Enigma of the Dark - The Claremont Serial Killings case: The bodies of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon

As judgement day looms for the accused Claremont serial killer, Tim Clarke explores the horror and grief of the victims’ families and a whole city in the first extract from his new book, Enigma of the Dark Chapter 4 – Goodbyes Ciara and Jane, united in death — and in the brutal manner in which they had died. And Perth united in grief. A city on first-name terms with three young women — two of them they now knew had been callously killed and heartlessly dumped where their killer thought they would never be found. And for those who had been searching for Sarah for more than a year — and were now hunting for Jane and Ciara’s killer — the similarities between the murders were horrifyingly apparent. Particularly to Dr Karin Margolius. As the first female forensic pathologist ever to be appointed in WA, Dr Margolius was used to working closely with death. She would perform more than 400 autopsies in a year — averaging more than a body a day. She had given her opinion in countless courtrooms since arriving to work in Australia from South Africa in 1988. And while she was well acquainted with the horrors that humans could inflict on each other, she was also admired for never forgetting the human grieving and loss which stemmed from those tragedies. She didn’t forget it while she was at Wellard, examining the wooded canopy enveloping Jane Rimmer’s body. And she didn’t forget it when she stepped out in her white gumboots into the sandy resting place of Ciara Glennon. What she observed at both scenes — and at the post-mortem examinations which followed those grim discoveries — confirmed the assumption police had been working on for months One man was responsible for both crimes. ------------- By the time Dr Margolius got to Wellard on that overcast Sunday in June 1996, it was already almost twilight. The area was a frenzy of activity, with some police blocking off the road at either end, and others milling around the spot where Jane had lain for all those days and nights. Video camera operator Michael Teraci was filming the whole scene. And one of the other officers there was Detective Constable Vicky Young. “There was obviously vegetation around the body. I distinctly remember what I call death lilies growing in the area. The rest were trees; shrubby sort of trees,” she remembered. “It was obvious the body was decomposed significantly. And it was obvious it was naked. “And I remember assuming it was female and that we were looking at possibly Sarah or Jane. I remember distinctly being able to see buttocks, and shrubbery being placed over her to hide her,” Detective Constable Young said. As she stepped off the road and into the bush, Dr Margolius observed Jane’s body naked, lying almost facedown slightly on her left side with her head directly away from the road and bare feet pointing towards the limestone gravel. It lay under a dense covering of trees, with brown twigs and dead branches laid over the back of her torso, most of her legs, her arm and her head. Those parts of her body not covered had attracted animals. All of her body was badly decomposed. It took almost two hours for Dr Margolius and her assembled forensic colleagues to be in a position to begin gently removing the branches covering Jane’s body. And as they were removed and then bagged, one by one, those performing the solemn task noted a particular pattern — layers, often in alternating directions, branch first, followed by foliage then branch again. By 7 pm, with the scene artificially lit, the branches had been removed and Jane’s head and hair were visible for the first time. It was time to move the body and begin Jane’s final journey. As she was lifted, carefully placed on to a tarpaulin and carried out of the bushland and on to the road, another distinct characteristic stood out to Detective Young. “We had two families on hold that night wanting to know if it was their daughter. The duty that night was to do identification,” she remembered. “We could clearly see a belly button ring, that I had known was a piece of jewellery that Jane had worn, and from that it was an indication that we had located Jane.” That identification was officially confirmed the next morning by Jane’s dentist. Then the post-mortem examination began — with the parts of Jane’s body that were missing the first to be noted. Dr Margolius immediately concluded that animal predation — and not a human predator — had taken the toes from her left foot and the fingers from her right hand. Degradation to her right rear shoulder and left lower leg, from thigh to ankle, was also concluded to be where animals had done more damage. The main focus, though, was Jane’s neck. “There was a significant wound or missing flesh in that area, which of course was of interest,” Detective Young recalled. That interest led Dr Margolius to a jarring observation — a 17cm by 10cm wide wound across the front and side of Jane’s neck, following the top of the collarbones and the upper edges of the jaw. The edges of the wound were raw, jagged — which suggested a cutting or sawing action from a weapon with a blade. But the absence of her hyoid bone meant it was impossible for Dr Margolius to tell if Jane had been strangled. And decomposition was so advanced that an absolute cause of death could also not be put on the record — but she could not rule out a fatal neck injury. What Dr Margolius did think she could be sure of was how Jane was positioned into that bush cocoon — and that she had tried to defend herself before she died. Jane’s left arm pointed straight up from her body — consistent with her being dragged into her final resting place before rigor mortis set in. And her hand was bent back at an acute angle from the wrist, because the tendons had been sliced — a typical injury for someone trying to fend off an attacker wielding a knife. One final indignity was that decomposition meant Jane’s hair — cut just hours before her death — was matted and clogged with vegetation, and coming away from her scalp. Dr Margolius was determined to restore some of that dignity for Jane’s family with one of her final acts of the post-mortem examination. “Dr Margolius took a clump of Jane’s hair, washed it in the trough and had given it to me at the end of the post-mortem,” Detective Young said. “I took that piece of hair home, shampooed it, brushed it, placed a lacky band around it and placed it into the gift box to go to the family — so they had a memory of Jane.” ------------- As shocking, confronting and horrifying as the discovery of Jane’s body was for her family, friends and a fearful Perth, it was a breakthrough for the Macro detectives — and they admitted as much. It gave them a time and potential place of Jane’s death, it gave them the record of her gruesome injuries — showing them the likely manner of her demise — and it gave them more chance of finding a physical link with her killer. If that person had left anything behind. “As traumatic and disturbing as the recovery is, this has given us an insight into the personality of the person we are looking for,” Detective Paul Ferguson told reporters. “There has been an enormous amount of information gleaned from the crime scene and Jane. That is giving us a lot to work on.” It also gave them a place to look for the missing items from her body — her clothes, her bag, some of her jewellery. And it also gave them somewhere to look for Sarah. Having spent months following hunches, tips, and false hope, police hit Wellard hard. Chainsaws came out to clear dense bush. Dozens of police and new recruits scoured the area, including the nearby railway and farms. Claude Minisini, a specialist crime profiler, who had been flown in from Victoria as an expert consultant to the Macro taskforce, was allowed to view the scene. A swamp was even drained. “Obviously, Sarah hadn’t been located then, so that was a major interest,” Detective Robert Kays later said. “With the utmost respect for the Spiers family, I don’t think we would have located a body. We were looking for a pelvic bone, maybe a skull, teeth. “Jane’s clothing had been removed so those items were of interest as well. We looked hard but found nothing.” Meanwhile, Jane’s family was desperately searching for anything positive, anything to cling to which might help them through. Trevor refused to let his grief turn to anger. “We are thankful for the 23 years that we did have with Jane and whoever did this to her can’t take that away,” he said. “I no longer wish any vengeance. I just have sympathy towards them. “Hopefully there is a higher place up there that is a little bit more bubbly for her being there. “The last two months have been pretty horrific but (the family) has grieved together and I guess we will continue to do so. Life must go on. There is relief from that aspect, but we will always have that scar. “At least we know now, and we can put Jane’s body to rest.” They did that at Karrakatta Cemetery a week after her body was discovered, with the grief still raw. As the mourners filed out of the chapel, the plaintive voice of Gina Jeffreys struck up, singing one of Jane’s favourite songs — “Distant Star”. Now the time has come to say goodbye I can’t believe it’s true Life is so unfair for taking one As beautiful as you But you will always be my guiding light The twinkle in my eye When I need to be with you I’ll look up the sky For you’re my not so distant star. I’ll be near you, wherever you are You’re my not so distant star I’ll look up every night, and see you are not so far away. The plaque on Jane’s modest grave echoed the sentiment. “Our distant star — forever in our hearts”. ------------- Every Saturday morning, Trevor would go to Jane’s graveside, to see his little girl. “I make the ground nice and neat and I take her fresh flowers,” he said. “Others won’t do that, but I find it helps me. I really think it helps me cope and that way I can see her all the time, I can see her every weekend.” Those Saturdays began to pile up as the hunt for her killer seemed to stall. In October 1996, four months after the Macro taskforce was formed, Detective David Caporn admitted their initial confidence had morphed into “a steely resolve and determination” as the months dragged on. And then, as hope began to feel lost, Ciara was found. Like she had seven months before, Dr Margolius was called in to lead the massive forensic operation which immediately sprang up around the newly discovered body that would later be identified as Ciara. And the similarities between the final resting places of Ciara and Jane — even to the most untrained of eyes — were obvious. Both were in secluded locations, in thick bush within a couple of kilometres of a major road and about 30 minutes’ drive from the heart of Perth. Both were in areas with just a handful of houses within earshot. Both were placed close to roads — but not close enough that they could be easily found. And as soon as Dr Margolius began her examination, she identified other aspects which were too similar to be coincidental. Branches and vegetation had been placed over Ciara’s body, torn from nearby trees and shrubs. Her body was positioned almost in a mirror image to that of Jane’s. Ciara was lying semi-prone and slightly on her right side, so her right shoulder, her right arm, and her right neck area were close to the ground, protected compared to her left side. Her right forearm was under her body at the level of her waist. Unlike Jane, Ciara still had clothes on. But, when the neck of her flower-patterned T-shirt was pulled away, there were more shocking echoes of Jane’s remains’. A huge wound, extending from the right side of the neck across the back of her head, on to the left side of her neck was immediately evident. The wound gaped and joined up to another vertical cut at the back of the head. The wound was so big that Ciara’s vertebrae, right shoulder blade and the top of her ribs could be seen. It was obvious the wounds had been inflicted with a knife. And it was clear that Ciara had also tried to fight back — or at least fight off her killer. Mirroring Jane, Ciara’s upper and lower right arm showed a large cut, exposing muscles and tendons. And there was also a dent in the back of her skull, just over a centimetre long by half a centimetre wide. The apparent blood pool underneath her showed she had still been bleeding when she was placed in the sand — meaning the fatal wounds had been inflicted there, or very close by. And, again like Jane, Ciara’s hair — the feature almost all those witnesses in Claremont noticed and mentioned — was tangled and full of vegetation. Like Jane, she even had a navel ring. And there was one more little feature. Two of Ciara’s nails — beautifully manicured in time for Denise’s wedding — had been broken. The left thumbnail, in particular, was torn away almost completely. “The left thumbnail is severely damaged. A major portion of the tip of the thumbnail is broken and a residual small fragment of the nail tip is present on the outer surface of the nail,” Dr Margolius later recorded. “In my opinion the damage … is recent to the time of death because the damage looks fresh. “The edges are irregular, shredded, torn, disrupted, not rounded, and inconsistent to the remaining nails.” As Dr Margolius made these delicate initial examinations, treading carefully through the Eglinton sand in her white gumboots, she was being watched. The news of Ciara’s body being discovered had sparked a media frenzy, with the initial police radio communications intercepted and pounced on instantly. The first news crew was at the sandy outcrop within an hour. By then, two cordons had already been set up to deter prying eyes. At least one camera crew took a hike to try to get close to the two Australian grass trees between which Ciara lay. They were stopped before they could get close enough to get a shot — but close enough to almost get themselves arrested. And the scene had also attracted an unprecedented police presence, who were all there for a reason — some more important than others. First Class Constable Alex Wells was taking photos and video. Sergeant Barry Mott and Sergeant Robert Hemelaar were also on photography duty. Senior Constable Adam McCulloch, was on fingerprints. Superintendent Dick Lane and Detectives Mark Bordin and John Leembruggen were from homicide. Pathologists Clive Cooke and Gerard Cadden were there to help and observe Dr Margolius. They were all there for hours. Meticulously picking apart the scene in a bid to piece together Ciara’s final hours, and her final moments. And when they were done, it was the two sergeants, Mott and Hemelaar, who were given the task of gently lifting Ciara on to a white plastic sheet and then into a body bag, before carrying her out of the bush and closer to the road. At 4.45pm, the body was further lifted into a car supplied by Purslowe Funerals, and slowly driven away. There were two other interested witnesses to that grim scene. So enamoured of the overseas assistance they were providing, police brass allowed profilers Claude Minisini from Victoria and Dave Caldwell — an FBI-trained crime scene investigator and forensic examiner from South Carolina — access. Their presence in Perth had been paid for by Denis Glennon’s abundant investigation fund. Now, they were observing his daughter’s decomposed remains being intimately examined. They would also be allowed to attend Ciara’s post-mortem examination the next morning. ------------- What they observed at that post-mortem examination, along with the 14 other investigators — all men — who attended, was Dr Margolius thoroughly examining what was left of Ciara, in the hope her remains might reveal the secrets of what had happened to her. Firstly, Ciara’s clothing was gently removed, with her skirt torn, her underwear soiled, and her T-shirt heavily stained with what looked like blood. As her body was revealed, so was the discolouration of her skin, left exposed to the elements for more than two weeks. It was then Dr Margolius made a decision that would later prove critical: Ciara’s nails should be preserved for testing. Mortuary manager Robert Macdermid — who had also been present at Jane’s post-mortem examination months earlier — was tasked to clip them, one by one, and pass them off to be secured in the little yellow-topped pots that were used for potential exhibits. He was to start with the left thumbnail, the broken one. But it wasn’t easy. “The nail was cracked … I think the scissor was too big,” Mr Macdermid said. “But then I went back and had another go of it after that.” One after the other, the nails were clipped and then placed into one of those pots. Forensic officer Senior Constable Adam McCulloch then labelled each one, using his initials as the identifier. Left thumb: AJM 40, left index: AJM 41, left middle: AJM 42. “I touched and handled the left hand of Ciara Glennon,” he later admitted. “That was when we were collecting the fingernails.” Of most interest, though, as it had been when Jane was lying in the same mortuary months earlier, was the neck. Ciara’s wounds were even more savage than Jane’s — with three cuts leaving just 7cm of the skin of her neck intact. A 13cm wound passed downwards across the right side of her face from the lower temple between the ear and the eye and across the lower jaw to the right side of the neck. A longer cut — 21cm — turned right across the right side of the base of the neck all the way to the back of her left shoulder. And then a 12cm wound turned upwards across the top of the shoulder to pass up the left side of the neck and curve across the back of her head to the right temple. It took Dr Margolius some time to confirm it, but that was the wound that killed Ciara Glennon. The other major wound, to her right arm, was a defensive wound — just like Jane’s. Ciara’s extended from the middle of her forearm over the elbow to the lower third of the upper arm. Deep, wide, and brutal — and the classic cut suffered by someone trying to fend off an attacker coming at them with a knife. Again, it told Dr Margolius what she needed to know. And it prompted yet another phase for police in what had already been a frantic, fraught 14 months. “With the discovery of Ciara’s body, we’ve been able to firm up and confirm some of our suspicions. There was a significant benefit to the investigation as a result of this unfortunate discovery,” Detective Paul Ferguson said. It also meant Denis, Una, and Denise could say their goodbyes. Like everything linked to their daughter’s disappearance and discovery, it seemed the entire city felt connected to her. Everyone wanted to show their sympathy, in some way. Almost 2000 people packed into St Mary’s Cathedral to grieve, support, and search for an answer to the question Denis posed during his heartbreaking eulogy. “Why Ciara? … There are no explanations in human terms for this. There are no explanations for my family’s question,” he said. “You were our daughter, our pride, our joy. You were a bright and healthy young person with the prospect of a successful career with lots of friends and a sunny outlook on the world. “We, your friends, remember you for your vitality and humanity, your love of life, respect of others and your infectious enthusiasm. We are lucky to be able to say you were our friend. “Many women are now petrified and angry. Many men feel a fury and a feebleness that is impossible to convey. We all want to stop this killing of our children. “Ciara’s murder has not only ended a life of hope, it has also undermined the sense of decency and security in the community. “God came into our garden and picked the most beautiful rose.” Pre-order your copy of Enigma of the Dark by Tim Clarke here.