The twisted tale of a brutal family annihilator | Forensic Files

[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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website today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all
listeners in the early afternoon of Thursday July 2 1970 a family of tourists made their way along the Great
Ocean Road in Western Victorio known as one of the world's most scenic Coastal drives the 24 km
Road winds around surf beaches rainforests and looming Cliffs with Seaside towns and attractions dotted in
between one of the more iconic stops along the Route is the natural Limestone formation known as the 12 apostles which
lies off the coast of Port Campbell National Park a 3 minutes Drive West is the Lockard Gorge named after a
shipwreck in 1878 that claimed the lives of 54 of the 56 people board the Lockard Gorge is home to an
inlet of protected sandy beach flanked by imposing Limestone Cliffs on Karma days the sea is a glassy turquoise blue
but during rough surf waves thread through the gorge making the beach inaccessible Timber stairs lead up to a
rest stop above that contains a car park walking trails and a Scenic Lookout with
unimpeded views of the Striking coastline the family of tourists pulled into the
car park of the Lockard Gorge and began walking up the slope towards the lookout as they neared The Cliff face
they looked down and noticed there were fresh tire tracks in the gravel leading away from the car park and towards the
cliffs they followed the tracks and to their horror realized that they finished right at the Cliff's
Edge the tourists scanned the side of the cliff for any sign of a vehicle roughly 25 M below a white car
teet on the edge of a rocky ledge with very little stopping it from toppling over into the crashing Seas
below the tourists used their binoculars to get a better look at the car they could see it was an older model
Fe Holden with a crushed Bonnet debris was scattered around it and the driver's side door was open over
the water below the tourists wondered if the old car could have been pushed off the cliff for
a thrill perhaps it had been stolen and dumped but then they noticed something unsettling a thick black hose was
running from the exhaust pipe over the car's roof and into the driver's side window the tourists hurried back to
their car that's when they noticed a CT near the car park had been filled with rocks
the CT was around 1 M wide and 30 cm deep and it formed a barrier to prevent cars from getting too close to the
cliff the Rocks had been stacked to create a bridge about the same width as a car's
Wheels it was clear that whoever had pushed the car over the cliff had gone to considerable effort to do so
[Music] the tourists rushed to the nearby Township of Port Campbell to report their Discovery to a local police
officer who accompanied them back to the Cliffs of the Lockard Gorge taking turns with the binoculars
they tried to see inside the car but the windows were smeared with salt spray from the
sea with the driver's side door hanging open the group discussed the possibility
that the driver if there was one could have fallen into the sea if so they would have been smashed against the
rocks or drowned in the wild sea below leaving no hope of survival as far as the officer was
concerned there were only two EXP explanations for the car being at the bottom of the cliff either it had been
pushed over with no one inside or it had been intentionally driven over and might
contain a body the hose connected to the exhaust coupled with The Rock Bridge constructed
over the Culvert indicated a level of deliberation Beyond regular vandals and hinted at a possible
suicide if this was the case it wouldn't be the first in the area members of the Port Campbell Rescue
Squad arrived at the Lockard Gorge at 400 p.m. being the middle of winter they didn't have much time before the sun
began to set with time being of the essence the task of descending the cliff was
assigned to a rescue worker named George Who used ropes to carefully scale down the cliff
face when George reached the car he was amazed that it hadn't toppled into the sea
so precarious was its balance with a third of its width hanging over the Rock Ledge that George thought a gentle push
would have centered over the edge the front of the car was smashed flat to the wind screen as though it had
landed nose first then bounced back upright the ground around the car was littered with smashed Glass and Metal
from the crash amongst the debris were partially eaten apples broken biscuits a roll of
electrical tape a butter knife a plastic slip-on shoe and some 22 caliber bullets up close George could see that
the hose over the exhaust pipe had been fitted snugly then run diagonally across
the car roof and down into the cabin through the driver's side window the window had been wound up as
far as it could go jamming the hose securely against the door frame with the remaining Gap then stuffed with rags
the hose had also been tied to the roof rack in two places it was clear to George that
whatever had happened someone had planned this very carefully George peered through the salt
spray on the rear passenger side window taking care not to upset the car's balance on the dashboard both the choke
L and light switches were in the off position but the keyless ignition switch was on
a rope was tied to the steering wheel which seemed to be attached to the back of the car
somehow the interior was filled with junk through which George caught s of a toolbox he reported this over his
walkie-talkie and the police officer at the top of the cliff asked if he could retrieve
it George thought his best chance was to try the rear passenger door when he pulled on the handle the
car rocked but the door opened giving George a better look inside the back bench seat had been
removed and the space was filled with an assortment of strange items including tarp poins sheets electrical tools a car
battery and battery leads most concerning was the presence of several large containers of petrol
meaning the vehicle had been a potential explosive Hazard when it tumbled down the
cliff one spark from the battery and the whole car could have been blown to Smither and there was something else a
distinct odor George had been in the rescue squad for long enough to be worried by that
odor he scanned the insides of the crumpled vehicle and saw what looked like blood on the seat there was also a
coat with blood on it it was then he noticed a 22 caliber rifle it was stuck barreled down against the clutch
pedal George reached through the smashed wind screen and retrieved the rifle he opened the breach and found one live
round by this point dusk was setting in and George heard those at the top of the
cliff calling him back up he placed an assortment of items into a cardboard box and sent it up the cliff
by rope before he was hoisted back up himself the police organized an overnight watch on the car they would
take steps to secure it in the morning if it was still there back at the Port Campbell Police
Station officers examined the items George had retrieved from the vehicle along with the rifle toolbox and
Blood Stained coat there were some family photos old Bank books and a packet of biscuits
there was also what appeared to be a handheld weapon called a Kosh which consisted of a lead pole encased in
rubber it was clearly homemade there was also a 10 m long extension cord and five lengths of
electrical cable each had a small alligator clip attached to one end and a normal household three pin plug on the
other police searched the vehicle's license plate number hk6 61 in their databases records showed that it was
registered to 41-year-old Elma Crawford his address was listed as Cardinal Road in the outer Melbourne
suburb of Glenn Roy 240 km Northeast of the Lockard Gorge at 6:20 p.m. a glenroy police
officer arrived at Elma Crawford's house it was an average single story Suburban brick house with a caravan Park
on the front lawn there were no lights on and it didn't look like anyone was home the officer knocked on the front
door but there was no answer he peered Through the Windows and couldn't see anyone
inside next to the front door was the electrical meter box the officer opened it and found a
loaf of bread and a small jar of coins inside at the time Bakers delivered bread to customer homes in the morning
with payment being left out for them the fact that the bread was still there indicated it must have been sitting out
all day while the money in the jar was probably change left by the baker the disc inside the meter box was
still if anyone was at home using electrical appliances it would have been spinning
profusely the officer went across the road and made inquiries with a couple of Elmer's Neighbors
he learned that Elma lived in the house with his 35-year-old wife Theresa and their three children 12-year-old
Catherine 8-year-old James and 6-year-old Karen Elma worked as a telephone mechanic and typically tinkered in his
garage and fixed things around the house in his spare time he often gave the neighborhood kids
rides on his motor scooter around the front lawn and was always willing to help fix a billy card or bike tire
Theresa who was originally from Queensland was a stay-at-home mom the three Crawford kids attended School
nearby none of the Crawford's neighbors knew where the family could be but one thought El was currently on holidays
from his job the officer returned to the local police station to report that no one was
home given the situation unfolding with the Crawford's smashed and blooded car finding the f family was
Paramount the officer was sent back to the Crawford home with a detective and strict instructions to gain entry via
whatever means possible they were told to be on the lookout for anything that might help
explain the car at the bottom of the cliff with the knocks on the door still going unanswered the duo found an
unlocked window and the officer climbed inside he found himself standing in a children's bedroom with two single beds
in it instead of stopping to look around he went straight to the front door and let
the detective in the two went back into the bedroom and turned on the lights both beds were unmade and the
blankets piled on one of them were heavily stained with blood there was also a lot of blood near
the head of the bed the officers then made their way to the main bedroom both the double bed and
the floor were splattered with blood unwashed dishes sat in the kitchen sink and a box of cereal was left out on
a nearby table alongside a dirty bowl and an opened bottle of milk this suggested that someone had
eaten breakfast there as recently as that morning a set of car keys also sat on the
table this was of particular interest to the police given that no keys had been found inside the smashed
Holden a note had been left on the table for the Milkman which read no further deliveries until further
notice another note had the words next of kin written on it followed by the name of one of Elma Crawford's relatives
and a town in Ireland presumably where the relative lived between the table and the back
door were faint smears of blood [Music] an examination of the Crawford's backyard turned up a length of black
rubber hosing similar to the one attached to the family's smashed up car a large black patch on the grass
indicated that a bonfire had recently been burned there leading from the back door to the garage was a trail of
blood two metal rubbish bins sat near the wall of the garage and also had blood stains on the lids
inside one of the bins was a small length of Blood Stained rope the police entered the
garage leaning against the wall was the bench seat that had been removed from the
Holden there was no sign of a Breakin or struggle at the house and nothing appeared to be
missing a wedding ring and engagement ring both sat untouched on the mantle based on the amount of blood in
the bedrooms investigators believed that the occupants of the home had been attacked while they were
sleeping the amount of blood indicated they were severely injured or possibly dead by Sunrise the following morning
investigators were relieved to see that the Crawford's Holden had managed to stay in place
overnight after some careful planning at 9:30 a.m. police and members of Port Campbell Rescue Squad gathered at the
top of the Lockard Gorge armed with several tractors and heavy chains they intended to attach the
chains to the car and then use the tractors to drag it away from the edge this time George scaled The 25m
Cliff face with another member of the rescue squad after reaching the Holden the two
men carefully opened the back door in the morning light they could see blood on the dashboard the front seat
and the internal roof lining but they had no time for anything more than a cursory
examination they had to Anchor the car to the cliff as a matter of urgency once the car was Secure the men
opened the back passenger side door again and lifted out the tarpoon inside it was then that they saw a human
foot they began care carefully removing some of the blankets from the rear of the vehicle until they uncovered the
body of Teresa Crawford in Tangled around her and wrapped in sheads were the bodies of her
three children Catherine James and Karen there was no sign of Elma the bodies of Theresa Catherine
James and Karen were sent up the cliff in stretches and trans reported for postmortem
examination each of them were dressed in pajamas supporting the theory that they'd been attacked while they were in
bed each of the children had catastrophic head injuries 8-year-old James and six-year-old Karen had been
filled by a single blow while 12-year-old Catherine had suffered two one to the side of her head and one to
the middle of her forehead two hammers were found in the Crawford's car either could have been the murder
weapon Theresa Crawford had also suffered a head injury but hers was less obvious and severe than her
children it looked like it could have been caused by the rubber C found in the car wreck and unlike her children this
head wound hadn't killed Theresa but likely only rendered her unconscious the pathologist noted burn
marks on Theresa's ear as well as the we in between her thumb and index finger one detective who was watching
the procedure picked up the strange electrical lead that had been found in the Crawford's car which had an
alligator clip at one end and a three-point plug at the other the alligator clip matched the
burn marks on Theresa's ear and thumb suggesting that she'd been electrocuted by what looked like a kind of homemade
torture device Catherine and James also had the same alligator clip marks while Karen
showed none it was determined that the children had all been fatally wounded in their
sleep with the oldest two then electrocuted afterwards Theresa was likely rendered
unconscious before being fatally electrocuted laid out in the morg Theresa's stomach was visibly
extended an examination revealed she was 3 months pregnant her fetus an unexpected fifth victim of the deadly
attack with no sign of Elmer Crawford and nothing at the family home to suggest that an intruder had entered
this presented only a few possibilities the first being that Elma had attacked his family and then driven
to the Lockard Gorge to end his own life while DNA testing didn't exist in 1970 forensic examination of the Crawford
Family smashed up holding confirmed that the blood found on the front seat roof lining and a dashboard was all typo
blood Theresa and the children were all type A the only member of the family who was
type O was Elma the hose attached to the exhaust pipe certainly hinted at suicide
perhaps elma's body had fallen out of the partially open driver's side door and into the wild sea
below the rescue squad tested all of the doors of the four three could be opened
with relative ease the only door that couldn't be opened Beyond 20 to 30 cm was the driver side
door it took three men to prize it open just so the police photographer could take photos of the driver's seat
making it unlikely that an adult male had fallen out the rope that had been tied to the
steering wheel went all the way through the vehicle with the other end jammed into the lid of the
boot near the clutch pedal where George had extracted the rifle from the day prior there was a small engineer's
hammer and a plastic slip-on shoe this raised the question of whether the hammer could have been stuck into
the shoe and secured in place by the butt of the rifle in order to drive the car over the cliff with nobody behind
the wheel given the scene was so meticulously staged investigators were cautious not to jump to
conclusions they Den needed to run some tests a matching Mak model of the Holden
was taken to Port Campbell it had been altered to replicate the exact condition of the
craw for's vehicle as closely as possible the back seat was removed roof racks were attached and many of the
items retrieved from the Crawford's car were placed inside including the petrol containers which were refilled with
water four mannequins were stacked in the back seat their Hollow limbs filled with sand to approximate the weight of
Theresa Catherine James and Karen a fifth mannequin was also filled with sand to approxim at Elma Crawford's
size and weight and fitted into the driver's seat a rubber hose was attached to the exhaust pipe and positioned
exactly as it had been on the original car while a rope was attached to the steering wheel and secured by the lid of
the boot before the car was pushed off the cliff a cable was secured to the vehicle
to ensure that it didn't fall into the ocean with police cameras rolling the test vehicle was driven up the access
road and across the Culvert on the stone bridge at the point where the uphill section from the road ceased and the
downhill run to the cliff began the car was brought to a stop the tire Impressions from the
Crawford car was still visible and the wheels of the test car were aligned with the
tracks it didn't take a lot of effort to push the car towards the cliff it began
to roll under its own momentum Gathering speed as the decline increased just seconds before it left
the cliff toop the wheels deviated slightly from the original tracks then the car sailed over the edge
of the cliff seconds later the car crashed down onto its front end just like the
Crawford car had but the test car didn't land flat it rolled onto its roof after
striking the ledge nonetheless police were satisfied with the reenactment because the damage
to the test vehicle matched that of the Crawford car in both cases the boot was breached
and its contents moved forward into the passenger cabin the toolbox flew forward and
damaged the front seat in the same way the mannequins in the rear of the car remained in their location and the rope
tied to the steering wheel didn't break the test crash suggested that if anyone had been ejected from the
Crawford vehicle on impact they would have landed on the cliff ledge not in the ocean but the test mannequin in the
driver's seat wasn't thrown out of the vehicle at all instead it impacted with the dashboard causing damage consistent
with a human body striking a hard surface no such damage was found in the Crawford
car detectives were satisfied that there was never a fifth person in the vehicle
when it left the clifftop this Lent itself to the second possible scenario Elma had pushed the car over
the cliff the rope tied to the steering wheel and the rifle wedged near the pedals supported
this if someone had been in the driver's seat these things wouldn't have been necessary Elma had a likely injured his
hands while filling the C near the cliff with rocks he then touched the inside of
the car while shifting it leaving traces of his blood inside while investigators were certain
Elma had not gone over the cliff they wanted to make sure of it police divers braced the treacherous
Waters below as other officers traced the route to Glenn Roy in case Elma had tried to make the journey home on foot
and perished along the way a light plane conducted an aerial search of the area while Port Campbell's
rugged Bushland surroundings were scoured one detective told the media we want to be absolutely certain
that Crawford's body is not lying in the bush or has been washed up along the coastline if Crawford's body has been
washed up we will find it after several days of persevering through icy winds and rain the search
turned up nothing further cementing the belief that Elma had somehow gotten away the police turned to the media for
help and elma's picture was printed on the front pages of newspapers throughout Australia anyone who might have picked
up a male hitchhiker with an Irish accent on the night of Wednesday July 1 1970 or Thursday July 2 was asked to
come forward no one did Elma Crawford had been born in Quebec Canada before moving to Northern Ireland
with his mother when he was 2 months old his mother then returned to Canada without him leaving baby Elma to be
raised by his grandparents in Ireland he migrated to Australia at the age of 22 where he later met married and
started a family with Teresa Elma worked as a telephone mechanic for the Victoria Racing Club
investigators visited the club to question elma's co-workers they confirmed what one
neighbor had initially told the police that Elma had been on holidays for the past 2
weeks it was discovered that one of the first things Elma did upon taking time off was take his wife to a solicitor to
make Wills in each other's favor police found copies of the wheels dated the previous month of June 1970
then with his three children out of the house at school each day Elma had a big clean
out neighbors saw him burning several large loads of rubbish as well as taking several trips to the tip sometimes
multiple times each day during each trip he filled his entire car with the junk Elma told his neighbors that he
planned on using his time off to raise his garage roof so it would fit the family's Caravan
which they'd only recently purchased some people saw him up on the roof and heard the banging of tools but
it was clear he didn't finish the job in time because the Caravan remained parked
on the front lawn Elma had been due to return to work on Wednesday July 1 the day before his
car was found at the bottom of the cliffs he failed to show and didn't contact his employer or co-workers to
explain his absence that same morning a cosmetic saleswoman named June visited the Crawford home to
have a cup of tea with Theresa and to leave her with the catalog June told the police that she'd
visited Theresa at around 10:30 a.m. and was surprised to find that 6-year-old Karen was home from school Teresa
explained that her daughter had a toothache while chatting on the porch June saw Crawford walking down the
driveway from the back of the house the two had never met before Junes said hello and Elman nodded but made no
effort to start a conversation June then watched as he began cleaning the inside of the
family's Holden she could see that he'd removed the back seat which was leaning against
the front of the car Teresa didn't invite June in like she usually did and when June offered
her a catalog Teresa refused to take it something she'd never done in the past that afternoon at around 4:00 Elmer
was witnessed loading his car with 5 Gall Drums of petrol meanwhile sisters Katherine and
Karen were cited walking to the local shops a Salvation Army hore was located next door to the Crawford's house and
every Wednesday night members of the congregation gathered there for choir practice on the evening of Wednesday
July 1 a congregation member called Malcolm arrived at the hall at 630 he noticed that the Crawford's car
was parked in their driveway near the front gate this was unusual because the car
was normally parked in the garage or further up the driveway malom had known Elma Crawford
for nearly 8 years and during that time they'd always had a good relationship ship that had changed about 8 months
prior Malcolm told police that every Sunday during the Salvation Army church services Elma began working around his
house hammering loudly using noisy power tools and mowing the lawn Wednesday nights were usually quiet
because the Crawford children were typically in bed but at around 8:30 on the evening of Wednesday July 1 during a
break in choir practice Malcolm and other Salvation Army members heard odd noises coming from the Crawford
house at one point it sounded like someone was hitting concrete with a pick or a
shovel doors were slammed and Loud footsteps came from the garage followed by something heavy being dragged along
the ground after some more footsteps into dragging sounds there was a final dull
Hollow thud like a c door or boot being slammed Shut by the time choir practice was over
the Crawford's car was no longer parked at the end of the driveway the drive from glenroy to Port
Campbell took approximately 3 hours it was likely that Elma had made it to the Lockard Gorge between midnight
and 1:00 a.m. police estimated that it would have taken at least an hour to build the Rock
Bridge over the Culvert and then maybe another half hour to guide the car over the
cliff this meant the earliest Elma could have left Port Campbell was around 2 or
3:00 a.m. but how had he gotten back to Glenn Roy without a car police searched the Crawford's
garage and found a motor scooter which neighbors said Elma rode to work each day it was therefore theorized that he
could have fixed the scooter to the roof racks of the Holden for the the trip to
Port Campbell then ridden at home after pushing the car over the [Music] cliff a young girl named Brenda lived
seven houses down from the Crawford Family Brenda was a friend of 12-year-old Catherine
Crawford every weekday morning she walked past the Crawford's house on the way to school to collect Catherine so
they could walk to school together Thursday July by too was no different but when Brenda knocked on the
door Elma Crawford answered and said that Catherine was ill and wouldn't be going to school that
day the Crawford house was usually full of noise in the morning but on July 2 it
was completely quiet as though nobody else was at home Elma didn't close the door right
away instead he stood in the doorway watching Brenda Walk Away in a way she described as
creepy this sighting placed Elmer at home in the hours after his car was dumped coupled with the evidence that he
had fixed himself breakfast it seemed he was in no rush to get away at around 6:00 that night hours
after the Crawford's car was spotted at Lockard Gorge 16-year-old Allison not her real name had been driving down
Cardinal Road in glenroy with her brother she paid particular attention to the house with the Caravan in the front yard
because a couple of weeks earlier she'd been passing by when she saw a massive fire in the
backyard Allison had initially thought the house was a blaze until she realized whoever lived there must have been
burning off rubbish passing by again on July 2 Allison saw a man walking down the
driveway towards the street once he reached the footpath he looked up and down the Street before walking back
towards the house when Allison saw a photo of Elma Crawford in the newspaper she
immediately recognized him as the man she'd seen in front of the house on Cardinal
Road if her account was correct it meant Elma was still at home after the car was
discovered at around the same time the first police officer visited the home when police returned to the
Crawford home at around 10:30 p.m. and broke in they noticed some small patches of the carpet in one of the bedrooms
were still wet on the coffee table in the lounge room was a clear bottle of upholstery
cleaning fluid the fluid inside was frothy on the surface as though it had only been used
within the past few hours its cap had an inbuilt brush and there were fibers CED in it that were
similar to the carpet fibers in it looked like someone had tried to clean up the blood stains but
given up in the process given that the cleanup looked as though it had been abandoned relatively
recently it struck investigators that Elma could have been cleaning up the crime scene when the first officer
knocked at 6:20 p.m. perhaps he had thought he'd gotten away with his crime only to catch a
glimpse of the officer and realize it had all gone right if this was the case Cas this
meant that Elma had vanished sometime between the police's first visit at 6:20 and their return to the house at
10:30 elma's motor scooter was still in the garage along with an adult bicycle this raised the question of how
he fled the house in Cardinal Road there had been no confirmed sightings of Elma since he left home for
good had he simply walked away or taken a BT bus or had someone picked him up whatever the case investigators were
bewildered as to why Elma made the drastic decision to wipe out his family in the first
place by all accounts the crawfords were a typical friendly family no one recalled ever hearing arguments coming
from their house nor did Theresa ever complain about her husband when the Crawford so socialized
with neighbors Elma was said to be affectionate towards his wife and children who were also described as
being well behaved Elma earned nearly $5,000 a year or $70,000 in today's money a search of the Crawford's bank
accounts revealed they had a further $3,000 in savings and another 3,000 in government
bonds their house was almost paid off and they owned three blocks of land in Queens land as well as their Caravan and
car for a single income family they were very well off more so than the average whatever motive Elma Crawford
might have had to kill his family it didn't appear to be Financial a woman named Jennifer who
lived up the street regarded Teresa Crawford as a good friend she told the police that while she knew Theresa very
well she knew next to nothing about Elma and had barely ever spoken to him Jennifer described the crawfords as
a Happy Family the last time she'd seen them all was on the night of Tuesday June
30 Jennifer visited the Crawford home and was told that Elma had spent the day taking rubbish to the
tip when Jennifer asked if Elma had gone back to work yet Theresa responded no isn't it awful he should have gone back
a couple of days ago I think will be going back soon while the two women spoke at the
front door Jennifer saw Elma back the car out of the driveway and drive off the detectives asked Jennifer if she
knew Theresa was expecting a baby Jennifer said yes and recalled that Theresa seemed very pleased about it
when Jennifer had asked what Elma thought Theresa responded oh well you know [Music]
wmer during the search of the Crawford Home Police had found a newspaper clipping on the kitchen table that had
them questioning whether the news of the pregnancy was welcome taken from the age the clipping
was titled A Mother's Agony and featured an emotional letter to the editor in response to an article the previous week
about abortion reform the letter described one mother's experience as she had unsuccessfully
tried to terminate her own pregnancy and called for greater medical support for women seeking
abortions in the lounge room police also found a half-finished letter that Theresa had written to her sister in
Queensland it read in part I have been so upset but what's the use I'm 2 and a half months now so it
looks like I've had it this time we were going to come up home this Christmas but
won't be able to now as I'll be due the end of January so Bob will have to be careful
now the letter also featured the question why did you go off the pill seemingly referring to the contraceptive
pill it was unclear if the question was directed towards Teresa's sister or was a rhetorical question for
herself either way coupled with the article about abortion it led police to suspect that Theresa might not have been
as happy about her pregnancy as she'd led her neighbors to believe when questioned again one of the
Crawford's neighbors said that Teresa had confided in her that she'd suffered from postnatal depression after the
birth of her youngest daughter for which she'd required medication police wondered whether
Theresa's pregnancy could have something to do with the murders Theresa was a dedicated Catholic
perhaps Elma had been pushing her to have an abortion but she'd [Music] refused speculation aside Elma
Crawford's intent remained a mystery the only thing for certain was that this had been a deliberate and
carefully planned attack not only had Elma taken the time to painstakingly organize his car it
also appeared that he'd personally made the alligator clip device that had been used to electrocute Theresa Katherine
and James household fuses are designed to blow during a surge of current an examination of the Crawford's fuse box
showed that the regular fuses had been replaced with thick wire to prevent them from blowing during a
surge the available evidence indicated Elma likely planned to Stage his family's disappearance before going off
to start a new life perhaps he intended to tell people that Theresa and the children had moved
to Queensland to be closer to her family for the arrival of the new baby while he
stayed behind to put the house on the market if the car had gone into the water as planned Elma could have quietly
sold up everything taken his money and disappeared without question the bonfires letter to the
Milkman and visits to the tip certainly suggested he was getting ready to leave the house for good
detectives also wondered if the hose leading from the exhaust pipe to the driver's window was a ploy in case the
car was ever recovered from the bottom of the ocean perhaps elma's plan was to make it
look like Theresa had killed the children in a murder suicide this could also explain why
Teresa's head injury was less severe than the others maybe Elma had hoped that her
sceletal remains wouldn't show any skull fractures as the weeks passed after the bodies of
Teresa Crawford and her children were found not a single piece of evidence emerged to suggest where Elma Crawford
could be yet evidence emerged to suggest that he was prepared for a life on the run it was well known to the Crawford's
neighbors that Elma spent a lot of his spare time at the local auction rooms he liked to take items in such as
tools clothing and electrical gear which he'd leave for potential buyers he'd return later to collect any proceeds as
well as any of his unsold items he spent so much time on this hobby that when neighbors asked Theresa where Elma was
she would typically roll her eyes and say he's at the auction houses again Elma had made two visits to an
auction house during his time off work he'd left an assortment of items including 25 yards of electrical leads a
coil of wire a box of battery Clips a spade a mic two sledgehammers and several gallons of motor
oil he returned at the end of June to collect the money from his sales $26 in total or roughly 350 in today's
money for the investigators this explained how the crawfords were so well off they discovered that some of the
iners had recently grown suspicious that Elma was bringing in stolen goods and they'd stopped accepting his
business it also turned out that Elmer had been stealing copper wiring from work which he then sold to scrap metal
merchants in the Crawford's garage and inside their roof police found a small Warehouse of goods that could be
attributed back to the Victorian racing commission including everything from electrical items to rolls of toilet
paper although Elmer's bank accounts hadn't been touched since he disappeared given
his proclivity for selling stolen items it was possible that he'd been hoarding cash and had taken a large amount with
him being an electrician also meant he could have picked up cash inhand work along his
travels by now photos of Elma had been widely circulated Australia wide and there had been no reported sightings of
him anywhere given Elmer's Irish connection and his family in Canada inquiries were made
with authorities overseas but to no [Music] result by the 1-year anniversary of the
Crawford Family murders police were no closer to finding any answers a coronial inquest was held in
July 1971 during which the coroner asked the lead homicide detective if he thought Elma Crawford was responsible
for killing Theresa Crawford and the three children the detective was non-committal
saying I don't think that is my function sir it is the function of the Court the coroner rephrased the question
this time asking have your inquiries revealed any other like person who could have killed
these people the detective replied no sir they haven't the current off found El ma
Crawford responsible for killing his wife and three children but this didn't bring the investigation any closer to
finding out what happened to Elma himself in late January 1973 a year and a half after the inquest itinerant
worker Peter Carlson was standing in line at an employment office in the regional Victorian city of shepon when
he struck up a conversation with a man named Harry Harry told Peter he was currently
going through a divorce from his wife the two men heard there was some fruit picking work available on an
orchard in cobram a Riverland Town approximately 70 km away along with two other men they jumped into a cab and
headed straight there to begin work which included accommodation on the property on the evening of Monday
January 29 Peter Harry and one of the other workers headed to the cobram hotel they caught a cab back to the orchard
but along the journey they got into an argument with the driver the police were called and the
three fruit Pickers were taken to the local police station Harry was released shortly after
while the other two were kept overnight at 11:30 p.m. Harry's body was found on the side of cobram South Road
having been killed in an apparent Road accident the police officer who attended the scene took one look at Harry and
immediately recognized him from photographs he'd seen years prior he looked just like Elma
Crawford the man was carrying no form of identification or money but as the police soon learned he'd been going by
the name Harry Crawford the deceased man's fingerprints and dental records were taken to see if
a positive identification could be made with a police spokesperson telling the media if it is Elma Crawford we will
clear up one of the most baffling mysteries in the history of the Victoria police
force the results came back it wasn't Elma Crawford as the years went by unsubstantiated sightings and stories
about Elma trickled in including that he was in Ireland working as a Hitman for the Irish Republican
Army most of the sighting seemed to be either cases of mistaken identity or just
rumors then in 1994 the wife of one of the scrap dealers who used to buy copper wire from Elma Crawford was visiting the
Western Australian city of bumbury some 3,300 km west of glenroy she was at a local hotel when
she saw a man she believed to be the accused family Annihilator the woman approached the man
and asked if he was Elmer Crawford he said no he was just visiting from New Zealand by the time the woman reported
this encounter to the police two weeks had passed police found no trace of the bumbery man but they believed the
sighting could be genuine in the 1970s Western Australia was sparsely populated and the more remote parts were renowned
for being safe havens for people wanting to vanish there was very limited use of
electronics that could track a person's movements and you didn't even need an ID
to open a bank account given elma's electrician skills it was possible that he'd secured work
in one of the remote mining sites and had managed to fly under the radar since if the bumbery sighting had been
genuine the woman's failure to report it sooner meant Elma had plenty of time to
disappear again there were no other credible leads until the early 2000s when an
unidentified male body appeared in a Texas morg the deceased had gone to Great Lengths to hide his identity his
fingerprints were damaged and he had false identity documents with at least four different
names the man lay unidentified for 5 years until facial recog nition software flagged him as bearing a strong
resemblance to an older Elma Crawford a living blood relative of Elma provided their DNA for
comparison but just as Australian police were contemplating how The Fugitive could have gotten himself to the US DNA
testing revealed that the unidentified man was not Elma by early 2008 37 years had passed
pass since the Crawford Family murders and if Elmer was still alive he would have been 78 years
old Victoria Police announced a $100,000 reward which they hoped might provide an
incentive to encourage anybody who may know of Elma Crawford's whereabouts to come
forward they also released an age-enhanced image of what Elma might look like if he was still
alive Indemnity from prosecution was promised to Anyone Who provided information regarding his
whereabouts one detective said there have been a number of sightings of Elmer over the years which
leads us to believe that he is still alive and living inter state to avoid detection it is likely that he has
changed his appearance in order to disguise his identity he previously worked as an
unqualified electrician and even though would now be of retirement age it is possible he still does a bit of this
type of work on the side Teresa Katherine James and Karen deserve some answers and we believe
somebody out there has information that will bring those people responsible to Justice in 2017 a former truck driver
who went by the name nugget came forward to report a possible sighting of Elma Crawford in the remote pilra region of
Western Australia according to nugget he struck up a conversation with a man who said he'd
moved to the area from Melbourne in 1970 nugget asked the man where his wife was to which he responded that she was
long gone nugget then asked the man why he'd left Melbourne the man responded I had to leave in a hurry I
did something terrible detectives had recently been to Western Australia blowing up on another
reported sighting of Elma Crawford it was then that Nugget had a light bulb moment you aren't that bloke the
Victorian coppers were up here looking for a couple of weeks ago he asked according to nugget the man's body
language completely changed it looked like he realized he'd said too much true crime author Greg foggy grew
up in Cardinal Road glenroy he was 9 years old at the time of the Crawford murders and fully aware
of the tragedy that had befallen the family growing up Greg and his friends regarded the old Crawford house as
haunted he remained fascinated by the case into adulthood likening its infamy to the 1966 disappearance of the three
Bowmont children as covered in episode 100 of CAS vile Greg felt compelled to look into
the Crawford case further and ultimately wrote a book about it titled almost perfect over the 3 years it took to
research and write the book Greg put ads in the newspapers asking anyone who knew
anything about the crawfords to contact him several people came forward including one former neighbor who had
never given a statement to police while all other neighbors had described Elmer as friendly and Placid
this neighbor claimed they once saw Elma fly into a fit of rage while trying to fix his
car frustrated that whatever he was doing wasn't working Elma smashed every panel of the car with a tire
iron over the years Greg heard many stories about where Elma Crawford could be in 1970 Australians could travel to
New Zealand without documentation Elma could have traveled to New Zealand before continuing onwards
from there he might have been harbored by family members or other supporters in Ireland while there are no records of
Elma traveling overseas it doesn't rule out the possibility that he was traveling under a false
name a man named Alan also reached out to Greg saying he knew a man that worked as an electrician in Western Australia
who looked just like Elma Crawford this man spoke with an Irish accent and was Ki when questioned about
his past Alan was so convinced that the man was Elma that he sent Greg a photo Greg had the photo analyzed but
when comparing it to pictures of Elma the years were not the same shape if he is still alive Elma Crawford
would now be 95 years old the $100,000 reward still stands anyone with information is urged
to contact Crim Stoppers homicide detectives recently stated that they have not given up hope
that the five decade Long Cold Case might be solved one day with all the mystery surrounding the
case and the focus put on Elma very little has been reported publicly about Theresa Katherine James and
Karen memories of their lives before the tragedy are held close by those who knew
them best like Catherine's friend Brenda she was the last person to speak to Elma prior to his
disappearance every day that Brenda walked to school following the murders she pretended that Catherine was by her
side in 2005 Brenda gave her first ever interview to the age newspaper saying that she still thought of Catherine her
mother and siblings every time she drove past to their old house on Cardinal Road
Brenda said I often wonder what she'd be doing now how her life would have been had she
lived [Music]

Case 290: The Crawford Family

*** Content warnings: Child victims *** When a Holden belonging to Glenroy man Elmer Crawford was found at the bottom of the Loch Ard Gorge in July 1970, immediate concerns were raised for the safety of Elmer, his wife Theresa and their three children, Katherine, James and Karen. But when rescue workers gained access to the vehicle, the true extent of the mystery really unfolded.

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Vikki Petraitis 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-290-the-crawford-family

Brief Summary

The Crawford family was murdered in 1970, and Elma Crawford vanished, leaving behind a chilling mystery.

Key points

The Discovery at Lockard Gorge. Tourists find a car teetering on the cliff's edge, leading to a chilling investigation.
The Investigation Deepens. Forensic evidence suggests a meticulously staged crime scene, pointing to a family tragedy.
A Gruesome Scene Unfolds. Police discover the bodies of Theresa and her children in the car, raising questions about Elma's fate.
The Test Crash Results. Police reenact the crash to confirm details about the Crawford vehicle incident.
The Search for Elma. Police conduct extensive searches for Elma after the incident, but find no trace.
Elma's Mysterious Behavior. Elma's actions leading up to the incident raise suspicions about his intentions.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The hose had also been tied to the roof rack in two places.

Indications of planning in the car's setup.

7:02WatchJun 29, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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