Killer tried to clean-up after murders

Kapunda triple murder

Forensic police at the Rowe house in Kapunda. Picture: Chris Mangan
Source: AdelaideNow




JUST after 1am on November 8, 2010, Rose Rowe screamed “help” three times.


That desperate sound was followed by the noise of someone falling to the floor and, five seconds later, the screams of her husband, Andrew. After that, the house was silent until the bodies of the couple and their daughter, Chantelle, were found by family members  and the screaming began again.

Yesterday, Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Pallaras, QC, outlined all that is known about the final hours of the Rowe family and the movements of their killer, Jason Alexander Downie.

“It’s no exaggeration to say (the house) was covered in blood,” he said.

Mr Pallaras said Downie climbed into the Harriet St home through a bathroom window. He attacked Chantelle in her room, stabbing her at least 33 times while sexually assaulting her.

Downie then stripped the girl of her torn, blood-stained clothing and re-dressed her.

It was, Mr Pallaras said, one of several “clean-up attempts” that the killer would make.

Andrew Rowe’s body was found at the end of the kitchen bench  he had been “stabbed, slashed and cut” 29 times.

Forensic examiners confirmed Downie had used a mop on the blood around the beloved father.

Rose Rowe was found just metres from her husband, in the living room.

She was stabbed at least 50 times in two separate attacks  one before Downie cleaned up, and one after.

Mr Pallaras said it seemed, from the evidence, she had been crawling “on her hands and knees”.

 

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