New evidence emerges in third inquest into Atherton murder-suicide

Vicki Arnold and Julie-Anne Leahy

INQUEST: Vicki Arnold and Julie-Anne Leahy.
Source: The Courier-Mail




SENSATIONAL new evidence of a kill theory has emerged in the third inquest into Atherton’s notorious murder-suicide 20 years ago.


Retired senior constable Willem Hendrikse has today revealed for the first time that he and the lead detective believed there was third party involvement but were told by senior police to “toe the line” because of budgetary constraints.

Best friends Vicki Arnold and Julie-Anne Leahy were found dead in a 4WD on a disused bush track, 16km south of Atherton, two weeks after they were reported missing on a midnight fishing trip in July 1991.

“Within 20 minutes they (senior police) decided it was a murder-suicide,” Mr Hendrikse told the inquest in Cairns today.

“But there was too many things that did not gel.”

Leahy had been shot twice, her throat cut, strangled by the seatbelt and bashed with a rock the size of a grapefruit.

Her friend Arnold was found slumped in the passenger seat with a gunshot to the thigh, through the jaw, and fatally to the back of the head.

Mr Hendrikse said he never came forward to reveal his killer theory – despite two inquests and six reviews in 20 years of public disquiet – because he had been warned to keep quiet by senior officers.

He said he believed the killer was in a romantic relationship with Arnold and sitting in the back seat of the vehicle but “double-crossed” them and killed both women before fleeing the scene.

The inquest has heard the investigation was tainted and almost any trace of forensic and physical evidence destroyed by the decision to rule it a murder-suicide and remove the bodies and vehicle from the murder scene the night of the discovery.

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