Devoted mother vanishes without a trace in Bondi | Forensic Files

[Music] there was Wednesday the second of August 1989 41 year-old margarita Edwards
started the day like any other making sure her three daughters were up and ready for school Marguerite was happily
married to Ian Edwards a successful orthodontist with the surgery in Bonn Dodd they lived in a
two-story house on Victoria Road velara in Sydney's eastern suburbs volara is an
extremely affluent suburb five kilometers east of Sydney CBD a few miles known for its quiet tree-lined
streets and extremely expensive housing after getting her daughter's organized the Margaret dropped them off at ask him
school she then made her way to an aerobics class before doing some shopping at Bondi she then returned to
her will are a home sometime after midday later that afternoon Margaret's three daughters were waiting school had
finished and they were wondering where mumbles [Music] when Margaret didn't show up to the
school that afternoon it was very unusual many of the other parents even commented saying don't worry your mum is
never late she'll be here soon but she never arrived the girls next door neighbour Marcia Osbourne ended up
giving them a lift home Marcia telling them obviously something important they'd come up and everything would be
fine but the girls had a feeling something wasn't right when they got home they saw Margaret's car parked in
the driveway they walked inside and called out for their mum but got no reply as they
slowly made their way to the kitchen they saw a pool of blood on the floor blood on the bench blood on the fridge
and that chairs had been knocked over [Music] realizing something was horribly wrong
marceia grabbed the girls and said let's get out of here I'll ring the place police arrived soon after and found
Margaret's body upstairs laying in her walk-in wardrobe connected to the main bedroom she had extensive head injuries
and one of aliens neckties was wrapped around her neck another necktie had been used to Garko
detectives in specialist crime scene police were immediately called in and a forensic examination was conducted no
fingerprints were found however they did find a towel with bloodstains on it it was 1989 and DNA analysis had only
started in New South Wales that year so there was no large database to compare the sample to and the nature of the
testing was very different to what exists today however it was possible that it would come in useful in the
future to compare to a suspect if one was ever identified it was clear from the forensic examination that the
initial attack occurred downstairs after which Marguerite was taken upstairs to the bedroom she was struck to the head
repeatedly with what the forensic pathologist believed was a small hammer or similar tool the injuries were
extensive causing a fractured skull and brain damage but the cause of death was strangulation there was no sign of
forced entry to the house did Marguerite know her killer and let them in when they retrace Margaret's steps they
found that she attended an aerobics class between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. at the nearby suburb of Bondi
she was then seen shopping also at bondi around midday so that raised the possibility of another theory Marguerite
was known to leave the door open while she was bringing in the shopping was her killer waiting and simply walked in
behind her two witnesses were identified early on both heard screams coming from
the house one was a building surveyor who looked in the direction of the house when he heard the screams but when he
didn't see anything he got in his car and drove off the second was a woman who was walking
past the house with her child she heard screams about 1:30 p.m. but decided not to report it as she believed
it to be just another domestic she kept walking completely ignoring what she had
heard when in ask the police if he could have Margaret's jewelry back there was no jewelry to give him she regularly
Ward diamond ring and a watch but the killer had taken it the ring alone was worth $20,000
that looked like a robbery had gone wrong Marguerite had no enemies so was the only thing that seemed to
make sense and made even more sense when police learned that extensive renovations had been carried out in the
family home over the last few years ian wasn't able to offer much assistance with exactly who was hired as Marguerite
handled all of that while he was at work so did one of the tradesmen liked what he saw inside the house and decided to
come back it seemed to fit when you think about the forensic pathologist stating the weapon use looked to be a
small hammer or similar tool police felt like they might be onto something there
were no records kept of what tradesmen attended so police got to work questioning as many of them as they
could builders carpenters painters toilers plumbers it all amounted to nothing though they never tracked down
anyone who had completed work in the Edwards home as good as the theory looked it wasn't gaining any momentum
[Music] police even spent days searching every hardware store they could find trying to
find a hammer or similar tool that could have inflicted the injuries it was hoped
that if they could identify the tool it would help narrow down the search for the tradesman but that also amounted to
nothing they couldn't find anything that matched Ian made an emotional appeal to
the media asking anybody with information to come forward photos of the stolen jewelry were also
released to the media in the hope that somebody would recognize them and they would turn up
they were expensive unique pieces but this didn't get the police anywhere either as much as they liked the robbery
theory they couldn't ignore the fact that the majority of murders are committed by somebody close to the
victim everything suggests that Ian and Marguerite were in a loving marriage with no problems at all
ian was quoted as saying to my knowledge my wife had no enemies we had a perfect
relationship for the 20 years of our marriage and we were very much in love we have three children and we are very
close and happy family Ian went on to describe marguerite is happy graceful always smiling always
laughing and never angry saying their marriage was perfect police and ian had an alibi he was at work the whole day
but it was when police started to look a bit closer they realized that maybe Ian's alibi wasn't as solid as it
initially seemed Ian's orthodontic surgery was 2.2 kilometers away from the family home roughly 1.3 miles through
their investigation they learned that Ian was supposed to go home and have lunch with Marguerite the day she was
killed but he says he got too busy and had to cancel instead he sent his nurse here to
buy him a sandwich the nurse was out for 25 minutes and Dane didn't have any patience during that time so there was a
25 minute window that Ian didn't have an alibi for ian was a fit man who was named a
regularly guy for a run during his lunch break police were able to confirm that his car never left the parking lot of
his surgery could have run home killed Marguerite and made it back to his surgery in time two detectives completed
the challenge running from me and surgery to his house and then back again factoring in the time it would have
taken to commit the murder and the fact am was definitely back seeing a patient straight after lunch showing no signs
had just been for a run police were able to rule it out they kept an open mind a.m. wasn't ruled out completely but the
ID he physically had anything to do with it was extremely doubtful [Music] that pretty much left them back to
square one the tradesmen theory had gotten them nowhere and dayand bidonville o'clock Lee that didn't stop
the public's opinion though and felt the suspicious eyes on him everywhere he went
his business partner 17 years suddenly ended their relationship and people in the area even held dinner parties to sit
around and discuss theories about how an could have pulled it off police freely admitted the investigation
had stalled and it was going cold it was nine months later in May 1990 that a $50,000 reward was offered for any
information that led to the case being solved not only that the government took the step of offering a pardon to any
person who may have assisted so long as they weren't directly involved in the killing police did get plenty of calls
and tips and names to check out but none of it was useful the case continued to run cold and it looked destined to
remain on the unsolved shelf but on the 23rd of August 1991 they got the break who they were looking for 35 year-old
Christopher Anthony Lorenzo was in Long Bay jail in Sydney waiting to be sentenced on several armed robbery
charges Lorenzo was born in Cape Town South Africa on the 2nd of July 1956 he had a history of drug use break-ins and
armed robberies Lorenzo had gotten the word out he had information that would be of interest to homicide detectives
they paid him a visit and became very interested in what he had to say when he told them he knew who killed the
dentist's wife Emma Lara [Music] prison inmates generally don't give information to police out of the
kindness of their hearts there is always a motive and Lorenzo was no different he
wanted to be moved to a jail that was a bit easier to do time than Long Bay and he wanted police to have a word for the
judges so he could get a reduced sentence for his armed robbery charges he was facing a 5-year sentence but he
didn't want to do that long Lorenzo had made a handwritten statement for police detailing everything he knew
about Marguerite's murder this was his story the day Marguerite was murdered Lorenzo was at a local pub having lunch
and enjoying a few beers his friend David and ozark approached him and wanted to borrow his car it was
actually Lorenzo's girlfriend's car but he agreed when in ozark returned the car
a few hours later there was blood in it and blood on an Ozark himself Lorenzo asked him what the [ __ ] happened and as
I told him he broke into a house but it went wrong a woman saw him and started screaming so he had the solitaire
I know Zack pointed out a replica pistol in the boot and told the renzo degree on
it but Lorenzo didn't get rid of the gun he decided to keep it for insurance [Music]
while he was cleaning up the blood in the car he found an expensive-looking gold
bracelet underneath one of the seats he decided to keep that too and he later gave it to his girlfriend police
believed Lorenzo story had merit and all Zack was well known to them at the time
of Marguerite's murder he wasn't long at a prison after doing time for a manslaughter charge but they needed to
do some background work to try and verify the story Lorenzo said he could actually help them with that he could
give police the replica pistol that Anna's Ark told him to get rid of in his words the gun has been right under your
nose for years beyond hold up boys have got it it's a police exhibit when Lorenzo was arrested for the armed
robberies police searched his house and took a number of items including a replica pistol as Lorenzo's charges
weren't finalized and he was still waiting to be sentenced the replica pistol was still locked away in police
evidence the pistol was immediately sent to forensics to see if they could link it to the murder and they could
Marguerite's head injuries were a match to the Reese sought on the replica pistol
so the weapon used wasn't a small hammer or similar tool as previously thought not only that the pistol tested positive
for blood they also managed the track down Lorenzo's girlfriend Josephine copani not only did she
confirm Lorenzo story but she still had the bracelet that was a bracelet that Marguerite had custom-made nobody had
realized that was missing until Lorenzo gave his story to police Josephine said it was Lorenzo who actually wore it
around initially but he said it was too tight for him so he ended up giving it to her his story was that somebody had
given it to him at a takeaway shop in Surry Hills a suburb not too far away from where Lara Lorenzo seemed the
genuine and authentic and now there was some evidence to back up what he was saying it looked like he was telling the
truth and the lure of a reduced sentence and a softer prison to do his time was enough
for him to give up his friend David annals Ark became the prime suspect Lorenzo hadn't had any contact with a
Noah's Ark for a little while so there was no suspicion when police put their plan into action they took Lorenzo out
of a jail and placed him into a motel room at Bondi where they had installed both video and audio surveillance police
were monitoring in the next room the plan was simple Lorenzo would lure his old buddy to the motel and get him
talking about the murder of Margaret as much as they believe though renzo was willing to help they didn't completely
trust him they couldn't handcuff him that would give the game away so what they did was
put a plaster cast on his lake making it impossible for him to run or to drive just there's a bit of insurance
so he wasn't tempted to try and escape [Music] an Ozark arrived as planned and Lorenzo
got to work he was successful in getting an Ozark talking they went at it for three hours unfortunately not one second
of the conversation had anything to do with the murder of Marguerite Edwards Lorenzo didn't bring it up at all and
Daniel's Ark wasn't volunteering anything Lorenzo failed miserably he acknowledged
his failure and apologized saying he was scared and he couldn't work out how to bring the murder up without making it
obvious but the conversation didn't sit right with detectives it led them to become suspicious of what exactly his
motive was they decided to go back and have a closer look at that handwritten statement he gave them there just so
happened to be a world-renowned a.document profiler in Sydney at the time he was getting ready to fly back to
the USA but detectives just caught him in time at the airport they handed him Lorenz a statement along with the
background of the case a few weeks later detectives received a detailed 30 page report analyzing Lorenzo statement every
word and every phrase was looked at as was the way the renzo story changed from the first to the second person the
conclusion if Christopher Lorenzo wasn't the murderer he was at the very least present when the murder was committed
police had a new number-one suspect Lorenzo had a unique blood type found in just 3% of the population and match the
blood type found on the towel at the crime scene given that Lorenzo was cooperating with police on a murder
investigation he had been moved to a special part of the jail or reserved for police informants the rats the snitches
as they are commonly known he became a little too friendly with his cellmate whose identity is protected but he was
given the nickname mr. Smith Lorenzo couldn't help but brag how he had put one over the police he obviously forgot
what part of the jail he was in because mr. Smith notified the police and they quickly arranged for him to wear a wire
on the 19th of June 1992 Smith's got him talking again Lorenzo claimed there were actually two
other men present during the murder and they were all off their faces on heroin Lorenzo said the woman came home and
John pointed the gun at her and she started screaming he grabbed her and started hitting her in the head with the
butt of the pistol until she shut up see what sparked him off was her screaming because he told her to shut up he
pointed the gun at her she screamed and she kept screaming the more he hit her the more she screamed Smith so he would
have hit her in a frenzy yeah because she was screaming Smith so she was screaming and he's bashed her
in the head Lorenzo and she wouldn't stop screaming Smith why did he hit her he could have
put his hand over her mouth Lorenzo we had just had a shot of smack before going there and John just
panicked and started hitting her in the head then she was taken upstairs to a bedroom she came to and started
screaming again John hit her in the head a few more times she kept screaming so this other guy grabbed the toy and
strangled her with it and left her lying in the Wardrobe Smith why did he strangle her Lorenzo
because she could identify the other guy this next passage will give you an idea
of who the other guy was Smith is dr. Edwards well-off Lorenzo when I did the tiling at their
house I used their phone so I could check out the house they were loaded the tradesmen theory was right all along
Christopher Lorenzo had been to the Edwards home during their renovations he had completed toiling work there over
a number of days in September 1998 about one year before the murder police were unaware of that before Lorenzo's taped
conversation Lorenzo was trying to say there were other people involved so it was like a confession but he couldn't
come out and directly say it was just him so he described it as someone else who attacked it the guy who was scared
Marguerite could identify him was of course Lorenzo he was talking about himself
Lorenzo then bragged how he stole Margaret's watch ring and bracelet Smith asked him if he had much trouble getting
the ring off Lorenzo said no ma'am no but I mean she had blood all over her hands over her head what do you think I
couldn't sleep for six months Smith did you have to turn her over or anything like that to get the rings Lorenzo no no
no no she was just laying there with her hands were tied behind her back so it was easy
so she was laying faced in yeah it was easy it wasn't hot then the renzo started talking about the bracelet they
can never charged anybody with that it wasn't reported as missing from the scene of the crime
I could have Solan at any time I was at that house you know what I mean when I was toiling it that's why there's been
nothing ever on this bracelet Smith than us did anybody who went into the house cut themselves leave any blood behind
anything that might have been mixed with her blood you said you cut your hand Lorenzo
yeah Smith could you have dropped any blood inside the house Lorenzo only thing in the place was on the tail where
was the tail used to walk down the [ __ ] handles and [ __ ] Lorenzo was so confident because he really believed in
his alibi that he was at the pub having lunch at the time of the murder and he never left
he didn't think police would ever be able to crack it just in case you had trouble picking that up my alibi is
sweep it was three years ago no one's gonna even remember me in the pub but no one's gonna remember me not
being in that pub so how long were you gone from the pub an hour something like that three-quarters of an hour coppers
can't prove anything Lorenzo saw how well-off the AdWords looked and decided to go back and steal
from them breaking in using a copied key he had from when he was toiling that's why there was no sign of forced entry
but Marguerite came home while he was there instead of running away he decided the killer
Lorenzo's attempt to pin a murder he had committed onto somebody else in order to
have his jail time reduced backfired in a big way on the 7th of July 1992 Lorenzo was taken from Long Bay jail to
a nearby police station where he was interviewed and charged with the murder of margarita woods he pleaded not guilty
and his trial was held in the Supreme Court and commenced in September 1993 Lorenzo wasn't done with his old mate
David an Ozark either ignoring the conversation that had been recorded he went back to his original story that he
gave police that a Noah's Ark borrowed his car and he was just at the pub the whole time the recorded conversation
being explained away is just bragging to his son they're trying to make himself look good this time he added an
explanation for his blood being at the scene and that was that a Noah's Ark made him go to the house after the
murder to wipe it down for fingerprints and it was while wiping the place down he cut himself the trial lasted four
weeks they took the jury just over three hours to reach their verdict guilty Ian
Edwards had this to say after the verdict came through we spent four weeks in there listening to how somebody
bashed and strangled her to death we're glad that it's finished technically for us and that somebody has been convicted
with the crime we don't hate the renzo in any way he did what he did and that was his mistake and he'll now have the
rest of his life I think to think about it in jail he could have at least had the courage
to maybe admit what he did and I think it would have been a lot easier on everybody concerned including himself
what I was trying to do was tell the world what he did only he didn't have the courage to say he did it he used
somebody else as the medium of relieving his own conscience the judge said to Lorenzo it was a cowardly and brutal
attack a murder in her own home in broad daylight of a woman going about her own
business who had done you no harm knowing that Marguerite would be able to identify him as the toiler from the year
before he decided to kill her Lorenzo was sentenced on the 26th of November 1993 he received a sentence of 22 years
and six months with a non-parole period of 17 years but Lorenzo had since been sentenced on the armed robbery charges
and they didn't expire until October 1996 so his sentence for the murder didn't start until then meaning he would
be eligible to be released in 2013 luckily instead of keeping his mouth shut in doing his five-year sentence for
armed robbery Lorenzo decided to try and pin a murder on a friend to get out early in doing so
he implicated himself and the case was able to be solved instead of five he would now be in jail for at least 22
years on the 30th of November 2010 Lorenzo made a visit to the prison doctor complaining that he'd been
feeling unwell for a while tests revealed he was suffering from advanced stages of leukemia he was
transferred to Prince of Wales Hospital he died two months later on the 9th of January 2011 aged 54 two years and nine
months before he was eligible for parole [Music] you

Case 22: Marguerite Edwards

It was Wednesday the 2nd of August 1989. 41-year-old Marguerite Edwards started the day like any other. Making sure her three daughters were up, and ready for school.

Marguerite was happily married to Iain Edwards, a successful orthodontist with a surgery in Bondi. They lived in a two-storey house on Victoria Road, Woollahra in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs.

After getting her daughters organised, Marguerite dropped them at Ascham school, in the nearby suburb of Edgecliffe. She then made her way to an aerobics class, before doing some shopping at Bondi. She returned to her Woollahra home sometime after midday.

Later that afternoon, Marguerite's three daughters were waiting. School had finished, and they were wondering where mum was…

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research and writing – Anonymous Host Production, scoring – Mike Migas Additional scoring – Andrew Joslyn

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Brief Summary

Marguerite Edwards was murdered in 1989; Christopher Lorenzo was later convicted after attempting to shift blame to an accomplice.

Key points

The Day of the Murder. Marguerite Edwards's seemingly normal day takes a dark turn when she is found dead.
The Investigation Stalls. Nine months after the murder, the investigation goes cold despite a reward being offered.
A Break in the Case. Christopher Anthony Lorenzo, a prisoner, claims to have information about Marguerite's murder.
Lorenzo's Trial Verdict. After four weeks, the jury found Lorenzo guilty of murder.
Lorenzo's Sentence. Lorenzo received a 22-year sentence for the murder, starting in 1996.
Lorenzo's Illness and Death. Lorenzo was diagnosed with leukemia and died two months later.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was happy, graceful, always smiling, always laughing.

Ian Edwards describing his wife Marguerite.

7:38WatchNov 19, 2018

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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