Correction: A print version of this story published in Woman’s Day incorrectly reported that Donna moved into the McQueen home after Rosslyn Truman’s death. In fact, Donna never moved into the home and Ray McQueen denies ever asking her to move in.
The circumstances of the two cases are “eerily similar”, admits Hedley Thomas of his new podcast and his first and most famous, The Teacher’s Pet. And the journalist’s reasons for investigating come from the same place.
“These cases will be forgotten forever if we don’t try to do something,” he says.
In both, an older, married man allegedly pursues a teenage babysitter after his wife’s death.
But while Chris Dawson is now serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, Lynette Simms, whose remains have never been found, Rosslyn Truman’s death has never been explained.
And no one has ever been found guilty.
SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
Rosslyn and her unborn child died after ingesting a massive dose of strychnine poison on April 1, 1986.
Living in a rural community just outside Bendigo, Victoria, she was found dead by a neighbour with her two-year-old daughter Jodie nearby and alive.
Her husband Ray McQueen had telephoned the neighbour and asked him to check on his pregnant wife.
Because of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the 30-year-old’s death, it was referred to the coroner.
Ray was arrested by the homicide squad three months later and charged.
At the time, as with now, he has always strongly denied any wrongdoing and has never been convicted of anything.
A year later, Coroner Geoffrey Hoare heard from witnesses who alleged Ray, 34, had been infatuated with a 16-year-old called Donna, a local troubled teenager, whose family was known to him.
In April 1987, the coroner’s finding was that Rosslyn’s husband had “maliciously administered” strychnine to his wife.
When approached by The Australian recently, Ray strongly denied killing Rosslyn, saying emphatically, “No I did not.”
He also denied having a relationship with Donna.
“I don’t recall ever kissing her,” he said.
Donna, now in her 50s, has opened up in the podcast about her “guilt” over what happened four decades ago.
“I was a 16-year-old girl who had a crush on an older married man, who asked me to go into a physical relationship and to share a home with him, which scared me to death,” she tells the podcast.
For some time, Donna was also considered a suspect in Rosslyn’s death by police, which she strongly denies.
“I’ve had a lot of years to think about it [and] a lot of years of guilt, a lot of years of self analysing as to what type of person I was back then and what part I played.
“Even though I know I was young and naive, it’s still really hard. You feel guilt, ashamed and embarrassed,” she says.
Donna hopes speaking out now will put things right, explaining she “made a promise to Ros on her grave” to help get justice for her.
Hedley was first made aware of Rosslyn’s death when, four years ago, a suitcase stuffed full of documents arrived at his office, sent by retired private investigator Rex Bakes.
The 78-year-old had originally been employed by Ray’s legal team to help investigate Rosslyn’s death and gather witness statements.
Over the years, he remained preoccupied by the case and after a health scare decided to reach out to Hedley in the hope The Australian’s national chief correspondent would help finish the job.
“Rex had been toiling on this case for many years and it became a personal mission until he thought, ‘I can’t go on with this any more,’” says Hedley.
“I started reading what was in the case and I was intrigued.”
CASES SOLVED
In 1988, the criminal trial against Ray was abandoned when Justice Gobo found that evidence provided by the prosecution was prejudicial and had to be excluded.
So if the case wasn’t able to be proven by law nearly 30 years ago, why does Hedley think he can uncover the truth about what happened to Rosslyn now?
“Victims and their loved ones deserve to have their cases solved,” he says.
“And with this deep dive investigative format, they do have a chance to be moved forward.
“I was just contacted by one of Ros’ best friends who had never given up on the case, who we were having trouble finding. This is what these investigations achieve. They draw people out.”
The Poisoned Wife podcast series is out now.
