Australia - Shandee Blackburn, 23, murdered, Mackay, Qld, 9 Feb 2013

[Travelling Wilbury]

It's interesting she was stabbed 23 times and she was 23 at the time, wonder if the killer knew her age?

Interesting. Probably a bit graphic in nature but is there a list of areas upon the body that she was stabbed? Reason being, if the killer had an anger directed towards her enough to murder her, were various stabs aimed at various locations as a result of their anger? JP had been angry at her working as an exotic dancer for a short time in Brisbane, and was very jealous and controlling of her being involved with other people, even if truthfully she wasn’t. Just a suggestion IMO, could’ve been a premeditated motion towards certain areas had they thought she was involved with other people

 

[Itsapuzzle]

Interesting. Probably a bit graphic in nature but is there a list of areas upon the body that she was stabbed? Reason being, if the killer had an anger directed towards her enough to murder her, were various stabs aimed at various locations as a result of their anger? JP had been angry at her working as an exotic dancer for a short time in Brisbane, and was very jealous and controlling of her being involved with other people, even if truthfully she wasn’t. Just a suggestion IMO, could’ve been a premeditated motion towards certain areas had they thought she was involved with other people

I found this image online from The Australian, Travelling Wilbury - you need to subscribe to The Australian for more info though. The photograph is titled: "Wounds pattern show Shandee Blackburn 'knew her attacker'" - I see this diagram shows 19 wounds. Boxers are probably used to counting punches, hits, especially in training ... will look into it a bit more.

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Just started listening to the pod cast Shandee's story. As an Aussie i cant believe i didn't know about Shandee's horrific murder. I as so glad to have found this thread. What a devisatating blow to her loved one's to have no justice as yet. I'll be keeping a eye on this.

Have been keeping up to date with this each time a new episode is uploaded and from about episode 7 or 8 it has been mindboggling!

The lab that botched all the testing sure has a lot of explaining to do. Their potential mistakes could have similar size ramifications to the Nicola Gobbo/Lawyer X fiasco.

Credit again to Hedley Thomas and I sure hope his efforts can assist justice being served and provide some form of closure for the family.

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Just started listening to the pod cast Shandee's story. As an Aussie i cant believe i didn't know about Shandee's horrific murder. I as so glad to have found this thread. What a devisatating blow to her loved one's to have no justice as yet. I'll be keeping a eye on this.

Have been keeping up to date with this each time a new episode is uploaded and from about episode 7 or 8 it has been mindboggling!

The lab that botched all the testing sure has a lot of explaining to do. Their potential mistakes could have similar size ramifications to the Nicola Gobbo/Lawyer X fiasco.

Credit again to Hedley Thomas and I sure hope his efforts can assist justice being served and provide some form of closure for the family.

 

[Travelling Wilbury]

I found this image online from The Australian, Travelling Wilbury - you need to subscribe to The Australian for more info though. The photograph is titled: "Wounds pattern show Shandee Blackburn 'knew her attacker'" - I see this diagram shows 19 wounds. Boxers are probably used to counting punches, hits, especially in training ... will look into it a bit more.
View attachment 328666

Thanks, you can see that the head, chest and throat are clearly targeted. The arm ones would be from self defence.

I’ve just read a detailed excerpt from the Coroners Report-
https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/656044/cif-blackburn-sr-20200821.pdf

On pages 15-17

 

[Itsapuzzle]

Thanks, you can see that the head, chest and throat are clearly targeted. The arm ones would be from self defence.

I’ve just read a detailed excerpt from the Coroners Report-
https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/656044/cif-blackburn-sr-20200821.pdf

On pages 15-17

That's an interesting document, thanks for putting it up Travelling Wilbury. Ah ha, I hadn't thought of that, of course, mutual Facebook friends/contacts would have tipped JP off about Shandee being back in town, probably even saw posts about where she was working in his news feed? The Coroner seems 100% convinced the car in the CCTV is JP's car, and having read that I have to say I am too. So his car basically parks across the road before Shandee is attacked, the car moves off after the attack, and he can't remember if he went for a drive that night and yet he can remember everything from the Friday. It defies logic. MOO

Have been keeping up to date with this each time a new episode is uploaded and from about episode 7 or 8 it has been mindboggling!

The lab that botched all the testing sure has a lot of explaining to do. Their potential mistakes could have similar size ramifications to the Nicola Gobbo/Lawyer X fiasco.

Credit again to Hedley Thomas and I sure hope his efforts can assist justice being served and provide some form of closure for the family.

Yes, I've been following the podcast too, agree Hedley's doing a great job, hope they get some new leads out of it. Just hope we can get some more advancements in video technology, enhancement, who knows what's on the horizon in that regard.

 

[Travelling Wilbury]

That's an interesting document, thanks for putting it up Travelling Wilbury. Ah ha, I hadn't thought of that, of course, mutual Facebook friends/contacts would have tipped JP off about Shandee being back in town, probably even saw posts about where she was working in his news feed? The Coroner seems 100% convinced the car in the CCTV is JP's car, and having read that I have to say I am too. So his car basically parks across the road before Shandee is attacked, the car moves off after the attack, and he can't remember if he went for a drive that night and yet he can remember everything from the Friday. It defies logic. MOO

Yes, I've been following the podcast too, agree Hedley's doing a great job, hope they get some new leads out of it. Just hope we can get some more advancements in video technology, enhancement, who knows what's on the horizon in that regard.

IMO he had a good ex cop who became a good lawyer and took advantage of the fact some evidence was missing or not confirmed 100%, plus the DNA was an absolute mess.
Whether or not he was guilty was irrelevant as in the eyes of the court there wasn’t enough confirmed evidence.
Hopefully, with the DNA tests redone that will turn around

 

[Itsapuzzle]

IMO he had a good ex cop who became a good lawyer and took advantage of the fact some evidence was missing or not confirmed 100%, plus the DNA was an absolute mess.
Whether or not he was guilty was irrelevant as in the eyes of the court there wasn’t enough confirmed evidence.
Hopefully, with the DNA tests redone that will turn around

Here's hoping, DNA would definitely crack the case. I don't know anything about that lawyer, will look him up, he must have put enough doubt in the jury's mind so they couldn't come back with a guilty verdict. In my wild imagination I was thinking maybe they could make that running figure clearer so that you could make out the handbag - or even CCTV footage showing a bag on the seat of the car, and a clear image of the number plate .... wacky idea now, but maybe in the future, who knows

 

[Travelling Wilbury]

Yes, I've been following the podcast too, agree Hedley's doing a great job, hope they get some new leads out of it. Just hope we can get some more advancements in video technology, enhancement, who knows what's on the horizon in that regard.

Listen to the end of episode 9, where they interview the cane farmer who found a large knife under a rock in his cane field on Seaforth Rd. Pretty funny bugger!
I hadn’t heard this info either, I haven’t yet heard if anything came of it. I think it had a negative DNA test on it but was supposedly covered in dry blood

 

[Itsapuzzle]

Listen to the end of episode 9, where they interview the cane farmer who found a large knife under a rock in his cane field on Seaforth Rd. Pretty funny bugger!
I hadn’t heard this info either, I haven’t yet heard if anything came of it. I think it had a negative DNA test on it but was supposedly covered in dry blood

That was a weird find in a cane field, and yeah, interesting fella - maybe someone put it there to protect from those rascally brown snakes!

 

[Travelling Wilbury]

That was a weird find in a cane field, and yeah, interesting fella - maybe someone put it there to protect from those rascally brown snakes!

Also a bit of a strange place to put it, if used for a crime. I haven’t seen a photo of the place it was hidden, but that rock was placed there from outside the field, then the field gets ploughed and worked each year for cane season. The field also was burned regularly at harvest time. Surely if a weapon was placed there they would know that machinery would be traversing it and the farmer may get off to move the rock to avoid damage to the tractor

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Craig Eberhardt, who represented John Peros during his murder trial, was a force to be reckoned with. He systematically dismantled the credibility of witness after witness, including expert witnesses.

I think in a circumstantial case you not only need a strong prosecutor, you also have to hope for someone less competent than Craig Eberhardt across the bench.

If justice is to be finally delivered, surely the answer is to be found in the DNA samples. Provided the lab still has them of course and re-testing can be performed.

 

[Itsapuzzle]

Episode 13 landed last night (for non-subscribers of The Australian) - gee it was interesting, kind of answered a lot of things I've been wondering about. Interesting teaser at the end too re JP's car, to be revealed in the next episode, along with new leads. It's interesting that the car returned to town a couple of hours later, isn't it, and we haven't heard it reported as leaving the town at a later point, so you'd have to think that means it was a local resident - MOO.
And whoops, I had a post removed because I didn't provide the link, so just popping it up here, apologies for that.
‎Shandee's Story: Episode 13 - Unheard Evidence on Apple Podcasts

06 Oct 2009 - Townsvillebulletin.com.au - Townsville social photos, Februa... - Archived Website - Trove

 

[Travelling Wilbury]

Episode 13 landed last night (for non-subscribers of The Australian) - gee it was interesting, kind of answered a lot of things I've been wondering about. Interesting teaser at the end too re JP's car, to be revealed in the next episode, along with new leads. It's interesting that the car returned to town a couple of hours later, isn't it, and we haven't heard it reported as leaving the town at a later point, so you'd have to think that means it was a local resident - MOO.
And whoops, I had a post removed because I didn't provide the link, so just popping it up here, apologies for that.
‎Shandee's Story: Episode 13 - Unheard Evidence on Apple Podcasts

06 Oct 2009 - Townsvillebulletin.com.au - Townsville social photos, Februa... - Archived Website - Trove

From memory the car left town for around 2hrs before it returned to Mackay?
Having frequently driven from Mackay and along Seaforth Rd, it’s around about 45mins each way to around where the cane farm was where a bloodied knife was discovered. Perhaps left town to dispose of murder weapon? Just a theory if the DNA results are re tested on the knife and get a positive correlation.
Peros would’ve known this area relatively well considering he went fishing to Seaforth regularly IMO

 

[Itsapuzzle]

From memory the car left town for around 2hrs before it returned to Mackay?
Having frequently driven from Mackay and along Seaforth Rd, it’s around about 45mins each way to around where the cane farm was where a bloodied knife was discovered. Perhaps left town to dispose of murder weapon? Just a theory if the DNA results are re tested on the knife and get a positive correlation.
Peros would’ve known this area relatively well considering he went fishing to Seaforth regularly IMO

Yes, the car turned west onto Bruce Highway at 12.26 am and returned at 2.24 am. That's interesting Travelling Wilbury, 45 minutes each way, h'mm, 90 minutes, so that leaves around 30 minutes to dispose of things, remove handle from knife, place under rock - look through bag, dispose of bag, maybe change clothes and dispose of them? Wonder what happened to that bag and its contents, it looks quite large. Highly probable that killer has retained some items from the bag too. If the bag was tossed in the passenger floor-well there should be DNA there, and possibly blood from the bag. Just a thought. Are they doing the DNA testing again now, or is that on hold?

 

[Travelling Wilbury]

Yes, the car turned west onto Bruce Highway at 12.26 am and returned at 2.24 am. That's interesting Travelling Wilbury, 45 minutes each way, h'mm, 90 minutes, so that leaves around 30 minutes to dispose of things, remove handle from knife, place under rock - look through bag, dispose of bag, maybe change clothes and dispose of them? Wonder what happened to that bag and its contents, it looks quite large. Highly probable that killer has retained some items from the bag too. If the bag was tossed in the passenger floor-well there should be DNA there, and possibly blood from the bag. Just a thought. Are they doing the DNA testing again now, or is that on hold?

The scenario is quite possible. The handle may of even come off the knife considering the seriousness of the attack, it’s been known to happen before.
On one of the podcasts it was said that JP’s car was searched for blood and they found iirc 12 blood locations, mostly on the drivers side but there was one in the passenger side footwell, which if the bag was thrown there after the crime would leave traces. But, the car was subject to the same DNA stuff up that the rest was.
Seaforth Rd is quite long as well, a few creeks, rainforest type vegetation line the road so plenty of opportunity to lob things out the window.
Not sure of the current situation with testing, whether they’re waiting govt to give them a go ahead or not. I’m up to episode 11 so may be revealed in later ones

 

[Travelling Wilbury]

I can’t help thinking the police could’ve used a different tact with WD in the investigation. I believe they didn’t really think it was him, but needed to discount him from the case.

But WD was probably thinking a number of things which made him lie profusely or not answer questions. It was mentioned he was worried he’d be framed being indigenous, or they’ll nail him on other charges if he said he was doing anything illegal.

IMO I think LE should’ve put it to him (unless they did) that it wasn’t a question of him proving not guilty, but proving he was not at the crime scene of SB, even if he was doing something else illegal. This is a murder case and doing a burg ok a house or stealing cars would be irrelevant.
He’s definitely guilty of being a bloody menace and a PITA for cops, but not a murderer. Had they made him felt more at ease about not getting the blame and proving his whereabouts, instead of him saying he couldn’t remember or giving different stories, it would be another potential suspect in the eyes of the defence eliminated.
LE may of done this, but he just seemed so uncooperative because he believed he’d get in more trouble

 

[Itsapuzzle]

About the running figure. So the figure runs across the road from the bushes - they're caught on CCTV lurking there before the attack. After the attack they run back to the same area - to me this means they were going back to a car. There has been speculation that they weren't the driver of the car, but that says to me it was the car, I mean, why go back to your hiding place, there'd be no reason. End of random thought.

 

[Itsapuzzle]

The scenario is quite possible. The handle may of even come off the knife considering the seriousness of the attack, it’s been known to happen before.
On one of the podcasts it was said that JP’s car was searched for blood and they found iirc 12 blood locations, mostly on the drivers side but there was one in the passenger side footwell, which if the bag was thrown there after the crime would leave traces. But, the car was subject to the same DNA stuff up that the rest was.
Seaforth Rd is quite long as well, a few creeks, rainforest type vegetation line the road so plenty of opportunity to lob things out the window.
Not sure of the current situation with testing, whether they’re waiting govt to give them a go ahead or not. I’m up to episode 11 so may be revealed in later ones

Thanks Travelling Wilbury - look forward to hearing your thoughts on episode 13 when you get to it. I found it most interesting.

 

[Travelling Wilbury]

Thanks Travelling Wilbury - look forward to hearing your thoughts on episode 13 when you get to it. I found it most interesting.

It was pretty frustrating to listen to the last few episodes. Not the actual podcast, but the way in which the DNA testing issues were fobbed off, it basically ruined the whole case. Plus, the police cass was really only done to a lacklustre standard. The police investigating did almost everything right, but so much info omitted from the case. The judge, and more importantly the jury, only heard snippets of the bad things JP did, and more of the favourable things, so they could only go off that. He wouldn’t have seemed guilty to the jury off the evidence presented at the trial.
The podcast has brought about ALL the evidence they should of heard, and along with retested DNA evidence, JP should be a goner. All of the circumstantial evidence, historical evidence, and witness evidence points toward him, and once those DNA swabs are done properly, it should be a straight forward verdict. I just hope the DNA samples have been stored in a way they can be successfully retested.

Interesting news about photos of his car too in Ep 13. I’ve had a look at photos and there must be something that stands out that they missed in the trial