Suspicious deaths and missing suspects in Sydney | Forensic Files

[Music] on Tuesday the second of November 1999 Donna wheeler was murdered in her home
at Barela in western Sydney but who was responsible was it her ex-husband John who found a body and alerted the police
was it her volun ex-boyfriend keith who was recently charged for assaulting Donna Keith wouldn't have been happy
that Donna was spending a lot of time with his brother Collins since they separated
speaking of Colin he was seen with Donna on the night of her murder and then there was the phone call she received
from a male caller asking to meet him that night [Music] [Music] Donna wheeler was 30 years old at the
time of her death in 1999 she lived a Kingsland Road in Barela which is west of the Sydney City area she was a bright
and sparkly person who was well liked by everybody she had a lot of friends and they described there is a beautiful
caring and loving person she had one son from a previous marriage who was aged 12 at the time she was an
excellent mother very loving and supportive of her son the first Tuesday of November is the day that a horse race
stops Australia Melbourne Cup day the day that everybody becomes a horse racing expert it's the
biggest race of the year the night before the Cup done I had been having a few drinks with Colin bond at the
regents Park Hotel one of the local watering holes Donna had become friends with Colin through her ex-boyfriend
keith bond Keith and Colin were brothers who lived together at angry Street in Regent's Park only a few minutes drive
from Donna's house of Marella Donna had only split up with Keith a few weeks before it was described as a volatile
violent relationship at times I would get on and everything would be fine but Keith wanted more than Donna was willing
to give him and this upset case Keith wanted a serious relationship with Donna he constantly professed his love for her
and said he wanted to get married and have kids Donna tried to get it through Keith said that she had just come out of
a marriage and she really wasn't looking to settle down into another serious relationship she wasn't looking for a
partner she had been there and done that she just wanted to be friends TAFE couldn't accept that and it was the
cause of a lot of fights between them it was when one of those fights turned physical that the relationship ended
kaif struct on her heart causing her front tooth to break the police were called in caped was arrested and charged
for assault an apprehended violence order what some would now as a restraining order was taking you out to
Kate case away from Donna but a piece of paper wasn't going to stop quiche he was
obsessed not long after that Donna woke up to find the tires on her car had been
slashed Jeff was the prime suspect but of course nobody saw anything so it couldn't be
proved since Donna had split with Keith shed become a lot closer to his brother Colin
and they spent a lot of time together Keith wasn't overly impressed with this so is that not the first of November
1999 DeHaven Melbourne Cup day that Donna gave Colin $20 to put a bet on for her
on the big race she wanted $10 each way on the Bart Cummings train horse Rogan Josh and what happened that next day
Reagan Josh treble mates trying to get into the clear and sellers the hind that's tight there Reagan Josh with
Central Park and the worry of the freight leaders from observable on the outside it's citral pack the warrior in
Reagan just Reagan Johnson Central Park Road and just back did it again Reagan just from Central Park she picked a
winner she couldn't enjoy a straightaway though she as it were but once she finished her
shift she made a way to the regions Park Atoll she got there just after 6:00 p.m. where
she met Colin who had been there drinking most of the day Cullen handed over done his winnings and then they
shared a few drinks together in celebration a little while later they decided to change location and go to the
Regents Park bowling club this might have had something to do with the fact that Keith had just turned up to the
Regents Park Hotel they played the poker machines and had a few more drinks at the bowling club not long after that
donors saved a call from her ex-husband John John had their 12 year old son at the time John tells Donna that he needs
to borrow some money and donor agrees so they arranged to meet in the nearby service strathfield Donna tells : what's
going on and he are started to drop him back at the Reach's Park Hotel he said he'll order some takeaway
Chinese food from the Bistro for them while she goes and meets John don't agree to that so they go back to the
Regent Park Hotel and then Donna goes off to me directs husband John after her meeting with John where she arranged to
pick their son up the next evening Donna returns to the regents park hotel colonies waiting at the bar with the
Chinese food they leave together and get back to Donna's house to eat it's here while they're eating that Colin says
Donna got another phone call from an unknown caller after the call Donna Tartt : she had to
leave and gone say somebody in Strathfield again and she had to leave straightaway no
time to finish dinner Colin says that's fine but asks if Donna can drop him home
on her way Donna agrees and Colin says he gets home somewhere around 9:00 or 9:30 p.m.
Colin is the last known person to see Donna alive the next day Wednesday the 3rd of
November 1999 John makes a few attempts to call Donna but he can't get a hold of
her nothing too unusual she's at work so he doesn't think too much of it but as the morning turned to afternoon and
the afternoon turned to evening John started to worry by evening he still hadn't heard from Donna and that was
unusual Donna should have answered or at least returned these phone calls banya it was the out of character for her if
she didn't answer she would always ring back he had their son and he needed to make sure she was still right to picking
him up at the time they'd arranged the night before should always ring the day they were exchanging custody to make
sure everything was still right to go ahead John starts to call friends and family he calls Donna's mother she says
that she hasn't heard from Donna Rita John tries other friends and family without any luck hearings done his
mother back and she suggests that John gathered Donna's house she said you'll know she's home straightaway because the
car will be parked at the front John drives to Donna's house and their son was still with him they find on his red
Mitsubishi Lancer parked out the front under the carport their son has a key for Donna's place and so John grabs a
key and goes inside as you walk inside the house there is a bedroom off to the right and the interest to the laundry
room is off to the left it was here at the entrance to the lounge room that John finds Donna's body
he immediately makes a frantic phone call to Donna's mum in to the police police arrived soon after the house was
immediately taped off and a crime scene was established Donna was covered in blood she had multiple stab wounds and
her face was badly bruised and swollen she was naked from the waist down the laundry room was in complete disarray
and it was clear a violent struggle had occurred there were things all over the place there was a pillow in a plastic
bag located next to her head both had blood on them there was a tale located in the laundry with blood all
over it a knife was found in the corner of the lantern blood on it and the blade
had been bent such was the ferocious nature of the attack on the coffee table there were three containers of Chinese
food all partly eaten next to the Chinese containers with two bowls and a bottle of to ease be on the floor with
two spoons two forks and another bottle of two ezbee and a cane of vodka there was no sign of forced entry to the house
police think air attack was very quick over in a matter of minutes an impulse attack Donna may not have
even had a chance to scream so the fact that the neighbors said they heard nothing wasn't a great surprise as
police were of the belief there may not have been anything to hear John was taken back to the police station with
his intone his son with our both interview John immediately tells them about Keith Donna's volun ex-partner
John was well aware of the volatile nature of their relationship police interviewed John extensively and traced
his movements to the previous night any story checked out they were able to conclusively say he had nothing to do
with her murder ruling Johnny out put one person straight to the top of the suspect list
Keith bond police pull up Keith's record and see that there was the recent assault charge
against Donna and the apprehended violence order application they say the history of violence throughout the
relationship he immediately becomes the focal point of the police investigation detectives visited Keith's house on any
Street Regent's Park at 7:30 a.m. the next morning Thursday the 4th of November 1999 now I was home at this
time they knocked on a few neighbors doors and feeling that along with his brother
: a fair man Peter also lived with them they decided to try again a bit later and left when they returned a few hours
later they were out of luck again with Keith but : bond answered the door Colin was cooperative and invited the
detectives inside he told them the cage was at work for the day and their other flatmate Peter wasn't home either
detectives got talking with Colin and asked if he knew Donna he said of course Donna was Kate's ex-girlfriend : tell
police that Keith and Donna used to fought constantly he felt bad for Donna because of the white cave treated her
one night got so bad that Colin stepped in and had to punch up with Keith over how he was treating Donna detectives
asked him when the last time he saw Donna was and he told them about being with her Tuesday night at the Regent's
Park Hotel then they left and had some takeaway Chinese food at her place before done I
got a phone call and had to leave well what any and so that was Colin certainly got the attention of
detectives with that one : agrees to go with detectives back to the station to conduct a recorded interview he wasn't
under arrest he went voluntarily he was very cooperative and wanted to help the investigation he locked on her he wanted
to help any way he could in that interview Colin went back through his evening with Donna he added in that he
had two bottles of - his beer and Donna had a keen Avoca and these have been found at the same bar police he told
detectives about the phone call that donor had gotten while they're eating Chinese food and she said that she had
to leave and go meet somebody in Asheville he says her phone call was somewhere around 8:30 or 9 o'clock p.m.
he requested don't drop him home which she did he told them he got home somewhere around 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. he
didn't see or hear from donger again during this interview something else caught the eye of police Collins right
hand was very swollen and there was also a cup on a knuckle but that was easily explained when asked about his hand :
had this to say it happened when I was doing the gardening yesterday or here to still park the garden hose real thing
Colin was the last name person to say done er alive so they were very interested in him what he had to say
especially when he had meat had gone back to her place to eat Chinese food which police had found half-eaten at the
scene but he was being very cooperative he was happy to talk to detectives and to help you out
surely it wouldn't be this helpful if he was guilty and by now police had confirmed that Donna did in fact receive
two telephone calls around the time Colin had mentioned one at 8:30 p.m. the other at 8:30 9:00 p.m.
Colin was telling the truth about that so there was no reason to believe he was lying about anything else so he did
Donna gallantly and there was another problem that police had they still couldn't find Keith on that day Thursday
the 4th of November police conducted a search warrant at keeping Colin's place not long into the surface I noticed a
few smears of blood on the floor in the round room but it was easily explained both Colin and Keith had recently cut
their fingers so the blood could have been either Affairs a sample was taken to match just in case the search was
extensive and took around four hours Colin was present at the time of the search and a police officer noticed what
looked like a blood smear on his watch Colin was questioned about it and he says it was probably blood from when he
heard he's here in gardening police seized the watch for DNA testing they also took a ring he was wearing on his
right hand Colin was still pretty non-plus didn't seem too fazed he handed the items over
with no complaints he was happy to help unfortunately the DNA tests don't work as quick as the TV
shows so police wouldn't have any results back for a few weeks there was a bit to test to they had all the
blood-stained items found at the scene the tear the plastic bag the knife and now these few items from Colin as well
as the blood smear on the floor but detectives couldn't just sit back and wait for the results they had to
keep working at it to see if they could solve it before then there was one other
thing of interest found during the search warrant and 1/8 Cates bed there was a wallet why was that wallet of
interest because it was Donna's wallet later that day police found Keith or - then he heard police were trying to
catch up with him so he presented to the police station himself he also agreed to
be interviewed in relation to Donna's wallet being Fiona under his bed chief said Donna had left it there one night
and they broke up not long after that so he kept it out of spite he also immediately presented an alibi
he said shortly after breaking up with Donna he started seeing a new girl Debbie and he was with her and then
ordered on his death keith was up front with the detectives about why he had broken up with Donna he told them about
the assault charge but that's no great surprise he would have already known that they knew about that Jeff gave the
following version of events on Melbourne Cup day Tuesday the 2nd of November 1999
Keith woods with his new girlfriend Debbie at the regents park bowling club about 7:00 p.m. Keith left Debbie at the
bowling club to play bingo and he decided to go to the Regents Park hotel when he got to the hotel he saw Donna
and Cole he noticed the Dunnan : left soon after Colin returned by himself a bit later on and then Donna returned
after that he said it was about 9:00 p.m. when Donna returned to the hotel this time Keith decided it would be a
good time to leave and he went back to the bowling club to see Debbie they left the bowling club together about 10:00
p.m. and went straight back to Keith's home where they went to bed together they arrived home at about 10:30 p.m. a
bit later on Keith's third column walk inside and sometime around midnight Keith was woken up by the washing
machine Colin decided it was a good idea to do some washing Keith wasn't too impressed with this and he got up and
had Eddie up with Colin Keith turned off the washing machine and went back to bed
Kate said he noticed that along with Colin clothes there was also a pair of shoes in the machine
Cliff's interview was somewhat similar to Collins Collins said in his interview he was with Donner at the region's Park
Hotel before leaving for a while to go to the ball club that's when Donna got a call from her
ex-husband John Colin went back to the Regents Park hotel and Donna met him back there a bit later on so their story
seemed to match her but there was one important discrepancy Kate says he got home about 10:30 p.m. and Collin got
home after you but Colin says he was home by 9:00 9:30 p.m. that was an important difference although it was
only any other so is it possible that one of the brothers was simply mistaken with the time and of course there was
the other question what was Collin doing his washing after midnight for was this
normal Debra corroborated case version although she wasn't exactly independent there
wasn't any great shock that she backed up Kate's story Sonia who was the number-one suspect
we've got : washing his clothes after midnight we've got quiche we've done his wallet under his bed we've got a blood
smear in the alley a dream and one of them was possibly lying about their movements on the night donor was
murdered and lying about what time they got home and what about this mystery caller who did she go and meet no matter
who detectives thought was responsible there was the difference between believing someone had committed a murder
and being able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt police had no witnesses and they still didn't have the DNA
results back they didn't have enough to make a case against anybody just yet [Music]
the post-mortem was conducted on Donner on Thursday the 5th of November 1999 her
facial injuries were extensive and it was determined that they were suffered by the use of extreme force death was
determined to be due to a combination of severe head trauma and multiple stab wounds despite the fact she was naked
from the waist down there was no evidence of sexual assault as the investigation continued police
find that the two phone calls Donna received the night of a death at 8:30 p.m. and 8:30 9:00 p.m. were both from
John her ex-husband they were the only calls she had answered that night there was no other mysterious caller no
mysterious person she met at ashfield John was the only person Donna when he asked to meet that night that was
significant as when the DNA results had come back the plastic bag like a dog and
Donna's landrum contained a bloody fingerprint the blood was Donna's the fingerprint wasn't and the tail located
in the land room contained two blood samples one sample was Donna's the other blood sample belonged to the same person
who owned the fingerprint detectives decided it was time to get one of the bond brothers back into the station for
another interview on the 15th of November 1999 : bond was arrested and he was interviewed for a
second time it was here he learned that there was a bloody fingerprint at the same s to him and his blood was also
found at the scene there was more bad news the blood on his watch the police had seized that the search warrant that
was Donna's body but that wasn't enough to convince : he stuck to his story he was adamant that they were at Donna's
house eating Chinese and she got a phone call when she got that phone call she said she had to leave to meet somebody
in Ashfield and she dropped him home he again maintained that he got home about 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. but there was a
problem with this story police had a lot more information banya they are actually
able to confirm Keith's story that he got home around 10:30 p.m. and Colin wasn't there they were able to confirm
that Donna didn't answer any phone calls after the 8:30 9:00 p.m. call from John
they were able to confirm she had her meeting with John and then returned to Regions Park Hotel after that the
Chinese meal was bought after Donna's last phone call nobody called Donna while Colin was at her house Donna
didn't leave to go meet Anita Boni and she definitely didn't drop calling home about 9:00 9:30 p.m. there was no sign
of forced entry to the house Colin had an injury consistent with punching someone with extreme force they could
prove he was lying it finally became too much for Colin when detectives asked him
if he could again in clarify his movements between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. he replied
but didn't get me to actually something visually be pursued those : bond was charged with a murder of Donna wheeler
he had tried to cover his tracks once he got home he washed his clothes and his shoes he had a shower but what happened
was he took his watch off to have the shower not realizing there was a blood speck on the watch but at the end of the
day the watch was just another string to the bow the bloody fingerprint and his blood at the scene were more than enough
to charge him : bond stood trial in June 2001 Collins defense team had a little glimmer of hope to work with Keith was
subpoenaed to attend court and give evidence but he refused he didn't comply with the subpoena and he went into
hiding this gave the defence team their opportunity they worked hard the entire trial to say
that case was the killer after all he was the one with the history of violence against Donna I tried to put that doubt
in the jury's mind they only needed to convince one that keith was on the run because he was guilty on the 29th of
June the jury retired to reach a verdict it didn't take them wrong they were back
very quickly : bond was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years in jail
with a non-parole period of 25 years when the finding was ready ah Donna's mother yelled at Colin to rot in hell he
just glared at her with a smug arrogant look who was sent to lift go jail to serve out his sentence there's no doubt
Colin killed Donna but in case for some reason one of the jurors had some lingering doubt or in case anyone
listening has a doubt the Crown prosecutor took the unusual step of requesting that the jury's stay in the
courtroom while Colin's criminal record was read they got to hear about a murder
Colin had previously committed that bore a chilling resemblance to the murder of
Donna wheeler in 1987 : bond attacked the woman according to : her went like this with a
few beers under my belt I've got the shit's and hit her that was a gross under exaggeration the woman's face was
beaten to a bloody pulp he left her for dead taking off her pants leaving her naked from the waist down
she died 16 days later as a result of those sickening facial injuries police at the time were of the opinion that the
woman had rejected Colin's sexual advances so he snapped and bludgeoned her to death
police are of the opinion that's exactly what happened with Donna Colin made sexual advances towards her that she
rejected somehow Colin was able to plead that first murder charge down a manslaughter and was sentenced to 20
years jail with a non-parole period of ten years of course he only served the minimum ten years and was out of jail
less than 12 months before he killed Donna wheeler imagine if the courts had have imposed a proper sentence Donna
will I might still be alive today and of course this information couldn't be brought up during Colin's trial as it
would have been unfair to him if the jury had knowledge of that previous charge [Music]
donar and her mother were both aware that colin had been in jail for killing a woman Donna's mom told her to be very
careful hanging around you but Donna believed the story that Colin had told her about it
his explanation to Donna was that he became involved in a heated argument with the girl and he pushed her over
when she fell she hit her head and died it was all an accident according to him I guess the life sentence Colin got fell
in line with that story so I can see what Donna might have believed it if only she knew the truth
Colin ended up dying of a heart attack a few years into his 30-year sentence but
just think he had already committed to sickening murders but he still would have been eligible for parole in his
late 70s [Music]

Case 05: Donna Wheeler

On Tuesday the 2nd of November 1999 Donna Wheeler was found murdered in her home in Berala, Western Sydney. There were several suspects.

Was it her ex-husband John who found her body and called the police? Was it her violent ex-boyfriend Keith who was recently arrested for assaulting Donna. Keith wasn't happy that Donna was spending a lot of time with his brother Colin since they separated…

CREDITS

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

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Brief Summary

The episode details the murder of Donna Wheeler and the investigation that led to Colin Bond's conviction.

Key points

The Murder of Donna Wheeler. Donna Wheeler was found murdered in her home, leading to a complex investigation.
The Night Before the Murder. On the night before her murder, Donna was seen with Colin and received a mysterious phone call.
Discovery of the Crime Scene. John, Donna's ex-husband, discovers her body, leading to a police investigation.
The Investigation Intensifies. Police focus on Keith, Donna's ex-boyfriend, as a prime suspect after discovering his violent history.
The Bloody Fingerprint. A bloody fingerprint found at the crime scene leads detectives to focus on one of the Bond brothers.
Verdict Delivered. Colin is found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was a volatile, violent relationship at times.

Describing the nature of Donna's relationship with Keith.

2:05WatchNov 19, 2018

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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