Mary Anne Fagan - The Door Wouldn't Open

A Friday morning in Armadale. An ordinary suburban street. A crime that remains unsolved.

On 17 February 1978, Mary Anne Fagan — a 41-year-old mother of five — was killed inside her home on Dandenong Road, Armadale. No one has ever been charged.

That morning, she got her children off to school, spoke to her husband on the phone, and set up the bathroom to dye her hair. A few hours later, three of her children came home from school. The door wouldn't open.

Civilian Sleuths returns to coronial records, witness statements and contemporaneous reporting to reconstruct the morning minute by minute — from the council work crew on the corner, to the neighbour who saw Mary Anne drive past, to the uniformed man seen leaving the house just after midday.

Someone saw something that day. Someone still knows.

If you have information, contact Victoria Police Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000.

Content Warning:  This episode discusses the murder of a woman in her home, including children discovering their mother. Listener discretion is advised. 

Transcript

Content Warning: This series discusses sexual violence and the murder of a mother of five. This episode contains descriptions of children discovering their mother after a violent death. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you or someone you know needs support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732, or your local crisis service.

On a mild Friday morning in February 1978, a mother of five got her children ready for school, spoke to her husband on the phone, and set up the bathroom to dye her hair.

A few hours later, three of her children came home.

The door wouldn't open.

48 years later, someone is still holding on to what they know about Mary Anne Fagan.

Part 1 – Mary Anne Fagan 

It’s Friday, February 17, 1978.  School has been back for two weeks in term one, and it’s been quite unusually mild for a Summer day. The construction of the West Gate Bridge is nearing completion but until then, the car ferry continues across the Yarra River, transporting cars and passengers between Newport and Port Melbourne; and Melbourne’s population of 2.8 million follows news of the Sydney Hilton Bombing earlier in the week.

Armadale is a suburb caught between two identities. Geographically, it sits about 7km south-east of the CBD, bordered by Glenferrie Road to the east, Orrong Road to the west, Malvern Road to the north, and Dandenong Road to the south. It shares a border with Toorak, Melbourne's wealthiest suburb, and that proximity shaped everything about the area. Armadale wasn't Toorak, but it was next door to Toorak, and it carried itself accordingly.

The housing stock tells the story. The residential streets are lined with substantial Victorian and Edwardian homes, the kind built for Melbourne's comfortable middle class in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Large brick dwellings with verandahs, gardens, front fences, where neighbours know each other by sight, if not always by name.

But Dandenong Road itself is a different proposition. It is one of Melbourne's major arterial roads, carrying heavy traffic between the city and the south-eastern suburbs. The tram ran along it, and along Dandenong Road, the old mansion-style homes were being broken up. Blocks of flats had gone up through the 1950s and 1960s — the kind of red-brick walk-up apartments that defined Melbourne's postwar inner suburbs. By the 1970s, local residents were actively protesting against further flat development, and the building had slowed, but the character of Dandenong Road was already mixed — large old houses sitting between blocks of six or twelve flats, with shops and businesses across the road.

575 Dandenong Road fits the earlier pattern exactly — a big family home on a prominent corner, with a garage, a shed, multiple bedrooms. These were homes built for families with servants, repurposed by the 1970s for families with multiple children.  It sits on the northern side of the road, on the corner of Bailey Avenue.  The front faces south, towards the constant traffic of Dandenong Road, with the side facing west toward Bailey Avenue, a quieter residential street lined with homes and flats that runs north to Wattletree Road.

The house belongs to the Fagan family; Group Captain Collins Joseph Fagan, aged 48, his wife of 17 years, Mary Anne (aged 41) and their five children.  They have lived here for around two years. Collins Fagan has been a serving member of the Royal Australian Air Force for approximately 27 years, having served in various operations including the Korean War and is the Commanding Officer of Number 1 Stores Depot in Tottenham.

Collins starts his day at the Tottenham base – an early morning call at 6.30am has him awake and he’s up and at his desk by 8.00am.  The night before, he had attended a function at the Sergeant’s Mess at Tottenham and stayed overnight on the base, so the morning didn’t have the usual drive across the city.

****

Outside the Fagan home, at the corner of Bailey Avenue and Dandenong Road, a council work crew has been on site since around 7.45am.

A water main burst on Dandenong Road some days earlier. The Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works had repaired the pipe, but the road surface is still damaged, and Malvern City Council has sent a crew to patch it.  A section roughly fifteen feet by twelve, right at the corner where Bailey Avenue meets Dandenong Road, is due to be fixed today.

Three men are assigned. “James”, a labourer, “Ken”, a tractor and front-end loader driver, and
“Robert”, a truck driver. They have been working together only a few months. Their foreman, “Alan”, checks in periodically from other jobs.

****

Anthony, the oldest of the Fagan children at 15, leaves to catch the train to Xavier College in Kew. He’s the first of the children out the door and he rushes to make sure he doesn’t miss the train.

****

Rebecca Fagan has just turned 13 years old and attends Loreto Convent in Toorak.  She’s the second child out the door around 20 minutes after her older brother, and after giving her mother and brothers a kiss, says goodbye at around 8.21am.

She walks to the station at Malvern and catches the train to school at approximately 8.35am.

****

Katherine Fagan – Katie – the eldest of the Fagan girls at almost 14, watches as her brother Anthony leaves for school first at 8.00am.  She’s getting herself ready to get out the door, and sees her sister Rebecca leave at 8.20am.

She isn’t far behind her at 8.25am, and she says goodbye to her mum and baby brother Patrick, as they prepare to drive Jack to school, and she heads to Mandeville College in Toorak.

****

Collins Junior – or Jack, as he is known in the family – is the last of the children to leave for the day.  Mary Anne loads Patrick, the baby, and Jack into the Fagan’s Holden station wagon, and drives him to school, as she does every morning, at around 8.45am.

A house of seven, emptying itself into the day.  By 9.00am, it is just Mary Anne, and her seventeen month old son, Patrick.

****

“Thelma”, a woman who lives on Dandenong Road with her husband and children, leaves her home at about 9.15am to go into the Melbourne CBD.  She walks across Dandenong Road and waits at the tram stop on the central plantation for the next service.  Whilst waiting, she looks up and sees Mary Anne Fagan – a neighbour she has known for at least three years – driving her Holden station wagon along Dandenong Road away from the city.  She turns into Bailey Avenue and stops her car to speak to one of the men working on road repairs outside her property.  It appears to be a brief conversation, and Mary Anne continues on.

****

“Neil” a constable of police stationed at Malvern is driving up Bailey Avenue after conducting enquiries at an address further down the street.  It’s about 10.30am, as he stops to turn left into Dandenong Road.  As he is stationary, he notices a woman standing in the front garden of 575 Dandenong Road wearing a blue dress and looking into Bailey Avenue.

She appears to look at the police vehicle fleetingly, and both carry on with their day.

****

“Barbara” has parked her car in Bailey Avenue, Armadale, and starts walking to Egerton Avenue.  It’s about 10.20am and she notices 3 or 4 workmen doing some work on the road at the corner of Bailey Avenue and Dandenong Road.  She had started to walk in the wrong direction, corrects herself, and carries on.

****

Between 10.30am and 11.00am, Collins rings his wife, as he usually does, for a few minutes.  She asks how the night before went, and after a brief chat about the children, their days and their usual discussions, he continues on with his day.  He has a meeting with a public servant from Canberra today, so he returns to his office to prepare.

****

“Barbara” has finished her errand and returns to her car at around 11.20am.  The workmen appear to have gone.

****

“Hugh”, a retired man, is crossing Dandenong Road on his way home.  It’s just after midday and he turns into Bailey Avenue and walks along the western side of the street alongside the flats.

As he walks, he sees a male wearing a uniform, leaving the premises of 575 Dandenong Road, through the front gate.  Odd, he’s only ever seen a woman present there in the past three or so years, as she parks her station wagon in Bailey Avenue, and is often seen in the yard with her children.

He keeps watching, as the man leaving looks back at the house, looks both ways along Dandenong Road and then walks along Dandenong Road towards Glenferrie Road.

The man’s uniform is ruffled and doesn’t appear to be neat and “Hugh” recognises the uniform from his own days in the armed forces – it’s the uniform of the Air Force.

****

“Paul”, a builder, has been working on an extension to a home in Bailey Avenue.  He had noticed some Council workmen on the corner of Bailey Avenue and Dandenong Road in the morning when he had arrived at the property, as some had been sitting on the side fence. “Paul” and his colleague, “John” had worked through their lunch break, and in the early afternoon heard a noise, like a muffled scream, coming from the direction of 575 Dandenong Road.  “John” asks “Paul” if he had said something, and then they carry on.

****

“Deidre” is working in the kitchen of her flat at 579 Dandenong Road, with the door open.  She hears a noise – a scream, a female scream – that lasts for about four or five seconds.  It comes from the direction of Dandenong Road, and sounds like a person surprised. It’s just the one scream, and then, nothing.  

****

“Doug”, a computer programmer, has just taken delivery of a car he purchased from a car yard in Glenhuntly Road, Caulfield – an HR Holden sedan. The battery is having problems though, so he was driving the car around for a while to charge up the battery before taking the car home.

He drives along Glenhuntly Road to Hawthorn Road, and travels north. He continues to Dandenong Road and turns left.  It’s almost 1.00pm and as he makes the left turn, he sees a man in blue uniform with a dark coloured peaked cap running across Dandenong Road from the plantation to the southern side.  The uniformed man stops on the side of the road and signals for a lift as “Doug” drives past, so “Doug” decides to stop and offer him a lift. When asked where he is going, the man replies “into the city, it’s hopeless you can’t get a tram”.

They drive west along Dandenong Road towards the city, and when “Doug” asks the man where in the city he wants to go, the man replies “anywhere” and then doesn’t engage again.

“Doug” and his passenger are nearly at Williams Road and the man suddenly says “if you want to turn left you can let me out here”.  “Doug” stops the car and his passenger alights.

****

Rebecca is the first to arrive home, just before 4.00pm.  She’s travelled home with a girlfriend, Gayle, and walks home.  When she arrives, she notices the small things.  Mary Anne’s car is usually parked in Bailey Avenue – today it isn’t there.  Letters are sticking out of the mailbox – they are usually collected by now.  Rebecca grabs the letters and newspaper, and walks down the path to the front door.  She rings the front doorbell and receives no answer.  The door is locked, so she assumes Mary Anne is picking up Jack from school and goes to sit on the front step and read her book.

After a few minutes, she walks around to the back of the house to use the toilet located underneath the rear of the building.  As she walks, she notices the back gate is open. Odd. It’s usually shut tight.

Near the toilet on the concrete, she sees a cream and green cup, saucer and spoon, sitting empty on the ground.  Even more odd. What’s it there for?

 ****

Katie arrives home around 4.15pm and finds Rebecca coming around the corner from the back.  Together, they walk back to the front porch.  They wait.

****

Anthony catches the tram home, and upon his arrival, sees the girls on the front porch, waiting.  He tries the front door. It’s locked. He rings the bell. Nothing.  He notes the wire door is open.

He sits with the girls and they talk for a few minutes before something distracts them.

There’s a sound. A baby crying.

Patrick appears to be inside – but where is their mother?

Anthony heads around the back to see if Mary Anne’s car is there.

****

Rebecca and Katie walk around to Patrick’s window and can hear him crying. When Anthony returns and says that “the car’s there”, they all check the windows to see if they can get in – but Katie starts to get worried.  Her mum wouldn’t go out and leave Patrick in the house alone. Where is she?

****

Anthony decides to go and call their dad, Collins, from a nearby telephone box.  Something isn’t right.  He realises that his mother might have fallen and hurt herself, and runs towards Glenferrie Road to ring his father at Tottenham.

After listening to his father, he returns home to see if he can get into a window in the porch. 

****

Collins receives a phone call from his oldest son.  It’s about 4.15pm, and Anthony is ringing from the telephone box in Dandenong Road, in a little bit of a panic.  He says that “the girls and I were home and we can’t get in and Patrick is crying”.

Collins asks if any of the children have a key, and when the answer is in the negative, he tells Anthony to return home, get a ladder and see if he can pull a flyscreen open from the back porch.  Anthony goes to leave, and asks Collins to call home to see if he can raise Mary Anne.

Collins does so, but can only get an engaged signal.

****

Rebecca finds a little metal truck on the ground and throws it at the small window next to the back door a few times, but the window doesn’t break.  She keeps looking and finds a toy plastic gun and finally manages to crack the glass.  She puts her hand through and opens the back door.  She’s worried.  Patrick is never left alone by their mother.  What exactly is going on?

****

Katie goes inside with her sister, and starts to run through all the rooms to find her mother; she’s calling out to her, but there’s no answer.

Where is Mary Anne?

****

Rebecca has entered the house with Katie and decides to go straight to Patrick’s room.  She notices the sunroom door leading to the kitchen is open; it’s normally kept closed to keep the heat out.  The uneasy feeling grows as she enters the room to a crying Patrick.  She picks him up to soothe him – he clings to her - and she walks back down the hall, looking in each room to make sure everything is still there.  She knows something is wrong.  Rebecca takes Patrick to the kitchen to get him some biscuits and he stops crying.  She goes to the front door to let Anthony in.  He has returned from the phone box, and the house phone starts to ring.

****

Katie sees the front bedroom door open and goes in.  She spies a heap of blankets on Jack’s bed and starts to pull at the blankets.  There’s something wrapped up in them and she can’t quite make out what it is.

She’s getting frightened and then she sees her mother’s head.

She keeps pulling at the blankets, and uncovers Mary Anne.  She tries to untie her, but can’t; tries to roll her over and sees cuts all over her back.

She screams and screams and screams.

****

Collins has managed to get through to the house.  Anthony picks up the home phone to talk to Collins.  He tells Collins that Mary Anne isn’t inside and after being instructed to take a good look around, he hears Katie screaming.  Katie runs in and tries to grab the phone off Anthony, who keeps a firm grip.  What he tells his father makes Collins stop listening and start dialling.

Collins directs his son to look after the girls, and calls Malvern police.  He then calls his sister-in-law, “Sally Anne”, to tell her Mary Anne has been attacked in the house and can she pick up Jack from school.  Once he has that organised, he gets a service car with a driver and his deputy, and heads home as soon as he can.

****

Rebecca has followed Katie’s screams, and sees her mother lying on Jack’s bed, with something around her hands and ankles.  She gets some scissors out of her school bag to cut it, and checks to see if she is breathing.  She can’t tell.  She has her mother’s blood on her and she’s trying so hard to help her Mum.

****

Anthony heads into the front bedroom and sees his mother lying on the bed.  He thinks she is still alive, and gets a pair of scissors from the sewing machine to try and help Rebecca.

They manage to remove some of the material, but that’s about it.  

Anthony makes Rebecca leave and shuts the bedroom door. He won’t let the girls in. 

****

Katie runs outside, screaming, waving her arms around, as the police arrive.  She’s almost hysterical, and trying to tell them what she has found.

****

“Jeffrey”, a constable of police from Malvern station, has arrived at 575 Dandenong Road.  It’s 4.40pm and he spies two children – a boy and a girl – both dressed in school uniform, out the front of the house.  The girl appears hysterical and the boy runs down the path and enters the home through the front door.

“Jeffrey” follows the boy, who tells him that his mother is in the bedroom and can’t be woken up.

The bedroom is in complete darkness; he turns on the light switch and sees another girl with a baby in her arms, standing over the bed.  He removes all the children from the house and returns to the bedroom.

****

“Ronald”, a constable of police from Malvern station, accompanies his colleague “Jeffrey” into the property at 575 Dandenong Road.  He follows the male child and his colleague into the bedroom, and after seeing the woman on the bed, escorts the children to the front gate and asks the boy to keep the girls quiet.

After being asked by “Jeffrey” to inform dispatch of the fatality, “Ronald” does so then returns to the front garden to talk to the children and attempt to calm them down. He learns from the boy that the girls had broken into the house whilst he tried to ring his father. They had found their mother in the front room.

****

Collins asks his driver to stop in Dynon Road so he can make a phone call home from a hotel.  He rings and the police answer the phone.  Collins asks what the situation is, and the police tell him he’d better wait until he gets home.

He returns to the car, and his driver departs as quickly as possible.

****

“Jeffrey” returns to the bedroom and sees the woman lying face down on the bed, on top of a plastic sheet. He checks for any sign of a pulse, but there is none, and she’s cold to touch.  He instructs his colleague “Ronald” to inform dispatch that the woman on scene is deceased.

He looks around the room and notices bloodstained towelling cloth on the side of the bed and a bloodied sock.  A small chest at the foot of the bed has a bedside lamp next to it, which appears to have been knocked over.

He looks back at the woman and sees the wounds between her shoulders and down her back.

He leaves the bedroom.

****

Anthony goes in a police car to Jack’s school to pick him up.  Upon arrival, they find that he has already been collected, and they return home.

****

Collins arrives home and is out of the car before it’s properly stopped.  He sees the police presence in his yard, his children crying; the officers approach and Collins reads their faces.

He knows.

****

Someone saw something. Someone knows something. They may not even realise it, because what happened to Mary Anne occurred in the middle of an ordinary Friday morning, on a busy corner, in a suburb full of people going about their day. Fragments of memory may exist, unnoticed, unrecognised… and after more than 48 years, the truth is still out there, waiting for someone to realise they may hold a piece of it.

She was dyeing her hair when something interrupted her. She never washed it out. A mother of five, at home with her baby, on a Friday morning in February. Forty-eight years later, her children still don't know who walked into their house that day. But someone does. And it's time.

Join us for the next episode, which focuses on the investigation. We step through the first hours and days as they unfolded, before later episodes return to what we can and can't see differently today.

The Fagan family have been waiting for more than 48 years to find out who is responsible for the death of Mary Anne. Is there any way you can help?

If you lived in the Armadale, Malvern, or Toorak area in February 1978; if you worked at or near the intersection of Bailey Avenue and Dandenong Road; if you had any connection to RAAF Tottenham or Number 1 Stores Depot; your memory may hold something that matters.

If you have information that could assist police, please contact:

Victoria Police Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000, or

Submit a confidential report online: www.police.vic.gov.au/crime-stoppers

Some names and non-essential identifying details have been changed for privacy. All core events and timings are drawn from publicly available records, inquest materials and contemporaneous reporting.

Unsolved. Unforgotten. Unfinished.