What looked like an accident in Ararat was far more sinister | Forensic Files

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preferred platform on the evening of Tuesday May 10 1994 staff had a home on Grano Street in the
regional Victorian town of varat served up dinner at the usual time of 6:00 p.m. the home was a residential care
unit for people with disabilities the unit's five inhabitants were cared for Around the Clock by
living and staff from the Department of Health and Community Services it was their job to support and
empower the residents to live as independently as possible but as the staff and residents
gathered around the dining table to eat their dinner together one chair remained
empty the cheerful and gentle fifth resident of the unit 41-year-old Lindsay gelot was nowhere to be seen
[Music] Lindsay galot was a creature of habit shortly before 4:00 that afternoon he
asked the staff at Grano Street for permission to go for his daily walk this was Lindsay's favorite part of the day
the only time he was free and unrestricted although it was rare for Lindsay to be late he loved food and his
carers were sure he'd be back before long they put his plate in the microwave so they could reheat his dinner as soon
as he showed up but by 6:30 there was still no sign of Lindsay his carers checked his bedroom
and the backyard in case case he'd returned without them noticing one of the staff drove around
the streets on the lookout but had no luck finding him by 7:00 they were really worried it was dark and cold
outside and Lindsay had never come home this late the police were promptly called Lindsay was last seen by Grano
Street staff at 3:45 p.m. as he set off for his afternoon walk while a traumatic head injury at the age
of two had left Lindsay with cognitive disability and developmental delays he was more than capable of navigating his
daily routine he could shower feed and address himself he couldn't read or right but he could communicate
coherently count to 30 and knew the value of money to $10 Lindsay particularly loved walking
to a nearby Golf Course where he'd collect a lost golf ball walls and bring them home to clean and give to his
friends his other favorite walk was to the main street of town Lindsay had a sweet tooth and he'd spend his $5 daily
allowance on cigarettes coffee Coca-Cola and biscuits one of his legs was shorter
than the other so he tended to shuffle along slowly often stopping to talk to people in the
streets in the first few months of living at Grano Street Lindsay walked so much that he wore out several pairs of
shoeses he walked for hours each day but was always home in time for dinner with Lindsay now failing to
return home time was of the essence it was a frosty rainy night and he was Ill prepared for the weather having left
home in just a pair of trousers and a blue fleece top adding to the urgency was the fact that at 8:00 each night
Lindsay took the drug Ral to treat his epilepsy a missed dose could put him at risk of a
seizure as luck would have it the Ararat branch of the state emergency service were in the middle of a training session
and could be deployed immediately to help police with the search they were advised that Lindsay
was timid and there was a possibility he might hide if approached by someone he didn't
know search units scoured the town by car and on foot with the sces truck driving slowly along the back roads
using a search light to sweep the surrounding paddocks and Farms sheds and out buildings were
checked in case Lindsay was seeking Shelter From the bad weather but he was nowhere to be
found the following morning of Wednesday May 11 police narrowed in on Lindsay's home they rechecked the residence and
the surrounding area just in case he'd returned and was too too frightened to come inside because he knew he was late
yet there was still no sign of him all available Crews from police stations in neighboring towns joined the
search with the airwing dispatched to search overhead with no reports coming in about
a lost or disorientated man police contacted all the local radio stations to broadcast Lindsay's details so the
entire Community would know to keep a lookout a local farmer heard the reports and sat
on a drive around the roads that boarded his property as he made his way along down
Road a dirt stretch roughly 2 km Northeast of lindsy jal's home the farmer saw what looked like a white
running shoe on the grassy Verge at the side of the road he kept going but the image of the
shoe worried him he did a u-turn and drove back towards it as as he approached he realized there were
actually two shoes the farmer pulled over on the opposite side of the road and got out of
his car lying on the grassy Verge was the body of Lindsay galot Lindsay's blue fleecy top was
pulled up exposing his thin white torso which was stained with a liver colored patch of ConEd blood under the
skin his eyes and mouth were half open his left cheek grazed and his nose unnaturally
bent while his belt was still buckled it had been melted apart on the left hand side his white running shoes were still
on his feet but the right one was crushed its Soul bursting from torn stitching three packets of cigarettes
and a cigarette tin lay next to his body with a $5 bill discarded at his right elbow nearby was an empty beer can
it appeared as though lindsy gellot had been struck by a car not only were there
obvious Crush injuries to his legs and torso tire tracks in the dirt road LED straight to his body but as soon as the
crash investigators arrived from Melbourne they knew this wasn't a standard hit and
run there are six elements that correlate with this type of impact the first three are injuries to
the Shin's hip and head as the victim strikes the vehicle's bumper bar Bonnet and windscreen or
Roof then there's the scene itself blood from the victim as well as some trace of
the car involved such as broken glass or paint flakes are expected to be found the Sixth Element is that the
victim is usually shoeless it is a little known phenomenon but when people are hit by cars they are
generally knocked clean out of their Footwear in fact the crash investigators had
never attended a hidden run where the victim was still wearing shoes a cursory examination of the scene
showed that none of these six elements were present furthermore Lindsay's body was arranged too neatly by the side of
the road if he'd been hit by a car while walking his body would have been flung and landed
awkwardly his top being pulled up all also indicated that someone had gripped him under the arms and dragged him along
this was supported by marks in the road with two parallel lines appearing to have been made by the heels of Lindsay's
shoes Lindsay might not have been hit by a car but from his injuries it was obvious that he had indeed been run
over he had abdominal bruising consistent with a car tire and the lower parts of his legs had severe Crush
injuries there were smears of grease on his body and clothing as well as burn marks where
he'd come into contact with the hot exhaust section underneath the vehicle yet the lack of blood at the
crime scene intrigued [Music] investigators this indicated that Lindsay was already dead when his body
was run over a lack of bleeding confirmed this Theory Marx in the dirt showed that
Lindsay had most likely been dumped from a vehicle before being dragged to the side of the road and then run over on
the verge fibers consistent with his trousers were found near the drag marks and there were acceleration scuff marks
alongside his body the resulting spray of gravel coupled with the tire tracks indicated
that a vehicle had reversed to where Lindsay's body lay and then backed right over him twice
after running over Lindsay the car then turned around and headed in the direction of
Ararat the pathologist conducting Lindsay's autopsy couldn't determine what had caused his death given
Lindsay's history of epilepsy she considered a syndrome known as sudden Unexpected death in epilepsy or
suap this is where an otherwise healthy person with epilepsy dies prematurely typically in their
sleep in cases of step a postmortem examination shows no cause of death sometimes there are signs that a
seizure has occurred such as the individual losing control of their bladder but Lindsay's autopsy showed
that his bladder was full furthermore if Lindsay had died from suap it didn't explain why someone would drag him to
the side of the road and run him over with a car crash investigators sought to identify the type of car that had run
Lindsay over the owner of a local tire shop agreed to accompany police to the scene upon seeing the tracks he was
certain they'd been made by Bridgestone eager s340 tires smears of red fluid on Lindsay's white running shoes were
suspected by one investigator to be automatic transmission fluid if he was correct this meant police were looking
for an automatic car probably an older model which would be more likely to leak leaking transmission fluid didn't
necessarily drip out instead it formed a film over the car's transmission pan located in its
undercarriage the fluid could have been transferred to Lindsay's shoes when the car ran over him the fact that Lindsay's
body was smeared with black grease also suggested an older car slowly but surely a picture of The
Wanted vehicle emerged an automatic older style car with Bridgestone eager s340 tires if the vehicle had left tracers on
Lindsay then he'd likely left traces on the vehicle the only problem was that the evidence would largely be underneath
the car rather than obvious visible damage to the car's exterior detectives began looking into
Lindsay's life for Clues as to who could be responsible by all accounts lindsy gellot was a har less and friendly man
who was well known and well liked in his community the more the detectives learned about Lindsay the harder it was
to imagine why anyone would want to kill him they did a door knock of the houses
surrounding lindsy many of which housed residents with disabilities but no one had a bad thing to say about
him on the afternoon that Lindsay's body was discovered a roadblock was organized
on Grano Street for the same period of time that Lindsay went missing with detectives stopping all cars to ask if
anyone had seen Lindsay walking the previous day Grano street is one thoroughfare
through Ararat and 400 p.m. is a change of shift time for workers for the local prison and Railway as well as health and
community services staff one man stopped at the roadblock new linsay by sight he told detectives
that at around 400 p.m. the day before he seen Lindsay climbing into a car that was parallel parked to the curb a short
distance away from his house it was an old a model brown colored sedan with a red LPG gas sticker
on its number plate the man had caught a glimpse of the driver it was a middle-aged woman
with dark hair who he didn't recognize this description immediately gave investigators pause
[Music] in 1955 when lindsy Jella was 2 and a half years old his mother was pushing
him and his twin sister along in a pram as she edged the pram out between two parked cars a truck suddenly struck
the front of it the force of the Collision threw Lindsay heavily onto the road while his twin sister Judith was
unheard Lindsay suffered severe brain damage and was in a coma for 9 weeks by the time he was finally allowed
to return home from the hospital his behavior had changed significantly and his parents struggled to control him he
was eventually diagnosed with epilepsy and an intellectual disability when Lindsay was seven his
parents made the difficult decision to place him in a living Care Facility they visited him often and he
was occasionally allowed home in time Lindsay grew into a gentle and loving man he'd pick flowers from the garden to
give to visitors and was always quick with a hug and a joke when Lindsay's parents passed away
his twin sister Judith became his closest living relative even though she had her own
health problems and priorities in life Judith always made time to visit her brother she'd often take her four
children with her making the 4-Hour round trip to AR at from their home in the suburb of
Melton they take Lindsay out to lunch or to visit a museum or Park Judith bought
Lindsay clothes and anything else he needed treating him to Chocolate lollies and sweet
drinks while the drive there and back with a car full of kids was grueling it was never a
chore a friend of Judith said she had more patience love and understanding for Lindsay than she did for her own
children in late 1993 the facility that Lindsay had lived in for 20 years was shut down
as part of the Victorian government's commitment to move residents from institutions into the
community Lindsay made the move to the greno street residential unit where Judith continued to visit every month or
so on Tuesday May 10 1994 Judith scheduled a 1:00 meeting with Grano Street staff followed by a 3:00 meeting
with support staff from a nearby organization that ran a day program Lindsay attended she did this every so often to
check how her brother was doing Judith picked Lindsay up at 11:30 a.m. then took him to the Ararat RSL to
play the pokies after having lunch together they headed to Lindsay's Grano Street unit for their 1:00
meeting the staff told Judith that her brother's epilepsy was under control but that he should avoid beer in case it
triggered a seizure beer wasn't really an issue with Lindsay he mainly drank coffee or
Coke with an hour to kill before their next appointment Judith took Lindsay to the shops to buy him a couple of things
then they attended their 300 p.m. meeting after which Judith dropped Lindsay back at Grano Street at around
340 she bid Lindsay goodbye just as he was preparing for his afternoon walk before leaving Judith left some
treats in her brother's bedroom for him to enjoy later when Lindsay was reported missing
later that evening his carers attempted to call Judith at her home in Melton but
there was no answer they left her a message and she called them back at 8:00 p.m. they informed to Judith that
Lindsay hadn't returned home after his walk she shared that concerns but offered a simple
explanation she'd had given Lindsay $25 that afternoon it might have been possible that he was spending it in
town 15 minutes later Judith called back having just remembered a significant incident years prior Lindsay had run
away and was found wandering down a highway into Melbourne on route to Judith's home she recommended that the
search party keep an eye out for him on the out skirts of town and along the railway lines before asking if it was
raining her voice was tinged with worry when she remarked he doesn't have his coat with
him when Lindsay was found dead detectives paid Judith a visit in Melton having already been delivered the
news she was visibly upset but she managed to tell the detectives about her final encounter with her brother the
afternoon prior she detailed their lunch errands and meetings before recalling one notable
moment while in town Judith ducked into a pharmacy leaving Lindsay waiting outside when she came out Lindsay was
talking to a woman parked in a battered old van he told her that he just won money
at the pokies to the detectives this was a solid lead could Lindsay have been targeted by someone who thought he might
be in possession of some [Music] winnings wondering whether drugs or alcohol could have also played a role in
Lindsay's death the detectives asked Judith about the medications her brother had been
taking as far as Judith knew the only thing Lindsay took was his anti-seizure medication
tegral in regards to the beer can found near Lindsay's body Judith said she didn't think her brother really drank
beer he had had done so on occasion but it left him sleepy but there was one incident that
raised Judith's concerns a few months earlier Lindsay had been visiting Judith when she ducked
across the road to visit a neighbor when she came back Lindsay said he was tired
and didn't feel well he went to lay down telling his sister he was having a fit she took his pulse but it was normal
Judith called one of Lindsay's carers who advised her to roll him onto his side but by this time Lindsay appeared
to be sleeping the carer assured Judith he was probably fine but when he wouldn't wake
up after 20 minutes Judith called an ambulance after the paramedics took him away Judith noticed a drawer had been
opened in her bedroom and she wondered if Lindsay had taken some of her medication Judith suffered from chronic
back pain and a Litany of other health problems for which she kept a wide assortment of medication in her
home detectives had noticed this for themselves as hundreds of bottles of medicine lined her
shelves Judith said she'd rang the hospital and shared her suspicion that Lindsay might have taken valium or
painkillers the doctors gave him an antidote for Valium after which he was fine for detectives this was another
interesting lead they wondered if Lindsay had a habit of taking medication that didn't
belong to him Judith told the detectives that on Tuesday May 10 she left Grano Street
just as Lindsay said off for his afternoon walk and she didn't see him again after
that but detectives were curious about this the witness who claimed to have seen Lindsay climbing into a car at 400
p.m. a short distance from house had described the driver as looking exactly like
Judith the car they described an older model brown colored sedan with a red LPG sticker on its number plate also looked
just like her vehicle detectives had given Judith's Car a once over when they saw it parked
in her driveway it was a two-tone Brown 1982 Ford Fairmont Gia sedan with a red sticker on the number plate to show that
the car had been and converted to gas it also had Bridgestone eager s340 tires the same type identified at the
crime scene a cursory look over the vehicle revealed no obvious fresh dance or signs
of recent damage Judith told the detectives that on the drive home from visiting Lindsay
her car overheated and she had to park by the side of the road for 30 or 40 minutes while the engine cooled down she
she arrived back in Melton at 7:20 p.m. after collecting her young children from the babysitter Judith drove to the
local Petrol Station filled her car and took it through a car wash she said she always did this after visiting
Lindsay this was another red flag for detectives the trip that should have taken just over 2 hours had taken Judith
3 hours and 20 minutes not only was Judith the last person to have seen her brother alive there was an unaccounted
for period of time in her journey home police impounded Judith's Car and took it to the Forensic Science Center
for a thorough examination as was expected of a car that age the undercarriage was covered
in dirt grease and oil plenty of sources that could have caused the smears on Lindsay's
body the automatic Pan was also leaking and covered in a film of automatic transmission
fluid near the front and rear driver's side Wheels examiners found spots of blood caught in a screw head and in
various other sections of the undercarriage were fabric fibers several fabric Impressions were
also visible in the grease and dirt from the front end to the rear and a burn mark on the engine pipe was consistent
with the melting of Lindsay's belt police had no doubt about it this was the car used to run over Lindsay
galet although this was concrete evidence that tied Judith to the crime scene Lindsay's autopsy revealed he'd
already been dead at the time he was run over therefore it didn't necessarily mean that Judith had killed
him detectives began examining Judith's timeline from the day her brother had died starting with the pharmacy in
Ararat she already told them she'd visited inquiries revealed Judith had filled a prescription for a Hypno a
powerful sedative only offered to those with severe insomnia with the postmortem proving
that Lindsay was dead before he was run over detectives wondered whether his sister could have poisoned him with an
overdose the contents of Lindsay's stomach showed that he was killed within 60 to 90 minutes of eating a substantial
meal due to digestion it wasn't possible to tell what he'd eaten Judith said she'd taken Lindsay to
lunch around midday and then for ice cream around 2:00 p.m. however the food in his stomach
could only have been consumed after leaving for his walk police canvased eateries in town
but no one remembered seeing Lindsay at that time it was possible Judith had given
him some food herself had she done so as soon as Lindsay got in the car his time of death
could have been as early as 5:30 p.m. when the results of Lindsay's toxicology tests came back they showed
two drugs were found in his system the first was his anti-seizure medication tegral which was as
expected but surprisingly the other wasn't reynol it was noch noac is the commercial name given to
chloro hydrate a powerful hypnotic prescribed by doctors to treat insomnia or calm patients before a surgical
procedure it can be dangerous because the treatment dose is close to the toxic dose the problem was that the amount
found in Lindsay system was listed as a therapeutic dose in other words there was not enough in his system to kill
him the det Ives wondered if the noch could have reacted with the tegral Lindsay was taking for his
epilepsy medical advice suggested that these two drugs should not be taken together small traces of alcohol were
also found in Lindsay system another substance that shouldn't be mixed with these
medications detectives wondered whether the combination of tegral alcohol and noch could have been
toxic and if Judith was responsible did she give her brother alcohol on purpose only hours after his carers told her it
could cause a seizure to make things more complicated it couldn't be said with certainty that
Lindsay had consumed alcohol when bodies begin to decompose they produce alcohol as part of the
natural decomposition process the empty beer can found near Lindsay's body was tested but it
revealed no traces of noch or any other the drugs inquiries at Grano Street showed
no residents were prescribed to noch meaning Lindsay couldn't have accessed the drug at
home detectives asked local pharmacists to go back through their records but there had been no prescriptions written
for noac in the last 2 years there was little chance Lindsay could have come upon the drug by
accident police confiscated hundreds of bottles of medic from Judith's home but found no sign of
noch they drove across town and visited medical clinics near where Judith used to
live one doctor recalled prescribing noch to one of Judith's children 5 years earlier when they were having trouble
sleeping the police visited local pharmacies and found the chemist who had dispensed the noch prescription to
Judith it was the break they were looking for now they had the proof that Judith
filled a prescription for noac and even though it wasn't found in her house it was clear from the volume of medication
scattered all around that she didn't throw anything away the detective's theorized that
Judith could have given her brother food or drink laced with noac and waited until he passed out she could have then
smothered him with something soft like a pillow which would have left no Trace an eminent forensic pathologist also
said that the noct tech combined with Lindsay's tegral could have stopped him breathing then either to make it look
like an accident or to make sure she'd finished the job she ran him over twice although this seemed like a solid
Theory without hard evidence detectives knew they'd have a hard time proceeding with charges against
Judith yet one major question question still remained Judith appeared to be a loving
sister who had always been there for her twin brother what reason could she have to
want Lindsay [Music] dead speaking with staff at Lindsay's Grano Street Unit a motive
emerged 2 years after the accident that irreversibly changed the course of Lindsay's life forever the the truck
driver who hit the pram faced Court the judge took pity on the plight of the galot family and awarded Lindsay
£5,000 at the time that was a small fortune enough to buy four or five houses the judge ordered that the money
be invested for Lindsay's future use by 1994 the original Award of £15,000 had grown into a significant
nest egg in excess of $120,000 an examination of Lindsay's Financial records revealed that in
recent years his trust fund balance had dropped from $ 128,000 to $117,000 this depletion was due to the
fact that Lindsay had moved out of government care and had bored into the Grano Street
Unit a clerk from the trust fund had written a letter to Judith explaining I have recently reviewed
Lindsay's file and have noted a rapid depletion of his funds particularly in the past 6
months this rate of depl is such that the capital is eroding and will continue to do so even if his funds only make
payment of the service charge and household expenses for Grano Street I have enclosed a financial
statement which shows the expenditure for the previous 7 months could you please contact me at your earliest
convenience to discuss this matter detectives contacted the clerk who said that Judith had complained in
response she said that she visited Lindsay every 5 to 6 weeks during which she was forced to buy him everything he
wanted using money from his account if she didn't Judith said that Lindsay became very aggressive and would steal
instead Judith told the clerk that Lindsay's demands had become worse since he'd moved to Grano Street and that was
why her requests for reimbursements had drastically increased with dire predictions about
Lindsay's rapidly depleting trust fund the clerk's memo was dated 3 weeks before Lindsay was
killed with fen's death his money would pass to his next of kin his sister Judith although the forensic examination
of Judith's Car proved this was the vehicle that ran Lindsay over it didn't prove that she was behind the wheel at
the time detectives set out to discover if anyone else had access to the vehicle Judith stopped cooperating with
the police but she told family and friends she had her own suspicions about who was
responsible after arriving home from visiting Lindsay on May 10 Judith claimed that her ex-husband iler cirok
must have taken her car from the driveway and driven it to Ararat police went to speak with ier who
explained that he'd met Judith 6 years earlier after migrating to Australia from Romania in
1987 the pair married a year later and he moved in with Judith but it was an odd
Arrangement as soon as ier moved in Judith told her oldest son Greg to move out Greg began sleeping in his car in the
front yard of the house a week later Social Security stopped Judith's pension payments so she told iler he would have
to move out again iler knew Judith was still seeing her ex-husband she had retained his surname
jenit but when she told Ilia she was pregnant he accepted responsibility when she said the child was
his they split up shortly after the child was born but ier agreed to pay child support of
$183 per week ier didn't understand the Australian court system so he signed any
papers Judith gave him without question iler continued to pay for anything Judith needed but it was never
enough she rang him so often at work that his employer complained the calls were always about
money when ier came to visit his child the fridge was always bare and he would buy
groceries Judith was nice to him at Easter and Christmas so he would come over and buy all the children's gifts
and stock the cupboards ier claimed that on the day Lindsay went missing he'd been sent home
early from work with an infected tooth and had gone straight to the dentist for a lengthy
appointment his Alibi checked out but the police already knew there was no waight to Judith's claim that iler could
be responsible for her brother's death by the time she'd returned to Melton it was 7:20 p.m. and Lindsay had
already failed to return home from his walk by casting suspicion on iler Judith inadvertently revealed a
bombshell ier told the detectives that 4 months earlier Judith had invited him to
her place for dinner he'd felt fine at the time but the next day he felt so sick that he spent N9
days in hospital the doctors suspected he had some type of poison in his system but
they weren't sure what type ier was a bit vague on the details because Judith had been the one talking to the doctors
on his behalf now speaking to the detectives he was certain that Judith had put something in his food
according to iler Judith treated Lindsay's money as though it were her own she kept receipts for her own
groceries and car expenses and claimed them from Lindsay's account every month this could be anything from $500 to
$1,000 when the care facility that Lindsay had lived in for 20 years closed down she was angry that Lindsay had to
spend $177,000 from his trust to pay to live in the residential accommodation on
Grano Street had he been on a pension the government would have given him a place to live for
free Not only was there a buyin cost but there was a weekly cost of $60 as well everything Judith bought for
Lindsay from clothes to sweets was purchased with his own money Judith talked to iler about bringing Lindsay to
live with her at Melton she said the Govern govern would pay her $300 per week to look after him
and she could use his money to buy her house from the Housing Commission the only catch was she wanted
iler to do the actual caring for Lindsay Judith did a test run and brought her brother home a couple of
days before Christmas but it didn't work she returned him to Grano Street by Boxing
Day in that time she used Lindsay's money to buy presents for her children detectives asked AER if Judith
had been in the habit of washing her car after driving to Ararat to visit her brother iier had gone with the Judith
half a dozen times she had never washed her car once as for the noock TAC iler knew all
about the syrup Judith gave her children at night the last time he'd seen it happen
was on the New Year's Eve it just passed ier had arrived at Judith's house at 10:
p.m. so he wouldn't be alone for the occasion the lights were on but her car wasn't in the
driveway he went inside only to find Judith's small children asleep in the house alone with Judith nowhere to be
seen she returned home around 1:00 a.m. saying she'd just popped out to play the
pokies it wasn't the first time something like this had happened iier said Judith gave the children syrup to
make them sleep I don't know what this syrup is called but I saw her give it to them if these Revelations weren't
significant enough iler then dropped another bombshell he told detectives that Judith
had a legally purchased a blank Prescription Pad for $100 and could write herself any prescription she
wanted police spoke to Judith's eldest son 24-year-old Greg who confirmed that his mother had always spoken of
Lindsay's money as being hers after he died Greg had found out about Lindsay's death from a neighbor rather than his
mother he assumed she was too upset to call him when he did speak to her Judith allegedly told Greg that when she
visited Lindsay on the day he died she had taken him for a drive around the dirt roads of
Ararat at one point she stopped so that Lindsay could relieve himself on the side of the
road Judith hadn't mentioned this when she gave her original account to the police the detectiv suspected she was
trying to lay the groundwork for explaining why her Tire Impressions were on down
Road Greg was also candid about a phone call with his mother where she talked about washing her her car she apparently
said to him you know I always wash the car and under the car after I have been to see
Lindsay Greg told the detectives it was as though she was asking me to confirm this over the phone
I thought this was unusual I know that she washes her car but I have never seen her wash under the
car Greg said it was impossible that anyone could have stolen his mother's car to drive it to Ararat and kill
Lindsay he had recently fitted an alarm to it which operated automatically once the key had been removed from the
ignition even if the car was left unlocked the alarm would sound if someone opened the
door after four months of gathering evidence detectives felt they finally had enough to present their case to the
Department of public prosecutions but they still faced a challenge from a legal standpoint
because the cause of lindsy jal's death couldn't be determined it would be legally difficult to convict Judith the
Jen giz of killing him as such when Judith was charged with murder and the committal hearing went ahead in Ararat
the magistrate threw it out of court normally a person goes through a committal hearing and then is sent to
trial but another option is for the crown to present them directly to trial without
testing the evidence at a committal hearing after much discussion this is what the Office of Public prosecutions
decided to do Judith was recharged with murder and summoned to trial however in a major blow to the
prosecution the judge ruled the noch evidence as inadmissible while Judith had purchased
a noch on three separate occasions in 1989 he ruled that there was no evidence to suggest she was still in possession
of it 5 years later despite the fact that she had hundreds of bottles of medicine in her house from years
earlier the judge ruled that if the jury knew that Lindsay had therapeutic doses
of noch in his system they would assume that it was part of a plan to kill him this according to the judge could not be
established the possbility couldn't be ruled out that Lindsay took the medication from somewhere and
administered it to himself based on the evidence the judge had no doubt that Lindsay was already
dead when his sister allegedly ran him over what was unclear was where and when his death had
occurred Judith's lawyers argued that Lindsay could have died following a seizure or from
suab but as the prosecution pointed out if Lind had died from natural causes why
would Judith go to the trouble of dragging his body to the side of the road running him over fabricating a
story and lying to the police the only logical conclusion they argued was that Judith believed Lindsay
was still alive at the time without knowing for sure how Lindsay had died the judge ruled that
the murder charge be thrown out in favor of a charge of attempted murder this meant that if the jury were
convinced by the evidence under the car And Judith's motive to inherit her brother's money they only had one option
to convict Judith of the attempted murder of a dead man and that's what they did Judith the jengis was declared
guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years with a 6-year non-parole period
Judith appealed against both conviction and sentence her lawyer argued that the judge should have thrown out the
attempted murder charge since the only thing the crown could prove Judith did was run Lindsay over but he was clearly
dead when this happened in June 1997 three Supreme Court judges rejected Judith's appeal
with one concluding quote the deceased was vulnerable he had been brain damaged as a young child he trusted the
applicant she however being concerned that the fund invested on behalf of the deceased was dissipating steadily was
determined to obtain possession of it the applicant was prepared to kill to satisfy her greed she did everything
possible to affect her an the evidence is that had her brother not been dead when she drove her car
over him he would have died as a result she has shown No Remorse Judith the Jenis was released
from jail in February 2002 after serving her minimum sentence two years later an application
was made to the Master's fund that held Lindsay gal's money surviving relatives agreed among themselves as to how the
money would be divided who got what is sealed in confidence itial court records when Judith was first being
questioned about her brother's death she told detectives she'd seen him talking to a woman about his recent winnings on
the pokies she'd framed it in a way that sounded somewhat Sinister when in reality the woman Lindsay was speaking
to was the former employee of a local kosk with his love for biscuits and his addiction to cigarettes Lindsay had been
a frequent customer and the woman liked him from the moment they met he was always happy and very
friendly on the day Lindsay died she had been in the main shopping center of Ararat when she heard Lindsay call to
her they got chatting and he told her that he'd had the best day ever because he was out with his
sister Lindsay's gravestone says just one thing about him cherished twin brother of Judith
Judith passed away in 2017 she was buried alongside Lindsay their shared gravestone
declaring dearly loved always remembered reunited [Music] [Music] [Music]

When 41-year-old Lindsay Jellett failed to return home from his evening walk around the Victorian town of Ararat in May 1994, staff at his residential care unit were immediately worried. As well as being intellectually disabled, Lindsay had epilepsy, which required nightly medication, and it wasn’t like him to lose track of time. As daybreak emerged, a grim discovery led to the question - who would want to hurt this innocent man?

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Vikki Petraitis Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

SOCIAL LINKS

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-309-lindsay-jellett

Brief Summary

The episode investigates Lindsay Galot's suspicious death and his sister Judith's potential involvement in his murder.

Key points

Lindsay's Disappearance. On May 10, 1994, Lindsay Galot went missing after his afternoon walk, prompting a search.
Discovery of Lindsay's Body. A local farmer found Lindsay's body, raising questions about the circumstances of his death.
Investigation Unfolds. Detectives investigate Lindsay's life and the circumstances surrounding his death, uncovering troubling leads.
Judith's Suspicious Timeline. Judith's timeline raises questions about her involvement in her brother's death.
The Forensic Evidence. Forensic examination of Judith's car revealed crucial evidence linking her to the crime.
Judith's Motive Emerges. Financial troubles and Lindsay's trust fund depletion suggest a motive for Judith.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Time was of the essence.

Highlighting the urgency of Lindsay's disappearance.

4:39WatchMar 8, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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