Why this case is important to YOU!
And why YOU should also be banging on the doors of the DPP for this case to proceed to criminal court.
Police charge approximately one hundred people with Homicide every year here, in otherwise sunny Western Australia. Even though our population is comparatively modest (two and two-thirds million), that's still a very low percentage. Searching the names on the list of upcoming Supreme Court proceedings for murder, a not-too-rosy picture may be painted of this select group:
Lifelong friends enter a heated argument at their regular fishing spot, the fight escalates culminating in the murderer stabbing his mate with a samurai sword. Murderer claims self-defence - an "overreaction" - however murder charge sticks. . . Two men kill another man at a rehabilitation halfway house in Armadale, after an argument broke out. . . Violent confrontation outside a Port Hedland home, following an all-day booze bender, escalates to the victim receiving fatal injuries. . . Two men kill a convicted drug dealer in Mundaring then stuff his body in a wheelie bin, which is found elsewhere in the Perth Hills five days later. . . South Hedland woman kills her partner by running him down in her Commodore while he flees on a mobility scooter. . . Man has a psychotic episode at Queens Park train station, then kills an intellectually disabled man who was waiting for the train. . . Man kills brother then attempts to hide the scene by burning the Armadale house down, with the brother inside. . . Five drug-addled dickheads go mental at a Rockingham party that they had gate-crashed, and end up stabbing a teenager who had attempted to intervene.
It's a murderous jungle out there, WA people! But, really, it's also not. At least not for your average-Joe (or Jane) citizen, like you, when you consider the base motivations. The Detective Sergeant working on Ray and Jennie's case let me in on some simple homicide detective facts a number of years ago, with regard to murderers. He said that these incidents "usually occur due to either mental illness, drugs, money, or love". The above list certainly proves that point. So, if your day-to-day life does not encounter such instability and chaos, then the chances of you becoming a victim are less than one in millions. You'd buy a lottery ticket at worse odds than that!
What you might also notice from the list, however, is there is a distinct absence of the truly cruel, psychotic, homicidal sociopaths; those individuals that, when we close our eyes at night, or reach for the popcorn at the movies, our imagination brings to light when we think of preconceived "murderers". Our otherwise sunny state of Western Australia sees very few of these types, the most recent notable individual being Bradley Edwards, the "Claremont Serial Killer"; before him, the Birnies. Decades separate such subhumans.
Since communicating with police about Ray and Jennie's case, for many years now (openly, following their list of 'Persons of Interest' being whittled down), there has never been a doubt who was involved; but the why has always caused much confusion—the motive. Up until the inquest, I had assumed a booze-fuelled argument or such event must have kicked off around the campfire, resulting in grievous bodily harm. In hindsight, I guess that says more about me than anyone else. Now, after the coronial inquest and subsequent findings, it has become evident that a much more sinister explanation is warranted.
Which brings us to the point of this particular post: Why this case is important to YOU. And why YOU should also be banging on the doors of the DPP for this case to proceed to criminal court.
To do so, I need to talk about Ray's injuries. So, may I suggest that family and friends of Ray now move on with your day; you do not need to read this... if you do continue reading, I'd like to offer you some semblance of solace as I did to my nieces—Ray's daughters—the evening after these injuries were detailed in the coroner's court. The shock of what injuries Ray suffered had turned us all to pale-white that day, none more than his grownup children. "Have you ever broken a bone?" I asked. "No," the faintly murmured reply. Having broken quite a few over the years, I was able to offer some insight: "Trust me, your dad wouldn't have felt a thing. His body would have gone into shock on the first impact, and it would have been all over before he even knew what had happened." Small solace, granted, but that was all that could be offered then, and again here for you now.
***
It has been weeks between starting the above paragraphs and now. I even had to update the court list and murderers' rap-sheet to suit a January audience. “Procrastination is the thief of time” — Edward Young. Now, today marks two years since the inquest began. Two months since we sent a letter to the DPP. Two weeks since we upgraded our home security. Two days since I slept longer than two hours without nightmares. It seems an appropriate time to rip the scab off, and finish this. As unpleasant as it shall be. You shall soon see why.
***
The mine shaft Ray was found within is shaped like a wine decanter, with a long neck and bulbous base. The shaft is narrow and twelve metres deep (the height of a four-story building), then the base opens wide and high, the size of a fortified, cavernous room with tall ceilings and deep recesses. There is a conical mound of debris directly below the shaft, yet otherwise the floor is flat and solid. The old-timers who dug these mines did not miss a thing, as many locals have told us over the years. They dug down to the gold veins then followed them until the vein collapsed, collecting and removing every scrap of gold. And that is how this particular mine shaft came to be; it is a relic of a century past, disbanded and left open to the elements.
There is nothing of value left in it. Common knowledge to those interested in this part of the world.
Ray was found lying on his back at the bottom of this particular mine, feet shoulder width apart, his head facing toward the shaft yet his body deep within the cavern. It was not possible to see Ray unless you were around two-thirds—eight metres, or three stories—deep within the shaft yourself. When his body was exhumed, Ray was found to be wearing work boots, blue work trousers, but sans shirt. He had a pair of gloves in his pocket. His skin had decomposed to leather on sections of his body that were open to the elements; but, on the areas surrounding points of injury—broken bones—the skin and flesh had completely gone leaving only dry, broken and shattered skeleton. The man who packed Ray's body into transportable containers detailed vividly how he had managed to easily remove Ray's skull and package it separately, because there was no longer connection to the body. Ray's right arm, too, was able to be simply lifted away from his torso and separately wrapped.
An autopsy later revealed evidence of injury, bone fractures, on the left side of Ray's face, the left side of his neck, his upper back, and a break in the "left greater horn" of the hyoid bone in Ray's neck. Ray's right hand had also been severely impacted. Blood spattering was found on Ray's work boots, yet elsewhere the elements and time had removed all other indicators of the past trauma resulting in his death.
The Coroner's findings detail the facial injuries as "horizontal, vertical and oblique fracture lines" (think spider web) which were found on Ray's left cheekbone and eye socket area. They further found "comminuted fracturing" (shattered bone) and a piece of dislodged bone in an area beneath Ray's left cheekbone. With equal emphasis to the coroner’s conclusions, there were no signs of injury to Ray's teeth, nor jaw.
Ray's injuries to his neck and upper back included breakages to two vertebrae, and the head of one rib which was "disconnected" from his rib shaft. The left "greater horn" of Ray's hyoid bone was also fractured. This particular injury is most notable as the hyoid bone—located in the back of your throat, encased behind jaw and muscle—is rarely found fractured other than in specific traumas: hangings, or most commonly strangulation.
Ray's right hand injuries were described in the inquest as typically only seen in motorcycle accidents—when the immovable hand is directly impacted by an unstoppable force of steel—or blunt force impact. The metacarpal bones (the bones inside your palm) connecting to Ray’s right middle and ring finger had been completely shattered, and disintegrated into several pieces each. The forensic consultant, Specialist Hand & Wrist Surgeon, Dr. Jeff Ecker regarded these type of breakages only possible with extreme "high violence, high energy" trauma.
The coroner also noted the areas on Ray’s body where there was no evidence of injury. As detailed in the findings, they include: No evidence of injury to the wrist, arm, leg or foot bones; No evidence of injury to the pelvis; And as previously mentioned, no evidence of injury to Ray's teeth, nor jaw. This is relevant to the conclusion.
A drop of blood was found on top of Ray’s left work boot. In the sole of that same boot, blood was found high up inside his work boot lugs. It was determined by Forensic Science Consultant, Dr. Mark Reynolds, that this could only have occurred if Ray had an injury resulting in blood pouring from a standing position, then Ray taking a single step within a deep pool of his own blood. It was Dr. Reynolds who escalated the investigation to potential homicide, based on these findings with regard to the blood-spatter analysis.
Read that again. The investigation, in the early days, was not flagged to homicide by the autopsy, or based on Ray’s position, or multiple fractures; but instead escalated due to the fact that Ray had trodden into a deep pool of his own blood nearby his final resting place, by Dr. Mark Reynolds.
Dr. Reynolds stated to police that due to the quantity of blood having left his body, Ray would not have been able to move further.
Ray took one final step, nearby the position he was later found.
Those are the black and white, grim facts provided by the coronial inquest.
Following the inquest, the State Coroner, Ros Fogliani, engaged Perth’s own orthopaedic trauma specialist, Professor Rene Zellweger, to review the forensic evidence provided by those previous consultants—the autopsy report, the specialist surgeons’ findings, and the blood spatter analysis—from a holistic perspective. Professor Zellweger had decades of experience as an orthopaedic trauma surgeon in the USA, Switzerland, and Cape Town South Africa, before moving to Perth. He also worked as a trauma surgeon for the International Red Cross during the Sudan civil war, and has volunteered his services at several disaster scenes, such as the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, and the 2004 Sumatra Boxing Day tsunami, where he witnessed thousands of trauma patients and their injuries. In layman terms, for people like me, Professor Zellweger knows his shit! He has seen every skeletal injury known to man.
God I love her. And him.
Professor Zellweger ascertained, as an expert clinician, that due to the injuries sustained (including the lack thereof with regard to wrists, arms, legs, feet, pelvis, teeth, or jaw), that Ray’s death was not attributable to a fall down the mineshaft, regardless of whether Ray was alive or already deceased at the time of his potential descent. If he were alive, more fractures would be prevalent. If Ray was already deceased prior to a four-story fall down that mine shaft, similar and indeed more fractures would be expected, particularly to Ray’s arms, legs, and pelvis.
Please also remember: Ray, Jennie, and their work colleague and friend went to the Sandstone Bells Camp location—one of the most remote locations on earth—for the purposes of engaging in an elaborate, clandestine objective: abseiling down mine shafts to find gold. They had all planned and trained for it for months prior to their fateful trip. Abseiling down mine shafts is very uncommon, for reasons that need no further explanation. Not one single other “abseiling prospector” has since been identified that could possibly have been anywhere near Ray and Jennie’s camp at the time of their disappearance.
So, what does it all mean? And what does it mean for YOU?
Please allow me to colour in between the lines of Gray that have been expressed by the State Coroner, Ros Fogliani, and Perth’s own orthopaedic trauma specialist, Professor Rene Zellweger.
Ray’s injuries were multiple points of impact, yet all on the lefthand side of his skull and shoulder area; inflicted by mattock, hammer, or similar; directed at specific, targeted locations to render him immobile. The blows were not a frenzied, random attack. All the strikes to Ray’s skull and spine were calculated, wilful, and delivered with intent: "High violence, high energy" attacks to his central nervous system. There is not a single indicator of motive to suggest that Ray was murdered due to someone’s mental illness, or addiction to drugs, money, or love. These were not temporaneous, circumstantial, affectional acts; these were instead the measures of a truly cruel, psychotic, homicidal sociopath.
Ray somehow, at one moment in time, managed to raise his right hand—his dominant side, in defence of the attack to his left side—to attempt deflect a single blow, instead causing his palm to disintegrate. Ray took one final step into a pool of his own blood before falling to the ground. Afterward, he was strangled, then moved out of view from the shaft above.
It is likely that Jennie also met a similar fate, later and elsewhere.
Whoever delivered these blows, and covered their tracks, knew exactly what they were doing. Such was the focus, that someone has potentially done something similar before. And therefore that someone could easily do so again.
The person responsible for these extreme violent actions is freely walking the streets of Western Australia. Locked in due to the ‘rona, but not locked up.
Do you also feel that such a man should be behind bars, in the interests of public safety? Do you believe it should be deemed negligent to the broader community if a person capable of such acts is not prosecuted? If so, I ask you to please join me in banging on the doors of the DPP, for this case to proceed to criminal court. Their contact details are provided in this link.
Thank you.
Someone much smarter than I just suggested that an email template, for sending the DPP your comment, could be provided. I think it’s a great idea, but I’m also hesitant to do so because we don’t want the DPP potentially receiving ctrl-c / ctrl-v emails.
It feels like it needs to be more personal… like, “pull your f%#*£g finger out and charge the f$#%er, for f$+<k sake!” Natural stuff like that, where it just rolls off the tongue - you know?
If you’ve considered sending your concerns to the DPP and unsure how to word it, this is a perfect basis - sent by a trusted friend:
I have just written to the DPP as a concerned Western Australian citizen stating my interest in the case, the coronial findings, person of interest etc. I have asked them to please reconsider and proceed to criminal court so that Ray's murderer can be dealt with accordingly. Knowing that the person responsible for his death is walking our street's freely is a great worry.
Three people went to the gold fields, and only one came home. It is not hard too figure out who was responsible.Ray was found down a sharft, what did he do to poor Jenny. That man should be in prison