Suspicion grows as a woman vanishes after a meeting | Forensic Files

[Music] on the 23rd of July 2008 young mother Helen Munnings disappeared from the port
city of Burnie on the northwest coast of Tasmania Australia she was last seen by
the father of her child Adam Taylor who picked her up for a drive that afternoon
his actions later that night were described as interesting extensive searches have been conducted but no
trace of Helen has ever been found a few different theories were raised at the colonial inquest held into the case did
Helen run away did she commit suicide or was she murdered [Music] Helen Manning's was born on the 15th of
March 1988 little is known about Helens father she had no contact with him during her life she was raised by
another Carrol Monique's felon has an older brother mark and two younger sisters Linder and
Catherine Helen lived in Burnie her entire life Burnie is a port city on the northwest
coast of Tasmania it has a population of about 20,000 people the Burnie port along with the forestry
industry provide the main source of revenue for the city it is Tasmania is the largest general cargo port in 2004
Helen met Adam Taylor Helen was 16 at the time and Adam was 30 they had a sexual encounter the night
they met Adam tried to pass off the blame for this encounter by saying he was heavily affected by alcohol and it
was Helen who came on to him he really didn't know what he was doing who couldn't even remember really what
happened Helen instantly fell in love with Adam and thought of him as her soul mate they remained friends after this
initial encounter but when Helen turned 17 Adam so she started pressuring him to
commence a full-blown relationship Adam says he only agreed to a sexual relationship with Helen because she
threatened to go to the place about their initial in Kiana when she was only 16 Adam said you were scared so he
agreed to Helens wishes the age of consent in Tasmania is 17 years of age [Music]
not long after Helen fell pregnant and in 2006 she gave birth to her son Tom tom is not her son's real name
that has been changed for this story Helen was 18 years old at the time Adam was 32 Adam at first denied that he
was the father but a paternity test said otherwise this presented a problem for Adam
he was already in a long-term de facto relationship with his partner Karolina and they had two children together
he told Karolina that Tom had been conceived with Helen whilst they were on a break in their relationship a man who
had a child with missing Burnie woman Helen Munnings has told an inquest she blackmailed him into having sex Adam
Taylor admitted first having sex with Miz Manning's when she was 16 years old Helen Munnings disappeared in July 2008
when she was 20 years old she had a two-year-old son with Adam Taylor a man fifteen years her senior the inquest has
heard about mr. Taylor's sexual history with his Mullings mr. Taylor told the court he had sex
with her once before she was 17 and then about a dozen times between 2004 and 2007
mr. Taylor said after Ms Manning's 17th birthday she threatened to tell police about their sexual encounter when she
was underage if he didn't leave his partner when she turned 17 that's when she started getting all crazy about it
mr. Taylor said he slept with his Munnings after that to keep her happy because he was scared he'd go to jail
for having sex with a minor the counsel assisting the coroner Simon Brown asked mr. Taylor you had sex with
her because you were scared mr. Taylor replied yes mr. Taylor said he was not attracted to MS Munnings and had
contemplated suicide after sleeping with her he said Ms Munnings had also threatened to harm his partner who was
pregnant too mr. Taylor given they now had a son together the relationship between Cullen and Adam had
to continue on some level Karolina was of the understanding that there would be no ongoing physical relationship between
them and they would only remain in contact over issues concerning Tom but the evidence suggests Adam lied to
Karolina and continued his relationship with Helen Adam described Helens behavior towards him as its harms
demeaning unpredictable aggressive and antagonistic helen constantly sent text messages and made phone calls to Adam
about Tom this obviously created difficulties in Adams long-term relationship with Karolina they were
already difficulties due to what had happened but now Helen wasn't making it any easier it led to a deal being made
whereby all contact from Helen was to be sent to Adams mother Judy Taylor Karolina was of the belief that there
would be no personal contact between Adam and Helen at all but the spot professing his wish to maintain his
relationship with Karolina he continued his relationship with Helen he took active steps to try and keep her quiet
such as buying a second phone Adam tried to deny that he maintained an intimate relationship with Helen but text
messages between them revealed otherwise caryl money's Helens mother strongly disapproved of Adam Taylor their main
concern being the big age difference between them but she had concerns about Adams treatment of Helen and his motives
for continuing the relationship she did everything in her power to prevent the relationship from continuing she made
several complaints to the police adamant that Adam had broken the law Helen Manning's mother Carol has been
representing her family in court during her questioning of mr. Taylor ms Manning's made heated accusations about
him controlling her daughter she said you were the cause of Helens problems you were the adult Helen was the child
mr. Taylor said Carol money's had made threats and allegations against him over the years they'd known each other but
Helen only had eyes for Adam and Carole's actions were the cause of some conflict between them they had numerous
arguments and it actually got so bad that at one point they each had restraining orders yet against each
other at the time of the disappearance Helen was living in a block of units owned by her mother Carol in Boerne
Helen lived in unit 3 and Carol lived upstairs in unit 1 Helen and Tom had only been living there for a few weeks
having stayed at various other places prior to that tom was being cared for in a split week by week basis Helen would
have him for one week then Adam would have him for the following week and so on Helen owned a car but didn't have a
driver's license so she usually walked wherever she wanted to go or relied on leaf spot family and friends on the 8th
of July 2008 only a few weeks before she disappeared Helen dropped the bombshell
on Adam she told him she was pregnant again together they went to a local pharmacy in Burnie where Helen purchased
a pregnancy test she took the test and then showed Adam the result Adams strongly denies he was the father and
says Helen told him that she was pregnant as a result of a drunken one-night stand
with a nail that she didn't name but Helens friends and family say there was nobody else that Ellen had always fought
and that Adam definitely would have been the father the coroner later found Adams story
about the drunken one-night stand with an unnamed male to be untrue and said he was most likely the father after
initially being anxious and uncertain about the second child Helen made the decision to keep it Adam didn't support
this the reason he gave was that a second child would place additional demands on Helens already tight
financial situation and it would compromise her ability to adequately look after Tom that's the reason he says
he was against it but it's doubtful there would have been a way to keep her quiet that Helen was pregnant even if he
wasn't the father as he claims Helen was going to name him the father this wouldn't be good news remember his
mother and his current partner Karolina were of the belief Adam wasn't even speaking to Helen on the phone at this
point on Wednesday the 23rd of July 2008 Helen spent the day at home most of her
time was actually spent up in Carol's unit Tom was in the care of Adam at the time in the early to mid afternoon that
day Helen left and walked into the center of town she left the keys to a unit with Carol and she didn't take a
handbag with her either she left that in her unit her handbag contained her mobile phone her purse and her
medication her purse contained her bank cards in her Medicare card her mobile phone was left at home but the SIM card
had been removed due to problems she was having with a phone it was common for Helen to remove her SIM card and use
other people's phones when she left the unit Helen told Carol that she had a doctor's appointment
but checks with the medical center revealed that she didn't have an appointment she also left some Medicaid
card at home she didn't go to the Medical Center at all instead she met up with Adam Taylor
Adham it have been at work all day and arrived home at about 2:45 p.m. Tom was at home being cared for by his partner
Karolina when he arrived home he swapped cars he left his car at home and got into his mother's holding you he left
home about 3:30 p.m. Karolina so she thinks doesn't put a saw into the rear of his ute before he left Adam says he
and Helen had arranged to meet up during the day he picked her up in his mother's
u near the center link building about 4:20 p.m. this was actually captured on security
camera footage so it could be verified but as for what happened next we only have Adams version he says they went for
a drive Ben talked for a while they drove around until about 6 p.m. during the trip he says that he and Helen
talked about matters concerning their relationship that were distressing for Helen
he says Helen became upset and started crying however by the time he dropped her off
he said she appeared off calm down Helen nicely talked about her pregnancy and said she didn't want to have an abortion
after they were finished Adams says he dropped Helen off on the southern side of the bass highway in Burnie near the
old paper mill he says he dropped Helen off here as she said she wanted to go for a walk along the beach to clear her
head the coroner later made comment at the inquest that this was an unusual thing
to do drop a young girl off at that location when it was getting dark and it was some distance away from her home it
was roughly just over a 20-minute walk after dropping Helen off Adam says he had at home which was about a 10-minute
Drive away from that location but before getting home he pulled over to have a think about what he and Helen had just
discussed he then sent a text message to Helen the message was sent at 6:08 p.m.
the message said keep your chin up there was no response but remember Helen didn't have a phone
with her she just had a SIM card Adam returned home shortly after sending the text message to Helen when he got
home he commented that he thought someone had tried to steal a small boat that they kept in their yard the boat
belonged to Carolina's brother Adam said somebody had dragged the boat from the yard where he's usually kept down to the
water's edge he told Karolina that he was going down to drag the boat back up but he first
put it in the water started motor up and drove it out a short distance before turning around and bringing it back in
Borneo it was dark Adam then spent some time he had in his back shed but Karolina said that wasn't unusual and he
would often do that at night on the water's edge that Adam lived on at the time was actually the best rate the
large stretch of ocean that separates Tasmania from the rest of Australia that next morning Adam loaded the boat onto a
trailer and took it back to Carolina's brother's house Carol became concerned as the evening went on that Helen hadn't
returned home she used Helens keys to let herself in to Helens unit but there was no sign of her Carroll remained
worried but when Helen didn't come back the next day the worry turned into full-blown panic that next day the 24th
of July just after lunch Carol reported her concern to the police and when Helen still hadn't returned
home by that night Carol went back to the police station to make a formal statement
Helen was scheduled to pick Tom up on Friday the 25th of July but she failed to turn up
on the 28th and 29th of July police commenced to see Linda near search the searching area was expanded the next
month a helicopter divers and a ground search crew were used despite an extensive
search no trace of Helen was ever found the information about Adams movements with the boat the night Helen
disappeared didn't become known until sometime much later in the search of the ocean outside
his home wasn't done until June 2009 nearly a full year after Helen had disappeared the only thing of interest
they found out in the water was a nine liter bucket filled with concrete embedded in the concrete at the top was
a small wire loop and a length of synthetic rope was attached Adam admitted that it was his bucket the
coroner said he couldn't draw any conclusions from the bucket it was found in a location which meant it was covered
by only about half a meter of water at low tide Adams said the bucket was there as he used it to secure the boat at
times however police divers have said that it was found in an area where it would not have had a purpose for being a
boat mooring the rope was tested for human fibres but none were found but given it had been in the ocean for
nearly a year if there was anything to find it could have been washed away long ago block-wise
if there was any other evidence to find out there that two could have been washed away long ago it was almost one
year after Helens disappearance that the search was done and the Bass Strait Ocean is notoriously rough and known for
strong currents the boat was forensic ly tested but that also returned no result
there is no evidence that Helen Munnings made contact with anyone after being dropped off by Adam Taylor maybe at 6:00
p.m. the 23rd of July 2008 Adam is the last known person to see her alive there is no evidence to tell us what happened
to Helen exactly but there are only a few possibilities the first being that she ran away and is still alive and
living somewhere else this was the scenario presented by Adam at the colonial inquest Helen was young and had
lived her entire life in Boerne all her friends were in Burnie and most of her family she had limited education limited
income and no savings she left her purse and all the cards at home she didn't take any clothing or personal belongings
with her at all she had never mentioned to anyone about ever wanting to leave or
to run away extensive checks were conducted around the country and there is no record of her showing up anywhere
her bank accounts haven't been accessed since the day she disappeared plus Helen was pregnant at the time she
would have required some kind of medical treatment and there is no record of that
ever happening not to mention it would also mean she would have had to have abandoned her son Tom whom she was
extremely devoted to Helen didn't run away and the coroner actually rejected the
suggestion that she ran away the possibility that Helen may have committed suicide was also raised
although there was some evidence that Helen had spoken about or sent some text messages to friends about suicide that
was only in a very general and conversational way there is no evidence at all that she had ever made an attempt
or a serious threat of suicide and again it would mean abandoning Tom although Helen had at Tom's been down
before there was evidence that she was actively making plans for her future suicide doesn't seem to make a lot of
sense especially considering her body still hasn't been found which is unusual for cases of suicide
also she would have had very limited means to commit suicide she had nothing with her to harm herself
with the coroner though didn't rule it out in tirely he said it remains a possibility and the fact her body was
never found would be unusual if it was a case of suicide but it didn't remove the
possibility entirely one example the coroner cited would be that if Helen had swum out into the ocean so far that she
couldn't return but most believe Helen was murdered there is no direct evidence to suggest another person is responsible
for Helens death there is no direct evidence tying anyone to Helens disappearance including Adam Taylor
having said that there's also no evidence to corroborate Adam Taylor's version of what happened that afternoon
we just have his word for it the coroner found he wasn't telling the truth about
his account of the nature of his relationship with Helens Adam was trying to say it had finished Jenny wasn't
seeing her any longer but text messages found between them painted a very different picture in fact he took active
steps to conceal his relationship with Helen from Carolina and his mother felons disappearance coincided with a
time that Adam was trying to preserve his relationship with Carolina in circumstances that had been difficult
for some torn the fact Allen was pregnant again would have impacted Adam in a number of ways the obvious one
would be the increased strain that it would put on his already strained relationship with Carolina there are
also concerns whether the journey he described to police would have taken the one hour and forty minutes he says he
was with Helen and his story of the route they talked during their drive changed he gave two different versions
of where exactly they went the coroner commented that just because Adam had been untruthful about the extent of his
relationship with Helen it didn't mean he was lying about his account of what happened that afternoon likewise the
coroner said no conclusions could be made from the inconsistencies in his account of where exactly they drove to
that afternoon and what way they went the behavior with the boat was interesting but the coroner
ruled Adams version wasn't far-fetched and could quite likely be true Carroll and Helen's grandmother visited at him a
few days after Helens disappearance her grandmother alleges Adam made a statement of her which indicated he knew
Helen was never coming back Adam denies this happened Carroll claims that in October 2009 she approached a
time in a supermarket and asked him where Helens body was she alleges that Adam threatened her saying you'll get
the same done to you that Helen did Adam of course strongly denies ever saying that the coroner had significant
reservations about how true Carroll and Helen's grandmother's allegations are given the amount of ill-will Carroll in
the grandmother have towards Adam the coroner doubted these comments were ever made effectively he was saying he
believes Carroll and Helen's grandmother made it up and he went on to say even if
Adam had made these comments he wouldn't regard a the statement as an admission of guilt the cranial inquest was held
over nine separate days between the 29th of November 2011 and the 12th of January
2012 on the 14th of June 2012 coroner Robert Pierce made his official ruling the coroner's found missing Burnie woman
Helen Munnings is dead but he hasn't been able to say how she died their family maintains he was
murdered into seeking further legal advice on the case Selena Bryan reports 20-year old Helen Manning's disappeared
four years ago her body has never been found despite years of searching over nine days the coroner Robert Pierce
heard evidence from more than 40 witnesses today he handed down his finding saying Helen Manning's died on
ur about the 23rd of July 2008 most likely in or around but the coroner said the evidence
doesn't enable a finding of how her death occurred or the cause the coroner said there was a possibility
Miz Manning's took her or in life but that was reduced because of her love for her young son Miz Manning's was last
seen going for a drive with Adam Taylor the father of the boy the coroner found it was likely that at the time of her
disappearance Helen Munnings was pregnant and likely that Adam Taylor was the father the
counsel assisting told the inquest mr. Taylor had the motive and opportunity to kill him as Munnings her
mother hopes the findings allow police to further investigate how her daughter died were pretty pleased it's just it's
acknowledged that Helen is dead and hoping that it gets out there more clout the coroner said there was no scientific
or forensic evidence to find mr. Taylor contributed to the death he said he found fanciful a suggestion by mr.
Taylor's counsel that ms Munnings is alive in Darwin her mother says she's seeking legal advice on what she
believes was a police conflict of interest when the investigation began I'm claiming that the case wasn't dealt
with properly at the beginning because of the conflict police say the investigation has been reviewed several
times with no adverse findings the investigation into Helen Manning's death remains active and ongoing police still
want to speak to anyone with information about how the young woman died Selena Brian ABC News Bernie the case is
still open there is currently a $100,000 reward for any information regarding Helens
disappearance [Music]

Case 14: Helen Munnings

On the 23rd of July 2008 young mother, Helen Munnings disappeared from the port city of Burnie, on the North West Coast of Tasmania, Australia.

She was last seen by the father of her child Adam Taylor, who picked her up for a drive that afternoon. His actions later that night were described as “interesting”. Extensive searches have been conducted, but no trace of Helen has ever been found…

CREDITS

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

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Brief Summary

Helen Munnings disappeared in 2008; Adam Taylor's involvement raises questions during the coroner's inquest into her fate.

Key points

Adam Taylor's Troubling Relationship. Adam Taylor's complex relationship with Helen raises many concerns, including allegations of manipulation.
The Disappearance of Helen Munnings. Helen Munnings vanished on July 23, 2008, leaving behind many unanswered questions.
The Search for Helen. Despite extensive searches, no trace of Helen Munnings has ever been found.
Helen Munnings' Mysterious Death. Helen Munnings disappeared four years ago, and her body has never been found.
Coroner's Findings. The coroner ruled Helen died on July 23, 2008, but the cause remains unknown.
Ongoing Investigation. Police are still seeking information about Helen's death and a reward is offered.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You were the cause of Helen's problems.

Helen's mother accusing Adam Taylor in court.

6:22WatchNov 19, 2018

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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