigation, they also uncovered a report
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of a seventeen year old girl who had been lured
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into a vehicle by a soldier driving an army car.
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According to an article for The Brisbane Times, Ken Blanche,
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a former police reporter, said of the incident, quote, a
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girl complained that a soldier driving an army car inveigals
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her into the car and told her that he would
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drive her home because he knew a friend of hers,
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and proceeded to drive her in the opposite direction. She
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escaped from the car and reported it to the police.
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Investigators tracked the soldier down at his platoon on Peel Street,
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South Brisbane, and they questioned him about what happened. However,
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according to ken Blanche, there were discrepancies around the time
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and date of the incident, so they let the man
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go quote but in their report they suggested that a
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copy of their investigation be filed with the Modus apperandi
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section of the CIB or the Criminal Investigation Branch, because
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they believed this soldier would commit a sex offense using
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an army vehicle at some time in the future. I'm
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telling you about this particular incident because it's relevant later.
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But while these two cases, the attempted louring of the
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teenage girl and the murder of the taxi driver, while
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serious and scary for the community to reckon with, nothing
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compared to the brutality of Betty's murder. When someone perceived
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as an overall good person is killed in such a way,
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it changes the way a community sees itself. In this case,
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in an area that for the most part was considered safe,
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residents realized that they were not immune to the violence
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and dangers seen in other places. Betty Thompson Shanks was
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born on October two, nineteen twenty nine, to Ivy and
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David Shanks in Brisbane, Australia. The family lived in a
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home on Montpellier Street in Wilston, and she was the
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first of two children. A little brother named Alan would
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be born a few years later. Growing up, Betty was
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very close with her family. Her mother told The Sunday
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Truth quote, she was all every mother could wish for
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a daughter. We were a real team. Everything we did
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we did together. I know of no enemies of Betty's.
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She was the type of girl everybody loved. Betty growing up,
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enjoyed going to the movies with her friends, and she
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was described as very bright as well as beautiful. She
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also loved the arts. Her father told the Brisbane Telegraph quote,
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Betty loved painting and classical music. Her favorite pictures were
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classical ballet scenes. Her favorite composition was the Joy's piece
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of music, Beethoven's six Symphony. Nothing gave her greater pleasure
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than to sit around her radiogram with her mother and
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myself and play records. Her other great love in life
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was literature. While the family was very happy and spent
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a lot of time together, they did suffer hardships. David
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Schank served in the First World War and was gravely injured,
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losing a leg as a result. While he would recover,
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reports of the time implied that this injury prevented him
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from being able to work. So as Betty got older,
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she looked at ways she could help support her family.
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She attended school at the Brisbane Girls Grammar School, where
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after finishing high school, she went on to attend the
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University of Queensland, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree.
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Upon finishing her schooling, she graduated early after three years.
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She started as a research student in experimental psychology. However,
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according to the Brisbane Telegraph, she felt that the class
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wasn't taught very well and she disagreed with her professor,
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which she told him, and only completed one of the
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required two years after, she took some time off of
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school before applying for work, and she got a job
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as a clerk working for the Commonwealth Department of Interior.
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Even though she had disagreed with her former professor, she
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was very serious about furthering her studies and she decided
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to again attend classes and lectures in the evenings as
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a research fellow in psychology. Given the time period, this
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drive to learn and her admirable work ethic was a
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bit of an anomaly. Many women Betty's age, while working,
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not the sole breadwinners of the family like she was,
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and many women her age in their early twenties were
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beginning to think about marriage and starting families. According to ABC,
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no one in Betty's life at the time recalled her
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dating anyone. She was more than content focusing her energy
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at that point in her work and her studies. Nineteen
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fifty two was shaping up to be a very good
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year for Betty Shanks. That April and Betty won first
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prize in a lottery drawing, receiving three thousand pounds or
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around a quarter of a million dollars in today's money,
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and her name even appeared in the paper. According to ABC,
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she used the money not on herself, but to improve
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the family home and help out her parents, as was
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her nature. She had the house repainted, purchased new furniture
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for her mother, and contributed to the mortgage. On the
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morning of September nineteenth, nineteen fifty two, Ivy Shanks said
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goodbye to her twenty two year old daughter, as Betty
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headed off to work at her usual time. After her
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work was finished, Betty headed to a university lecture being
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held at the Commercial High School, being given by night
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school teacher Edwin Millikan. Mister Millikan, at the conclusion of
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the lecture, drove Betty and two other students, Raymond Fredericks
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and Neil McCrystal, to the Grange tram line turnoff on
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Litwich Road, Windsor, just before nine pm. According to an
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article for The Sunday Mail, Edwin said that he had
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driven Betty and other students home twice a week for
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the last eighteen months. Betty got on the tram that
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would take her to her neighborhood, and when she got
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off at nine thirty two, she headed down Thomas Street,
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just four blocks away from her home on Montpellier Street.
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At one thirty am, when his daughter still had not
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returned home from her lesson, David Shanks called Edwin Millikan
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and asked where she was. Confused, Edwin explained that he
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had dropped Betty off at the tram hours ago, shortly
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she should have made it back by Now. Alarmed, David
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called the police and reported Betty missing. In the early
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dawn hours of Saturday, September twentieth. Police searched for any
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sign of Betty for four hours with no luck, but
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answers were much closer than they would believe. As investigators
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passed through Thomas Street traffic, Constable Alex Stewart was getting
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up to start his day. The evening before had been
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a bit strange. He had heard what sounded like screams
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coming from outside at around nine forty pm, but when
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he stepped outside, he hadn't seen anything suspicious, neither had
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others on the street who had heard similar sounds. At
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five thirty am, Alex Stewart opened his front door to
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collect the morning paper and spotted just twenty feet away
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on his neighbor's lawn the body of a young woman.
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She was almost fully clothed, wearing a red coat, a
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white blouse, a dark skirt with stockings, and dark shoes,
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and she had a pair of gloves with her. Some
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of her undergarments were found beside her, and the contents
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of her purse had been scattered on the lawn. Though
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covered in countless wounds along her face, the identity of
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the woman was very quickly figured out as investigators walked
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down Thomas Street looking for her, Betty was just out
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of sight, only five hundred yards from her front steps.
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Betty's murder was particularly horrifying for the police to investigate
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due to the evidence of sheer brutality present on her body.
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At the news of the body being discovered, Brisbane CIB
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Chief Inspector J. E. Donovan gathered all available resources to
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investigate the murder, and according to the Sunday Mail, more
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than twenty detectives were summoned to the scene to collect
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all evidence to help find Betty's killer. As they combed
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through the scene, a picture quickly started to come together.
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A bloody tram ticket was found near the body, and
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police were able to trace her movements from the train
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to where the initial attack was thought to have occurred,
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on a darkened patch of sidewalk under a flowering bohemia tree.
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Horrifyingly enough, this spot was within sight of Betty's home,
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and there was blood spattered on the pavement as well
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as the fence and lawn where Betty was found, leading
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investigators to believe that while the initial attack had occurred
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under the tree, Betty had been dragged to the lawn
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likely in an attempt for the killer to conceal what
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was happening. According to an article for The Sunday Mail,
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the cause of death was strangulation and she had all
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sustained extensive injuries to her face, head and body, causing
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a broken jaw. These injuries were believed to have come
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from being repeatedly kicked as shoe polished, and would seem
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to be a shoe's tried pattern had been found in
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the body. One of the first police reporters on the scene,
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Ken Blanche, would later tell The Brisbane Times that police
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theorized Betty had died at or around nine fifty two pm,
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twenty one minutes after leaving the tram, as that was
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when her goldwatch had stopped. Police canvassed the area in
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an intensive manhunt for twenty hours, attempting to find the
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person responsible. Leave for police was canceled and officers patrolled
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the city certain that they would find their killers. Some
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were covered in blood. They questioned anyone they thought to
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be suspicious, including those in homeless camps or sleeping in
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railway cars, but no one was arrested or detained at
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any point. Men at the nearby races were also questioned,
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and they even tracked on a former patient of the
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nearby Goodnmntal institution who apparently lived in the area. Though
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countless people were stopped and spoken to, and those that
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heard Betty's screams had their statements taken, nothing abuse came
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from any of it. Adding another layer of frustration for
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police was the fact that a motive wasn't clearly obvious.
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Though the undergarments being found near Betty's body suggested a
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sexual motivation for the crime, medical exacts found no evidence
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of sexual assault, and while her wallet seemed to be missing,
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it was unknown how much money she had with her
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and if robbery was a possible motive or something the
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killer had taken advantage of in the moment. None of
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Betty's jewelry had been taken either. According to Betty's friends
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and family, she had no enemies, she was well legged
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in her classes and at work, and she had no
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boyfriend to speak of. Police couldn't tell if this was
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a crime of opportunity or if the killer was known
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to her. All they knew was that it was possible
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that she had met her killer coming off the train,
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since it should have taken Betty just minutes to walk
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down Thomas Street, and it was confirmed that she hadn't
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gone into any shops nearby. According to an article for
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The Sunday Mail, an unknown mail believed to be in
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his thirties or forties, had been seen near the tram
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at the time Betty got off, but no one saw
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them together nor could they identify him. Additionally, another woman
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who rode the tram with Betty had walked away on
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harm and told police she never heard Betty walk behind
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her as she should have, so why was Betty the
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