The disappearance that rocked Sandy Bay | Forensic Files

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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website the sun was just beginning to rise on
tuesday january 27 2009 when timothy arrived at the sandy bay rowing club to drop his daughter off for her early
morning rowing training located immediately south of hobart's central business district the affluent
waterfront suburb was home to some of tasmania's most expensive real estate and was a hot spot for sailing
timothy parked his car and stepped outside to admire the views of the city and nearby mount wellington
as he looked outwards towards the rowing shed he noticed something bobbing in the
water against the rocks he moved closer and realized it was an inflatable dinghy
the blue and white vessel had the brand name quicksilver printed on it assuming the dinghy must have come
undone from its mooring point timothy peered inside and noticed that the dinghy's rope was sitting within
this was odd had the rope accidentally come undone he expected it would be trailing in the
water regardless timothy used the rope to secure the vessel to a rock he pointed it out to his daughter's
rowing coach daryl but they didn't give it much more thought [Music] timothy joined daryl in his aluminium
speedboat and followed the rowers out for their training session just before 7am the two men were
approximately 200 meters from shore when they passed the 53-foot double-mastered
yacht named the four winds it was sitting unusually low in the water especially at its bear
worried that the yacht might be sinking the men called the police two officers arrived at the shore 15
minutes later to assess the situation daryl took one of them out on his speedboat and pulled up alongside the
four winds the officer stepped aboard the upper deck leading out from the wheelhouse the
small enclosure that housed the boat steering wheel he noticed small splatters of blood
there were also drops of blood on the wheelhouse floor and a small carving knife and blood-stained torch near the
door the officer entered the cabin and found it flooded with shin deep water the yacht was fitted with water pumps
that should have kicked in automatically but nothing was happening to drain the rapidly filling water
at this rate it was inevitable that the four winds would sink the police marine and rescue services
were called by the time they arrived the wheelhouse was significantly flooded and the bow
was only one foot above water the tasmanian fire service and a salvage agent were called in to try to pump some
of the water out to stop the four winds from sinking authorities phoned the yacht's owners
55 year old sunil fraser was at home when she received the call about the situation unfolding in sandy bay
she was shocked her de facto partner 65 year old bob chapel had spent the night on their
beloved yacht and sue hadn't heard from him since [Music] [Music] the four wins had been nothing but
trouble for sue and bob since they purchased it two months prior both experienced sailors they intended
to use it to go travelling when bob retired in about a year's time he was the chief physicist of radiology
at the wp holman clinic in the royal hobart hospital a career he'd proudly spent decades
building while bob loved his job he was looking forward to his golden years and the many
trips he and sue planned to take at sea at the recommendation of their yacht broker the couple had traveled to
queensland in december to take a look at the four winds they'd immediately fallen in love
priced at two hundred and three thousand dollars it was a bargain for a yacht of
its type a dignified and majestic vessel it featured a double mastered catch construction that was perfectly suited
to tasmania's varied weather conditions it had a white hull with dark timber accents navy blue sails and the name
four winds written along the rear and left hand side in navy cursive font at 53 feet long with approximately 50
square meters of walking space above deck the yacht was much larger than bob and sue were used to sailing
the interior cabin was split into two levels four steps below deck led to the wheelhouse which held the steering wheel
and control panels three further steps led to the lower saloon level complete with three
bedrooms a bathroom kitchen laundry and engine room the bargain price reflected the fact
that restorations were needed but sue and bob were ready for the challenge they hired two crew members to help them
sail it down from queensland to hobart this allowed them to familiarize themselves with the boat and test its
performance while having professional guidance along the way however the voyage was tainted from the
start the day after they set sail the engine failed as they neared the gold coast and
they had to be towed to a nearby marina it turned out that an oyster fungus known as black death had clogged the
engine's filters while repairs were underway bob was plagued by increasingly severe
nosebleeds he was admitted to a local hospital where doctors determined that the
nosebleeds were caused by bob's regular consumption of aspirin which acts as a blood thinner
after some deliberation it was decided that sue would continue on with the hired crew members while bob flew back
to hobart once the engine was fixed sue and the crew recommenced their journey numerous other mechanical problems
forced them to stop at various ports for repairs along the way after 16 days at sea the four winds
finally arrived in hobart bob met the crew at sandy bay where the yacht would be permanently moored
despite the complicated journey sue was excited by the trip and looked forward to many more in the future
over the following weeks the couple continued to work on the yacht in their spare time
bob was somewhat jealous of how well sue had gotten to know the four winds during
the trip from queensland and was eager to spend more time on board to gain a better understanding of how it worked
monday january 26 was the australia day public holiday and the couple spent the morning on the yacht
bob tinkered about in the engine room while sue tidied up at around midday she used their blue and
white quicksilver dinghy to travel back to shore to have lunch with bob's sister
anne who was visiting from sydney when sue returned to the yacht at around 2 30 bob was in a bad mood
he had isolated an engine leak and wanted to stay on board overnight to continue working on it
sue didn't think this was a good idea it was a windy overcast afternoon and the water was choppy
furthermore she would have to take their dinghy to get back to shore meaning bob
wouldn't have access to it overnight she urged bob to reconsider but he checked the charts and was confident
that the wind would subside sue eventually agreed after all the yacht was stocked with
food and emergency supplies so surely bob would be okay if something unforeseen arose
he was also a strong swimmer who would have no trouble swimming to safety in case of an emergency
bob didn't have a mobile phone so sue gave him hers in case he needed to contact her on their landline
throughout the evening she then took the dinghy back to shore tying it to a ladder at the royal yacht
club just after seven the following morning sue called her mobile to check on bob
there was no answer moments later she received a call from police to inform her that the four winds
was sinking sue immediately drove down to maryville esplanade which overlooked sandy bay and
met the police on the shore she was soon joined by her two daughters and bob's son
they watched on as emergency crews worked for over an hour to determine the source of the yacht's leak
it turned out that a 75 millimeter pipe near the toilet had been cut allowing water to flow freely into the vessel
the seacock was also open this is a valve that permits water to flow in and out of the boat
it's typically left closed when not in use whoever had cut the pipe and opened the
seacock likely had intimate knowledge of the yacht as these items were hidden away and their function wouldn't be
clear to a novice with these problems finally identified the four winds was successfully salvaged
the question remained where was bob chapel police conducted a full search of the
yacht and quickly determined bob was not on board a grid search of the surrounding waters
also failed to uncover any signs of the 65 year old [Music] while examining the four winds police
noticed more blood splatters on the lounge suite in the saloon at the lowest point of the hull
the automatic bilge pump had also been deactivated this pump is designed to empty any
excess water into the ocean to prevent a vessel from sinking the four winds bilge pump was fitted
with an alarm which was supposed to sound if water reached a certain level this too had been deactivated
with all these factors combined it was clear that the yacht had been deliberately tampered with
[Music] a local man was walking his dog along maryville esplanade when he noticed a
red yachting jacket with grey trim it was hanging on a low brick fence outside a residential property on the
corner of margaret street aware of the chaos on the waterfront he left the jacket untouched and walked to
the beach to inform the police an officer went to question the occupants of the property who said the
red jacket wasn't theirs they'd arrived home at around six the previous evening and hadn't noticed the
jacket then so it must have been placed there recently when sue returned to the scene she was
shown the jacket and asked whether it belonged to her she said she'd never seen it before
stating it wasn't from the yacht officers began door knocking homes along maryville esplanade for information
they also checked records of nearby pay phones and contacted local bus and taxi companies but no useful leads emerged
bob's whereabouts remained unknown just before midday an officer visited sue at home to take an official
statement sue described her relationship with bob as healthy with no major problems
the couple had met in 1989 through mutual france and had immediately hit it off they had a lot in common
both had migrated to australia from the uk and grown up in victoria before eventually moving to tasmania
they were both divorced with adult children from their previous marriages both intellectuals they shared a love of
books gourmet food and the outdoors as well as an interest in current affairs they enjoyed having deep conversations
and to like to debate their differing opinions although they had contrasting personalities sue's extraversion
complemented bob's reserved nature sue told the officer about bob's recent ill health and recurring noseblades
she explained that bob didn't have access to their dinghy if he needed it to leave the yacht in the night but due
to his age he was unable to get in and out of the dinghy on his own anyway as for the seacock and bilge pump sue
wasn't aware of any problems she and bob checked them both often to ensure everything was in working order
if anyone had deliberately tampered with them in an effort to harm bob sue couldn't think of any likely culprits
bob had no known enemies and there was no one who would want to hurt him when asked about her movements the
previous afternoon sue said she arrived back to shore sometime between 3 and 3 30.
she then drove to the local bunnings warehouse hardware store where she browsed the isles for several hours
before leaving without buying anything by the time she got home it was already dark
it was a relatively uneventful evening until just after 10 when the phone rang [Music]
on the other line was richard king a friend of one of bob's daughters for the sake of clarity case file will
refer to her as lisa richard was worried lisa suffered from mental health issues
that included paranoia and delusions although she hadn't seen her father in a year she had recently become
increasingly concerned about his health as well as the safety of his yacht richard told sue that lisa was convinced
something bad was going to happen to bob she wanted to go down to the bay to check that his yacht was safe
lisa had also threatened to take her own life and richard was worried she would go through with it
although sue took his concerns seriously she remained calm lisa had threatened suicide in the past
but had never acted on it she also didn't know the name of the four winds or where it was moored so it
was unlikely she would go out on her own to try and find it after speaking for around half an hour
richard and sue were satisfied that lisa would be okay still sue laid awake that night worried about
what richard had told her she eventually dozed off and when she woke up she discovered that lisa's
concerns about bob were right detectives took sue on board the four winds which had been towed to a dock in
hobart to see if she could identify anything out of the ordinary she started noticing things right away
the switches on the fuse board were in the incorrect position a green rope on the deck was in disarray
and not in its usual spot significant lengths of rope were also missing especially from the main mast
a red winch handle which is used to adjust rope tension and was usually stored in a locker at the back of the
boat had been inserted into the winch on the main mast a rope around the winch had also been
cut and another was lying out of place in a pile on the deck the wood around the yacht's rear entry
hatch was marked with rope burn there were also some loose carpet panels in the main saloon
sue explained these couldn't come loose by accident they could only be lifted by
removing mini screws entering the main cabin sue saw that a heavy fire extinguisher was missing from
its bracket outside the wheelhouse the emergency position indicating radio beacon known
as an epirb was also missing part of its bracket had been snapped off and fallen to the ground
bob knew the epirb was easily removed from the bracket by simply pulling it up so it was unlikely he was the one who
broke it the device was found hours later by a passerby walking along the beach several latent fingerprints were
identified on it and ran through the national database but there was no match and the item revealed nothing else of
significance although sue had been advised not to touch anything she began playing with
switches on the electrical panel until the bilge pump alarm sounded she pointed out that the alarm was so
loud residents of the neighbouring suburb would have woken up if it had gone off the previous evening
she also pointed out a torch and empty juice container which didn't belong on the yacht
but these were confirmed to have been absent-mindedly left behind by police police divers searched sandy bay where
the yacht was initially moored covering a circular space approximately 100 metres in diameter
although visibility was good they still didn't find any sign of bob chapel the search continued the following day
january 28th police divers re-entered the waters but they lost a visibility upon reaching a
depth of 23 metres unable to see the ocean floor they abandoned the search [Music]
confirmed the blood on the wheelhouse floor steps torch and lounge suite had come from bob
although it couldn't be determined how long the blood had been there the two crew members who had helped sail the
yacht from queensland had cleaned the boat thoroughly upon their arrival to hobart
they didn't recall seeing any bloodstains at the time deeming it unlikely that the blood was
left over from bob's nosebleeds fingerprints were also uncovered throughout the yacht
most belonged to recent passengers including the two crewmates who traveled with sue down from queensland and bob's
son timothy there were also several other unidentified fingerprints a strand of female hair was found near
the skylight hatch and another at the bottom of the wheelhouse steps then there was a dinner plate sized
stain found on the yacht believed to have been vomit urine or saliva it tested positive for female dna
neither the stain nor the hairs were found to have originated from sue or her daughters
whoever the source was she was unknown to police a small blue face washer and two wet
rags covered in brown stains that appeared to be vomit were also recovered and taken for further analysis
the possibility that bob took his own life was ultimately ruled out he hadn't undergone any behavioral
changes recently including showing signs of depression it was the opposite he'd been overseeing a major project at
work that he wanted to complete and was excited about his plans for the future based on the evidence so far uncovered
it was much more likely that bob had met with foul play the most likely scenario was that the
assailant had used the quicksilver dinghy sue had tied up at the royal yacht club to get to and from the four
winds once on board they might have torn the heavy fire extinguisher from its bracket
and used it to bludgeon bob to death in the saloon several carpet squares were missing and
it was possible these had been removed from the boat to destroy evidence bob's body which weighed 64 kilograms
might have then been tied with rope and dragged up the stairs using the winch before being dumped overboard
the killer then used the dinghy to return to shore dumping it on the beach without tying it up
investigators conducted various experiments to test their theory although their approach wasn't very
scientific they confirmed that the winch was capable of hoisting a man of bob's weight from the side of the missing
carpet squares based on the yacht's specifications and the volume of water flowing in when it
was discovered sinking a naval engineer determined it would take approximately 9
to 12 hours for the boat to sink had both the pipe and seacock been cut at the same time
[Music] given that the yacht was at its lowest point in the water at around eight
o'clock on the morning of january 27 it was estimated that the four winds had likely been sabotaged around midnight
[Music] investigators were left to determine who would want to hurt bob chapel and why
outside of work bob mostly kept to himself a typical evening for bob involved a relaxing drink cooking a nice meal and
settling in with a good book this was not the routine of a man who sought trouble
[Music] sue was of the opinion that trouble had instead found bob just 13 days before bob went missing sue
believed someone had tried to break into the four winds she had boarded the yacht to find that
the electrical switchboard and freshwater pump cover were open and the chart table had been accessed
it wasn't the first time [Music] while the four winds was being repaired in queensland the mechanic had advised
sue that the yacht had been broken into and several panels had been opened and moved about
sue had noted that a similar looking yacht had recently been used to smuggle drugs into australia
consequently she wondered whether someone might have planted drugs in the four winds during the journey down from
queensland when the smuggler or their cohorts went to collect the goods in tasmania they
would have unexpectedly found bob on board and could have killed him to cover their tracks
sue seems convinced this was the likely outcome and had been urging police to follow up on this line of investigation
from the very beginning within minutes of arriving on the scene to find the yacht sinking she'd
mentioned this possibility to a constable she told police that several other boats
in the sandy bay area had recently been broken into or tampered with prior to bob's disappearance she noticed
a vessel on the water with the license plate beginning with pv sue immediately noted this as suspicious
she believed this indicated that the boat was from port villa a harbourside city in vanuatu that was a known hot
spot for drug smuggling sniffer dogs taken on board the four winds were unable to detect traces of
drugs due to severe water damage to the yacht's interior police were also unable to confirm
whether a boat from port villa had recently been in the sandy bay area weeks passed without any sign of bob
chapel he didn't access his bank accounts or make contact with any of his loved ones
leading to the conclusion he was likely deceased the limited forensic evidence recovered
on board the four winds had led nowhere the red yachting jacket found on the corner of margaret street and maryville
esplanade wasn't thought to be relevant to bob's case as sue said she had never seen it before
investigators had it tested anyway if anything they hoped forensics might point towards its owner and give them a
solid lead as to who might have been in the area on the night bob went missing swabs taken from the inner surfaces of
the cuffs and collar were tested for dna and returned a match the jacket had been worn by none other
than sunil fraser this wasn't the only lie that sue had been caught in as investigators spoke with people who
had been at sandy bay on january 26 it became clear that something wasn't adding up
just before four that afternoon a group of men arrived at the royal yacht club marina
they noticed the four winds offshore and recalled a grey mid-sized dinghy tied to
the vessel it was bobbing up and down in the choppy sea taking in some water they recalled the dinghy as worn and
faded with scuff marks and a grey leaf cloth a piece of fabric that acts as a safety net
another witness who had been sitting on a nearby jetty at around 5pm also recalled the dinghy alongside the four
winds they saw an elderly man pottering about on the yacht which struck them as odd
they wondered why someone would choose to be on a moored boat in such turbulent waters
these recollections contradicted the statement provided by sunil fraser she had told police that she had
traveled from the four winds to the beach arriving at the shore between 3 and 3 30 pm
according to witnesses the dinghy was still floating alongside the four winds between 4 and 5
pm furthermore according to his son bob was very safety conscious it was therefore strange that he would
choose to stay on the yacht without the dinghy in case of an emergency sue had told police that bob was unable
to get in and out of the dinghy without assistance anyway so there was no issue in leaving him without access to it
bob's son disputed this he'd seen his father operate the dinghy before without any problems
following up on sue's claims that she'd visited bunning's warehouse after reaching land police checked the store's
cctv footage at no point was sue or her car captured on the premises sue claimed to have arrived at bunnings
around 4 40 pm and spent several hours browsing the aisles but this wasn't possible
given that january 26 had been the australia day public holiday the store had shut early at 6 00 pm rather than
its usual closing time of 9 pm sue maintained she'd been home all night police checked her phone records and
confirmed she had received a call from richard the man who voiced his concerns about bob's daughter lisa at 10 05 pm as
stated richard told police that sue sounded relaxed and normal during their phone
conversation not like she had anything to hide sue said she went to bed after her call
with richard at 11 30 pm a man was observing the ocean from his parked car near the sandy
bay royal yacht club sheds he'd stopped by the bay to unwind and found the area completely deserted
all of a sudden his attention was drawn to the sound of an outboard motor out on the water was an inflatable
dinghy it was too dark to confirm the colour but the man could make the outline of a
person piloting the vessel based on their silhouette it looked to be a woman the dinghy was heading in the direction
of the four winds and the man soon lost sight of it almost an hour later at 12 15 a.m
cctv footage from an atm surveillance camera 800 meters from the royal yacht club captured a grey ford falcon station
wagon driving past the area this was the same kind of car that sue neil fraser drove
when shown the footage even sue's daughters conceded that it looked like their mother's car
the vehicle's number plate wasn't captured in the footage so it couldn't be said with certainty who the car
belonged to then at 308 am another call appeared on sue's home phone records it had been placed to star 10 hash an
automated service that identifies the last unanswered call received by a landline
not only had sue lied about not making any further phone calls after speaking to richard
the star 10 hash call raised a more important question why was sue wanting to know if anyone
had called her in the middle of the night was it because she had left the house and wanted to make sure that
nobody had called and discovered she was out during this time frame at 704 on the morning of january 27
sue had called her mobile phone which she had left on board with bob when questioned sue said she was calling
the yacht to check in on bob as for the star 10 hash she had no recollection of ever placing the call
sue had been very quick to push the drug smuggling theory claiming that several boats in the area had recently been
broken into police checked their records from the previous three months and couldn't find
any evidence to support this no other break-ins had been reported including the one that allegedly took
place on board the four winds furthermore when an officer had first gone to sue's house to take down an
official statement on the day bob was discovered missing they noticed something odd
sue's left wrist was strapped up and there was a band-aid on her thumb sue explained the wrist injury was from
an old boating incident which fled up occasionally the officer asked sue to remove her
band-aid she complied revealing a laceration approximately one to two centimeters
long sue claimed she'd accidentally cut herself but didn't elaborate further at the time the interviewing officer
hadn't thought too much of it that was until several weeks later when he happened to catch a glimpse of
something that stirred his memory on january 26 sue had left the four winds around midday to have lunch with
bob's sister and during the meal anne had taken some photos the officer chanced upon them
he took a closer look at sue's rest there was no bandage nor was there any sign of a cut or
band-aid on her thumb this meant sue had sustained the injuries sometime between having lunch
with anne and when the officer interviewed her in the wake of bob's disappearance less than 24 hours later
could it have been during the course of an attack or an attempt to dispose of bob's body
the truth was police had been viewing sue with suspicion from the outset of the investigation
when she first arrived at sandy bay on january 27 after being informed that her yacht was sinking she didn't appear
overly distressed about the situation at no point did she ask about bob's well-being
when speaking about bob in subsequent police interviews she kept referring to him in the past tense as though she
already knew he was no longer alive sue apologized for this explaining she'd already come to terms with the fact that
bob was most likely deceased investigators weren't convinced with all this in mind they pieced
together a possible scenario based on sue's guilt after her call with richard sue drove
her forward to sandy bay donned the red yachting jacket and took the quicksilver
dinghy out to the yard she either bludgeoned or stabbed bob to death before using ropes and a winch to
transport his body out of the saloon onto the deck and into the dinghy from there she used a heavy object most
likely the yacht's fire extinguisher to weigh bob's body down and throw him overboard
it was some time during this process that she injured her wrist and cut her thumb
using her knowledge of the four winds inner workings sue then cut the pipe turned on the seacock and deactivated
the bilge pump and alarms in a bid to sink the yacht and destroy evidence [Music]
a mechanic who had worked on the boat in early january confirmed that he and sue
had specifically discussed the seacock's pipes and valves on board so there was no doubt she was aware of their
functions upon returning home sue called star 10 hash to make sure there hadn't been any
unanswered calls that could discredit her alibi at 7 04 am she called her mobile phone
which she'd intentionally left on board the four winds if the phone failed to ring it would
tell her that the yacht was submerged although this was all circumstantial the pieces began to fit together
all that was missing was a motive case file will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening to this
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subject to change terms apply a little over two weeks before bob chapel went missing sunil fraser spoke
with the yacht broker who sold them the four winds and said that she and bob had
separated when he expressed his sympathy sue said something along the lines of being quote
tired of having to do everything the two hired crew members who escorted bob and sue to tasmania noticed there
was no affection between the couple at one point sue remarked that her relationship with bob had been strained
for some time and was coming to an end she was thinking about borrowing one hundred thousand dollars from her mother
to pay for bob's share of their yacht when the couple were reunited in hobart sue stood back and ignored bob when he
tried to approach her when he went missing sue told one of her yacht mechanics that she and bob had
broken up bob's children weren't aware that the couple had intentions of splitting but
his son timothy had noticed some obvious tension between them in the weeks leading up to his father's
disappearance he attributed it to them wanting different things from the yacht sue hoped to go on long overseas voyages
while bob wanted to set sail on smaller trips it was clear that purchasing the four
wins had introduced some conflict into the couple's relationship but this didn't explain why sue would want to
kill her partner of 20 years five years before he disappeared bob amended his will to ensure that sue
would be well taken care of in the event of his death she was set to inherit his west hobart
home car personal possessions and 50 of the residue of his 1.3 million dollar estate
sue hadn't been present when bob made these changes and his lawyer couldn't confirm whether sue knew what she stood
to inherit yet sue had spoken to one of bob's daughters about the will previously
remarking that bob had designated a fair amount to everyone sue had since visited bob's lawyer to
discuss what needed to happen to release bob's estate if the couple were on the brink of
separation as several witnesses had described it stood to reason that sue would lose what she was owed from bob's
will in addition to the generous inheritance bob's death also meant sue would acquire
his half of the four wins without having to buy him out philip triffid had helped work on sunil
fraser's previous yacht during the 1990s philip claimed that sue had once mentioned she was feuding with her
mother she was worried that her brother patrick would therefore inherit all of her
mother's money when she passed away according to phillip sue said she wanted to get rid of patrick by throwing him
overboard and had asked for phillips assistance in doing so her plan was to weigh patrick down with
the toolbox and then sink the yacht by tempering with the bilge pump later sue told philip about some
problems she was having in her relationship with bob chapel she claimed that bob was unkind with
money and had been exhibiting some troubling behavior after drinking one night bob apparently
became convinced there was an intruder in their house and started running around with a knife
this worried sue she was concerned that bob was dangerous and wanted him gone she suggested to philip that they do to
bob what she had earlier proposed they'd do to her brother only this time they would also wrap a
bob in chicken wire before throwing him overboard philip had been taken aback by sue's
plan and tried to alert bob but sue denied his allegations consequently it marked the end of their
friendship although investigators had been suspicious of sue from the get-go they
withheld this information from her they wanted to rule out other possibilities when no other suspects immediately came
to light they narrowed in on sue and with the circumstantial evidence mounting against her it was time to act
just over a month after bob vanished covert listening devices were planted in sue's home and on her phone
investigators discovered that she had hired a lawyer who advised her not to speak to the police
regardless the next day sue voluntarily agreed to her first video interview at this point the police were still
gathering information for their investigation and didn't caution sue that she was considered a suspect
therefore she didn't ask to bring her lawyer they asked sue how things had been between her and bob when she left him on
the yacht she said they'd been squabbling bob was frustrated about the ongoing work that needed to be done to the boat
he'd given sue a lecture about how awful it was to work full time while dedicating his spare time to the repairs
sue repeated her story about visiting bunnings after she got back to shore adding that she had felt guilty at the
time because bob wouldn't be able to reach her if he called their landline this was the big chance for
investigators to catch sue in her own life they made the big reveal sue hadn't been caught on any cctv
footage and the store's opening hours that day didn't align with her timeline sue replied that she was pretty sure she
had been at bunnings on the afternoon in question she maintained that she didn't leave the
house again after returning home when asked why she didn't report the alleged break-ins on the four winds sue
said bob was reluctant to do so because he didn't want to give their boat a bad reputation
she claimed to have called the drug squad at the time to inquire about having sniffer dogs search the vessel
but bob had requested she didn't pursue the matter after the interview detectives called
every drug investigation unit in tasmania no one recalled receiving an inquiry of
this nature over a month after bob vanished sue sat down with radio journalist felicity
ogilvy having agreed to be interviewed about the case as they chatted prior to the interview
officially starting sue made a revelation she spoke about the phone call she'd received from richard on the night of
january 26 regarding bob's estranged daughter lisa as lisa had expressed concerns for bob
and his yacht sue wanted to check on them both to see if all was okay sue then admitted to felicity that she
didn't stay home the entire night of january 26th she drove to maryville esplanade
there were a few homeless people gathered around a fire on the beach but there didn't appear to be anything
suspicious going on on the four winds out at sea having put her mind at ease sue returned
home assuming this was a detail police were already aware of felicity ogilvy mentioned it in passing
during a subsequent interview with detectives it was the first they'd heard of it
given that sue had staunchly maintained to them that she'd never left their house on the night of january 26 her
comments placing her at the scene were huge investigators would soon discover that
felicity wasn't the only person sue had made this admission to in a phone call with bob's sister ran
over two months after he disappeared sue once again spoke of having driven down to maryville esplanade
in this account she added that she had left her car there so she could walk home for exercise
by mid-april almost three months had passed with no sign of bob chapel police divers once again entered the
waters of sandy bay using advanced sonar equipment they searched an area measuring one nautical
mile long and half a nautical mile wide from where the four winds had been moored
they found various items including old dinghies moorings discarded wheelie bins and concrete blocks
but nothing relevant to the chapel case investigators remained certain that bob's body had been dumped in the bay
and was hidden in the murky depths or had since drifted outside of their search zone
on may 5 2009 sunil fraser once again participated in a video interview with police
this time she was cautioned that she was officially being treated as a suspect in
bob's disappearance [Music] sue admitted she must have been mistaken when she initially said she'd been at
bunnings on the afternoon of january 26th she explained she must have gotten her
days mixed up due to being in a state of shock after bob went missing sue and bob visited bunnings frequently
to buy items for the boat and she simply had trouble differentiating one day from
the next when told about the witness reports that placed a dinghy at the four winds
between 4 and 5 pm sue completely changed her story she claimed she must have stayed aboard
the yacht later than she initially thought after returning to shore and tying the
dinghy up at the royal yacht club she left her car at either maryville esplanade or around the corner on
margaret street she couldn't be sure exactly she then walked the 2.7 kilometer route
home which took about 40 minutes later that night after receiving the call from richard about lisa she became
concerned she didn't want to call bob in case she woke him instead sue decided to walk down to
collect her car in case bob later called her from the yacht wanting to be picked
up when sue reached her car she realised she'd brought the wrong set of keys she walked home got the right set and
walked back once she returned to her vehicle she drove along the rowing sheds on
maryville esplanade parked the car and walked onto the beach it was pitch black and too dark to see
the four winds in the distance but she noticed that there were some homeless people sitting around a fire
this made her feel better so she drove home sue said she'd initially lied about going to the esplanade because she
didn't want to upset bob's other children if they found out about the phone call concerning their sister's
welfare the police told sue that the red yachting jacket she denied owning had tested positive for her dna
she conceded that the jacket belonged to her it was a spare kept on board for guests
however she had no idea how it ended up on the street for investigators sue was only digging
herself into a deeper hole they believed she had a conveniently selective memory wherein she changed her
story whenever she was presented with evidence that disproved her previous statements
she had denied the jacket was hers until dna testing proved otherwise she'd stuck with her story about being
at bunnings until security footage showed she was never there she was adamant she had never left her
house on the night of january 26 until a car matching the description of the one
she drove was captured on cctv and after she'd slipped up by telling the radio journalist that she'd driven to the
beach in early august 2009 sue wrote an official letter to the commissioner of police and the officer in charge of
internal affairs to complain about the way she was being treated concerned that the police were targeting
her and not considering other possibilities she requested that an independent review be conducted into
bob's disappearance her request was denied instead investigators were confident they had enough circumstantial evidence
to warrant an arrest on august 20 sunil fraser was charged with the murder of bob
chapple seven months later in march 2010 a 15 year old homeless girl named megan
vass was arrested in tasmania as per standard procedure her dna was run through the police database
it returned a match that nobody was expecting megan's dna had been detected at another
unrelated crime scene on board the four winds a forensic examination of the yacht had
uncovered a dinner plate size dna profile thought to have come from such bodily fluid as vomit urine or saliva
testing confirmed it didn't belong to sunil fraser and its source had remained unknown until now
megan vass had no known connection to bob chapple sunil fraser or the four winds so there was no reasonable
explanation for the presence of her dna on the yacht her fingerprints were compared to those
found on board but none were a match police searched for any other evidence that placed the teen on the four winds
at any time but found nothing police set up an interview with megan vass so they could question her about
her whereabouts on january 26 the previous year she never showed up they scheduled a second interview but
she didn't attend that one either as she was a minor with no adult guardian they couldn't force her to
speak megan was free to go about her life while sunil fraser's legal team scrambled to prove her innocence
they believed that police had tunnel vision on sue which led them to carry out an inadequate investigation
the dinghy sided roped up to the four winds on the afternoon bob vanished was described as charcoal grey
bob and sue's quicksilver dinghy was blue and white one witness saw alone seemingly female
figure traveling on a dinghy towards bob's yacht at 11 30 pm police were quick to conclude that this
person was sue yet it could have been megan vass or it might not have been a woman at all
a man named grant had also been moored in the same area as the four winds on the night of january 26 2009
he was described as slim with delicate features and wavy shoulder-length hair it was possible that the witness had
seen grant and confused his silhouette for that of a female then there was the assertion that sue
had lifted bob's body using a winch before placing it in the dinghy and dumping it at sea
several witnesses confirmed sue couldn't use the winch without assistance due to
a back injury the quicksilver dinghy was tested with luminol a chemical used to detect blood
and several areas had reacted positively however as luminol cannot be 100 relied
on another screening agent and microscopic examination were also used this time they returned negative results
there was no forensic evidence to conclusively prove there was or had been any blood in the dinghy at all
no other witnesses who had contact with sue the morning after bob's disappearance recalled seeing a bandage
on her wrist or band-aid on her thumb the interviewing officer who noticed the injury said he told the detective in
charge of the investigation about what he saw but he didn't take any photographs or
notes about the injury at the time nor did he request it to be examined an inverted latex glove uncovered on the
four winds led investigators to assume that sue had endeavoured to clean the yacht prior to sabotaging it
the glove contained fingerprints but they matched bob's son timothy who said he'd recently been on the yacht as a
guest although financial gain was a common motive for murder sue was not desperate
for money while she no longer worked full time she earned three investment properties and
bob had been providing her an allowance of 500 a fortnight for living expenses if she hoped to inherit bob's half of
the four wins it didn't make sense that she would then attempt to sink the vessel in the process
although her story changed sue willingly spoke with police and aided in their investigations
she even pointed out the things that were missing or out of place on the yacht were these the actions of someone who
had something to hide sue's trial commenced in tasmania's supreme court in september 2010
with no body no weapon no witnesses and nothing to conclusively prove that bob chapel was deceased the case against her
was built entirely on circumstantial evidence the prosecution called 60 witnesses to
the stand among them was peter one of the crew members who helped sail the four winds
from queensland to tasmania he was one of several people who claimed that sue told him her relationship with
bob was over in earlier police interviews sue claimed that peter drank heavily during the voyage implying that he might
have gotten things mixed up on the stand peter took offence to this he stated that the most he ever drank
was one or two glasses of wine during dinner and he was nowhere near intoxicated at any time on the journey
under cross-examination sue's lawyer put it to peter that someone with intimate knowledge of the
four winds would know there were easier ways to sink it than by cutting the 75 millimeter pipe near the toilet
peter agreed it would be quicker to sink the boat by opening the main engine inlet valve
however peter also noted that the slower method might be the best option if the person responsible wanted to get off the
yacht and out of sight before anyone noticed it was sinking sue's former friend philip triffit took
the stand to repeat his story about sue saying she wanted to kill both her brother and bob and throw them overboard
this had allegedly happened in the 90s when the defense asked philip why he didn't report either of these
conversations to police at the time he claimed he didn't think the threats would ever eventuate
the defense wasn't buying it they argued that if philip's claims were true it was absurd to think that sue
would have carried out the plan a decade after first mentioning it as the defense pointed out philip had
passed convictions for physical assault traffic infringement and unlawful possession of a firearm
at the time bob chapel went missing philip was on bail and had asked police whether providing information about bob
and sue's history would help with his current charges the defense urged the jury to reject
these claims on the basis that philip triffit was a dishonest man who was hoping to gain a personal advantage from
giving false evidence instead they criticized police for not seriously investigating sue's concerns
that someone might have used the four winds to smuggle drugs james a marine mechanic who had
conducted repairs on the yacht while it was birthed in queensland gave evidence that while working on the yacht he
raised concerns of a break-in james had noticed that on two or three occasions the boom cover which is a
tarpaulin that covers the cockpit to protect it from the elements was tied down differently to the way he had left
it several items on board had also been moved around as the four winds was kept on a locked
pier overnight james suspected someone was accessing the yacht from the sea rattled he had phoned sue to voice his
concerns including that he felt like someone was watching him however during cross-examination
james revealed he later found out that an electrician had been working on the boat after hours which accounted for
this suspicious activity he had informed sue of this this implied she knew the boat hadn't
been broken into yet had still used these incidents to bolster her drug smuggling theory
while there were compelling arguments both for and against sue's innocence one giant question loomed
how had megan vassa's dna got on board the four winds the case's dna profiler confirmed that
the dinner plate-sized dna profile belonged to megan vass at a probability of 1 in 100 million
although rare he said it was entirely possible that megan's dna ended up on the four winds through secondary
transfer without her ever having been on board speculatively speaking it was possible
that the dna had been walked onto the yacht from someone's shoe although he didn't recall an instance in
his career where such an incident had occurred there had actually been some other items
found on board that also appeared to have been covered in vomit a small blue face washer and two wet rags
these had been bagged as evidence and appeared on the forensic report tendered in court but they were never
forensically tested nor mentioned during the trial by this point megan vass had been
tracked down and was called to testify she told the jury that in late january of 2009 she was living in a complex in
lena valley a suburb six and a half kilometers north of sandy bay she had never been on board the four
winds and couldn't recall whether she was anywhere near sandy bay at the time of bob chapple's disappearance
explaining why she refused to be interviewed by the police when her dna was first linked to the case megan said
she was intimidated by law enforcement and by the magnitude of the situation after giving her testimony megan was
free to leave however something she said raised a red flag before the jury had been summoned in
megan told the court that she'd been living in a women's refuge in montrose at the time of bob chapple's
disappearance not lena valley like she told the jury the two suburbs were roughly six
kilometers apart and not easily confused furthermore one of the detectives who had looked into megan after her dna was
identified told a completely different story during his inquiries he discovered that
in late january 2009 megan was living at a woman's shelter called mara house in the inner northern
suburb of newtown shelter policy required anyone who intended to spend the night off grounds
tell the staff where they were going on the night of january 26 staff recalled that megan spent the night away
and had given them the address of a unit in mount nelson a suburb just above sandy bay
the detective looked into it and discovered it was a fake address this was the first time this information
had come to light but by this point megan vass had already been dismissed from court
the judge decided not to recall her and simply instructed the jury to ignore this information from the detective as
it was only hearsay as the trial progressed sunil fraser was called to the stand as the sole witness
for the defense for four days she was subject to intense questioning sue denied ever saying that her
relationship with bob was over on the contrary they had planned to get married on their upcoming 20th
anniversary she strongly denied ever telling her former friend phillip triffit that she
wanted her brother and bob dead she claimed the real reason her friendship with philip deteriorated was
because he was stockpiling weapons and it made her and bob very uncomfortable additionally philip's partner at the
time had told them that philip had burned her house down for insurance money and that he had once killed a man
sue stuck by the story that she sometimes strapped her wrist due to an old boating injury that often flared up
as for the band-aid the interviewing officer recalled seeing on her left thumb the morning of bob's disappearance
sue claimed to have no recollection of cutting herself she said she must have been scratched by
her cat she admitted it was quote very silly that she'd kept the word of her trip to
sandy bay on the night of january 26 a secret she said she hadn't been thinking clearly at the time
the prosecution accused sue of planting red herrings to direct the investigation
away from herself sue disputed this explaining that one of the reasons she withheld information
from police was that she began suffering acute mental blackouts a few days after
bob's disappearance she stated it was as if everything was receding and then i would basically not know where i
was just for a few seconds or a minute sue also claimed it was stress that it caused her to give incorrect
recollections of her trip to bunning's warehouse hindered further by the fact that her days blended into one because
she typically followed the same routine every day the prosecution labelled these as false
memories and suggested that sue told so many lies she was unable to keep track of them all
the prosecution also accused sue of exaggerating stories about the four winds being broken into to lead police
towards that line of investigation her 2009 diary in which she had made note of a break-in that occurred on
january 10 was presented to the chord this entry had been written using different colored ink to other entries
from the same day the prosecution alleged this was because sue had made the entry later on to give
her story about the break-ins more credence sue denied this allegation pointing out
that most of her diary entries were written in different coloured ink during her time on the stand sue
often gave vague non-committed responses the judge cautioned her against this but
sue ignored the caution and continued giving passive answers some perceived this as being uncertain
and deceitful when the prosecution blatantly accused sue of killing bob and dumping his body
at sea for financial gain sue responded there is not a grain of truth in any of this
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after three weeks sunil fraser's trial began wrapping up her lawyer reminded the jury that the
prosecution's case was entirely circumstantial and tasmanian law dictated that an individual couldn't be
convicted of a crime when the evidence lies purely on suspicion he said the prosecution's case ignored
the evidence that clearly proved sue was innocent telling the jury you hold ms nil fraser's future in your
hands today and you have a solemn duty to discharge in accordance with the oath that you took at the beginning of these
proceedings to decide the case according to the evidence that oath says nothing about suspicion
the judge reiterated to the jury that telling a lie mustn't be treated as evidence suggesting guilt
he clarified quote you may find miss nilfrazer guilty of murder if you're satisfied beyond
reasonable doubt of all the following things a she killed mr chapel b the physical acts or acts by which she
killed mr chapel were voluntary and intentional c at the time of the killing she intended
to cause mr chapel's death d her physical acts or acts were not justified under the provisions of the
criminal code the jury deliberated for 18 hours for the murder of bob chapel they found
su neil fraser guilty beyond reasonable doubt sue was noticeably shocked by the outcome
she had been so convinced that the jury would find her innocent that she'd barely considered the alternative
sentencing took place 12 days later bob's family chose not to provide victim impact statements in order to preserve
their privacy the judge stated he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that sue had murdered
bob on board the four winds and used the dinghy to dump his body at sea for the purpose of her own financial gain quote
she seems to me to be clever very cool-headed and well-able to control her emotions
this was not a killing that occurred because of a loss of self-control it was not a crime of
passion it was an intentional and purposeful killing acknowledging that sue had no prior
convictions the judge stated that her refusal to plead guilty or assist with locating bob's body coupled with her
lack of remorse warranted a heavier sentence than most murders he therefore sentenced sunil fraser to
26 years with a non-parole period of 18 years backdated to the date of her arrest
sue appealed against her conviction straight away and in august 2011 her case was heard in the court of criminal
appeal the appeal was quashed immediately but the appellate judges agreed that given
her age and previously good character her sentencing was excessive sue's sentence was reduced to 23 years
with a non-parole period of 13 years meaning she would be eligible for parole in 2022
sue wasn't satisfied with this outcome six months later she applied for special leave to appeal to the high court of
australia on the grounds that the case against her was purely circumstantial she argued that the dna
evidence belonging to megan vass found on board the four winds should be given further consideration
her application was rejected that same day writing to a friend about her experiences
sue said it has been a pretty horrific few years for us no one in our family had ever been
involved in the criminal justice system and we were therefore naive when it came
to interacting with police we had faith that if mistakes were made there were checks and balances to
address them now in hindsight our world view has changed and of necessity we find
ourselves tumbling about in the eye of a turbulent fight for justice as more time goes by since bob
disappeared the more clearly i see what has happened and to just how outrageous the claims made by police and
prosecution actually were for sue's appeal lawyer barbaretta one particular detail continued to play on
her mind in the weeks following bob's disappearance a man named steven gleason had gone to the hobart police station
wanting to report his sightings on the night of january 26 2009 gleason had been living in his car in
sandy bay at the time and knew bob and sue as he occasionally helped them with their dinghy
he expected that police would follow up with him to provide a statement but they never did
barbaretta wanted to know why she contacted the police and insisted they conduct a formal interview with
gleason the police reluctantly agreed stephen gleason told the interviewing officer that his friend paul roe should
be viewed with suspicion roe lived on a boat which had been moored alongside the four winds on the
night of bob chapple's disappearance and he was known to invite homeless people aboard
a month prior to the four winds incident roe had allegedly told gleason that bob
chapel was quote a condescending old [ __ ] and i'd like to rip his teeth out of his head with a
pair of old pliers gleason claimed that he'd been sleeping in his car overlooking sandy bay on the
night of january 26 2009 when a homeless teenage girl knocked on his window he suspected that she and her boyfriend
had boarded the four winds and might have something to do with bob's disappearance
it was curious that paul rowe had never been questioned after all his boat was the closest one
more to the four winds on the night in question rowe also had a long criminal history
which included serving prison time for stabbing a man at the persistence of sue's lawyer
police finally questioned him in 2012. roe denied knowing sunil fraser or bob chappell but remembered the four winds
because of its distinct double mast he admitted to having a violent temper that worsened when he was intoxicated
but denied having anything to do with bob's disappearance or assisting sue with the murder
he said he didn't know anyone named megan vass according to roe on the night of january
26 2009 he had been drinking with stephen gleason before returning to his boat roe claimed he kept his boat there until
around november 2010 however photographs taken during the investigation into bob chapple's
disappearance proved otherwise there was no sign of paul rose vessel in any of the images
in reality roe had up and left the day after bob's disappearance relocating his boat to constitution dock on the other
side of the city police never queried this inconsistency [Music] while the public remained divided about
whether or not sunil fraser was guilty her family and supporters continued to rally around her
they felt there were other possibilities that weren't explored due to investigators having cast their
suspicions on sue prematurely what about megan vassa's dna in the rare chance that megan's dna was
walked on board by somebody else it would have likely appeared in multiple places rather than in one single puddle
furthermore secondary transference of dna is extremely rare and it would have been nearly impossible in such a large
amount there were also some unidentified fingerprints and human hairs found on board the four winds that didn't belong
to sue then there was bob's daughter lisa who had spoken of her father coming to harm
on the four winds the very night he disappeared despite this lisa wasn't questioned by
police until four months into the investigation there was also the issue of a police log
recorded on january 27 2009 that had been withheld from sue's defense team and therefore not presented at her trial
the log stated that at some time between 7 45 and 8 30 on the night bob went missing a woman who lived in a large
house overlooking sandy bay had looked out over the water she'd seen an inflatable dinghy leaving
the area where the four winds was moored she believed the dinghy was being driven
by a male aged between 40 and 50 years old with thick wavy reddish brown hair and a quote
whether beaten sailor look underneath the woman's statement a detective had written person fits description of sunil
fraser witness was some distance from dinghy and presumed it was a male due to the
way the dinghy was sitting low in the water at the rear that comment was entirely subjective yet
investigators hadn't bothered looking into any other possibilities in actuality the woman might have in
fact seen a male as she told police there had also been a report from a woman who lived on the foreshore who
said she had heard a distressed male's voice in the middle of the night police had largely ignored this report
even though it could have been vital in identifying the timing of bob's attack then there was the ongoing argument
about sue's drug smuggling theory while sue's trial was taking place the australian federal police seized 464
kilograms of cocaine with a street value of 160 million dollars from a yacht in brisbane
three australian men were arrested after law enforcement agencies in the united states tipped off australian authorities
while the prosecution passed off sue's drug smuggling concerns as ludicrous and unfounded
some argue that this bust showed the possibility wasn't without merit during sue's trial the police had told
the court there were no known break-ins to yachts in the hobart area in the weeks leading up to bob's disappearance
however this wasn't true several locals had in fact had their dinghies stolen and boats broken into
but the police never followed up these reports in relation to bob's disappearance
instead placing the blame on the local homeless population on the night of bob's disappearance
another vessel north of sandy bay had been ransacked in a similar manner to the four winds with the power turned off
at the switchboard and the alarm system disengaged with mounting pressure from sue's
supporters and various media outlets the heat was on for the state coroner to announce a public inquest into bob
chapel's death but in january 2014 coroner glenn haye confirmed that there wouldn't be an
inquest as he supported the findings of sue's murder trial and didn't believe anyone else had been
involved corona hay believed a formal hearing would be a waste of court time and resources while subjecting bob and
sue's loved ones to unnecessary stress given that sue had exhausted her appeal options an inquest was her last chance
to have the case re-examined then almost two years later in november 2015 a new opportunity arose
an amendment was made to the tasmanian criminal code act that allowed the right to appeal to the courts in circumstances
where fresh and compelling evidence had become available this meant sue could launch another
appeal providing she could present evidence that was compelling enough to convince a judge for her appeal to be
heard sue's supporters erected billboards in the centre of hobart and along major
roads offering a forty thousand dollar reward for anyone with quote true facts that led to sue's release
in 2016 former detective turned true crime writer colin mclaren started investigating the bob chapel case
himself he was convinced that megan vass held a vital clue to solving the mystery of
what went down on the four winds that australia day while colin didn't think megan killed
bob perhaps she had been on the yacht that night and witnessed something terrible happen
by this point megan vass was 23 years old and running with the motorcycle gang colin mclaren managed to track her down
and she eventually agreed to speak to him in person they met at a hotel in hobart
megan was accompanied by her boyfriend with a counsellor on standby to provide support
megan was visibly apprehensive it was clear that she was highly stressed and on edge
she didn't want to talk saying the whole situation had haunted her for 11 years but her boyfriend urged her to
it wasn't your fault he told her somebody did the wrong thing by you you're the one carrying it all
megan paced nervously around the room unable to sit still she then begged her boyfriend to let her
leave colin mclaren urged her to think of sunil fraser who was spending her elderly years in prison in a wheelchair
he told megan how grateful sue would be if she just told the truth distraught with her head in her hands
megan responded i know this and i've tried so hard it's draining me for [ __ ] sake
i can't do it today megan said she thought about sue every single day and that if she could she
would go and unlock her cell door herself unable to cope with the pressure of the
situation megan ended the meeting however before leaving the hotel she was presented with the statutory declaration
that colin mclaren had prepared in advance it stated i was on the four winds yacht on the
night of australia day 2009 i was there with people that i won't name i don't want to give any details except
that i was on the yacht the lady sunil fraser was not on the yacht i have never met her i don't know her i
just know she is in prison i don't want to say why i was on the yacht and i don't want to say any more
megan signed the document the statutory declaration was given to the director of public prosecutions but
no further action was taken megan vassa's boyfriend was eventually charged with perverting the course of
justice after police argued that he pressured her to sign it against her will sue's lawyer barbara rata remained
committed to proving her client's innocence there was another detail that had been
bugging her it related to the red yachting jacket belonging to sue that was found on the
esplanade on the morning of bob chapple's disappearance when this item was forensically analyzed
a 26 centimeter long dark hair was found on it however the hair was never tested
barbara urged the director of public prosecutions to test it against the dna database and in april of 2017
they finally agreed the hair did not belong to sue instead it was linked to a woman who had
been taken into police custody at 8pm on january 27 2009. the night after bob chapple's disappearance
barbaretta discovered that when police first found the jacket it was thrown into the back of a police car without
being properly bagged as evidence the hair made its way onto the jacket when the woman was taken in the car for
reasons unrelated to the bob chapel investigation four days later when an officer went to
retrieve the jacket for forensic testing he found it laying in the dirt in the police car park
during that time the jacket had been exposed to both rain and sun with many people passing it by
the police log submitted at sue's trial had made no mention of this sue's legal team believed they'd amassed
enough new information to finally present their case to the supreme court of tasmania
they had the stat deck from megan vass the witness statement from stephen gleason that named paul rowe and various
experts who were willing to weigh in on the elements of the investigation they believed were handled incorrectly
in october 2017 sue began her leave to appeal with the aim of convincing the judge that there was enough new and
compelling evidence to warrant a retrial nineteen witnesses were expected to take
the stand over the course of the hearing the first being megan vass however when megan appeared in court she
retracted the statement made in her statutory declaration saying it was quote not [ __ ] true
she denied being on board the four winds on the night that bob chapel went missing and claimed that she had been
pressured into signing the stat deck and offered payment to do so megan became aggressive screaming
i had been made to sign that statement out of fear i was threatened to be put in the boot
of a car she eventually ran from the courtroom to avoid the media waiting outside
stephen gleason had since been convicted of causing grievous bodily harm after repeatedly bashing his neighbour over
the head with an iron and was currently serving nine years in prison a lawyer acting on behalf of colin
mclaren had visited gleason in prison and presented him with a photographic lineup to see if he could identify the
teenager who knocked on his window on the night of bob chapple's disappearance gleason had singled out a photo of megan
vass however because the lawyer had presented this lineup to gleason without permission from law enforcement police
claimed that both the lawyer and gleason were perverting the course of justice they also believed that the lawyer had
strongly influenced gleason to identify megan vass both men were charged with interfering
with sue's appeal beard regardless at the hearing gleason maintained his belief that paul rowe was
responsible for bob's disappearance and maintained his identification of megan vass as the teenager who knocked on his
car window on the night in question to complicate matters further gleason also admitted he would lie to help sue
prove her innocence the leave to appeal concluded on february 6 2019 with the verdict to be
delivered at a later date around this time colin mclaren published his findings in a book titled southern
justice a firm believer in sue's innocence the book sought to highlight the various
mistakes made throughout the course of the investigation mclaren also teamed up with filmmaker e
vash to present their case for sue's innocence in a six-part documentary series for the channel 7 network titled
undercurrent both the book and the series explained mclaren's theory as to how bob chappell
was really murdered he believed the more logical possibility was that two or more people broke into
the four winds not expecting to find bob on board caught off guard they killed him in the
saloon and then attempted to let water into the yacht to destroy as much evidence as possible
based on a length of rope that was found dangling from the rear entry hatch the drops of blood on the lounge suite
underneath and scuff marks above the lounge mclaren theorised that the attackers then tied a rope around bob's
body and pulled him out of the saloon via the skylight above as mclaren explained in southern justice
the rope is visible in police photographs its presence teases the astute investigator
this clue is vital to understanding the crime scene and cannot be ignored but it was
elongated vertical blood drops are evident on the lounge their shape indicating that at some
point his body was above where the drops fell this is detective 101 stuff logically i can see no other solution
with the release of southern justice and the undercurrent documentary series sunil fraser's case was back in the
spotlight channel 9's 60 minutes secured an exclusive interview with megan vass which promised viewers explosive
revelations the episode aired on march 10 2019 megan now aged 25 was still tormented
over a secret that had now haunted her for a decade she became incredibly emotional as she
began to reveal the whole truth of what happened on the night of january 26 2009 through tears megan claimed she and
two other men whom she didn't want to name had been in the sandy bay area breaking into boats to steal money to
buy alcohol they entered the four winds thinking it would be vacant and were caught off
guard when they found bob on board one of the men started arguing with bob and the confrontation escalated
the man launched an attack that lasted for around 20 minutes hitting bob over the head multiple times with an unknown
object megan said she urged the man to stop but he was much bigger than her and she was
helpless the sight of the blood eventually caused her to vomit likely accounting for the
dinner plate size the dna sample found on board as well as the vomit-stained rags and face washer
she refused to name either of the attackers or reveal what they did with bob's body
but stated quote whatever's happened it's been horrible megan explained it had taken her so long
to speak up because she had been living a hard life on the streets and was afraid to come forward
when interviewer liam bartlett asked why people should believe her now megan responded
i don't have a good reason really i'd like to see sue home with her family it's the right thing to do i suppose
as to whether she would retract her story when put in front of the court again megan said
i can't give a legitimate reason as to why anyone should believe me and given my track record yeah maybe they
shouldn't but i'm here now and i'm doing all i can i can't do anymore [Music] the episode was banned in tasmania due
to sue's pending application for appeal but on march 14 2019 megan signed an affidavit confirming
that she was on the four winds on the night of bob chapple's murder this carried more power than the
statutory declaration she had previously signed for colin mclaren in the affidavit megan named the two men
she was with and said that they had accessed the four winds because there was no dinghy attached
leading them to believe it was unoccupied she said she couldn't recall the events
that transpired after the attack on bob or how she got back to shore one week later a judge ruled there was
enough fresh and compelling evidence to warrant sunil fraser's leave of appeal this was excellent news for sue
since her arrest she had missed the death of her mother and the births of four of her grandchildren
if her appeal was successful it was possible that she could face a retrial or that her conviction would be
overturned if it failed she would be able to apply for another leave of appeal only if
further fresh and compelling evidence came to light outside the courthouse sue's daughter
sarah commented this is just one step in what's going to be a very long journey for us as a
family she's an innocent woman and it's time she came home and was with her grandchildren for cuddles
i want my mum back [Music] sue's appeal was scheduled to commence at hobart's supreme court in late may
2020 however it was delayed due to the global covert 19 pandemic it finally took place at the start of
march 2021 by which point sue had been imprisoned for 11 and a half years megan vass was the star witness for the
defense while sue's lawyer acknowledged that megan had been an unreliable witness and
had changed her story several times over the years they explained that the issue of her
credibility was secondary to whether or not her dna had arrived on the yacht by her being present on board
lawyer said there is an anchor that is fixed and that is the finding of dna of megan vas
if that anchor holds it will produce a compelling case that there's been a miscarriage of justice
on day one megan appeared via video link explaining she had recently overcome her
drug addiction but remained mostly homeless once again it was clear the situation
caused her a great amount of stress she became visibly emotional as she admitted to being on the four winds when
bob chappell was murdered it was the first time she'd made this admission before the courts
in a similar story to the one she gave to 60 minutes megan said that she had been drinking in the suburb of goodwood
with her then boyfriend and two of his friends one of whom was stephen gleason this expanded on stephen gleason's
previous comments in which he said megan had just knocked on his car window at the beach
according to megan the men came up with a plan they'd go to sandy bay and rob boats for
more alcohol money megan hadn't been involved with the plan but went along with it because she was
drunk [Music] in sandy bay they found a dinghy on the beach and used it to enter the four
winds not expecting to find anyone on board when they encountered bob chappell megan
said her boyfriend started quote flipping he attacked bob and it was the sight of
blood that caused megan to she couldn't recall anything that happened after that
things were looking promising for sue until megan took the virtual witness stand again the following day for
cross-examination this time megan said she'd been mistaken when she said there were three men on
the yacht when in fact there were only two she then changed her story again saying
there was only one man having caught her in a lie the prosecutor asked megan you can't remember being on that boat
can you megan responded no she said she'd been harassed into giving evidence and that someone had threatened
to harm her if she didn't provide one of the men's names she had given it was a major blow for sue's defense
they requested that megan vass be relieved as a witness and her testimony abandoned
instead they focused on what they saw as issues with the original trial mainly the dna evidence linked to megan
a dna expert for the defense had contradictory findings to the prosecution to prove that megan's dna
couldn't have appeared on the four winds of liar's secondary transfer they argued that if the jury heard from
this expert there would likely be enough to exonerate sue on the basis of reasonable doubt
however the prosecution explained that on the day the four winds was found sinking it wasn't treated as a crime
scene it was eventually transferred to a marine facility in goodwood the same suburb where megan vass claimed to have
been on january 26 2009 at least 21 other people including insurance assessors police officers and
civilians had entered the yacht before forensic swabs were taken any one of these individuals could have
transferred megan's dna on board the prosecution concluded that it was highly unlikely that megan vass was
involved in bob's death while there was quote overwhelming evidence that sue neil
fraser was after five years in the making the appeal came to an end after just two and
a half days outside court sue's daughter sarah said she was optimistic that the judges would
realize that a miscarriage of justice had been served sarah said mom is innocent and this needs to be
rectified so that she can get out and be acquitted the true perpetrators of this crime need
to be held to account and justice achieved for the sake of bob [Music] for seven months sue and her supporters
waited anxiously as a panel of three judges reached their decision [Music] on november 30 2021 the judge's
announcement was finally handed down while one judge accepted sue's appeal and welcomed a retrial the other two
dismissed the appeal with two against one sue had lost [Music] bob chapel's family have remained
tight-lipped about the case over the years while sunil fraser's supporters remain unwavering in their belief that
she is innocent among them is stuart tipple the lawyer that helped exonerate lindy chamberlain
whose wrongful conviction was covered in episode 136 of case file another lawyer has called the case
against sue the greatest miscarriage of justice in this country since chamberlain
sue's supporters have made numerous requests for a royal commission into bob's disappearance to no avail
in january 2022 13 years after bob's presumed death sue lodged an application to appeal to the high court over the
dismissal of her case [Music] it's unknown whether the court will consider her application
either way sue will be eligible for parole in august 2022 to sue and her family clearing her name
is just as important as her freedom the question of what really happened to bob chapel continues to polarize the
australian public some wonder if bob had faked his own death others question if it were an accident
perhaps the toilet water pipe broke and bob injured himself trying to fix it accounting for the blood on board
he might have then attempted to use the epirb to call for help before falling overboard and drowning
others remain convinced of sunil fraser's guilt noting her string of lies and a constantly changing story
sue's incarceration has been viewed critically not necessarily because people believe she is innocent but
because she shouldn't have been convicted on circumstantial evidence alone whatever the case bob chapel's outcome
remains unknown the four winds was sold at public auction to one of the salvage agents who
helped stop it from sinking they plan to take its sailing once they retire just as bob and sue had planned to do
[Music] in 2016 case file covered the disappearance of 22 year old shano callahan all you can see is headlights
of a car flashing it's blatantly obvious that she got in that car whoever had taken her had done it for criminal
purposes now hear firsthand from loved ones and lead investigator steve bulger as we
unravel how the case unfolded and the minefield of legal and ethical dilemmas encountered along the way
therefore there's only one way to do this it was at that point that steve fortune decided to take an extraordinary
gamble her life is my responsibility all i could do was plead with him for her life when a killer confesses
do you listen he said you and i should have a chat the fact of his guilt was unequivocal
but what if one interpretation of the law says you shouldn't accept the confession
when he got taken to swindon he got a lawyer all that conversation those vital confessions
disappeared of no value what they were doing what were they doing what happens to the cop who believes he's making the
right choice the whole reason we were there was losing sight what was wrong in getting a confession
from a murderer it obviously rehearsed this line that he ended with which was it was a pleasure to ruin your career
you corrupt bastard if it had been your loved one steve bulger was looking for what would you have wanted him to do to
crucify somebody for trying his best get closure for two families doesn't make a lot of sense
case file presents the detective's dilemma available for free on march 14 only on spotify
[Music]

Case 203: Bob Chappell

On January 26 2009, defacto couple Bob Chappell and Sue Neill-Fraser spent the public holiday working on their yacht, The Four Winds, in Tasmania’s Sandy Bay...

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research – Jessica Forsayeth Writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-203-bob-chappell

Brief Summary

Bob Chapel's disappearance leads to Sue Neil Fraser's murder trial, raising questions about evidence and her guilt.

Key points

Allbirds Tree Dasher 2 Launch. Allbirds introduces the Tree Dasher 2, a comfortable running shoe made from natural materials.
A Distressing Discovery. Timothy finds an inflatable dinghy at the rowing club, leading to a series of alarming events.
The Sinking Yacht. The Four Winds yacht is found sinking, raising concerns about its owner, Bob Chapel.
Bob's Disappearance. Bob Chapel went missing under suspicious circumstances, leading to an investigation into foul play.
Sue's Alarming Plans. Sue had previously suggested harming both her brother and Bob, raising suspicions about her motives.
Sue's Video Interview. Sue voluntarily agrees to her first video interview, unaware she's a suspect. "They asked Sue how things had been between her and Bob."

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The question remained: where was Bob Chapel?

14:28WatchMar 19, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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