Mary Anne Fagan - The Man Who Walked Out The Front Gate

Who had the opportunity to enter a house, in the middle of the day, surrounded by witnesses, and not be seen?

On Friday, 17 February 1978, Mary Anne Fagan was last spoken to at approximately 10:30am inside her home at 575 Dandenong Road, Armadale.

By mid-afternoon, she was dead.

This episode follows the investigation from the moment police arrived — through sixteen months of forensic examination, witness statements, and formal inquiry — to the only findings the evidence could support.

What was established.
What was not.

Who came forward — and who did not.

The lead described by the head of Homicide as the most significant — and where it led.

Because at approximately 12:10pm that day, a man was seen leaving through the front gate - and he was never publicly identified.

Content warning: This series discusses sexual violence and the murder of a mother of five. This episode includes references to post-mortem examination and children discovering their mother after her death. Listener discretion advised.

If you have information, contact Victoria Police Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or police.vic.gov.au/crime-stoppers. The reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction is $1,000,000.

Transcript

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Content Warning. This series discusses sexual violence and the murder of a mother of five. This episode includes references to violence, postmortem examination, and children discovering their mother after her death. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know needs support, contact Lifeline on 131114 or 1800 Respect on 1800 73732 or your local crisis service. By Friday evening, five hundred seventy five Dandinong Road is no longer a family home. It is a crime scene. The children are gone. Collins Fagan has been told. The front bedroom has been sealed, and in the fading light the forensic machinery of the Victoria Police Homicide Squad begins to move through the house. What they find inside will define the investigation that follows. What they don't find will matter just as much. By the time the homicide squad arrives, the investigation begins with a single question Who had the opportunity to enter that house in the middle of the day surrounded by witnesses and not be seen. Jeffrey, a constable from Mulvern Police Station, has earlier attended a welfare check at 575 Dandinong Road. The children had led him to the front bedroom. After removing them from the house, he returns to the room alone. He sees a woman lying face down on a single bed positioned on a plastic sheet. Her wrists and ankles show clear signs of binding. There is bloodstained toweling on the bed and on the floor beside it. At the foot of the bed a small wooden chest. On the carpet near it, a bedside lamp knocked on its side. Geoffrey leaves the bedroom and walks back up the garden path where the Corfield Crime Car unit arrives. He is instructed to stay clear of the bedroom until the homicide squad attends. While waiting, he moves through the house with a colleague. In the kitchen he notices a pane of glass leading into the laundry has been broken. The laundry is sealed off. He returns to the front passage near the bedroom door. At that point, neither Geoffrey nor his colleagues know that the broken glass has nothing to do with the murder. It will later be established that the children broke it themselves to get inside. Within the hour the homicide squad arrives, accompanied by members of the forensic science laboratory. The property is locked down. A photographer begins recording the scene. The front entrance, the hallway, the bedroom. No one enters without authorization. Peter, a detective senior sergeant attached to the homicide squad, conducts the first investigative walkthrough. He enters via the front door and turns into the first room on his right. The woman is naked face down on a single bed, with fourteen stab wounds in her back. The wounds are not all in the same direction. Blood is spattered on the wall beside the bed. He examines her more closely. The skin above both ankles is indented as if her legs had been bound tightly together. Her right arm is across the small of her back, her left arm at her side. It appears her arms may also have been bound earlier. After a preliminary examination by the government pathologist, the body is turned. A gag has been placed in her mouth. There is a purple colored substance in the woman's hair. It matches a creamy paste found in a dish and on a toothbrush on the bathroom vanity. It is hair blonding cream. She was part way through dyeing her hair when she was interrupted. On the mantelpiece on the east wall near the bed, Peter finds a cigarette end. It is burnt to the filter for most of its lengths. The ash is still adhering. It is not a brand smoked by anyone in the household. He checks the rest of the house. There is no sign of disorder anywhere else. A search of the surrounding streets and gardens finds no weapon. The broken laundry glass the undisturbed house the locked front door. Already, within the first hour, the scene is telling investigators what this was not. It was not a burglary that escalated, nothing in the house has been ransacked or disturbed. It was not a forced entry, other than the window broken by the children, and whoever was responsible left no obvious trail. What the scene was telling them would take longer to read. Hubert of the Forensic Science Laboratory arrives at five hundred seventy five Dandinong Road. He is there to examine and catalogue the scene. He works methodically through the house. In the front bedroom he finds Mary Ann lying face down on the bed. Both hands are closed. Yellow coloured fibers are found inside the closed left fist and on the buttock of the deceased. She is still wearing a wristwatch on her left wrist, three rings on her left ring finger, and one on her right. Part of her hair has been dyed lilac. The bedsheet, two blankets and topsheet have been pulled back, touching the wooden chest and carpet at the western end of the bed. A bloodstained piece of toweling is found on the bed near the southern wall. Another piece near the deceased's right buttock. On the carpet in front of the piano more bloodstained pieces of toweling and a stained red singlet. Hubert will later establish that the toweling strips, when pinned together, form one complete towel, torn lengthwise, apparently used to bind the arms and legs of the deceased. The towel came from the Fagan household. After the deceased is turned over, a bloodstained striped piece of material is found inside her mouth and across her face. On the southern end of the mantel shelf, attached to the eastern wall near the bed, he finds a cigarette butt. It has burnt to the filter for most of its lengths. The ash is still adhering. It is collected and sent to the laboratory. On the wooden chest just west of the bed, a small amount of liquid is found on the surface. A sample is collected for laboratory analysis. In the hallway, the telephone plug has been disconnected from its socket. In the bathroom, the vanity unit holds a bowl containing lilac-coloured dye paste, a toothbrush also containing lilac-coloured dye paste, one packet of Clairol Born Blonde blonding lotion, and an ashtray containing four cigarette butts. The four bathroom butts are collected separately from the mantelpiece butt. In the driveway between the garage and the Bailey Avenue gates, shoe prints with industrial type soles are found in the sand and mud. By the end of the evening, Hubert has catalogued the scene. The full exhibit list runs to twenty seven items. The house has been examined thoroughly. No weapon has been found. A red handbag belonging to the deceased is also missing. At around six fifteen PM Thelma has her statement taken. She confirms that she had seen Mary Ann some nine hours earlier in the day whilst waiting for a tram to go into the city. The two had known each other for around three years, so there was no doubt in her mind whom she had seen that morning. Thelma confirms that Mary Ann was alone in her car. At just thirteen years of age, Katie Fagan, the eldest of the Fagan girls, gives her statement to police. She lays out that she returned home at four fifteen PM, she knows because she looked at her watch, and after trying to get into the house, confirms that she was the first to find her mother's body in the front bedroom. Collins Fagan outlines his movements, the function at Tottenham, the overnight stay, the early start, before turning to what he knew of Mary Ann's day. He recalls speaking to her on the phone at some point between ten thirty and eleven AM. They had a normal conversation, and he had no reason to think anything was amiss. As far as he knew, she was not expecting any visitors, servicemen or the like, and after a brief three to four minute conversation, he continued on with his work. Collins had no idea there was something wrong until receiving a phone call from Anthony that afternoon at around four fifteen PM. Anthony had rung him from the telephone box in Dandinong Road. He told his father that Patrick was inside crying and his sisters had been unable to get into the house. Collins talked him through some steps. Anthony hung up, and Collins immediately tried to call the home phone. It was engaged. He waited for around three to four minutes before trying again, and Anthony answered the phone stating we can't find mummy. In the background, Collins could hear the girls screaming. Anthony returned to the phone to tell him that their mother was covered in blood. Collins told his son to look after the girls and that he would come home immediately after calling police. Collins called Mulvern station to advise that his wife had been found attacked, then called his sister-in-law Sally Ann to pick up Jack from school before getting a service car with the driver and his deputy and heading home as quickly as possible. He had stopped on Dynan Road to make a phone call home from a hotel for an update, and when police answered, he was told that he had better wait until he got home. He stated that to his knowledge, whenever his wife was home, she would have both the front and back doors locked. The windows would also generally be locked unless it was an extremely hot day, bar the sliding window on the back porch where he had instructed Anthony to try. He believed that if someone had knocked on the door, Marianne would have answered it, as they had had a security screen door fitted to the front door about a week prior to her murder. He would have expected the security door to be locked, but he can't say for certain. It's getting late and at eight forty five PM Rebecca Fagan is reliving the afternoon in her statement to police. She retells how she arrived home to find the door locked, the mail uncollected, and no sign of her mother's car. She assumed her mother was out and sat on the front step to wait. When her siblings arrived and they heard Baby Patrick crying inside, they managed to break into the house. Rebecca's first concern was her brother, who clung to her once she lifted him out of his cot. Her second concern was for her mother once Katie had found her in the front bedroom. She had tried desperately to help Mum by cutting the bindings, but she had her mother's blood on her hands and was crying. She had gone out the front with Patrick, following Katie when police arrived. Brendan of the Forensic Science Laboratory has attended the scene with Hubert since 530 PM. When Marianne's body is turned over during examination, he observes a small quantity of liquid in the region of the body and swabs it for analysis. He also notes a small amount of liquid sitting on top of the wooden chest at the foot of the bed. It appears at first glance to resemble spilt tea or coffee. A sample is collected. Marianne's body is taken to Prince Henry's hospital where at 9 52 p.m., life is declared extinct. The autopsy begins. The post-mortem examination documents injuries consistent with a sustained attack with a bladed weapon. Externally, the pathologist records 14 separate stab wounds across the back of the body, extending from the left side through the midline to the right, and confined mainly to the thoracic and upper abdominal regions. The wounds range from 2.5 to just under 4 centimeters in length. Marks across the front of the body are consistent with the body having been lying on a plastic sheet. Internally, examination of the chest reveals extensive injury. Three of the stab wounds have penetrated the right lung. Five have penetrated the left. One wound has penetrated the posterior wall of the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart. A further wound has penetrated the posterior aspect of the stomach. The chest cavity is full of blood. Examination of the abdominal organs shows no further traumatic injury. The stomach is empty. Examination of the skull and brain finds no bruising to the scalp, no fracture, and no disease or abnormality. Marianne had not been struck on the head. She had no underlying condition that contributed to her death. A range of additional forensic investigations are undertaken, including toxicology testing, the collection of biological samples, and swabs for laboratory examination. Based on the totality of the findings, the cause of death is determined to be hemorrhage from multiple stab wounds. The injuries documented in the autopsy are confronting. A forty-one year old mother of five in her own home on an ordinary Friday morning was subjected to a prolonged and deliberate attack with her seventeen month old baby present. That reality is distressing. Further description would not add understanding and would risk causing unnecessary pain to her children who are now adults and who have lived with the knowledge of what happened to their mother for more than forty eight years. But the autopsy did confirm one thing. This was not a quick attack. Fourteen wounds across multiple angles, reaching the heart, both lungs and the stomach required time. Mary Ann was bound. She was gagged. The wounds came in pairs from different positions. Whoever had done this had stood in that bedroom long enough to do it deliberately. From this point on, the investigation was driven by the need to reconstruct how a woman alone in her own home with her baby, on a suburban corner surrounded by witnesses, had been killed without anyone seeing who was responsible. eighteenth february nineteen seventy eight. Once daylight breaks, a further search of the area around five hundred seventy five Dandinong Road is made. The murder weapon and a red handbag owned by Mary Ann are still missing. After hearing media reports about Mary Ann's murder, Hugh, a resident from nearby Wattletree Road, provides a statement to police. He has come forward after hearing news of Mary Ann's death. He placed a man in Air Force uniform leaving the property at approximately twelve ten PM. He believed he could recognise the man if he saw him again. Deidri, a neighbour from Dandinong Road, also makes a police statement after hearing news of Marianne's death. She had heard a female scream from the direction of Dandinong Road at approximately 2 PM, a scream she described as a person surprised rather than terrified. The interviewing detective noted on the statement that day that she later placed the time at approximately one thirty PM twentieth february nineteen seventy eight. The clock is running. Within the first seventy two hours of a homicide, the investigative window is at its narrowest and its most valuable. People still remember where they were. They can still place themselves on a street corner, in a tram, at a shop window. They can still recall what felt slightly wrong about an ordinary Friday. Each day that passes without a name makes the next day harder. Routines resume. Details blur. The ordinary Friday becomes simply last week, and then simply before. The investigation knows this. The work continues around the clock. Joseph Filgate attends the Coroner's Court in Melbourne, where he is asked to do the task that no one should ever be asked to do. He identifies the body of Mary Ann Fagan, his younger sister. More people come forward to police offering potential information about the Friday before. One of those is Paul, a builder who was working with a partner on an extension to a home at 17 Bailey Avenue, some eighty meters from the Fagan residence. He states that he had noticed at least four council workmen at the corner of Bailey Avenue and Dandinong Road at around 10 AM, and after working through their lunch break, heard a muffled scream coming from the direction of the Fagan house. He states his co-worker John also heard the scream as he had asked if Paul had said anything. He believes the time was between 1 PM and 1.30 PM. He thought nothing more about the scream until later that evening when he heard on the 6.30 p.m. news of the murder of Marianne Fagan. He confirms that he had not seen anyone at any stage in the yard of the property. For some reason though, John is never asked to give a statement. By this point, something is already very clear. People were everywhere, and yet no one saw a thing. The days have become Weeks. In the weeks following the murder, forensic analysis of the items collected from the scene continues. Every blood sample returns the same result. The scrapings from the walls, the bedding, the bindings, the gag, everything tested returns group B. Marianne Fagan's blood group was B. No blood of any other group is found anywhere in the house. Fourteen stab wounds, a chest cavity full of blood, not a single drop of foreign blood. The four swabs taken during the post-mortem are also tested. There is no evidence of sexual interference. On 28 February, eleven days after the murder, the liquid sample from the wooden chest reaches the laboratory. It is examined by a scientific officer. The liquid is strongly acidic. A spot test identifies its principal constituent. It is vinegar. The officer is asked whether it could belong to any substance in the same chemical family. His answer is no. Vinegar. On a wooden chest at the foot of Marianne's bed from no identifiable source in the room. In a photograph taken at the scene, two objects are visible on the surface of that same chest. At the coronial inquest the following year, the coroner will ask the forensic officer who processed the scene to identify them. The officer will look at the photograph. He cannot say what they are. The inquest does not resolve the question. A potential lead materializes when a taxi driver tells detectives he had seen a small green panel van, possibly a Ford escort, parked near the Fagan home on the day of her murder at around eleven thirty AM. The witness tells police the van was still there an hour later. And only a day later, police believed they have their most important lead yet. Doug contacts police and advises them of the hitchhiker he had picked up, who was running across Dandinong Road, wearing a blue military uniform of some sort with a dark coloured peaked cap. The description loosely fits the description given by Hugh as the man he saw leaving the Fagan residence just after midday on the day of Marianne's murder. So a photo fit is distributed in the media. The head of the homicide squad, Chief Inspector Noel Jubb, states that the man may have worn a RAF uniform to lull Marianne into opening the door. He continues that police were 95% certain it was a RAF uniform, and clearly the best lead we have so far. The best lead or not, it results in the same. Nothing. The man was seen, described, and yet never identified. The weeks have become months. A little over a month after his mother's murder, Anthony Fagan is asked to give a formal statement to police. He outlines his movements for the day, having left for school at around 8 a.m. and returning home at around 4.10pm. His two sisters were sitting on the porch waiting. Anthony confirms that he had heard Patrick crying inside and called his father from a phone box towards Glenferry Road, that the girls had managed to break in whilst he was gone, and that Katie had discovered their mother's body once the children had made their way into the residence. He also recalls the phone ringing moments beforehand and his father on the line asking what was going on and instructing him on what to do. Anthony concludes his statement with his recollection of going in a police car to pick up Jack from school, but upon arrival, discovering his aunt had already done so. As a result of the public appeal, Barbara, the driver of a white sedan, comes forward and says that she had parked her vehicle on Bailey Avenue on the day of the murder. She had observed workmen, three or four of them, doing work on the corner of the road, and when she returned at approximately 11.20 AM, they were gone. It's almost two months since Marianne's murder, and on 11 April, the Victorian Government Gazette announces that Victoria Police have offered a reward of$20,000 for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death of Marianne Fagan on 17 February 1978. On the day the reward is announced, James, one of the council labourers who was working out the front of the Fagan property for Mulvern City Council, repairing the road on the day of her murder, has his statement taken by police. His statement lays out how the day started at the Mulvern Council Depot, where he was allocated his daily job by his foreman, Alan, and notes that a section of roadway at the eastern corner of Bailey Avenue and Dandinong Road had been damaged by a recent burst water main nearby. He confirms that in the morning, around 9 a.m. by his reckoning, he had spoken with Mary Ann when she asked who was going to clean up the mess and sludge in her rear driveway that had been caused by the burst water main. He had advised her that it wasn't the responsibility of council and would most likely fall under the Board of Works purview, but that he would discuss it with his foreman who would be attending his job later in the day. James went on to state that he and his colleague Ken had approached the house around 1120 AM to ask if they could leave their tools in the front yard whilst they went for lunch, and use their tap to wash their hands. Ken had then said not to worry about it and they both left via the front gate to head to the depot. James, Ken and Robert, another colleague who was driving the truck for the day, then returned to the council depot for lunch with other council workers around eleven forty five AM. After they had finished eating, all three men returned to the work site at Bailey Avenue at around 125 PM and completed their job around 2.10 PM. By 2.30 PM, their tools had been packed up and they all left the site to drive around for a while, down Dandinong Road and Torongo Road. After an hour, they returned to the depot and knocked off for the day at 4 PM. Just over a week later on 20 April, Robert, the second of the three council workers, makes his statement to police. He confirms that he has been employed by Mulvern City Council since October the year before as a truck driver, and that upon receiving instructions from their foreman, Alan, on seventeenth of february, the three men, James, Ken, and himself, had headed to the corner of Bailey Avenue and Dandinong Road. He also confirmed that at around 9 AM, James had spoken to a person stopping in a car for around 15 to 20 seconds, but was unable to say if it was a male or female or where the car went to. As he was driving the truck for the day, Robert left the site numerous times to return to the depot and collect crushed rock, hot mix, and whatever else the men needed to complete their job on the day. It was on one of his returns to site at 1130 AM that he had picked up James and taken him back to the council depot for lunch. Robert confirmed that after lunch he returned to Bailey Avenue with James and Ken at around 1 PM. As they drove back, he recalled James pointing out some rubbish near the gutter and said That's the rubbish that the lady had asked if we were going to move. James continued that he had told the woman it was a board of works job, and that was all Robert had heard about that conversation. He again left the site to obtain some extra cold mix for the hole in the road and ultimately left the site after finishing the job at around 2.45 PM with the two other men. He also confirmed that the three of them had driven around for about 40 minutes by his recollection, as they didn't want to return to the yard early. He recalled that, after putting the tools and equipment away, James changed his clothes as per his usual practice. Looking back, Robert said that there was nothing unusual about James or Ken for the whole day and that everything appeared normal. He could not comment on whether either of them were hungover or had been drinking during the day, but did not hear any mention of the fact that one of them had been sick or left the job whilst he was away. On the following Monday, Robert stated that the three men discussed the murder, that one of the detectives had told him over the weekend that a lady catching a tram had seen Mary Ann talking to a workman in a toweling hat on the Friday. James couldn't remember talking to her at the start, but later conceded he had. Robert had told him to attend Mulvern police station to tell them that, and so as the men were returning for lunch, they dew toured to the police station so that James could advise police of saying. It's now twenty three May and Ken, the driver employed by Mulvern City Council for almost twenty two years, who was working on the road site at Bailey Avenue and Dandinong Road on the day of Mary Ann's murder, is contacted to make a statement. He states that he had known James for only three or four months since he started working with the council in the road maintenance gang. He had worked with James only twice before, the second time being on seventeenth february that year. He confirms that he had heard James talking to a woman on the corner of Bailey Avenue and Dandinong Road, but that he had only heard her, not seen her. Later that morning, James had told him it was the woman in the corner house that he was talking to, and that he had given her a quote to shift the rubbish from her backyard. He does add some extra information that had not yet entered into the discussions around Mary Ann's murder. Just after ten AM, not long after colleague Robert had left the worksite, the foreman Alan had arrived and walked off with James towards the rear gate of the Fagan house to look at the surplus rubbish that had come from the burst water main. They were away from the area for around ten minutes before returning to the worksite. No mention was made in relation to James providing a quote to Mary Ann, as Ken believed that it was being conducted as a private job. He confirms that James had left around 10 30 AM to go to the railway hotel to collect money from a bookie. He had apparently placed a bed the day before for another council worker, Jock, and as he watched James leave for the hotel, Ken himself had to leave the work site to vomit from an evening of drinking the night before. Ken had been in Gladstone Avenue, the next street towards the city from Bailey Avenue for approximately 15 minutes and returned around eleven AM. James was still absent, so Ken sat on the fence of the Fagum property waiting for him to return. James arrived back at around eleven fifteen AM and showed him a roll of notes he had in his hand. It might have been twenty two or thirty two dollars, that he said he had collected from the bookie. The two men checked the paper to see what price the horse had started to confirm the payout was correct, and James then put the money in his pocket. When the men were leaving for lunch, Ken confirms that he did go into the front of the Fagan property to use the tap and wash his hands. He recalls James saying something along the lines of That's a classy or pricey old door about the Fagan front door, so he knows that James has followed him in. Ken confirms that the men met in the meal room at the council depot for lunch and played cards until about 1245 PM. The three assigned workers, Ken, James and Robert, all returned to Bailey Avenue and arrive back at around 1.15 PM to continue the afternoon's job. The men finished the job at around 2.30 PM and after putting all the tools on the truck and loading the roller into the trailer, they all leave about 2.30 pm to drive around until 3.30 pm. Ken notes that they drove around for the hour so that they wouldn't get reported for doing nothing. So they returned to the depot at 3.30 p.m. to knock off at 4 pm. Later that evening, Ken states that he met two more council workers at the Armadale Hotel, played pool and had a few drinks until around 6 40 PM. He left the hotel and went to the Tatslotto agent a few shops away, processed his Tatslotto and soccer pools, then walked up to the TAB back on the other side of the hotel. After placing a few bets, he proceeded to return to the hotel a little after 7 PM. He recalls whilst in the Tatslotto agent the television was on and he heard Bailey Avenue mentioned. Upon his return to the Armadale Hotel, he had asked James what happened in Bailey Avenue today? To which James replied by laughing in a funny sort of way. The two continued drinking until an announcement over the loudspeaker called Ken, you are wanted in the foyer. Ken then walked to the foyer to be greeted by two policemen who took him upstairs and questioned him about what had happened that day in Bailey Avenue. He told them what he knew and made a short statement. The police had advised that they also wanted to talk to James, and Ken confirmed that James was in the main bar downstairs. He returned to the bar, tapped James on the shoulder, and told him that he was wanted upstairs by the police. James had initially laughed before turning around, seeing the police behind Ken, and following them upstairs. When James returned, neither of them discussed what had happened in Bailey Avenue. Ken confirmed in his statement that he did not go into the rear of the property and did not go into the house at any time. He did not see the woman from the house, but he did hear James talking to a woman. The only time he had entered the premises at all was to wash his hands at the front tap near the front door. He also noted that on seventeenth of february he was wearing a brown summer hat, an old shirt, and a pair of shorts. He had shoes on as he didn't wear council issued boots. Ken finally stated that James was wearing a blue summer hat, and whilst he wasn't sure about the rest of his clothes, believes he was probably in council issue clothes as well. He confirms that James always changes at work before he goes home or the pub, and can't remember whether he did that night or not. A little later the same day, James makes a further statement where he admits there were a few things he forgot to mention in his earlier 11 April statement. He remembers that the woman he was speaking to on the morning of 17 February was wearing a bluish coloured dress. He now knows this woman was Marianne Fagan, and he confirms that he mentioned to her that he would give her a quote about removing rubbish if the Board of Works or Council wouldn't do it for her. He also recalls that he left the work site between 10 30 and 1045 AM to go to the railway hotel to use the toilet and buy a packet of cigarettes. He remembers that he wanted to see his bookie to collect a bet. The bookie lives nearby, but he can't remember if he went there or not. James confirms that he was on his own for about 30 minutes as there wasn't much work at the site when he left. He does, however, remember that his colleague Ken was there when he left and still there when he returned. He also remembers definitively now that he didn't knock on the front door when he entered the property at around 1120 AM. In June 1978, Michael, a government surveyor attached to the title's office, attends 575 Dandinong Road to conduct a survey of the home and outside area. As a result of the survey, he produces a plan of the area for the police file. By the time the coronial inquest opens in June 1979, the investigation has established a window. Mary Ann Fagin was last seen alive at approximately 10 30 AM. A constable of police driving past her front garden in Bailey Avenue had noticed a woman in a blue dress standing there, looking toward the street. Collins had spoken to her on the phone at around the same time. She sounded normal. She was not expecting visitors. The pathologist's assessment, accounting for the insulating effect of the plastic sheet beneath her body and the cool ambient temperature of the day, placed time of death well in excess of two to three hours before his examination. That places death before two PM at the latest, almost certainly earlier. Two witnesses had reported hearing screams from the direction of the Fagum property. Paul, working at seventeen Bailey Avenue, heard a muffled scream between one and one hundred thirty PM, muffled enough that his partner had asked if he had spoken. Deidri in her first fall flat on Dandinong Road, heard a loud female scream lasting four to five seconds, which she later placed at approximately one hundred thirty PM. Neither witness can confirm a connection to Marianne's death. But if the screams were connected, the window narrows to between ten thirty AM and approximately one hundred thirty PM. Within that window, someone came through a door at five hundred seventy five Dandinong Road. No glass was broken before the children arrived. No lock was forced. The telephone in the hallway had been disconnected at the plug. The murder weapon was never found. The handbag was never recovered. No foreign blood was identified anywhere in the house. At approximately twelve ten PM, Hugh had seen a man in Air Force uniform walk out the front gate, look back at the house, look both ways along Dandinong Road, and walk towards Glenferry Road. That man has never been identified. On nineteenth june nineteen seventy nine, sixteen months after Marianne's murder, the coronial inquest into her death opens in Melbourne. Thirty-one witnesses give evidence across two days. The forensic science laboratory offices outline what the scene examination found. The pathologist gives evidence on cause of deaths. The council workers give evidence on their movements. The sighting witnesses, Hugh, Deedri, Paul, give their accounts under examination. Collins Fagan gives evidence about his wife, their household, and the phone call that turned out to be the last conversation they ever had. A day later on twentieth june nineteen seventy nine, the coroner hands down his finding. Mary Ann Fagan died from hemorrhage from multiple stab wounds received on seventeenth of february nineteen seventy eight in premises situated at five hundred seventy five Dandinong Road, Armadale, feloniously, unlawfully, and maliciously inflicted by a person unknown. The coroner noticed that the evidence of the council workers who were doing road repairs outside the house on the day of the murder was unsatisfactory. But he ruled there was not enough evidence to nominate a likely killer. The finding of the coronial inquest was not the end of the investigation. It was the beginning of a long wait. In the years that followed, the case stayed open with Victoria Police, revisited periodically as new information, new investigative. Approaches and new forensic techniques emerged. Witness memories faded. Leads exhausted themselves. And for Marianne's family, the absence of answers becomes a constant. In the late 1990s, Collins Fagan reads an article about advances in DNA technology and its potential application to unsolved murders. He wrote to the Premier, the Chief Secretary, and the Police Minister. He sought legal advice. He advocated persistently for a formal review. The Homicide Squad's cold case unit reopened the investigation. One of the council workers who had been working outside 575 Dandinong Road on the day of the murder had died in the early 1990s. The other was re-interviewed by homicide detectives and denied any involvement. A DNA sample was obtained and compared against evidence gathered at the scene. No charge was laid. In 2013, Victoria Police identified Marianne's case among approximately 30 homicide investigations considered highly solvable, based on retained evidence and the potential for renewed forensic analysis. In February 2024, 46 years after her murder, the reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction was increased to$1 million. The man Hugh saw walking out the front gate at 12 10 p.m. on 17 February 1978 has never been identified. Despite decades of publicity, despite identity parades, despite a nationally distributed photo fit, despite a million dollar reward, that man has never come forward. The case remains open. No one has ever been charged. What this investigation established across 16 months of statements, searches, and forensic work was a partial picture. It established when Mary Ann was last seen alive. It established how she died. It established with certainty that someone came through a door she opened and left through the front gate at approximately 12 minutes past midday. What it could not establish was who. A retired man crossing Dantinong Road saw a face. He remembered it clearly enough to say he could recognize it again. He looked at photographs. He attended parades. He sat in a courtroom and was shown the one man police believed it might be. He said no. The investigation took statements from hundreds of people. It followed dozens of leads. It offered a sizable reward. And it arrived 16 months later at the only finding it could support. In the next episode, we return to the sighting that the head of the homicide squad called the best lead they had. Two witnesses, two separate sightings, 35 minutes apart. And a man in uniform who walked along Dandinong Road and was never seen again. If you have information that could assist police in relation to the murder of Marianne Fagan, please contact Victoria Police Crime Stoppers on 1-800-333000 or submit a confidential report online at www.police.vic.gov.au forward slash 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.