The Truth About Amy, Episode 1: Family’s vow to never stop trying to prove who killed WA mum

The truth about the mysterious death of loving WA mother Amy Wensley could finally be about to be revealed.

A major new podcast, produced by Seven West Media and hosted by award winning journalists Liam Bartlett and Alison Sandy, will reopen the case — and the cause — of Amy’s shocking death in 2014.

Next week, it will be exactly 10 years since the lifeless body of the mother-of-two was found in her bedroom in Serpentine. She was just 24 years old.

She died from a gunshot wound to the head. The shotgun which inflicted that wound was in her lap.

The first police officers to arrive at that bloody scene immediately felt suspicion — at how Amy was positioned, how her death had been reported, and the apparent scenario in the moments before her demise.

Her two daughters, whom she adored, were sitting in her car when that shot rang out — complete with clothes, toys and other essentials, ready to leave.

Amy’s mother reported that she called her daughter late that afternoon, with Amy tearfully and angrily telling her about a horrible argument, and saying she was coming to stay.

That argument had been with her partner David Simmons, witnessed and heard by others, in the moments before the fatal shot rang out.

But despite all that, the detectives called to investigate concluded within an hour that Amy had taken her own life. That led to the protected forensic scene being lifted, Amy’s body being removed — and the room being professionally cleaned.

“The Truth About Amy”, which launches worldwide today, reinvestigates that fatal day, and the years before and after.

It interviews Amy’s friends and family — including her two daughters.

It quizzes some of the police who attended the scene, and questions the actions of others. It interrogates lawyers, advocates and a world-renowned expert in crime-scene recreation about the evidence which was gathered — and which wasn’t.

It confronts the friends and family of David Simmons — one who was there that night, and one who wasn’t, and challenges them on discrepancies in their stories.

And Liam Bartlett tracks down David Simmons himself — who has always denied he was the one who pulled the trigger — to ask him the questions Amy’s family have long wanted answered.

“Ten years of my life has been spent trying to prove Amy’s innocence,” says Anna Davey, Amy’s aunty. “Because she’s not here to do that for herself.

“She has members of a police force pointing the finger at her and blaming her for her own death. And she’s not here to prove them wrong. And to prove that she didn’t do this — it’s a really tough fight.

“So 10 years of my life has been trying to do that for Amy. To get her justice, so that her girls can live in peace, and so that her mother can have some sort of peace.”

Following an inquest in 2021, coroner Sarah Linton said she was unable to find a definitive cause of Amy’s death — in part because of the “failings” and “poor standard” of the initial police investigation.

Amy’s family never believed she would have ended her own life. For two overriding reasons.

“I knew Amy, as a mother, as a young mother. And those children was so important to her that I knew straight away, she would not do this,” Ms Davey says.

“I know she would not do this. It is not her. She was a fantastic mother. Everything was about her children.

“(And) what she was doing with everything that you just said is called escaping. That’s what it is. She is escaping a situation.”

Following the inquest findings, Amy’s family subsequently received a letter signed by Acting WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch, which expressed “regret for the manner in which our internal processes addressed issues in relation to the initial investigation”.

It also had the date of Amy’s death wrong. And the family have never been issued a formal apology.

“To their credit, I’ve had apologies, from uniformed police officers who were there on the night,” Ms Davey said. “But those detectives, no. The police commissioner, no.

“It was asked in the Coroner’s Court of the superintendent who was there. His comment was something like: “I’m not authorised to do that.”

The initial detectives took minutes to conclude Amy’s death was self-inflicted. Nine years later, WA Police offered a reward of $1 million for information about her death — alongside many other cases they labelled as unsolved homicides.

“I couldn’t believe that for the first time since 2014 I’m reading something from the police that actually says homicide,” Ms Davey says.

“But on the flipside to that, I became really annoyed . . . you have made me for eight years or more, fight you on this and tell you it wasn’t a suicide. And all of a sudden, you’re doing a turnaround.

“I’m not a quitter, my love for Amy runs deep and I’m not kidding. This is not over. You know, somebody knows the truth.”

*The Truth about Amy is available to listen to from today. Anyone with information can email thetruthaboutamy@seven.com.au or leave an anonymous tip at www.thetruthaboutamy.org