Main Suspect in Rachelle Childs Cold Case Found Dead

Summary

Podcast Summary: Australian True Crime

Episode: Main Suspect in Rachelle Childs Cold Case Found Dead

Date: July 27, 2025
Host: Meshel Laurie | Guest: Ashley Hanson

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Overview

This episode investigates the major development in the long-unsolved 2001 murder of 23-year-old Rachelle Childs from rural New South Wales. The main suspect in the case, Kevin Stephen Currell (formerly Kevin Cornwall), has been found dead in Thailand. Journalist Ashley Hanson, who has spent 18 months investigating the case for her podcast "Dear Rochelle," joins Meshel Laurie to unpack Currell’s background, re-examine the evidence, discuss new technological breakthroughs, and reflect on the impact his death has had on Childs' family and the ongoing quest for justice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Case Recap & Development

• Discovery of Currell’s Death

  • Kevin Stephen Currell, 69, the prime suspect in Rachelle Childs' 2001 murder, was found dead of a heart attack in a Phuket, Thailand hotel room (04:40; 36:57).
  • Currell was under heavy scrutiny as Hanson's podcast and new evidence began to focus on him.

• Profile of the Victim: Rachelle Childs

  • Rachelle was a much-loved “rev head,” a tomboy, blonde, athletic and a social hub in her small town (10:45; 11:03; 11:17).
  • She worked at Camden Holden, loved cars, and trusted her manager—Kevin Currell—implicitly.

2. Currell's Background & Pattern of Behaviour

• Prior Accusations & Name Change

  • Currell was born Kevin Stephen Cornwall and changed his name after being acquitted in four sexual assault trials in the 1980s (05:46).
  • Despite multiple accusations, he escaped conviction and re-established himself, ultimately becoming Rachelle’s boss at Camden Holden.

• Relationship with Rachelle

  • He exhibited a strong, possibly unhealthy attachment to her, giving her favors at work and reportedly infatuated, though he presented himself as a mentor/father figure (05:46; 12:41).

• Daughter's Perspective

  • Currell’s estranged daughter Jaz gave a “candid interview” in Hanson's podcast, describing him as a “terrible person” and a complex, troubling father (05:46).
  • After his death, Jaz stated she felt “no sympathy” and said justice was denied to his victims.

“She’s not sorry that he’s gone as a person… she remembers him as a very terrible person, a terrible father…”
— Ashley Hanson (05:46)

3. Timeline and Key Evidence

• Critical Events

  • Rachelle vanished after leaving work around 5:00 PM, June 7, 2001; her burnt body was found in Juroa, over 100 km from her home (05:46–10:13).
  • Her car was found abandoned, with clear evidence she hadn't parked it herself.

• Workplace Dynamics

  • Friends described their boss as a “power tripper,” but Rachelle considered him a mentor (12:30–12:41).
  • Co-workers, friends, and investigators agree she was likely killed by someone she knew and trusted.

4. Red Herrings & Rumors

• False Leads
  • Currell spread unsubstantiated rumors about Rachelle’s involvement with outlaw bikies to divert suspicion (15:26–17:27).
  • Police considered various suspects, including a senior Rebels gang member (“Sash”), but no evidence implicated them; rumors ultimately traced back to Currell.

5. Breakthroughs in the Investigation

• New Evidence via Modern Technology
  • Cutting-edge mobile phone data analysis revealed Currell’s alibi—shopping in Campbelltown—was impossible (28:04–33:00).
  • His phone pinged near Rachelle's home the night of her disappearance, undermining his story.

"It was physically impossible for that call to be made at Campbelltown, where he says he was."
— Ashley Hanson (28:04)

• Circumstantial and Hard Evidence

  • Circumstantial: Threats to ex-wife (promising to “dismember her and bury her at Juroa,” the place where Rachelle’s body was found), connections to the region.
  • Hard evidence: Suspicious phone call at a crucial time; number dialed almost matched Rachelle’s except for two digits (28:04).

• Missed Opportunities

  • Early mistakes by police and the challenge of cold cases before digital forensics were widespread acknowledged (36:31).

6. Currell’s History of Violence & Manipulation

• Victims Speak Out

  • Interviews procured for “Dear Rochelle” feature a woman accusing Currell of sexual assault at knifepoint in 1980, matching a broader pattern of accusations (19:45–21:12).
  • Despite strong identification evidence, he was acquitted by juries.

• Systemic Issues

  • Discussion of the justice system’s failure to convict, and societal tendencies to disbelieve and blame victims—especially in the 1980s (22:20–22:26).

"It's an indictment of what Australian society was back in the 1980s… these women weren't listened to, they weren't believed, they were victim-shamed…"
— Ashley Hanson (22:26)

7. Currell’s Final Years and Death

• Life After the Murder
  • Continued to travel to Thailand, frequented red light districts, possibly engaged in relationships with local women (36:57–38:10).
  • Died of natural causes, alone, with bystanders noting his ill health before death.

8. Emotional Fallout and the Question of Justice

• Rochelle’s Family and Community Reaction
  • Family devastated by loss of opportunity for justice, expressing sorrow for Currell’s family but frustrated that justice is “denied” (39:40–42:42).

“If it was Kevin Carell … they’ll never get their day in court. That will never happen. … It’s another blow in this tragic, tragic case.”
— Ashley Hanson (39:48)

• Call for New Information
  • Ashley and the family hope Currell’s death may encourage new witnesses to come forward, no longer afraid of retaliation.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Rachelle’s Character:
  “She was a Rev head… really bubbly, girly, just a woman in the prime of her life… She was a head turner.”
  — Ashley Hanson (11:17)

• On the Failure of the Justice System:
  “There's a pattern of our justice system, isn't it? … Even today it’s hard to get a conviction for a sexual assault.”
  — Host & Ashley Hanson (22:23)

• On New Digital Forensics:
  “We had the mobile phone maps … it was physically impossible for that call to be made at Campbelltown, where he says he was.”
  — Ashley Hanson (28:04–29:10)

• On Currell’s Threats:
  “She recalled him threatening to dismember her body… in one threat, he said he was going to bury her at Jaroa, which is the same area where Rachelle’s burning body was found.”
  — Ashley Hanson (28:04)

• Currell’s Daughter's Statement:
  “Justice was denied to victims.”
  — Jaz (Paraphrased by Ashley Hanson, 05:34)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:39 — News of Currell’s death announced
• 04:40 — Hanson begins deep dive on Currell’s role in the case
• 05:34 — Interaction with Currell’s estranged daughter
• 10:13–12:41 — Host and Hanson discuss Rachelle’s time at Camden Holden & workplace testimony
• 15:26–17:27 — Biker rumors, misdirection, and Currell’s false narratives
• 19:45–22:26 — Currell’s history of sexual violence, court outcomes, and impact on victims
• 28:04–33:00 — Forensic phone evidence, timeline, and digital breakthroughs
• 36:57–39:40 — Currell’s Thailand lifestyle, circumstances of death, and local response
• 39:40–42:42 — Family reaction, emotional fallout, hope for new revelations

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Conclusion

The episode provides an in-depth look at how an unsolved murder case from 2001 is reframed by investigative journalism, new forensic science, and survivor testimony. The death of Kevin Currell in Thailand deprives Rachelle Childs’ family of their hoped-for courtroom reckoning, but technological advances and persistence from journalists like Ashley Hanson continue to bring new truths to light. The case remains open, and the podcast ends with a call for anyone with information to come forward, keeping hope alive for eventual justice.

Further Listening:
Download the detailed investigative podcast "Dear Rochelle" for more on this case and personal interviews not covered here.

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Support:
If you were affected by the episode’s content:

• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• 1-800-Respect: 1-800-737-732 or 1800respect.org.au
• 13Yarn for Indigenous Australians: 13 92 76 or 13yarn.org.au

Transcript

[Host]

Before we begin today's episode of Australian True Crime, I want to tell you about a new project we've been working on behind the scenes. It's called she Matters. It's a new podcast from award winning journalist and femicide researcher Sherrelle Moody. Each week Sherrelle speaks with families of women and children killed in Australia, sharing who they were, the joy they brought and the love they left behind. She Matters isn't a true crime podcast. It's about lives lived, lives loved and lives lost. She Matters is produced by Dash Made Podcasts in association with bravecasting Media. She Matters is available wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ashley Hanson]

The prime suspect in the cold case murder of Rochelle Childs has reportedly been found dead in Thailand. 69 year old Kevin Stephen Currell was found dead while holidaying last week. He was the key suspect in the murder since the 23 year old's body was found in Juroa, south of Sydney in 2001. Rochelle Childs family has previously pleaded for the case to be reopened with an increased reward for new information.

[Host]

A couple of months ago we spoke to journalist Ashley Hanson about her upcoming podcast called Dear Rachelle. It was going to be a deep dive into the unsolved 2001 murder of 23 year old Rochelle Childs, whose charred remains were found in a shallow ditch near Juroa in country New South Wales. Ashley's investigation has come a long way since then. Over recent months she and her team had zeroed in on one person of interest, Rochelle's former boss, Kevin Carell. Well, Carell was found dead last week in a hotel room in Thailand. Ashley Hanson is now in Thailand following the story and she joins us on Australian True Crime with the latest. This is Australian True Crime. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung People of the Kulin Nation and a warning. This episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence.

[Ashley Hanson]

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[Ashley Hanson]

Kevin Stephen Currell well, he was the key suspect in the unsolved murder of 23 year old Rochelle Childs who was killed in 2001 and her murder has gone unsolved for 24 years. We were taking a really good look at him along with other persons of interest in the case for the last 18 months and he was really a focus towards the end of the investigation. He became the main focus because of the suspicious circumstances, his lies, his very troubling background and that's why we focused on him so heavily. Then last week suddenly he died on a holiday in Phuket, Thailand. So we've been investigating his death and I'm here in Phuket at the moment looking into it and I read that.

[Host]

His daughter released an intriguing statement. The story I'm reading says that he was estranged from most of his family by the time of his death. She says she feels no sympathy, saying justice was denied to victims. What do you make of that?

[Ashley Hanson]

Yes, we had a lot to do with Kevin's daughter Jaz, who is estranged from him. She's had no contact with him for about five years, but she was very close to him for periods of time in her life. And she explained her unusual, troubling and just complex relationship that she had with her father in our podcast, Dear Rochelle. We dedicated, dedicated two episodes to her. Such a candid interview. And she says that she's not sorry that he's gone as a person because, you know, she remembers him as a very terrible person, a terrible father, but more so because of the way that he treated others from her perspective. But she also said that she is holding onto the memories of the good times because as her father, she had a lot of loving memories of him and there were very nice and kind sides to him that she also wanted to remember. So she's very torn. Look, it's a really, a really sad situation for her. I don't think that she would ever forgive him for the things that he'd done in his life, but I think she was ready to accept what he'd done. I guess if he could make some kind of admission. He's never ever admitted to any of the terrible crimes that he's been accused of. And we're talking about four allegations of sexual assault. One included attempted sexual assault, two counts of rape against other women, women that he didn't know back in the early 1980s. And then he went on to change his name. So he was born Kevin Stephen Cornwall. And then after being acquitted of four sexual assault matters in courts in front of juries over a four year period, then he decided to change his name. He changed it to Kevin Carell and he went on really undetected for the next 20 years. And he was the manager of the used car sales office that Rochelle was working in and he hired her. And there's no doubts that he had a fascination with her. Some would describe it as an infatuation. He was very much treated her very favorably, gave her any used car she wanted to use off the lot. Rachelle was just a lovable, really outgoing person that was really popular. She was single at the time, in 2001, in June when she was killed. And it all stems from June 7th in 2001. There's missing, there's a missing nine hours as to what happened to her. She basically vanished just after 5 o', clock, just after she left work. Kevin Carell was One of the last people to see her alive. And there are a lot, just a lot of suspicious circumstances that link him to the crime and link him to her disappearance. And later on, in the early hours of the Friday morning, the following day, her burning body was found at Juroa, which is over 100 kilometres away from her home in Bargo. And mysteriously, her car, which is a distinctive blue old Holden that was found parked outside out the back of the Bargo Hotel. So police and her family strongly believe that Rachelle didn't drive, wasn't the last person to drive her car because the steering wheel lock was put on in a way that she didn't put it on. The seat was also positioned in a way that she wasn't known to drive. It's said that she probably wouldn't have been able to reach the pedals the way that the seat was found. So from that moment when her sister Christie found the car on the Saturday and it was discovered because they were frantically looking for her, because even though police were aware that an unidentified body had been found on the south coast in New South Wales, they didn't put two and two together until they did the formal identification process. So when Christy found her car, she knew instantly something terrible has happened here because she didn't drive this car.

[Host]

I have to say it was a dagger to my heart when it was revealed that this man was a prime suspect in the case because. And certainly in the first episode of Dear Rochelle, you go into some detail and her friends and co workers go into detail about how much she loved her job at Camden Holden. It was a very big part of her life and it was mentioned that she had access to nice new cars that came on the lot. You know, it was just devastating to think that that place where she felt so happy and safe could have been the place where she met her murderer.

[Ashley Hanson]

Absolutely. And also she was a Holden nut. She was a car fanatic. The late Peter Brock was her idol. You know, she had this amazing photograph of him at a fan day somewhere. She wanted to be a race car driver. She was a bit of a tomboy.

[Host]

She was a Rev head. That's the expression that came into my mind as I was listening to so many moments of the podcast was fabulous. I come from Toowoomba, a town of rev heads, and I really identified with that aspect of her personality and her friends.

[Ashley Hanson]

Totally. But then there's also this really bubbly, girly, you know, just woman in the prime of her life. You know, she was dating and she was really attractive. People Just say that about her. She was a bit of a head turner. You know, she had blonde hair, she had blue eyes, and then she had this really attraction to lots of boys stuff. You know, she was into cars, she played cricket. She was a really good athlete as well, and just a caring and friendly person. So her death had a huge impact on her friends, her colleagues, and of course, her family. And that's why they've been fighting so hard for justice for all of these years. And I teamed up with her sister Christy over 18 months ago to do the podcast Dear Rochelle. So I became very close with Christy and her mum Ann, and all of her friends. So to think that we just felt like we were getting so far in terms of our investigation and new information was coming forward about Kevin Carell, and then suddenly he drops dead.

[Host]

Cause you spoke a lot to her workmates. They're a very, as I said, a big part of her life. Were they aware of a dark side to Kevin Carell or did he seem like a good boss and a good guy around the place?

[Ashley Hanson]

It was a bit of a strange reaction because I think initially he wasn't very liked by some people because of the way that he conducted himself. He came across as a bit of a power tripper, you know, someone that was very controlling. But he hadn't. He had a small team and Rachelle was a key member in that team, and he definitely took her under his wing and. And she described it as mentor, mentee relationship. So she thought of him like a father figure, which is really sad as well when you think about it, because she looked up to him and she trusted him. And I think that is very important point to make because Damien Loon, who I'm sure your. Your listeners know very well from the teacher's pet, he, you know, was the lead investigator that wouldn't give up on finding justice for Lynette Dawson, now known as Lynette Sims. Now we know that Chris Dawson was convicted of her murder. So I brought on Damien to help me with the case because it's a really complex case as there were a lot of persons of interest, a lot of difficult elements of the case. And he gave his perspectives and re investigated it with me through. And we went through the brief of evidence together and he came on a lot of on location shoots and we went back to Jaroa, we went to Bargo, we went to so many places to just learn more about her and what happened to her and what her life looked like in the days and weeks leading up to her death. And Everyone agrees that she was killed by somebody she knew and she was killed by somebody that she trusted because she wasn't the type of person to just go and meet up with a stranger. There was an element of shyness about her, so there was an element of she was a little bit self conscious when it came to walking into a pub on her own or so going to her victimology. It wasn't. She wasn't someone that would just go and meet up with a stranger. And we're talking about 2001 as well, so we're talking about a time that there wasn't really social media, you know, Internet dating had just sort of started emerging. But we didn't have Tinder. There weren't those, you know, sites that you connect with people. So it wasn't as easy back then to just meet a stranger.

[Host]

Also, it's a small community, so I dare say there weren't a lot of strangers to Rochelle. She, through her work and her social life and just living in that small community, she knew people in all walks of life and she knew a lot of people around the community.

[Ashley Hanson]

Yeah, she did. And she had. She did know Sash, who was a senior member of the Rebels motorcycle gang, who also owned a car yard in Bargo. Now she was working in Camden, but she was obviously living in Bargo. And just through the wheeling and dealing of car parts and cars and all that kind of stuff, she knew Sash. And Sash had, you know, did a recording with the Dear Rochelle podcast and he spoke about how, yeah, he. She was friendly. He was ringing her about a calf that he was trying to purchase for his wife. So he was one of the last people to try and contact her on the Thursday afternoon. But she wasn't there when he rang. She'd already left. So he was a person of interest and he was scrutinised, as you could imagine, being a senior member of the, you know, the Rebels Bikies. But it was more so the red herrings that were put into the mix and they all came back to. A lot of them came back to Kevin because he started discrediting her character and started talking about rumours and spreading them that she'd been dealing drugs for the Bikies. And there wasn't any evidence of that that police found. She wasn't dealing drugs, she wasn't a member of the Bikies. She'd mentioned to a friend, one or two people perhaps, that she had been invited to go to a Rebels clubhouse party, which was kind of a bit of a thing back then in small country towns, it wasn't unusual just to get invited. You didn't have to be a member to go. So I think it was just such a long bow to draw that she was this, you know, drug dealing bikie. And that's the, that's certainly the rumour that Kevin was peddling. And you. So you have to ask yourself, and police did. Why was he making up these rumours.

[Host]

About her, this man who previously had treated her so well and obviously doted on her at work and spoiled her a bit at work and. Yeah, why was he now, after her death, telling awful stories about her.

[Ashley Hanson]

Exactly. And why didn't he help to look for her? Because her parents and her friends were frantically trying to find her in the hours after her disappearance. Because she didn't turn up to work on the Friday. She wasn't supposed to work on the Friday she was rostered off. But she was supposedly coming in to collect a Walkinshaw, which is a really fancy Holden car back in the day, you know, a muscle car. And she was supposedly being loaned one by Kevin Carell on the June long weekend. And she was killed on the Thursday leading up to the Dunlon weekend. So she told her friend Fiona that worked at the car yard, she was a receptionist there, she said to her, I'll see you on Friday because I'm coming in to collect the car, the Walkinshaw. And they were maybe gonna have lunch or something like that. So when she didn't turn up to work, Fiona started becoming concerned and there was no phone contact with any of her loved ones on the Friday. And that's when the search for her started to really ramp up because Fiona went to her house and she wasn't there, but the lights were on and, you know, the dog hadn't been fed. So people started to panic because they couldn't find her and they couldn't find her car, they couldn't contact her, they knew her as a lead foot because she'd been in trouble for speeding and offences like that, which don't surprise you when you're like it. You say she was a rev head, right? So I think people initially just went to the place of, she's run off the road, you know, where is she? Where could she be? But of course, in the days that followed, it was confirmed that her burning body had been found at Juroa. She was semi naked. So from very early on they were treating it as a sexually motivated homicide. Petrol was poured on her. Just horrendous, you know, that someone could do that to anyone.

[Host]

It Is. It's a horrendous crime. This man we've been talking about, Kevin Carell, he, as you said, he had been accused of sexual assaults before, and in one case, a woman accused him of raping her and holding a knife to her throat and threatening to kill her and her children.

[Ashley Hanson]

Yeah, that's right. In 1980. And I dug up the court file on that, and he was charged under the name of Kevin Cornwall. And amazingly, I not only found the victim in that case, but she agreed to do an interview on the podcast. And she was just so compelling. And, you know, 40 years later, she broke her silence and she said, I'm not speaking out because of me and what happened to me. I believe he is the man that raped me, held a knife to my throat, threatened my life and threatened my children's life because she was at home with her two young boys at Punchbowl and had put an ad in the paper for a room to rent because they were trying to get someone to help out with the rent, so they had a spare room. And Kevin Cornwall responded to the ad, and he admitted to police that he went to that house. So he went to that house that night to check out the house. He toured it. She says he was really kind and just seemed like an ordinary, nice guy. And then she said it was about half an hour, an hour hour later, she had a knock on the door, and he wanted to see the room again. And she identified him as the same man that had been there, you know, just an hour earlier. And he pulled a knife on her while she was walking to show him the room. Terrible.

[Host]

Unbelievable.

[Ashley Hanson]

And, you know, she went to court. She took it through to court, and she sat down in a police station within hours after being raped. And she said she went through hundreds and hundreds of mugshots, and she said, and next thing I saw this face, and I went, that's him. And the mugshot that she picked out was Kevin Cornwall. Now, it's just. It defies belief, really, that he was acquitted of that crime because he admitted going to the house, and yet he denied it was him, that he just said that it was somebody else that had come later on. He saw this European man or man of Mediterranean appearance outside the property when he left, and a jury believed him. And so he was acquitted of that attack.

[Host]

And unfortunately, it's not the first time, by a far stretch, that we've heard about a man committing murder who had previously been accused of a number of rapes, serious sexual assaults, and never been convicted of those or convicted and not serving much time. I mean, it's not the first time we've seen an escalation like this, is it?

[Ashley Hanson]

No, it's, you know, it's a pattern of behaviour, isn't it?

[Host]

And it's a pattern of our justice system, isn't it?

[Ashley Hanson]

Totally. And it's an indictment of what Australian society was back in the 1980s, I believe, because these women weren't listened to, they weren't believed, they were victim shamed in the witness box. And even today it's hard to get a conviction for a sexual assault.

[Host]

If you'd like to talk to someone about abuse that's taken place in your life, no matter how long ago it happened, your GP is always a good place to start. If that's not going to work for you, you can contact 1-800-Respect on 1-800-737-732 or via their website, 1-800-Respect.org au. Or you can call Lifeline's 24 hour phone counselling service on 13, 11, 14.

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[Ashley Hanson]

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You told us last time we spoke to you. And also it was mentioned in the podcast, one of the very early episodes, somebody said to you, be careful. Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure you want to poke the bear? Was the quote. And I don't know if that person was referring to anyone in particular. I certainly don't know if they were referring to Kevin Carell. But what do you know of his life in between his death last week and the death of Rachelle? What sort of person was he? And how do you feel about him now and about the fact that you have been stirring up a lot of trouble for whomever killed Rachelle?

[Ashley Hanson]

Yeah, look, I'd like to think that I certainly made whoever did it feel uncomfortable. The attention that we've given to her case and to the key suspect, Kevin Carell. I have no regrets about that. In. In terms of the man that. That warned me to not poke the bear and tread very carefully. That was a retired police officer who'd investigated Kevin over an attempted sexual assault at Darlinghurst. And the victim in that case miraculously escaped. She was incredible. She threw ornaments out of the window to raise the alarm during the attack. And whoever attacked her beat her up. And then she went to the police station with this officer. She was bruised and battered and sat in St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney. And later on, she went back and did. Went through mugshots just the same as the other victim I spoke to her about. And she picked out the mugshot of Kevin Cornwall, who's the man today that's known as Kevin Carell. And she went through court and he was acquitted. So there was this pattern and this repetition of him possibly escaping justice. I mean, he's always denied these allegations, but when you look at the facts and you look at society back then and you look at all the other things that he was accused of over the years, and certainly what we uncovered, a very, very dangerous man.

[Host]

But at the same time, you've already told us that he charmed Rachelle, that she thought of him as a father figure. That they. She thought they had a really positive relationship. So clearly, there were two very different sides of this guy. And he must have been able to present well when he was in court, when he was in front of police.

[Ashley Hanson]

Oh, for sure. And that's. That is actually in the intelligence report, the police intelligence report that I got ahold of. It said that he is a very good performer in front of a jury. He also was known as being very charismatic. He was a great dancer. He was funny. He was, to a lot of people, likable initially. But he did have this dark side. And his ex wife did an interview with us also on the podcast. She spoke out about him. She was with him for well around about 11 or 12 years. And she described it that he had a dark passenger. And it just gives you chills down your spine to think about the things that he said to her over the years and throughout her marriage. You know, she said that when she left him because of the emotional abuse, the physical abuse, she just had enough and she left him. And she said she was in such fear of her life that she went to America because she was walking outside her house, looking over her shoulder, thinking, is he gonna kill me? Is he just gonna pop out of the bushes and kill me? Because of the life that she and the relationship she had. She recalled him threatening to dismember her body, to kill her and chop up her body parts and bury her. Interestingly, in one threat, he said he was going to bury her at Jaroa, which is the same area where Rochelle's burning body was found. This is years before Rochelle was murdered. So we had a very close look at his connection to the south coast. He had a very strong connection down there. He used to travel that road, the Crooked River Road, almost well daily. He traveled that road four years because he lived at Warilla on the south, just south of Wollongong, and he worked at Naura. So there's all these. It's just such a volume of circumstantial evidence that connects him to Rochelle's murder. And there is a piece of hard evidence, and that is his mobile phone records. Because on the night of the murder, his alibi is that he left work and he went shopping at Campbelltown. But his phone pinged in another area. His phone pinged closer to Rochelle's home. His phone pinged around the Tamor area, which is on the way to Bargo, which is the last known place that Rochelle was. So that phone call in itself is very suspicious. Why did he lie about that phone call? It Wasn't only just that that phone call was made in another area over a mountain. So we got this digital phone data expert who's one of the world's leading digital experts to look at the case. And he examined that particular phone call because we had the mobile phone maps that show where his phone pinged at that particular time. And he looked at it and he said, impossible, because he did 3D modelling on a map and said back then, and used the technology of the mobile phone towers and their capabilities and said it was physically impossible for that call to be made at Campbelltown, where he says he was. So why was he l. Why was he at a really key and a really important time in the evening, you know, around the time that Rachelle disappeared? Why is he lying about where he was? And now we could prove that now in a court, we believe, because this mobile phone data expert said it was impossible, it was always known as a suspicious phone call. But because of the technology available today, he was able to apply that advanced technology to the mobile phone data. So we thought that that was a pretty big breakthrough in the case because it's the first time that you could actually, you know, 100% say that it was impossible, that part of his alibis stacked up. And also, interestingly, that phone call at 6:08 that he made was Rachelle's number, except for the last two digits that were switched around. And when he was initially interviewed by police, he said, oh, no, I didn't call her. And then he had to be reminded, well, actually, you did call her, or you attempted to call her, because it's 608. These are your mobile phone records. And then he said, oh, maybe I did. I don't know what I would have been calling her about. And the phone call connected to Queensland because, as I said, it wasn't her. It was a wrong, you know, a wrong number. It wasn't exactly her number, but what are the chances, right? I mean, it's her mobile number with the last two digits switched around. And this is back in the time when you would use your big brick and put in the number manually. Unless, because your contacts list was so low on mobile storage back then, that's what I'm told.

[Host]

And obviously police have spoken, I'm assuming, to whomever the call connected with.

[Ashley Hanson]

And yeah, they did an interview with him and he didn't know why he was receiving this call.

[Host]

Is there a working theory then now, about those lost nine hours? I know that in the beginning, the last known sighting of Rochelle was. And again, this is kind of an adorable story in a way. Rev head story that she flicked a cigarette butt out of her car and she happened to be spotted doing that by a local authority. So a ticket was issued for her at a certain time that night. Right. So that was the last sort of official sighting of Rochelle, is that right?

[Ashley Hanson]

Yeah, that's right. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to fill in those missing nine hours, and they're still just so critical to the case. And this is why it had gone unsolved for so long and remains unsolved, because we don't know, apart from that sighting of her car flicking that cigarette butt out the window, we don't know what happened to her over the next nine hours. We just know that it's believed that she made it home because there are indications that she got into the house and got changed because her work clothes were found in the laundry.

[Host]

She said to somebody that. She said that she was meeting somebody for a drink, but nobody knew or could remember who.

[Ashley Hanson]

Yeah, there's just a lot of conjecture about who she was going to meet. She never told anyone who she was going to meet. She just said that she was going to meet someone. She said to some people that she was going to the Bargo Hotel. But then there's a bit of confusion around that because there was this search on for her. And Kevin Carell initially said not. Not at the very beginning, but after maybe. I think it was maybe the second or the third phone call, then he told Rochelle's dad or one of the colleagues. He definitely told somebody at some point early on when she was missing that she'd gone to the Bardo Hotel. Now, that's interesting because that information came from him.

[Host]

Right. And the Bargo Hotel, as we said earlier, was the bikie bar. And not only that on a Thursday night, which this night was. It was topless waitress night.

[Ashley Hanson]

Right.

[Host]

So it was mainly men. So if you would think if she had made it inside there, she would have been noticed.

[Ashley Hanson]

That's right. And she never was. There was no one could verify that she'd been in. That she'd been in there that night. And it was such. She's such a distinctive person that you would. You would remember her. And as you say, she would have stood out because she was attractive. It was topless waitress night. It was full of men, basically. And there was another woman who happened to be the same age as her, but a similar appearance that was there. And she was identified. So there was a. There was also this mistaken identity sort of theory that came out of that because some people saw the photo of her because there were posters of her missing that Christy and friends put up. So people saw that photograph and then just reported that they'd seen her or they thought they'd seen her. And the barmaid also thought she'd seen her. But then this. This girl that looked very similar to her and happened to be the same age and was asked for ID was there that night. Like I say, so many red herrings. It's really hard to go back over a case and to remember, you know, I don't remember what I did last week, so it's so hard to remember. And your memories does funny things as well.

[Host]

And New South Wales police have said that mistakes were made in the early days of the investigation. But also investigating was different and more difficult in those days. They didn't have a lot of the resources that they have now. So incredible that they've been able to. And you've been able to apply some new technology and new ways of thinking to this very old case. But what can you tell us about Kevin Carell being in Thailand? What were the circumstances around that?

[Ashley Hanson]

Well, it's. Thailand's a place where he used to frequent because he just really liked the locals here and really liked coming over here. Phuket. He was known to frequent the red light district. This is where I am, not far from there at the moment, doing this interview. I mean, Phuket. Looking into and following up his death. Police have ruled that his death was a heart attack. He died of natural causes inside his hotel room in Patong, just a few hundred metres from the red light district of Phuket.

[Host]

Was he on holidays with anybody or.

[Ashley Hanson]

He was on holidays alone, but he was here meeting with the locals. I understand he may have had a relationship with one of the local women here. We don't know a lot about that. We just know that he was known in one of the bars on Bangla Road, which is the nightlife district of Phuket. It's the road where all the bars are full of all the lights and the loud music. It's really the sex capital of Phuket.

[Host]

It tracks, Ash. It tracks.

[Ashley Hanson]

Look, a lot of people would say it's. It's fitting, really, that he was found, you know, being helped and by home by two Thai women who had been at a bar with him earlier that night. And he'd complained of chest pain and they recall him looking just really unwell, so they suggested he go back to his hotel. They took him back to the hotel and they even were so concerned for him, they told the security guard and said, here's my number, were worried about Kevin and he then didn't show up for anything the next day. No one could get ahold of him. And his body was found at 10am on Friday 18th July. Post mortem has been conducted and the cause of his death was a cardiac arrest. So there are no suspicious circumstances around his death. But, you know, he could be anyone here. People here aren't aware of his background. They aren't aware that he was under investigation in Australia for murder. And that is why police, local Thai police, expedited his autopsy, because when they realised that he was a murder suspect in Australia, their jaws dropped and they expedited his post mortem just to. To be sure that there weren't any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

[Host]

We've heard the reaction of his own daughter, of course, earlier in the show, but what's been the reaction of Rochelle's family to his death?

[Ashley Hanson]

Look, they're just gutted because they believe that justice may not be possible now because they really wanted whoever was responsible for Rachelle's murder to be charged. And if it was Kevin Carell, that is the person that was responsible for Rachelle's murder, if it was him, and he was certainly the prime suspect, they'll never get their day in court. That will never happen. That is now gone. So they're gutted about that and they're devastated that this fight that they've been having for all of these years, since Rochelle was brutally murdered, they may never get justice now. So that's a really hard pill for them to swallow. It's another blow in this tragic, tragic case. But like I've said, we're going to continue to search for the truth. The police are still investigating. They reopened the case into Rochelle's murder back in January. They've said since Kevin Carell's death that they'll continue to investigate it. His death could spur on someone to come forward who had been living in fear. So you just don't know what information someone might hold out there and now feel more comfortable coming forward because there isn't a threat of a reprisal, because the man who possibly they were fearing Kevin Carell, and many people have feared him and throughout their lives, he's now dead. So that's a positive. But in terms of how they feel about his death, Christy has no sympathy for him whatsoever. She's sad for his family because she knew of Jaz through the podcast and grew to have a better understanding of his life and his victims and just the way he lived his life, which was basically, there was a long period of time where he was threatening and stalking women. We heard many accounts of really troubling relationships that he had with women. Incredibly misogynistic. So, yeah, they feel like they're not sad for him, but they're sad for his family. They're sad for Jaz, as I explained, very complex relationship that she had with her father. And she just hoped that she would get some sort of deathbed confession because in her heart she's always believed that her father was responsible for Rochelle's murder. So that for me as a journalist, I think that's a pretty big call when your own daughter believes that you're a killer.

[Host]

Thank you to Ashley Hanson. And for more background on this story, you can download Dear Rochelle, wherever you get your podcasts.

If you need support after listening to this podcast, you can call Lifeline on 131114 or contact 1-800-Respect on 1-800-737-732 or 1-800Respect.org au Indigenous Australians can contact 13 Yarn on 139276 or 13yarn.org au.

The producers of this podcast recognise the traditional owners of the land on which it's recorded.

[Ashley Hanson]

They pay respect to the Aboriginal elders.

[Host]

Past, present and those emerging.

Hey, it's Marc Maron from wtf here to let you know that this podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. And I'm sure the reason you're listening to this podcast right now is because you chose it well. Choose Progressives Name your price tool and you could find insurance options that fit your budget. So you can pick the best one for your situation. Who doesn't like choice? Try [e-mail] and now some legal info. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

[Ashley Hanson]

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[Host]

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