The newborn who left the hospital and was never seen again (Part 1/2) | Forensic Files

[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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[Music] listeners in the winter of 1996 Stacy galad stood by The Waters Edge at the
Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center as a member of the Bain Women's Water poloo team it was a familiar scene for Stacy
as she and her teammates milled around the poolside in their swimsuits and bathing caps waiting for their training
session to begin when it came time to enter the water Stacy glanced over and noticed
that her friend and teammate 21-year-old Kelly Lane was sitting on the edge of the pool with a Taw wrapped tightly
under her arms she held it there until the very last moment before dropping it to one
side and discreetly slipping into the water Stacy found this unusual Kelly was an accomplished
athlete who'd been competing in water sports all her life she was no stranger to wearing her swimsuit in public and
until relatively recently she typically walked around confidently in her bathers
before diving straight into the pool Stacy had also noticed that Kelly had taken to wearing tracksuits over her
swimsuit no matter the weather Stacy had her suspicion as to why she put her goggles on and a
ducked under the water to catch a glimpse of Kelly's Body it was just as she suspected Kelly Lane was
pregnant this was significant for several reasons for starters the two were close friends and Kelly had never
once mentioned that she was expecting a baby secondly water poloo was a physically demanding contact sport in
Which injuries are common place not the type of Activity one would expect to see
a heavily pregnant woman participating in Stacy knew Kelly's long-term boyfriend rugby player Duncan Gillies
and she assumed the couple had decided to keep the pregnancy quiet respecting their privacy she said
nothing to Kelly about it Stacy didn't see Kelly play another game after that a few weeks later she noticed Kelly
was no longer pregnant it occurred to her that Kelly must have given birth but she didn't stop to think about what had
happened to the baby [Music] [Music] just short of 3 years later on Wednesday June 2 1999 ankle care adoption services
social worker Virginia fun arrived at Ry Hospital in Northern Sydney a young patient had called the
agency the previous day with a somewhat unusual case she had just given birth and wanted
to place her baby for adoption Virginia was a little taken aback it was incredibly rare for a new
mother to make such a request the adoption process typically began much earlier in the pregnancy with
appropriate arrangements already in place by the time the baby was born Virginia was introduced to the
patient 24-year-old Kelly Lane and her two-day old son Jacob not his real name Kelly explained that she'd been living
in London for the past year with her boyfriend Duncan Gillies a professional rugby player who was still in the
UK the couple had recently broken up and she didn't feel able to care for a child Not only was she due back in
London for work in a few weeks time her parents weren't happy about the pregnancy and couldn't offer any
help Duncan wasn't prepared to be a parent either so they'd agreed their best option was to have the baby
adopted Virginia was a little concerned Kelly appeared to be a doting mother to Jacob Virginia worried she'd
made a rash decision and might change her mind in a few days time she began making arrangements to
place Jacob into shortterm foster while Kelly was discharged from hospital to think about her
options the following day a midwife arrived at the address Kelly had provided to administer routine postnatal
care a confused man answered the door he said Kelly Lane hadn't lived at the property for a year and a
half Virginia fun dialed the landline Kelly had supplied only to find that it was a wrong
number she called Kelly's Mobile but it went straight to voicemail when Kelly arrived for a
pre-arranged meeting with Virginia a few days later and was told about the midwife's failed visit Kelly insisted it
was the right address she was staying there with friends and the man who answered the
door just hadn't been aware of this fact the foster care agreement Kelly entered into was only valid for one
month during which she was expected to attend access visits with Baby J Jacob once the month was over she'd have
the option of officially signing the adoption papers but as the weeks passed by Virginia found it increasingly difficult
to get in touch with Kelly her mobile was almost always switched off and she only returned
Virginia's calls out of hours typically to cancel meetings at the last minute Kelly had various explanations
for her lack of availability she said she had to travel to Cambra to sort out some issues with her UK visa and that
her ex- partner Duncan had Frozen their joint bank account and she needed to see
a solicitor to sort it out Virginia was a consummate professional who treated all the mothers
she worked with compassionately but she couldn't help but feel that Kelly Lane wasn't being
completely honest Virginia wondered whether Kelly was purposely stalling the adoption
process because she was reluctant about moving forward during the few visits she'd had
with the Jacob she'd been very loving towards him bringing him presence and shedding tears over the agonizing
decision she faced as the one- Monon deadline approached Kelly finally agreed to meet
with Virginia to sign the adoption papers but when the day came she failed to show Virginia tried the number of a
friend Kelly said could offer her support that too was false the foster care agreement expired
leaving Virginia with no choice but to hand the case to the New South Wales Department of Community Services or
docks in the eyes of the law Kelly had technically abandoned her baby boy Virginia had also been
unsuccessfully trying to make contact with the Jacob's father Kelly's ex Duncan Gillies Kelly kept saying she'd give
Virginia Duncan's UK phone number but she'd failed to do so not sure what else to do Virginia
wrote a letter to Duncan's former Rugby Club in Sydney in the hopes they could forward it on to
him shortly after Duncan called Virginia in a State of Shock as far as he was concerned there
was no way he could be Jacob's father while he and Kelly had been a couple for several years during their
early 20s Duncan said their relationship had ended about 18 months prior and they
hadn't had contact since Duncan had moved to London for a period of time but as far as he knew
Kelly still lived in Sydney and always had Virginia confronted Kelly with this information Kelly broke down admitting
she made the story up because she thought it would be better if Jacob grew up thinking he'd been the result of a
loving long-term relationship Kelly said that Jacob's father was actually a man named Aaron
Williams and Aussie she'd met while living in London Kelly told Virginia that Aaron
knew about the pregnancy and had consented to the adoption she signed an affidavit
confirming this but was unable to provide any contact details for Baron all she knew was that he had a
University degree and worked at Barkley's Bank in London Virginia contacted the Australian
and UK officers of Barkley's Bank only to find that no one named Aaron Williams was employed
there this was unsurprising given Virginia already knew that Kelly had never lived in
London she was starting to have some serious concerns about Kelly's Mental Health and whether she was even fit to
give legal consent to Jacob's adoption in addition to giving evasive answers being uncontable and dragging
out the adoption process Kelly had told another liar that Virginia simply couldn't make sense
of when Kelly presented at RI hospital to give birth to Jacob their records showed that she'd previously visited 3
years earlier in September 19 1996 Kelly had been heavily pregnant at the time and asked to be
induced staff declined to do so because she hadn't quite reached full term but their records showed that she went on to
have the child across town at Orban Hospital during Jacob's birth in 1999 ride Hospital staff questioned Kelly
about this previous birth Kelly said she'd had a daughter whom she depressed for 6 months and who
had traveled with her from London to Sydney but when Virginia fun asked Kelly if she had any other children she gave
an entirely different answer she said Jacob was her first and only child the doc's social worker assigned
to Kelly's case John barovik obtained Kelly's medical records if Jacob had a sister it was
only fair that it went on his his records so he could contact her in the future if he so
desired John confirmed that Kelly had indeed given birth to a baby girl named Tegan in September of
1996 but she'd also given birth to another girl in March 1995 called Kayla not her real
[Music] name the hospital records of Jacob Teegan and Kayla each listed Duncan Gillies as the father
from the records it was clear that Kayla had been legally adopted to a loving family but johon could find no record of
what happened to Tegan Jong called Kelly and asked her if she'd previously given
birth she admitted that she'd placed Kayla for adoption in 1995 but denied ever being pregnant in
1996 or visiting ride hospital at that time John knew Kelly was lying he had her records in front of him
and could say it for himself but if Kelly didn't have takan and she hadn't been formally adopted
then where was she John barovik told Kelly that he had no choice but to contact the police and
inform them of the matter Kelly wrote JN a letter explaining that she intended to discuss
the situation with Virginia fun she asked that John refrain from making any inquiries in the mean time
explaining many people have been involved by name who actually have no knowledge of what has occurred and
therefore are useless in your inquiries please do not contact them before giving
me prior notice as they will be completely unaware of what you were talking about a few days later a facts from
Kelly arrived at Virginia's office which read Dear Virginia firstly thank you for
all of your time your patience and your understanding even though I have not been entirely honest with you I'm glad
now that I can stop telling half truths and lies and perhaps move on in my life it must be very hard for you to
understand what has been going on and why I have done the things I've done and and I'm not sure I can give you all the
answers over all of these weeks my main concern was Jacob and making sure that he was safe and happy and that you would
find him a loving and secure home so where do I start I'm not sure my life for the last 6 years has been a
nightmare many people including my family have disowned me and looking at the situation I guess it's not hard to
figure out why there were three children obviously I can't lie anymore as the paperwork is
there the middle child lives with a family in Perth although I have not had contact with them for a long
time they befriended me just before I had her and supported us I am not able to give you many
details as I am not sure of them myself if my story isn't unusual enough as it already is I know you probably can't
believe it but I know somehow that you know I am now being honest with you Kelly went on to explain that no one
in her life knew the full story and she wanted to keep it that way she said people close to her had dropped her from
their lives when they found out she was going to place her babies up for adoption and she was doing her best to
settle down and find some sort of stability Kelly said her parents lived in London and she hoped to rebuild a
relationship with them when visiting in a few weeks time I hurt mentally emotionally and
physically every day Kelly wrote I have to live with this for the rest of my life I constantly feel sick I'm always
on edge I guess I knew all along that it would all come out in the open and in some ways I'm glad it
has while Kelly asked Virginia to respect her need for discretion she gave Virginia permission to share this
information with the docs worker John barovik but Kelly's explanation did a little to ease Jon's concerns about the
situation still perplexed as to why she lied about teegan's existence and baffled by the explanation that she'd
been sent to live with a family in Perth John passed the information on to the police when Kelly Lane's file landed at
Manley police station the detective assigned to it recognized the name right away the lanes were well known and
respected around Manley a bustling Seaside suburb in Sydney's Northern beaches region an area known
colloquially as the insula peninsula due to its close-knit reputation not only were the lanes
heavily involved in the local Sporting Community Kelly's father Rob had recently retired as a sergeant from
Manley police station digging into the personal life of his only daughter wasn't exactly a
welcome task by all accounts the blonde and bubbly Kelly was a popular social butterfly who many regarded as a golden
girl a successful athlete from a young age she'd gone on to play water poloo at an elite level even representing
Australia overseas as far as police were concerned Kelly's previous indiscretion wasn't a
high priority unaware of the various versions of events Kelly had told about her
second born child the detective looked over her file hospital records revealed that on
the afternoon of Wednesday September 11th 1996 21-year-old Kelly had presented at
Orban Hospital in Western Sydney this was around 35 km from where Kelly lived with her parents in the
suburb of fairlight and she'd never been a patient there before Kelly who was heavily pregnant
told staff that she'd been intending to have a home birth with a private Midwife however her baby was overdue so
a home birth was no longer possible Kelly asked to be induced instead while she didn't bring any of
her anti natal records with her she gave staff the contact number for her Midwife after several unsuccessful
attempts to contact Kelly's Midwife the Orban Hospital staff agreed to induce her the following
day at 8 p.m. on Thursday September 12th baby Tean lee Lane entered the world while Tean was the image of Health the
birth wasn't without complications it turned out that Teegan wasn't overdue as Kelly had claimed but
actually appeared to be 2 weeks early Kelly's placenta was retained during labor and had to be manually
removed which resulted in significant blood loss she made a quick recovery and Records showed she bonded well with her
newborn daughter regardless the staff were a little concerned Kelly had shown up alone at
the hospital and hadn't had a single visitor this was unusual for a young mother and they were worried about her
lack of support social worker Alicia balra Vasquez was assigned to pay Kelly a visit on Friday September
13 Kelly told Alicia that she and Tan's father and Gillies had only recently relocated to Sydney from their hometown
of Perth and that's why she was alone Duncan had every intention of being present for Tegan's birth but
Kelly being overdue complicated this plan as he had rugby commitments overseas Kelly asked to be discharged
the following day but Alicia didn't think this was a good idea while Kelly appeared to be happy
with Tegan and was brush feeding with no issues she also got a bit teary at times although this was normal for any
new mother Alicia was reluctant to send Kelly Home Alone in an emotionally fragile
state she also required postoperative care Alicia voiced her concerns to Kelly but Kelly assured her there was no
reason to worry she explained that a lady was coming to stay with her until her parents arrived in a few days
time Duncan was also due back from overseas the following week in the meantime her private Midwife
would take over her postpartum care satisfied with this explanation and happy with Kelly's recovery on Saturday
September 14 it was agreed by Hospital staff that Kelly and Teegan could be discharged at around midday the
attending doctor gave Teegan one final examination before concluding she was fit to go
home Kelly completed the mandatory Medicare form and was given various pieces of paperwork to fill out
including a consent form to have a blood sample taken from Teegan known as a Guth
test as well as a registration form to submit to the registry of births deaths and
marriages at around 2:00 p.m. the nurse on Judy was doing her rounds when she entered Kelly's room only to find that
the mother and baby had already left strange she thought when Kelly hadn't submitted the requisite paperwork
nor told any of the nurses she was leaving nonetheless she was free to do as she
pleased the nurse arranged for a hospital Midwife to visit Kelly in a couple of days time to make sure
everything was in order but on Monday the Midwife program received a phone call it was Kelly calling to say she didn't
require their services her private Midwife had everything under [Music] control 4 years later the detective
assigned to look into Teegan Lane's whereabouts typed teegan's name into the New South Wales registry of births
deaths and marriages there was no one by that name registered as being born in September
199 6 and no such birth certificate had ever been issued while it would have been
difficult to do so it was possible that Teegan could have been registered under a different name or with a different
date of birth it was mandatory for parents to register the birth of their children but
failure to do so only resulted in a $1,000 fine and no particular Authority followed up it was therefore possible
that teegan's birth was simply never registered the detective read over Kelly's hospital records and noted that
she had listed her private Midwife as a woman named Julie Melville some around Manley police
station recognized the name Julie was Duncan Gilly's mother the detective called to Julie
Melville and asked her about the postnatal care she'd provided to Kelly Lane and baby
Tean Julie was stunned not only had she not been a registered Midwife in September
1996 she had no idea that Kelly had ever been pregnant let alone with her son's child Duncan Gillies was still trying to
get his head around the debacle involving the adoption of Kelly's son Jacob when he received a phone call from
the detective asking about baby Teegan like his mother Duncan was gasted he told the detective there was
no way Kelly could have been pregnant in 1996 the two had been in a committed relationship for around 4 years between
1994 and 1998 although they both had busy schedules with various sporting commitments during that time Kelly spent
several nights a week at Duncan's house in 1996 Duncan said if she'd been pregnant
he would have known about it as for Baby Kayla being born in 1995 he claimed to have no idea about
that pregnancy either although the detective was confused by these reactions it took 3
months before he reached out to Kelly Lane directly by this point 15 months had passed since Doc's social worker John
barovik first alerted the police to the unknown whereabouts of Tegan Kelly's life had changed significantly
during that time Jacob's adoption had been finalized and Kelly commenced a new relationship with a family
friend by the time she was brought into the police station on Wednesday February
14 2001 for her first formal interview she was 7 months pregnant with baby number
[Music] four when asked to describe the circumstances of teegan's birth and the subsequent events Kelly's discomfort was
obvious she admitted that in late 1995 during her relationship with Duncan Gillies she'd met an older man named
Andrew Morris the two had a brief affair and in March 1996 Kelly discovered she was
pregnant with Andrew's baby this wasn't welcome news Kelly was a stup student at the time and she
didn't feel financially or mentally prepared to raise a child Kelly told the detective that she
and Andrew came to an agreement she would carry the baby to full term and Andrew and his girlfriend M would then
take custody of tan as Kelly explained Andrew earned good money and he had a partner they indicated to me
that they were going to be together and I thought that would be more suitable than me on my own at
Uni Kelly said that she was discharged from hospital around midday on Saturday September 14 1996 at which point Andrew
Mel and Andrew's mother came to take custody of Teegan Kelly recalled that Andrew
dropped her at Duncan's house where she was living parttime and then took Tegan with him into his
care she climed she saw Tegan a number of times after that but the visit stopped in early 1997 when Teegan would
have been about 4 months old Kelly said she'd had no contact with Andrew Mel Oregan after that and she no
longer knew where they were Kelly said that at the time of their Affair Andrew had lived in Bain an
affluent in a city suburb about 18 km Southwest of Manley while while she didn't think
she'd be able to identify his apartment after 4 years she agreed to look for his
old mobile number to see if it was still [Music] active although Kelly's story sounded a
bit odd the interviewing Detective still didn't think too much of it besides Manley police station had bigger fish to
fry two of their senior officers had recently been bustered as part of a Crackdown on corruption and the whole
station was in a state of turmoil Kelly's case languished for the rest of the year as the corruption
Scandal went before the court it was only after a major restructure of personnel that Kelly's
case finally appeared on the desk of a new detective senior Constable having no connection to
Kelly's father he wasted a little time in looking into what he believed would turn out to be a relatively minor
incident all they had to do was locate Teegan and they could get the missing person's case
off their desks for Good by the time Kelly Lane was called in for questioning a second time 19
months had passed since she'd last spoken to the police and it was now October 2002 27-year-old Kelly now had a healthy
baby girl called Emily not her real name who was 17 months old Kelly was in a loving relationship
with Emily's father and the two were doting devoted parents who were preparing to travel to the UK to spend
Christmas with Kelly's partner's family although Kelly no longer competed in any sport at an elite level she'd
made good use of her athletic skills by becoming a much-loved physical education
teacher at Ravenswood School for Girls an esteemed private Christian School there certainly wasn't anything
about Kelly that raised any suspicion for the detective but when she started talking
that all [Music] changed while Kelly Lane repeated her story about giving take into the child's
biological father there was a significant discrepancy when interviewed in early 2001 she said the father's name was
Andrew Morris this time she said his name was Andrew Norris with an N but that wasn't the only
difference her previous account made it sound like a relatively amicable agreement but she now claimed Andrew had
actually been furious with her for getting pregnant he hated me Kelly said I felt
like a [ __ ] in contrast to her previous story in which she claimed Andrew had dropped
her at Duncan's house after she was discharged from the hospital this time Kelly said she took a taxi home
alone the detective pointed out this was a markedly different story to the one she'd given
previously Kelly explained that she'd lied during the last police interview because she was embarrassed and wanted
to make the situation sound better but she was Resolute about one thing the name of tean's father was
definitely Andrew Norris not Morris the detective was starting to have some serious doubts not only had some of
Kelly's details changed there were certain elements that didn't quite make sense for starters if Andrew was so
furious with Kelly for getting pregnant why would he agree to take custody of their baby without so much as a DNA test
to confirm the baby was indeed his even more perplexing why would his partner Mel agree to tan knowing she was a
result of her partner's infidelity and if Tean really did go to live with her biological father why
wasn't Kelly forthright about that from the get-go instead of telling Hospital staff and social workers
otherwise if Kelly's story was true investigators just had to locate Andrew Norris and the whole mess could be
cleared up the problem was Kelly said she no longer had a contact number for Andrew nor could she remember exactly
where he'd lived back in 1996 kelly didn't know much about Andrew at all save for the fact that he worked
in finance and had studied at the University of Sydney at the time Tean was born he was
30 years old well built and tanned with bleached blonde hair Kelly said she no longer hung
around the same crowd that she did back then but there was one friend who knew about the affair and could verify her
story a woman named Lisa andreata unfortunately Lisa had relocated to Brisbane and they had lost
touch Kelly told the detective that there were some Diaries of hers in storage at Duncan Gilly's previous home
in Gladesville she promised to go collect them in the coming days they might contain Andrew's old mobile number
or the numbers of their France over the following weeks the detective made multiple attempts to
contact Kelly but she seemed to be avoiding his calls increasingly convinced that Kelly
was lying the detective reached out to Medicare to see if any claims had ever been made fatigan lee
Lane Medicare is Australia's publicly funded health insurance scheme individuals are required to provide
their details when visiting a doctor dentist or hospital or when receiving a vaccination Kelly's Medicare card still
had tean's name listed on it she had shown this to the police herself explaining that she'd registered Tegan
on her card just in case Tegan was ever in her care in the future but Medicare records proved that
there hadn't been a single claim foran in 6 years while it was implausible to believe that a six-year-old could have
gone their whole life without needing publicly funded Health Care it wasn't enough to prove Tegan was
deceased police sent a memo to all New South Wales primary schools asking if any had a student named Tegan who was
born on September 12 1996 they also began conducting searches for Andrew Norris in Kelly's first police interview
she recalled that Andrew celebrated his 30th birthday a couple of months before Tean was born this Mante would have been
born around mid 1966 a search of the New South Wales electoral role didn't bring up any Men
by that name who lived in Bain around 1996 contact was made with the University of Sydney to see if anyone
named Andrew Norris or morus had attended classes there in the 1980s there were no former students
enrolled under either of those names by early December Kelly still seemed to be avoiding the police and
hadn't provided any of the information she'd promised to look for fed up with her lack of cooperation two detectives
went to Duncan Gilly's former address in Gladesville to see if they could track down the information for
themselves when they knocked on the door they were surprised to discover that three female police officers lived
there the detectives asked if anyone had come by asking to look through old boxes
of paperwork nobody had it became clear to the investigators that if Kelly was telling the truth
about anything it was that people in her life seemingly had no knowledge that she'd ever been pregnant during her
early 20s discret inquiries were made with some of Kelly's close friends to see if
they could shed light on the Tean Lane Andrew Norris situation the Kelly they knew had spent
her early 20s playing water poloo and drinking at the pub with friends as far as they were all
concerned the only child Kelly had ever given birth to was Emily in 2001 she was a terrific mother and an
adored teacher Who Loved children there was no way she would have done anything to harm a newborn born
baby police managed to track down some of Kelly Lane's former water poloo teammates Stacy galed who' played
alongside Kelly in 1996 said she'd never heard of Kelly being involved with someone named to Andrew
Norris however she did recall being suspicious at the time that Kelly might have been
pregnant Stacy and another teammate Taran both admitted they'd noticed Kelly becoming self-conscious of her
body they'd snuck a glimpse of her torso underwater to confirm their suspicions but Kelly never spoke to
either of them about it nor did they ever broach the subject assuming it was A Private Matter between Kelly and
Duncan Gillies they also knew that weight gain was a sensitive subject among young
women and they were mindful that their suspicions might be incorrect the more the police learned
the stranger the whole scenario became Kelly had given birth three times in the four years between 1995 into
1999 during each of those pregnancies she'd been a dedicated water polo player who lived a very active social life and
was intimate with her long-term boyfriend while women's fashion at the time consisted of baggy loosefitting
clothing it was staggering to believe that she could have concealed three full-term pregnancies especially while
playing water poloo in a swimsuit multiple times a week Duncan claimed that in 1996 both he
and Kelly were busy with their respective training schedules and therefore they didn't see much of each
other on the occasions they did have sex it was in a spoon position and Kelly hadn't let him touch her belly saying
she was self-conscious because she'd gained weight Kelly said the one person who could
vouch for her story was her old friend Lisa andreata whom she'd lost touch with after Lisa moved to
Brisbane police managed to track down Lisa's email address and they sent her a message asking if she could verify a few
details about Kelly Lane's relationship with Andrew Norris and the subsequent birth of their baby
Teegan Lisa was completely taken aback she had met Kelly while the two were completing tertiary studies at the
Australian College of physical education and they became good friends Lisa had never heard of Andrew
Norris nor about his alleged affair with Kelly as far as Lisa knew Kelly was never pregnant in
1996 Lisa lived in the UK not Brisbane and she'd never lost contact with Kelly in fact the two friends had Rec recently
caught up over Christmas during Kelly's trip to England at no point had Kelly said
anything to Lisa about a missing child or a police investigation failing to find any record
of Tean lane or Andrew Norris the police had no doubt that Kelly was lying they just couldn't figure out why it didn't
make sense that she'd gone through the official adoption process with babies Kaylor and Jacob but not with
Teegan was she trying to protect herself or someone [Music] else investigators considered the
possibility that Kelly could have sold Tan in a private surrogacy Arrangement which is a legal in
Australia they checked Kelly's bank accounts but she hadn't received any large sums of money in
1996 she'd been a student at the time living at home with her parents and her bank accounts were barely
touched none of Kelly's friends recalled any changes in her spending habits police obtained a record of all
the other babies born in Orban Hospital on September 12th 1996 tan was one of only two girls born
that day the other baby girl had been still born this prompted the theory what if
Kelly in a moment of desperation had broken a deal with the reved mother the mother of the stillborn child
was tracked down she now had two children but neither was takan Lane and she hadn't ever crossed paths with
Kelly in each version of events Kelly had given she claimed that after Tan's birth she went back to Duncan's house in
Gladesville working on the theory that Teegan could have been killed or died by accident officers visited the property
with a kadava dog and conducted a cursory search while it yielded no results they
were no longer prepared to give Kelly the benefit of the doubt in May 2003 Kelly was summoned
back to Manley police station for a formal recorded interview confronted with the
inconsistencies in her accounts Kelly maintained the Crux of her story that Andrew noro and his partner Mel had
taken custody of baby Teegan the detective asked if this was the case why did Kelly tell Virginia fun
that Tean had gone to live with a couple in Perth Kelly responded I'm not sure where
they are I wasn't sure what Andrew was going to do confused by this explanation the
detective asked Kelly if she was suggesting that Andrew had relocated to Perth Kelly
replied I'm not sure what his plans were he wasn't going to tell me some of the conversations I had with Andrew
indicated perhaps he wasn't going to stay in Sydney because of the embarrassment that i' caused
him unaware that investigators had already conducted their own inquiries Kelly was caught in multiple lies she
claimed that she'd retrieved her paperwork from Duncan's old house but couldn't find any contact numbers for
people who could verify Andrew's existence she also maintained that she no longer had contact with the one
person who could Lisa andreata the detective told her Kelly it's obvious that you're not telling us
the truth this matter is not going to go away he urged Kelly to come clean all they had to do was establish where
Teegan was and Kelly could move on with her life [Music] the detective pressed on you've been
telling us lies for whatever reason if you know where the child is or what happened to the child it's your
opportunity to tell us now Kelly Lane sat in silence she looked down at her hands which were resting on
the table in front of her as though she was deep in thought the seconds ticked by until
almost a minute passed the detective asked her again if there was anything she wanted to
say after 14 more seconds of Silence Kelly responded quietly no the detective then asked Kelly
outright if she had killed tigan Kelly's demeanor immediately changed her eyes widening as she firmly
exclaimed no I did not Kelly said that no one else knew about the situation and she didn't want
her family and friends being pulled into it she warned the detectives that if they went poking around no one would
have any idea what they were talking about this is between me and Andrew she said nothing has happened to tan he said
he would contact me if there was an emergency I haven't heard kui from them not one word I don't have anything El
else to [Music] say despite previously telling the police that she wouldn't be able to
locate Andrew's former unit Kelly agreed to accompany manly detectives to Bain to
see if something might trigger her memory it had been many years since she'd frequented that side of town and
Kelly couldn't remember any details that could help her identify the building all she remembered was that
Andrew's place was a about a 5 to 10 minute walk from the town hall Hotel Kelly said that over the 6 months
they'd been seeing each other she'd only gone back there about six times always in the early morning hours after a night
out the police wo through various neighborhoods until they made their way down whis Beach Street a residential
treelined street dotted mostly with freestanding houses as they passed by one of the only
apartment buildings on the street Kelly pointed it out she thought that might be it it was
a nondescript three-story block of units with an undercover car park and two sets
of Windows overlooking the street they got out of the car and went into the foyer it was just as Kelly
remembered Kelly said that Andrew's unit had been on the first floor facing the street although she couldn't remember
which one or much else about it a tenant on the ground floor let them in and Kelly confirmed the layout was exactly
the same this was a major breakthrough for detectives there were only two first floor units overlooking the street units
10 and 11 for the first time since their inquiries began they had a possible solid lead to track Andrew Norris
down it turned out that the entire building was managed by a single real estate agency detectives contacted the agent
who went through their records to see if an Andrew Norris had lived there in 1996 they had no records of a tenant by
that name at the time Kelly claimed to have visited the property Unit 10 was occupied by a man named sha
Greaves although he was of similar age to Andrew Norris Shawn didn't fit the description Kelly had
provided when questioned Shawn said he'd never lived with a woman named Mel nor did he know a woman named Kelly
Lane he'd never had housemates or sublet his apartment either in 1996 unit 11 had been leased
by Two Brothers Peter and Steven Clark neither of them recalled ever seeing Kelly Lane in the building
one of the brothers did know a man named Andrew Morris but he was of Asian appearance and had never visited their
unit neither they nor any of the other former tenants recalled ever having seen mail addressed to an Andrew Norris or
Morris Kelly had told the detectives that on a couple of occasions after visiting Andrew she went straight to her
early morning water poloo training sessions at the dawn Fraser pool which which was only a short walk
away further investigation revealed that these training sessions weren't even held at the dawn Fraser pool but at
another location a 20-minute drive across town with Kelly's lies piling up the hunt for Andrew Norris
intensified investigators ran a search for anyone with that name born between 1960 and 1976 in the registry of each
state and territory in Australia they ran checks with the Australian taxation office the Electoral
commission the Department of Immigration the roads and traffic Authority and centerlink utility and telecommunication
providers who serviced the Bain area were contacted as was Australia Post police records were checked to see
if Andrew Norris had been listed anywhere as a missing person event they had a list of 41 men named Andrew
Norris who were born in Australia between 1960 and 1976 contact was made with most of them
but none had been in Bain at the time tan Lane was conceived nor did they know a Kelly or Teegan
Lane they decided not to extend the search to include the name Andrew Morris Morris was a much more common
surname and searching for anyone with that name born over the same 16-year period would have yielded thousands of
possibilities around the country besides Kelly remained adamant that Norris was the correct name though
this did little to sway detectives they were more convinced than ever that Andrew Norris was a fictional
character created by Kelly but if Andrew wasn't real then who was Tan's father some suspected it was Duncan Gillies
Justus as Kelly initially claimed because Kelly never had a guthe test done for Tan there were no medical
records to check anyone's DNA against police tracked down a man named Juan Ramirez who had lived with Duncan
Gillies in 1996 according to Juan Duncan had confided in him back then that Kelly was
pregnant and that they had to keep it secret from Kelly's family Juan recalled a Duncan saying
that Kelly was going away to have the child which she would then place for adoption Duncan Gillies firmly denied
this he didn't consider Juan a close friend let alone a confidant as far as Duncan was concerned
it was just as possible that Juan could be Tan's father police considered this possibility too but checks with him a
migration revealed that Juan hadn't even been in Australia at the time of Tan's conception it was calculated that Tegan
would have been conceived around November or December of 1995 Duncan Gilly said he wasn't even in
Sydney at that time he'd been out of town for 3 weeks with some friends and had bank statements to prove
it he insisted he had no idea Kelly was pregnant twice during the course of their relationship even though they were
intimate throughout as far as Duncan knew Kelly had been taking the contraceptive pill
the whole time they were together by the start of 2004 it had been several months since police had any
contact with Kelly they'd been busy behind the scenes crosschecking her stories making discret inquiries with
her friends and searching for The elusive Andrew Norris the more they discovered the more
convinced they became that Kelly was covering up something major on Thursday January 8th 2004 Kelly
was summoned back to manly police station for her third formal interview regarding teegan's
whereabouts by this time she was busy planning her wedding which was set to take place the following
month Kelly grew visibly upset that upon learning that the police had contacted her friends despite her insistence that
none knew anything about the matter her fiance knew nothing about it either and she was worried about what
might happen if he found out exasperated Kelly said her biggest fear was that if the issue went to court
her young daughter would be taken away from her and if her parents found out they'd never speak to her again
Kelly again insisted Duncan Gillies was not Tegan's father she said she'd only listed him as such on the hospital
paperwork so that he'd be there if something bad happened to her she was adamant the father was
Andrew Norris Kelly claimed that she'd only found out about the pregnancy at around
the 12we mark and she didn't tell Andrew about it until a couple of weeks later Kelly explained
he was very rude and aggressive he said that I'd trapped him and that I was a [ __ ] she said she didn't have any
contact with Andrew again until tan was born at which point he Mel and his mother came to visit them in
hospital prior to that they hadn't discussed anything about what would happen with tan it was only then that
Andrew and Mel offered to take her police wondered what Kelly had intended to do with Teegan if Andrew hadn't shown
up and made such an offer she' told no one else in her life that she was pregnant and hadn't made any alternative
arrangements for Tegan such as adoption or foster care she hadn't bought any supplies indicating she intended to
bring a baby home either such as a cart car seat clothes or nappies in her first police inter
Kelly said that after handing Teegan over to Andrew he drove her to Duncan's place in her second she said she caught
a taxi this time Kelly told the detectives that she drove herself home in her own
car years earlier she' told police she'd celebrated Andrew's 30th birthday at the
Town Hall hotel in August 1996 she now claimed she had no contact with him during that
time Kelly was warned that if Tegan couldn't be located a coronial inquest would be necessary at which point the
story would no doubt leak out after more than 2 hours of questioning the detective told
Kelly I find it hard to believe the story you've given me if there's anything that you wish to tell me now
before we stop the interview if there's something you've been holding back for me I urge you now to tell
me Kelly replied I don't have anything more to say Kelly Lane stuck to her story about
giving Tegan to Andrew Norris hired a solicitor and refused to speak to the police
again a tap was placed on her phone in one call to a friend Kelly shared her fear of having her secret
pregnancies become public knowledge it's going to blow wide open Kelly said my parents are going to be so
embarrassed and ashamed an audibly upset Kelly confided that she was terrified of losing her
daughter Emily as a consequence stating I used to worry so much about wanting to be a sports star and
achieving these wonderful things but the only thing I'm really good at is being a
mom Kelly's parents and fiance were finally made aware of the situation but they stuck by Kelly refusing to provide
formal police statements although the covert recordings failed to capture anything
incriminating investigators felt it was time for the case to go before the coroner the purpose of holding a
coronial inquest wasn't necessarily to find out if Kelly had done something to harm Tagan
it was to determine whether Tean was still alive by putting Kelly into those closest to her on the stand they hoped
that something might be revealed that exposed the truth the inquest commenced before a
closed Court in mid 2004 due to the sensitive subject matter a media suppression order was put in
place preventing journalists from reporting on the story as the proc proceedings got
underway The Hunt fatigan Lane continued birth and death Registries for every Australian State and territory
were checked for anyone who could possibly be the missing child working on the possibility that
the wrong date of birth could have been entered investigators widened their search to any girls born between April
1996 and September 1997 they eventually came up with a list of 12,000 individuals but investigations
into each ruled them out as being Tean Lane casting a wider net memos were sent to every public and private school
across the country as well as all homeschooling bodies authorities were seeking any
female child born on September 12 1996 with a father named Andrew Norris Andrew Morris or a father whose name wasn't
listed checks were made with the Department of Immigration to see if anyone had applied for a passport for a
baby girl between September and December 1996 who could possibly be Tean Lane no such child was
identified checks with government authorities confirmed that no babies had been anonymously abandoned in New South
Wales in 1996 neither did any morgs have any remains that could be a potential match
to Tean by October 2004 it had been 8 years since Tegan's birth and 5 years since
the issue of her whereabouts first came to the attention of the police given how much time had passed
the coroner felt they no longer had any choice while he wanted to respect Kelly's privacy he also felt it was time
to turn to the general public for information as later revealed by the ABC the coroner
offered Kelly a deal if she came clean and told them where Teegan was he'd give her
immunity otherwise he had no choice but to make a public appeal while it hasn't been confirmed
what exactly he promised to give her immunity from the coroner clarified that the offer didn't extend to potential
murder charges Kelly and her lawyers were given 10 minutes to discuss their options they rejected the offer Kelly's
lawyer told the court there is nothing further Kelly can add at this point in time both she and
her family are very keen to find Tean to find her safe and [Music] well the media suppression order was
subsequently lifted and the case was repelled into the headlines an anonymous tipar soon came
forward with a vital detail it turned out that just hours after leaving the hospital on Saturday
September 14 1996 Kelly attended a wedding with the Duncan Gillies the couple getting married were
old friends of Duncan's family video footage of the ceremony captured Kelly as she took her seat in
the church dressed in a creamy white suit despite giving birth less than 48 hours
prior at no point did she mention Teegan or what she'd just been through when Duncan was questioned about
this he later recalled that he'd been out of town prior to the wedding but returned to Sydney specifically for the
event he'd met Kelly at her parents house in Fair light at around 3:00 p.m. and they traveled to the wedding
together if this was true with Kelly and tan leaving the hospital at around midday it meant there was roughly a
3-hour window of time unaccounted for Orban hospital was about an hour's drive from the Lane's house maybe more
depending on traffic investigators wondered what Kelly was doing for those other two
hours between leaving the hospital and arriving at her parents place baby less and ready to attend the
wedding while the investigation continued the public hearing for the inquest commenced in June
2005 the most intimate details of Kelly Lane's private life became daily F off for reporters with readers enthralled by
the prospect of an accomplished young woman with a closet family a wide circle of friends a long-term boyfriend and
various sporting coaches successfully concealing three pregnancies without anyone asking a single question
the public was gripped by the possibility that this seemingly loving mother could have done something to harm
her newborn baby and equally fascinated by the salacious details of Kelly's personal
life tongues wagged about how she could have become pregnant so many times and who the fathers might
be people wondered why Kelly had gone through with each pregnancy when the secrecy of it all would have been such a
heavy burden for a young woman to carry alone reporters gathered outside the courthouse each day of the hearing
snapping photos of those involved as they arrived to reluctantly provide their testimony on the stand Duncan Gilly said
that to describe the whole situation as a hell of a shock would be an understatement throughout his
relationship with Kelly he'd never once suspected she was cheating on him dun was forced to reveal details about his
and Kelly's sex life while Kelly's friends maintained they had no idea about her alleged affair with Andrew
Norris those who socialized with Kelly in their early 20s testified that she was not the type of person to have a one
night stand or go off with someone else when she was in a committed relationship little did Kelly's friends
know Duncan had already consented to a DNA test to check against Kelly's first daughter
Kayla Kayla had been conceived at a time when Duncan and Kelly were in a relationship and her adoption papers
listed him as the biological father according to the paperwork completed by Kelly Duncan fully
consented to the adoption the DNA results came back Duncan was not Kayla's father some of Kelly's friends testified
to having heard gossip that Kelly was pregnant back in 1996 but Manley's Rumor Mill could be
toxic and they didn't think there was any truth to it yes Kelly's weight could fluctuate
but she was also a strongly built athletic girl who always wore loose fitting clothing therefore they never asked her
about it even now with the police investigation in full swing Kelly's friends said that they hadn't discussed
the issue with her her husband also testified that he hadn't questioned Kelly about Tegan at
any great length Kelly's loved ones had two explanations for their lack of probing one it was clear to them that
kelly didn't want to discuss it two she was an excellent mother and a loving caring person there was no way she would
ever harm a child as far as they were all concerned if Kelly said she gave Tegan to her
biological father then that's exactly what happened the social workers adoption agents and medical staff who had been
involved with Kelly over the years also testified one confirmed that if Teegan had simply been illegally adopted the
whole issue could be rectified by Kelly signing an adoption consent form the coroner therefore made a public
appeal asking anyone who may have adopted Tean to come forward when this failed to generate a
response the coroner issued a second appeal asking people to come forward if they knew a childless couple in 1996
who'd suddenly had a baby meanwhile staff at a Queensland Primary School roughly 900 km away
received the memo about tan Lane and searched through their database it turned out they had a female
student enrolled who was born on September 12th 1996 her name was Teegan Chapman although her first name was
spelled differently to Teegan Lanes the similarity couldn't be ignored once staff realized her father's name Alan
Norris the inquest was put on hold while investigators from New South Wales immediately traveled to Queensland to
chase one of the only ing leads in the case to date when Tean Chapman's mother Debbie
found out she insisted police were making a mistake Debbie's mother also gave a statement saying she'd been present for
her granddaughter's birth and there was no way Debbie wasn't the mother but the police weren't willing to
take any chances they obtained T Chapman's medical records and ran a DNA test against Kelly Lane
it wasn't a match up until this point Kelly's parents had been tight lipped about the
whole situation Robert Lane accompanied his daughter to court each day making it
clear to the surrounding press that he intended to stand by Kelly no matter what but hearing the witness testimony
in court was the first time he'd heard the full story about Kelly's three secret pregnant
IES on the stand Robert explained that Kelly's weight had always fluctuated depending on what sport she was playing
at the time in hindsight I feel a bit foolish that I didn't notice anything he said
but I had no reason to believe she was pregnant at all the lanes weren't particularly
religious and both of Kelly's parents were aware that she was sexually active the only reason Robert could think of of
for Kelly concealing the pregnancies was that she didn't want to disappoint her family she was held in very very high
esteem in the family Robert said she was very very well known in the community I
believe she was trying to hide this episode in her life from everyone because of those
pressures like Kelly's friends and husband Robert said that after finding out about the investigation he didn't
feel the need to ask Kelly any questions about Tan's whereabouts while he agreed that Kelly's
story about Andrew Norris was unusual he accepted it unequivocally if anything he thought the
man Kelly had an affair with had likely used a fake name the only time Kelly's mother Sandra
Lane attended Court was when it was her turn to provide testimony Sandra described her
relationship with Kelly as very good she didn't think she'd been strict with Kelly while she was growing up and
believed they had an open and honest relationship Sandra firmly denied having any knowledge of Kelly's three secret
pregnancies she said if she had known she would have supported her Sandra couldn't think of any reason
why Kelly hadn't told her about them like the others she admitted she hadn't asked Kelly much about it since the
truth came to light Sandra described the whole situation as incredibly distressing and
said it didn't feel appropriate to have an in-depth conversation with Kelly about
it Sandra had a clear memory of Saturday September 14 1996 the day Kelly was discharged from hospital after giving
birth to Teegan she recalled that at around 3:00 p.m. Kelly had arrived home alone to get
ready for the wedding Duncan was already dressed and waiting for her Kelly showered and dressed then
Sandra dropped them at the wedding at no point did she recall anything unusual about Kelly's
[Music] Behavior anticipation was high on Monday June 27 2005 as Kelly was expected to
take the stand but just before she was about to do so the coroner made an announcement he ordered that the inquest
to be put on hold while further investigations be conducted into teegan's possible
whereabouts requests were made for any CCV footage from Orban Hospital during Kelly and Tan's stay there to be tracked
down knowing that Kelly had likely driven herself home after being discharged from hospital he also wanted
more time for the car to be forensically examined by the time the inquest resumed
in February 2006 it had been officially running for 15 months nothing further had been
uncovered and the search for CCTV footage yielded no results the now 32-year-old Kelly
finally took the stand the council assisting the coroner presented her with their first question
can you tell this court what happened to Teegan Lane around 2:00 p.m. on September 14 1996 when you left the
hospital with her at the advice of her lawyer Kelly responded firmly I do not wish to answer that
question with that she was free to go in summing up the case the council assisting said there could only be three
possible options Teegan was either with her natural father she had been given to a person
unknown or she'd met with fail play this case can be described using a number of adjectives she said bizarre
fascinating unusual unbelievable however at the end of the day what happened to Tean Lane is a
question that still has no definite answer Kelly's lawyer acknowledged the many lies his client had told but
explained this was because she was embarrassed about her sexual conduct and her failure to prevent unwanted
pregnancies he claimed her lies only proved she was trying to keep the pregnancy secret from everyone in her
life Kelly's lawyer stated there is no evidence capable of establishing Beyond reasonable doubt
that Teegan is dead and therefore no evidence capable of establishing any form of
homicide the coroner handed down his findings on Wednesday February 15 2006 he agreed that there were several
factors supporting the possibility that tan Lane was still alive firstly there was no forensic
evidence to suggest otherwise secondly the fact that Kelly placed her first and third children for
adoption supported the possibility that she'd also done so with Tean thirdly it was possible that
teegan's birth was registered under a fake name and she was living under an assumed
identity however the coroner did not accept Kelly's story about giving Tean to a man named Andrew Norris and he said
that without Kelly testifying he was completely unable to accept her final version of
events the current stated I find it inherently unlikely that a man with whom she was having an
affair already had a partner who initially at least was incredibly angry on learning she was pregnant
nevertheless was happy to take the child he therefore concluded I am comfortably satisfied
that Teegan Lane is in fact deceased while he couldn't say how or where she had died he was confident it
had happened in the days immediately following her birth and stated I am disturbed at the possibility
that Teegan may have met with Foul Play his final recommendation was that the case be handed to the New South
Wales homicide squad for a full review and further investigation Kelly Lane sobbed
uncontrollably in her father's arms as the courtroom erupted it in a state of frenzy while the inquests purpose had
been to find answers it only raised more questions for those in attendance it was
clear that the matter was far from over if anything it was just the beginning to be continued
[Music] [Music]

Case 300: Tegan Lane (Part 1)

*** Content Warning: Child victim *** [Part 1 of 2] After 24-year-old Keli Lane gave birth in 1999, she began the process of placing her newborn son for adoption. It was soon revealed that Keli had also given birth in September 1996, to a baby girl named Tegan Lee Lane who couldn’t be located.

Keli claimed Tegan was with her biological father, Andrew Norris, but was she telling the truth or had something sinister happened to baby Tegan?

Watch part 2 here: https://youtu.be/u6XXVMkUWik

CREDITS

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

SOCIAL LINKS

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-300-tegan-lane-part-1

Brief Summary

Kelly Lane's case involves multiple pregnancies, adoptions, and the mysterious disappearance of her daughter Tegan, raising questions of foul play.

Key points

The Unusual Pregnancy. Stacy notices her friend Kelly's unusual behavior, suspecting she's pregnant.
A Shocking Adoption Request. Kelly Lane gives birth and seeks to place her baby for adoption, a rare request.
The Mystery of Teegan. Detectives discover discrepancies in Kelly's past pregnancies and the fate of her children.
Kelly's Conflicting Stories. Kelly changes details about her pregnancy and the father, raising suspicions.
The Search for Andrew Norris. Detectives track down Andrew Norris but find no records of him.
Kelly's Fear of Exposure. Kelly expresses her fear of her secret pregnancies becoming public knowledge.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I guess it's not hard to figure out why there were three children.

Kelly's admission about her past pregnancies.

15:03WatchOct 12, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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