Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:01]
A
For early access and ad free episodes, check out our Patreon, Apple Premium and Spotify subscription memberships. Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers, for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. At around 1:45pm on Sunday, 10-21-20 in 2018, Marco Heidenreicher drove from his home in Warree Cairns to the coastal resort town of Port Douglas. Marco, who was in his late 20s, had grown up in Port Douglas and had made plans to catch up with his best friend there. The roughly hour long drive is a famously scenic one that showcases some of the striking natural beauty Far North Queensland is known for. It twists along the winding Captain Cook highway with stunning coastal views of the Coral sea on the right and lush rainforest to the left. The route is dotted with pretty beaches such as Palm Cove and Dallas beach that are favoured by tourists and locals alike. About two thirds of the way into his journey, Marco Heidenreich spotted a familiar vehicle as he passed Wongeti Beach, a four kilometre long stretch of coastline tucked behind a dense thicket of trees and forests. Parked in the beach's southern car park was a pale blue 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer that belonged to Marco's 24 year old girlfriend, Toyah Cordingley. Marco knew Toyah had been planning to walk her dog Indy at Wangetti beach that afternoon as she'd left their shared home just 15 minutes before he had. Marco and Toyah were both dog lovers, having met while volunteering at an animal shelter in 2016. They lived together in Cairns and had three dogs between them. Marco stopped at a petrol station and picked up a six pack of beer in a Port Douglas bottle shop before collecting his longtime friend Joel Cuman. The two drove about 13 kilometres south to the Mowbray Valley. The slightly inland area was known for its rainforest hikes and waterfalls. Marco, Joel and Marco's two pet dogs, Jersey and Bentley, set off on a hike to Spring Creek Falls, a secluded yet popular local swimming spot. In the late afternoon, as they made their way to the bottom of the falls, Marco heard a sudden yelp. Looking around, he realised his dog Jersey, a red heeler, had vanished. It appeared that she had caught sight of a scrub turkey or some other animal and disappeared into the rainforest in pursuit of it. Marco called for the dog but she didn't return. Marco and Joel began looking for Jersey without Any luck? Daylight began to fade and it soon grew dark. But the two didn't want to stop searching. At around 7pm they visited two different friends homes to borrow some torches before heading back out to the falls in search of the missing dog. Extremely distraught by his dog's disappearance, Marco tried calling his girlfriend Toyah at 7:04pm to let her know. But Toyah didn't answer her phone. In fact, the phone didn't even ring. It just went straight to voicemail. Marco tried calling her nine more times with all of his calls going unanswered. At around 9pm Marco and Joel gave up the search for Jersey and returned to the Port Douglas home of their friend Toby Petrarch, who'd lent them one of the torches. They sat around and drank a beer with Marco visibly unsettled. As well as being concerned over Jersey's disappearance, he was upset and frustrated about not hearing from Toyah. A little while later, Marco got back in his car to drive home to Cairns. As Marco drove by Wongeti Beach's southern car park for the second time that day, he noticed something alarming. Parked in the same spot as it had been roughly seven hours earlier was the Mitsubishi Lancer that belonged to Toya. Marco Heidenreich pulled over to take a closer look. There were a few other vehicles also parked nearby including a camper van and three four wheel drives. Marco approached Toyah's car. Its doors were unlocked. Toyah wasn't inside and nor was her dog Indi. Marco ran down to the beach and raced along the sand screaming Toyah's name as he went. The wide expanse of white sand was framed by the coral sea to one side and dense marshy scrubland to the other. Mountains covered in rainforests loomed in the background. After searching for about a kilometre north of the car park, Marco called his friend Toby, whose home he'd just left and told him what he'd found. Toby told Marco to call the police. Marco called 000 to report his girlfriend missing while Toby, his brother Max and their friend Joel Cuman hurried to Wongeti beach to help Marco look for Toyah. The four young men searched the car park and the beach in the dark for about 45 minutes until police arrived at the scene and advised them to go home. The police had canvassed the parking area and taken a look around, but there was little that could be done until the sun rose. By this point Toyah's family had also been advised that her car was found at Wongeti beach with no sign of Toyah. After Marco returned to the empty wore home he and Toyah shared. Her father, Troy Cordingley, pulled up on his motorcycle. He spoke briefly to Marco to find out more about the situation before making his way to Wongetti beach to look for his daughter. Toyah's mother, Vanessa Gardiner, who was separated from Troy, was woken in the early morning hours by her 18 year old son Jack, who told her his sister was missing. The two of them hurried to Wongetty beach as well, arriving at around 3am Toyah's three family members called out for their daughter and sister in vain, but could do little until first light. They sat anxiously on a picnic bench waiting for the sun to come up. By 5:30am There was enough light to search again. Troy headed south along the beach while Vanessa went north. Both called loudly for Toyah but were met with total silence. Vanessa made her way to some small sand dunes where she knew Toyah had previously buried a pet cat. Vanessa knew Toyah sometimes went to Wongeti beach to visit her beloved pet. As Vanessa walked along the sand searching for her daughter, she turned to look into some nearby shrubs. Peering into the bushes, she noticed Toyah's dog, Indi, tied to a tree. Indi, a Tibetan Mastiff Husky cross, was standing silently. She didn't so much as bark upon seeing Vanessa. Half expecting to see her daughter curled up asleep on the ground next to her beloved dog, Vanessa rushed over. Maybe Toyah had just needed some space and time to herself, away from it all. But upon reaching Indy, Vanessa realised something far more sinister had happened. Toyah was nowhere to be found and Indi had been left in a way that Toyah wouldn't dream of. Her leash had been tied so tightly to a tree that the dog was incapable of sitting down and was knotted so firmly in a double granny knot that Vanessa couldn't free. Her heart sinking, Vanessa knew something terrible must have happened to her daughter. She called for Troy's help and he rushed over, managing to untie Indy. Although the dog seemed happy to see people she knew, she remained strangely quiet. Holding the end of Indy's leash, Vanessa let the dog lead the way, hoping she might take them to Toyah. But Indy only led them deeper into the scrub. Toyah's brother Jack marked the spot where Indy had been tied up, then continued looking for his sister alongside his mother. When Vanessa's phone battery began to run out, Jack drove her home to charge it. They were met there by police officers and state emergency service volunteer searchers. Jack returned to Wangidi beach with a uniformed officer to show them where Indy had been located. The beach was now swarming with police officers and volunteer searchers, and a rescue helicopter flew overhead looking for Toyah from the skies. Meanwhile, Toyah's boyfriend Marco had driven back to the beach as well to keep searching for his partner. He joined Troy Cordingly in traipsing up and down the beach, calling Toyah's name. At one point, Troy asked Marco outright if he'd had anything to do with Toyah's disappearance. Don't fuck around. Yes or no? Troi asked. I'm upset and I have to ask. No, this isn't my fault, marco replied. At one point, the two men noticed a hat half buried in the sand by the water's edge. It was emblazoned with the words Tasmanian Wilderness, and they instantly recognised it as belonging to Toyah. At this point, Marco agreed to go back to the police station to answer some questions. He took Indy with him and she was placed in some dog squad pens while Marco spoke to detectives. Meanwhile, Troy kept scouring the beach, more than a kilometre from where Toyah's car was parked and in a particularly secluded stretch of sand. Cairns has a tropical savannah climate, characterised by warm to hot temperatures, and although it was still early in the morning, it was beginning to heat up. Seeking some respite from the sun, Troy Cordingly decided to rest under a tree for a little bit before continuing his search. As he paused in the shade about 30 metres away from where Indy had been found, he noticed an unusual formation of sand nearby on the edge of the scrub. It looked unnatural and out of place, slightly raised above the surrounding sand. Kneeling down, Troy scooped some of it away. After scooping away about three handfuls of sand, his hand knocked against something just visible. Where he'd brushed at the mound was a human foot. Reeling back in horror, Troy cried out, oh, God. And called for help. Police Officer Dale Jepson heard Troy's cries and rushed over. Upon seeing Toyah lying in the shallow makeshift grave, Officer Jepson touched her body and discovered that the young woman was dead. He waved his hands at the rescue helicopter above, letting them know that Toyah had been found. Troy Cordingly collapsed and had to be carried away from the area. Police officers photographed and documented the crime scene. Pictures were taken of the mound before Toyah was removed from it. Three logs and some bark lay near the base of the gravesite, and a stick had been partially pushed into the mound of sand that covered Toya. Visible at the base of the mound was a set of toes pointing towards the water. A crime scene was established and forensic investigators carefully and slowly excavated Toyah's body, sieving the sand that had been used to conceal her in case it contained any evidence. Toyah was wearing a white bikini with a floral pattern. The top was heavily stained with blood. Her throat had been slashed four times and she'd been stabbed 26 times. Most of the wounds were to her left torso, with some penetrating her heart, lungs and kidney. Toyah's fingers, hands and left forearm bore defensive wounds from her fighting back against her killer. And several light brown strands of hair were found in one of her hands. It had been a particularly brutal, violent and vicious attack, most likely inflicted with a knife. It hadn't necessarily been a particularly large weapon, and Toyah's wounds didn't indicate that the knife was serrated. An examination of Toyah's body indicated that she hadn't been sexually assaulted. The only other items in the vicinity were an orange glow stick, which wasn't confirmed to be related to the crime, and a selfie stick owned by Toyah. None of Toyah's other belongings, such as her phone, clothes or a beach towel, were recovered from the scene. A number of bloodstains were identified in locations surrounding the burial site, including a large patch of blood about eight metres away. There were no marks to indicate that Toyah's body had been dragged across the sand. A more extensive search of the beach led to police finding two knives, though neither had any blood on them or was a positive match for the murder weapon. News of Troy's heartbreaking discovery spread quickly. Toyah's brother Jack learned that his sister had been found while he was down at the beach. He ran back up to the car park where his mother, Vanessa, had returned after charging her phone, shaking his head and saying, she's gone. Vanessa later told 60 Minutes Australia that time kind of stopped in that moment and she was overcome with absolute horror. It was unbelievable. I didn't want to. I didn't want to. I couldn't think anything foreign. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. As the police investigation began, officers looked into what Toi accordingly had been doing the previous day of Sunday, October 21. It had been an ordinary Sunday for the 24 year old. She spent the morning at her home in the suburb of Worree that she shared with Marco Heidenreich. The couple did some gardening together and pottered around the house before Toyah left in the late morning to drive about seven kilometres to the city centre of Cairns. There she went grocery shopping at a popular Cairns institution called Rusty's Market. CCTV cameras captured her there at around midday, clutching a large striped shopping bag to her chest with both hands. Her long dyed blonde hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she wore shorts and a light coloured crocheted singlet top over the top of her white floral bikini. Toyah shopped there for about half an hour. After Toyah had finished shopping, she went back home and told Marco she planned to take her dog Indy for a walk. She left with Indy at about 1:30pm driving roughly 45 minutes north to Wongeti beach, which was ideal for dog walking while it lay beside a busy highway and there was a scenic lookout spot near the northern car park where tourists often stopped to take photos. Wongetty beach itself was quieter and more secluded than some of the region's more famous beaches. Toyah could let Indy run around there off leash. Although Toyah's phone was missing, its records confirmed that she had arrived at Wongiti beach at around 2:15pm that day. She parked in the southern car park and took Indy down to the sand. At some point during her walk, Toyah had encountered her killer while Wongeti beach was quiet, it wasn't isolated and the murder had likely taken place in broad daylight, with experts estimating she was killed between 3:30 and 6:30pm it was most likely towards the earlier end of that time frame because Toyah's phone was recorded pinging off various cell towers from 4:51pm on, suggesting her killer left Wonkati beach with the device. Her killer had also buried her in a spot that was somewhat exposed, making the killing even more brazen. There was nothing to suggest that Toyah had difficulties with anyone in her life. She was spoken about by friends and family as a warm, loving person who went out of her way to be kind to others. She was generous, affectionate and cared deeply about the well being of her family and friends. Toyah worked at a combined pharmacy and health food store and was well liked by both colleagues and customers. On her Facebook page she frequently shared posts about issues that were significant to her, such as the importance of kindness and the crisis of male violence against women. Toyah was also a fierce environmentalist and animal advocate who had rescued injured birds, possums and even a baby python. Just three days before her murder, Toyah posted a meme to her Facebook page that read, I may seem like a nice person but if you mess with my dogs, I will break out a level of crazy that will make your nightmares seem like a happy place. Toyah captioned the post with the words believe it. In her spare time, she volunteered at Paws and Claws Animal Shelter in Port Douglas, which was where she'd met her partner, Marco. When news broke that Toyah had been found, Marco was at the police station speaking to detectives. At around 9am, Marco was told that his girlfriend had been murdered. He grew upset that he wasn't told earlier and that others had found out what happened to Toyah before he did. He also expressed concern about how he was going to pay his rent without Toyah. How does it work with the government? Do I get any help from them? He asked. It's fucked. She does so much for me. Marco also told a detective that his stepfather was a retired Cairns police sergeant named Andrew Lerz. Detective Sergeant Andrew Worth expressed familiarity with Lers, referring to him by his nickname of Lurzi, though he would later say he didn't know him well. Detectives discovered that although Marco had been upset the previous evening about being unable to reach Toyah all afternoon, she had actually sent him a text message at 3:17pm Marco said he hadn't seen the message until he realised Toyah's car was still parked at the Wangiti beach car park and he began looking for her in the darkness. He couldn't explain why he hadn't noticed the unread text while trying to call Toyah a total of 17 times earlier that night. As the victim's boyfriend, Marco became the natural first person of interest for investigators. He was released that morning, but in the days that followed, his phone and car were seized for forensic examination. Marco cooperated with these procedures and allowed his mouth to be swabbed for DNA. In a follow up visit to his home, police photographed Marco's body. They noticed a small cut on his foot that he said he'd obtained while searching for his missing dog, Jersey, at Spring Creek Falls. Police offered to help look for Jersey, who was later found by backpackers two days after she disappeared, healthy but with damaged paw pads. The shirt Marco had been wearing was tested for blood and returned a positive result from three small stains on the inside back. There was also a small fingernail sized mark on the front part of the shirt's neck, but nothing was recovered from his vehicle. Ultimately, Marco was cleared due to having an alibi. His friend Joel Kuman, whom Marco had been walking with that day, had taken a total of eight photographs during the pair's hike. These were timestamped between 3.41pm and 5.09pm and placed Marco 19km from the location where Toyah was murdered. It would have taken him 30 minutes to drive from there to Wangiti Beach. A police digital forensics analyst subsequently spent hundreds of hours studying the photos to ensure that their timestamps and geolocation data hadn't been manipulated or altered. Ruling Marco out as a suspect, investigators turned to the final text message he'd been sent by Toyah, which contained an interesting clue. It read, I forgot that I'm picking up my friend from the airport tonight. I think it's around 7 or 8, just so you know. She signed off with a heart emoji. The friend Toyah had been planning to pick up was someone Marco didn't know, a young man in his mid-20s named Tyson Franklin. Tyson was a podiatrist who Toyah had only met a few weeks before, in early October, after she went to his office for an appointment. Although Toyah was seeing Tyson as a client, the pair hit it off right away and bonded over their love of the Harry Potter book series. They took a Harry Potter quiz together and exchanged phone numbers, saving each other in their contacts as Gryffindor and Slytherin. Toyah's phone records revealed that she and Tyson had exchanged hundreds of texts over the next few weeks. One day, they went together to a local waterfall while Marco was away in Melbourne. After that trip, some of their text messages took on a more intimate tone. One big thing about all this is I've never met someone and instantly connected, Toyah wrote. I have to build that connection over time. But when I met you, I got a feeling straight away. Tyson texted Toyah a brazen question, asking, I know what you're like in person, out and about, chilling, talking, but what do you like in the bedroom? Toyah admitted to difficulties in her relationship, writing of Marco, he's an angry person, not at me, just at the world, which I totally get. But often when I come home, I'm feeling calm and then I get those emotions projected onto me. Toyah told Tyson that she wanted to move out into her own place, though she wasn't sure if she could manage it financially. While Marco was still away, Tyson spent the night of Sunday, October 14, with Toyah on her couch, exactly one week before she was murdered. Afterwards, Toyah messaged Tyson to say, honestly sorry, the timing isn't right and we can't take things further right now, but I still want you in my life. Marco returned from his interstate trip and seemed to notice A change in Toyah. Three days before her murder, she wrote to Tyson. He said that I seemed different and asked if I was still happy because he was scared of losing me and me finding someone else. I was just trying to be myself, but he could tell something was off about me. When Tyson went out of town soon after this, Toyah had agreed to pick him up from Cairns Airport on the evening of Sunday, October 21, but she'd never made it there. Her phone records revealed that Tyson had tried calling Toyah several times after landing. CCTV from the airport confirmed that Tyson had disembarked from his plane and walked out of Cairns Airport after Toyah failed to pick him up. He'd gone to the Uber pickup area to arrange a lift home. When police contacted Tyson to interview him about his relationship with Toyah, he was able to provide an Uber receipt for the journey. Tyson confirmed that he'd engaged in a flirtation with Toyah and said the pair had chemistry. According to Tyson, Toyah was unhappy in her romantic relationship. Detectives ultimately ruled out Tyson Franklin as a suspect in Toyah's murder. But while examining his electronic devices, they discovered some disturbing information. He had searched several times for news articles about the investigation and prosecution of offenders who had sexually abused children. He'd also searched for child sexual abuse material, or csam. During a police interview the following month, Tyson conceded that he had accessed csam. He explained that he was attracted to petite females and that attraction had cascaded, leading to him looking for images of underage girls. He screenshotted pictures that he'd found, then later deleted them to cover his tracks. In total, he had accessed CSAM more than 2200 times. Some of the material was described as being extremely disturbing and included acts of sadism towards young boys and even a baby. Tyson also admitted to talking about rape fantasies online and accessing rape and murder porn on a website where people anonymously shared such content. Tyson told investigators he couldn't control his impulse to seek out this material and he actively avoided children as a result. A clinical psychologist diagnosed Tyson Franklin with paedophilic disorder. He was ultimately charged and pleaded guilty to one count of accessing CSAM via a carriage service and one count of knowingly possessing child exploitation material. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but released on a two year, $1,000 good behaviour bond, with a conviction recorded. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal also disqualified him from applying for registration as a registered health practitioner for a period of four years, With the two men closest to Toyah dismissed as suspects in her murder. Detectives needed to cast a broader net. They appealed to the public for help, asking for anyone who had seen or spoken to Toyah on the day of her murder or noticed anything suspicious to come forward. They were particularly keen to track down those who might have noticed her shopping at Rusty's Markets or at Wongeti Beach. Women who'd had any disturbing interactions with strange men over the past two years were also encouraged to report them. They had a huge response. Cairns and the surrounding communities had been left utterly shaken and devastated by Toyah's murder. The region wasn't known for violent crimes, although it attracted domestic and international tourists alike. Locals enjoyed a relaxed lifestyle, a close knit community and a slower pace compared to Australia's big cities. Beaches were a huge part of the local culture and the idea that a young woman had been brutally murdered at one while doing something, as every day as walking her dog was difficult to comprehend. Women felt their sense of safety shattered. Even those who'd previously felt protected because they had big dogs were nervous. Toyah had been killed despite having her large Tibetan Mastiff Husky cross with her. But there was an ugly side to the natural beauty that epitomised Wongiti Beach. Some people reported to the Cairns Post newspaper that men were known to lurk in the sand dunes there, masturbating. The large size of the beach and its relative seclusion seemed to embolden those engaging in this predatory behavior. Locals called crime stoppers to share things they'd seen, tip offs and Suspicions. With roughly 1400 reports being made, police also took hundreds of witness statements. Amongst those they spoke to were eight people who'd been at Whangeti beach on October 21, 2018. These individuals had been at both the southern and northern car parks and reported seeing dozens of people coming and going on the day in question. They were of varying ages and appearances. Some had dogs with them and others didn't. An indigenous woman who parked in the northern car park at around 2pm Said she'd seen a man sitting nearby staring at her. Thinking the man was also indigenous, she said hello to him before realising he was actually of Indian heritage. His intense gaze made her uncomfortable. The woman's then partner, who'd seen the man as well, disputed her description of him, saying the man was actually Caucasian. Another couple, who'd made a day trip to Wongeti from Kuranda, said they saw a slim, fair haired young woman carrying a beach bag and walking a large unleashed dog. After seeing news reports about Toyah's murder, they recognized her as the woman they'd seen about 10 minutes after seeing her, they noticed a stocky man who looked to be in his 40s staring at them. He had tanned skin and dark hair. What stood out most about him were the beige trousers he was wearing, which seemed like odd attire for a hot beach. The man stared at the couple for several minutes and the husband considered approaching him if he didn't stop. Eventually, the man turned away. A man who stopped in the southern car park for a drink of water saw a young woman wearing a top with holes in it similar to the crocheted top Toyah had worn earlier that day being watched by a man with shoulder length dark hair. Another person said he'd noticed a man with a large professional looking camera emerge from some bushes sometime between 4 and 5pm A 47 year old Tyler named Evan contacted Crimestoppers to say that he'd seen a suspicious person in a high vis shirt walking out of some bushes at Wangetti beach earlier that month, but it later emerged that he'd been prompted to call after a troubling conversation with his ex wife. She read an article in the Cairns Post about a public masturbator being photographed at Wonkiti beach and became concerned that that the article might refer to Evan. She knew he was a nudist who visited the beach sometimes and had previously left a note with his number on it on the windscreen of a female nudist. She told the police that Evan experienced deep depressions where he is dangerous and had a real dislike of women. Three days prior to Toyah's murder, Evan had told his ex in a text message that he needed to go pigging to kill something. Pigging refers to hunting feral pigs, which are a significant pest in Far North Queensland. Evan had been known to go picking at Wongetty beach, which had a scrubby area where hunters could find feral pigs. He also had a history of violence. Evan's ex subsequently warned Evan that he might become a suspect in Toyah's murder, which prompted him to contact Crime Stoppers. He admitted to sometimes visiting Wongeti nude, but said he'd never masturbated there or spied on women from the dunes. He'd been going through a difficult period and was seeing a psychologist for depression. He also said he didn't like people in general. Rather than having a particular dislike for women, Evan said he hadn't gone pigging at Wangetti beach on Sunday, October 21st. He'd been at his mother's home with his children between 1 and 5pm that day. Investigators tracked Evan's movements through traffic Camera images which placed him travelling north from Cairns in his red Land Cruiser to a nearby shopping centre. At 5.20pm, he withdrew money from an ATM, then headed back to Cairns. At no point that day was his vehicle captured travelling towards Wongeti Beach. Investigators ultimately ruled him out as a suspect. Police door knocked throughout the area and requested DNA swabs from those who lived near the beach. They had managed to obtain some DNA evidence from the crime scene, including from underneath Toyah's fingernails. They didn't test the hairs found in Toyah's hand, as police believed those were hers. But they found an unknown male profile on the stick partially pushed into the burial site, as well as a different male profile on the selfie stick recovered near the scene. They were hoping to find a match to one or all of these. Many locals willingly provided samples, but no matches were found. Indy's leash and collar were also tested. Marco Heidenreich's DNA was found on Indy's leash, but as he regularly handled the dog, this was not treated as significant evidence. Others submitted knives for forensic analysis, including a professional fisherman who handed in over 15. He'd been walking through a creek not too far from Wongeti and said he carried a large knife on him in case he encountered a saltwater crocodile. He'd recently seen one there that was three metres long. None of the knives handed over were found to be connected to the crime. Detectives hoped that technology might hold the key to solving Toyah's murder. In the age of smartphones, dash cams and CCTV cameras, it seemed likely that Toyah's killer might have left a digital trace, even if no one had seen him physically. Toyah's phone hadn't been recovered, but its records indicated that the killer had fled the scene with it. Between 4.51pm and 5.17pm, it pinged off several different cell towers some distance from Wongeti Beach. First, it was recorded near Buckham Point in Palm Cove, 14 kilometres south of Wongeti Beach. It continued south, next hitting a tower in Kawara beach, eight kilometres from Palm Cove, and then a third one in Smithfield, another five and a half kilometres away. It didn't hit any further towers after that, suggesting the battery had died. This gave investigators a general route that the killer had likely taken after leaving Wonkati Beach. And along that route, police identified 32 video cameras that might have captured crucial information. These were a mix of public, business and residential cameras. In early November, detectives received more detailed phone data called timing advance, giving them an estimated distance and direction that Toyah's phone was from the towers when it pinged them. The phone appeared to be moving at traffic speed, meaning that the driver who had it in their car was more or less following the speed limit. Using the timing advance information, detectives were able to hone in on a five minute window just after 5pm at a particular intersection in Clifton beach, just south of Palm Cove that the killer's car would have driven through with Toyah's phone. Inside this intersection was a choke point with two traffic cameras that captured footage of every vehicle travelling south. Police identified 219 vehicles of interest that passed through the intersection. They narrowed this down to 70 after conducting five timed runs through the choke point. Pictures of these 70 vehicles were made public and their drivers were urged to come forward. Roughly half of them did and were eliminated from the investigation. That left the other half. Police followed up on the mystery vehicles by checking other traffic cameras to see where they went next. Most ended up taking routes that didn't match the one taken by Toyah's phone. These too were ruled out of the investigation. The field narrowed until detectives came across car 60, a distinctive blue Alfa Romeo 156 that matched both the route and the data times of Toyah's phone. When they did a registration search for that make and model of car in North Queensland, they found only three matches. Two owners were quickly ruled out, but the third caught the detective's attention. Car number 60 was a blue Alfa Romeo registered to an address in the town of Innisfail, roughly 87 kilometres southeast of Cairns and a two hour drive from Wongeti Beach. The car's owner was a 34 year old man named Rajwinder Singh, who resided with his wife, Sukhdeep Kaur and their children. Born in 1984 in the village of Bhutt Kalan in the Punjab region of India, Singh had migrated to Australia with his wife in 2009, not long after the two met in an arranged marriage. The newlyweds stayed with Sukdeep's sister for a time before settling in Innisfail, a rural area of Far North Queensland. They'd worked hard to get by. Sukhdeep, who spoke little English, picked bananas while Singh studied horticulture before switching to nursing. In 2012, he began working as a nurse at Innisfail Hospital and had been employed there ever since. Singh eventually became an Australian citizen and had three children with Sukhdeep, two girls and a boy. His parents later travelled to Australia as well to live with their son's family. They were all members of The Sikh faith. Initiated Sikhs are required to carry a ceremonial knife, known as a kirpan, on their person as a symbolism of spiritual honour and a duty to defend the oppressed. But this was not a practice Rajwinder Singh was known to do. Detectives were able to obtain CCTV footage of Singh's Alfa Romeo from earlier on October 21, essentially allowing them to piece together Singh's movements that day. At 10 o' clock that morning, he'd driven his father to the Sikh temple in Innisfail and dropped him off there. Rajwinder Singh then drove an hour north to Cairns along the Bruce highway, arriving at the Cairns Central Shopping Centre in the CBD at around midday. This shopping centre was just one block from Rusty's Markets, where Toy accordingly was captured on CCTV at around the same time. But there was nothing to indicate she had encountered Singh there. Cameras inside the shopping centre showed Rajwinter Singh wandering around somewhat aimlessly. He wore beige coloured shorts, a pale blue polo shirt and sandals. The 34 year old was stocky, with a prominent belly, closely cropped dark hair and a stubble on his face. He sat in the food court for a while eating a meal. He was also captured at one point leaning over some railing, gazing at those around him, seemingly people watching. Singh left the shopping centre at around 12.40pm, his blue Alfa Romeo captured leaving the complex. Traffic cameras captured it driving through the Cairns cbd, then heading north on the Captain Cook highway in the direction of Wongetty beach just before 1.30pm the car then went unsighted for several hours until 5.04pm, when it was filmed driving south back towards Cairns. Interestingly, it soon detoured from the most direct and obvious route south. At 5:19pm, two minutes after Toyah Cordingley's phone made its final ping to the phone tower in Smithfield. Singh's car was filmed making a detour to Lake Placid, about six kilometres south. Then it turned around about a minute later. Instead of turning right at a turn off for Innisfail, the car continued on to the Cairns City pound, which was near another body of water. After that it continued south via the inland suburbs of Caravonica and Gordonvale, being captured on CCTV cameras there. It was filmed in GordonVale at around 6pm before going unsighted for almost two hours. At 7:46pm it arrived in Innisfail. But instead of returning to Singh's home on Seymour street, it headed west towards the headland of Flying Fish Point. Almost an hour later, Singh's car finally went Back home, detectives found this highly suspicious. CCTV footage had Singh seemingly at a loose end. On the day Toyah Cordingley was murdered. He'd driven to Cairns and then in the direction of Wongeti beach before heading back via an unusual route. After the window when Toyah had been killed, her phone had travelled in conjunction with his movements until abruptly cutting off after he'd detoured to a waterway. As for Rajwinder Singh's phone, detectives noted something else they found curious. There was a seven hour gap in its records between 1:16pm and 8:15pm that day, suggesting it had been switched off, turned to flight mode or had a flat battery. Roughly three weeks into their investigation, detectives now had a person of interest who they were very keen to speak to. But there was just one problem. Rajwinder Singh was long gone. According to Singh's wife, Sukhdeep Kaur, they had been having marital problems for a while. They'd been sleeping separately for some time, with Singh having his own room while Sukdeep shared with the couple's baby. She said this was due to their different schedules. Singh did shift work at the hospital while Sukdeep was caring for an infant. But in early 2018, Singh moved out and went to stay with a cousin. This left Sukdeep distraught. She visited the cousin's home and begged her husband to return. He did after about 10 days, only to later express the desire for a divorce midway through the year. Sukdeep did not want this. Divorce was frowned upon in their culture and she felt it would bring shame to both of their families. When Singh's parents learnt that their son wanted to leave his wife, they discouraged him from filing for a divorce. On Sunday, October 21, 2018, Sukhdeep went to bed at around 8.30pm she didn't hear her husband come home before falling asleep. The following morning, Singh abruptly told Sukdeep that he was going away and would be back tomorrow as it was school holidays. Sukteep asked if she and their children could join him. No, Singh replied. He left without saying where he was going. That same morning, a man by the name of Rajkaran Singh was shopping at Bunnings, an Australian hardware and garden centre chain, when his phone rang. It was his friend, Rajwinder Singh. No relation. The two men had met at a wedding in India before they both moved to Australia and struck up a friendship. Rajkaran answered the phone and Singh asked him for a favour. Could he give him a lift to the airport that day? He had to fly to Sydney to visit his sister. Rajkaran agreed and Singh arrived at his home in the Cairns suburb of Red lynch later that day. He appeared to be in a rush, asking Rajkaran right away, I'm late. Can you drop me to the airport? But Rajgaran's parents were home and insisted that Singh sit down for a cup of tea with them before leaving. Singh drank his tea quickly, appearing highly stressed. Then he and Rajkaran headed to the airport. Singh also asked Rajkaran if he could leave his blue Alfa Romeo at his house while he was gone, which Rajkaran agreed to. As they drove, Singh seemed to be scrolling on his phone as though looking for something. Rajkaran couldn't see the phone's screen. He asked his friend, are you okay? You're looking very stressed. Rajkaran knew that Singh's sister had recently gotten married and he wondered whether something was wrong with her that required Singh to rush off so quickly. Singh replied that everything was fine and he would explain the situation when he returned. He sounded so firm that Rajkaran didn't push the matter further. He dropped Singh at the airport and agreed to collect him when he returned. Singh said that date could change, but he expected to be home within four to five days. When Rajkaran returned home, he moved Singh's Alfa Romeo from the driveway to the street outside the house. He expected to hear from Singh soon, as Rajkaram was applying to be in the army reserves and had listed Singh as a referee. But days went by with no word from Singh. Rajkaran reached out to Singh's wife, Sukdeep to see what was going on, only to be informed that Sukdeep had reported her husband missing to the police two days after he left. He hadn't said goodbye to his parents or given them any clue as to where he had gone. Nobody had heard from him since his hasty departure. This included his workplace. Rajwinder Singh had been rostered to work an early morning shift on Monday, October 22, as well as other shifts in the days that followed. He never showed up for these and no one at Innisfail Hospital heard from him until Monday, October 29th. That day he left a strange and disjointed voicemail message on the phone of Lesley Harris, the hospital's director, Director of Nursing and Midwifery. Singh told Ms. Harris that he was resigning, stating, sorry about all of this but still recovering from all that stressful thing. So there is no way I am coming back to my family or Innisfail or work in the near future, Singh's wife and children were dependent on his income, yet he made no financial provisions for them and pocketed his severance pay for himself. Detectives checked travel and immigration records to find out where Singh had gone. As he told his friend Rajkaran, he had flown to Sydney at 5.05pm on Monday, October 22, and went to see his sister. But he hadn't stopped there. After spending one night at his sister's home, he went to Sydney airport on Tuesday, October 23, where he was captured by CCTV cameras and boarded an Air India flight to Delhi at 10.45am Singh had told his sister he was travelling to India for a few days, but didn't say why. Indian records confirmed that he had arrived in Delhi, but there was no trace of him after leaving the airport. Tracing the ticket he'd purchased to a travel agent, detectives were able to obtain a recording of the phone conversation between Singh and the agent. He'd called the Travel agent at 11am on the morning he left, saying he wanted the earliest flight possible from Cairns to Delhi. I just wander one way because my grandfather is really sick. Singh claimed this was in fact false and his grandfather was not unwell. None of Singh's relatives in India had heard from him and he hadn't returned to the village he was from. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Detective Superintendent Murray Taylor worked for the Australian Federal Police, or afp, at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi. His role involved liaising and working with Indian law enforcement on matters relating to Australians in the country. Country In November 2018, Detective Murray was informed that Queensland police needed to track down the location of an Indian national who had fled Cairns weeks earlier. Detective Murray reached out to several agencies, from India's national policing Agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, to offices based in the Punjab region in the north of the country where Singh was from. None of them had any luck locating Singh. Unable to arrest or speak to their main person of interest, Queensland detectives got on with their investigation. On Saturday, November 10, they went to Singh's home in search of a potential murder weapon. Bloodied clothes, traces of Toyah Cordingley's DNA or other items that could be linked to the crime. Knives were taken and tested, but none were found to have been used in the murder. The police found nothing connected to Toyah or the crime, but they did Obtain samples of Singh's DNA to compare to those recovered from the crime scene. The profile found on the stick that was protruding from Toyah's burial site was a match, being 3.7 billion times more likely to have come from Rajwinder Singh than from any other person. Statistically, this meant that only two or three people in the entire world would have the same profile. Those odds made it a certainty that the DNA on the stick was Singh's. DNA found on some bark recovered from the scene was 42 million times more likely to have come from Singh than any other person. The DNA recovered from Toyah Cordingley's fingernails was a mixture mixed profile that contained multiple contributors. A sample taken from the top of Tuyah's left hand featured Toyah's DNA and that of an unknown person. The unknown DNA was 26 times more likely to belong to Singh than a random member of the population. But this likelihood ratio was so low that it was considered meaningless. Singh's DNA was not found on Indy's leash or collar. Police seized Rajwinder Singh's car for forensic testing. It didn't appear to have been recently washed. Both front floor mats were missing from the vehicle by the time it came into the police's possession, and these were never found. Sand was found scattered throughout its interior, including the driver's area, the rear floor area and the centre console. No blood or DNA belonging to TOI accordingly was recovered from the vehicle. But the Alfa Romeo proved useful in other ways. Investigators used it to perform a reenactment, which they could then compare to the CCTV camera footage from the day Toyah was murdered. They also visited some of the sites it appeared Rajwinder Singh had visited on his circuitous drive home on the day in question. Detectives were particularly interested in the bodies of water Singh had potentially stopped at. They'd never recovered Toyah's phone, wallet or items of clothing. And they wondered if Singh had disposed of these items while travelling home. On Monday, November 19, police divers went to Lake Placid, one of Singh's first stops, and Moody Creek in nearby Bungalow. Part of the former was searched, but divers weren't able to do as thorough a search as they would have liked due to the size of the lake and the number of saltwater crocodiles that resided there. A sharpshooter armed with a high powered rifle kept a lookout for crocs from the creek's banks as the latter was searched. Nothing belonging to Toyah was recover. While detectives were building a case against Rajwinder Singh, members of the public held a vigil for Toyah and continued to grieve her senseless murder while worrying that her killer was still on the loose. In early December 2018, roughly seven weeks into the investigation, word leaked to the media that police had identified an Indian national as their lead suspect. Rajwinder Singh was not named in these reports, but it was shared that the suspect was no longer in the country. Although police refused to comment on the story and said that the leak had the potential to jeopardise their investigation, this news was another blow to the people of Cairns and its surrounding towns. The idea that the killer might have escaped justice for such a brutal crime increased public anger and galvanised the community. Three weeks after Toyah's murder, 200 residents visited Wongeti beach in a statement against the violence that had taken Toyah's life. They carried flowers and linked arms in a human chain along the sand in a symbolic display of strength and community. A smoking ceremony was held, an indigenous cultural practice involving the burning of native plants to cleanse, purify and protect the community. As roses, lilies and sunflowers were cast into the water, some used small stones to spell out Toya's name on the sand, then framed it with a variety of flowers. A makeshift memorial also sprung up along the roadside near where Toyah's car had been parked. But the community didn't just memorialise Toyah. They began to advocate for justice in her name. Knowing that the lead suspect in the case had fled the country, Wayne Trimble wrote an advertisement for the local newspaper that called for a bumper sticker campaign to help seek justice. A local print shop owner saw the ad and decided to lend a hand, printing some bumper stickers that read Toyah in black capital letters. This was followed by the community will never give up in yellow font and a final line, the number for crime stoppers and the words tell us what you know, not who you are. Yellow sunflowers dotted the corners of the stickers. Locals began placing the stickers on their cars and they became ubiquitous throughout the region. Tourists visiting the area would learn about the case after spotting the Tuya stickers emblazoned across so many vehicles. Eventually, more than 250,000 were printed and shared all over the country. Businesses in far North Queensland also put up billboards and flew banners with similar messages. It was arguably the most publicity and unsolved case had ever received in the region's history, and everyone in the area knew Toyah's name. The print shop owner told ABC News, she's in Cairn's psyche now that girl, she will never leave it. No one is going to forget that girl in this town. While the grassroots bumper sticker campaign in Queensland was adding pressure and publicity to the case, this wasn't being felt in India. A frustrating factor for Australian investigators was the lack of attention the case seemed to be garnering in India. It seemed as though police there weren't overly motivated to search for Singh and the case attracted little media coverage in his homeland. Queensland police liaised with Interpol, the International police Organisation and authorities in India in their quest to locate Rajwinder Singh, with no success. In early December of 2018, Singh's father also travelled to India in an attempt to track down his son. But he found no trace of him, nor could he find anyone who'd seen him. None of Singh's aunts and uncles who still resided in India had heard from him and Singh never made any contact with his wife, children, parents, sister or friends. Back in Australia. It was as though he had vanished. Months turned to years with no further updates. Hundreds of police officers spent thousands of hours working the case, but were hamstrung by international law. They needed to abide by the Indian legal process, which moved slowly. In March of 2021, an extradition request for Singh's arrest was issued. Roughly 18 months later, in October of 2022, it was finally signed, allowing a strange Australian investigators to move on Singh. On Thursday, November 3, more than four years after Toyah's murder, Rajwinder Singh was publicly named as the prime suspect. It was also announced that the Queensland government was offering a $1 million reward for information leading to his whereabouts. It was the largest reward in the state's history. Toyah's parents welcomed the development, with Vanessa Gardiner telling the abc she would be looking down, thinking, I can't believe they're doing this for me. She deserves every bit of it and I just hope I get that call very soon to say they found him. If Mr. Singh sees it, I wish he would come forward and turn himself in. The case's lead investigator, Detective Inspector Sonia Smith, stated, we only need one person to come forward and tell us where he is. We will take information from anywhere across the world. With the announcement of the reward, Queensland police set the pieces in motion for an arrest. Five officers who spoke Hindi and Punjabi were set up to receive tip offs from India via the WhatsApp messaging platform. Several Queensland detectives flew to India to work on the ground with law enforcement officials over there. The reward was highly publicised throughout India via flyers, news articles and Social media in the hopes that someone who knew something would come forward. Exactly three weeks after the reward was announced, a tip off came through to the Australian High Commission in the Indian capital of New Delhi. According to the tipster, Rajwinder Singh was hiding out in the city's northern district of Rana Pratap, Baghdad, a popular residential area favoured by families and professionals. With its wide roads and many parks, the neighbourhood had a peaceful atmosphere and a strong community feel. Singh had taken up residence in a Sikh gurdwara, there, a temple and community centre where members of the Sikh faith go to worship, eat and mingle. Early the following morning of Friday, November 25, Detective Superintendent Murray Taylor from the AFP watched as Indian police approached the gurdwara. They found Rajwinder Singh inside and arrested him. His appearance had changed since leaving Australia. His short hair was now long and wrapped in a turban in accordance with a core tenet of the Sikh faith. He had also grown a long salt and pepper coloured beard. Singh was taken into custody to await his extradition hearing. Singh ultimately decided not to contest his extradition, claiming in Indian news reports that he did not kill the woman and he wanted to reveal all the details in the Queensland courts. It was unclear why he hadn't come forward years earlier if this was the case, but his decision prevented a drawn out legal process. It also removed Singh from Sahar Jail, the enormous prison complex in South Asia where he would have been held until the extradition hearing was complete. The $1 million reward was paid out to several people who provided the tip off as the Singh's whereabouts, though their identities were kept confidential. In March of 2023, Rajwinder Singh was flown back to Cairns and charged with one count of murder. He was taken to the Cairns watch house and placed in a cell along alongside another inmate who identified himself as Jacob. Jacob struck up a conversation with Singh, telling him he'd been in Cairns to visit his mum, but had an issue with his temper and just lost it. Sometimes after they'd been chatting for a while, Jacob told Synge he was glad they'd been placed in a cell together as Synge seemed nice. When he asked what Singh was there for, Singh replied, they say I killed someone. He claimed that while he hadn't murdered Toi accordingly, he had been at Wongiti beach and had witnessed the crime. I did not see their faces, they were covered. Singh explained. Although he didn't know who the killers were, he was terrified they might come after him because he'd seen what they did. That was why he'd fled Australia the very next day. But unfortunately he'd drawn the attention of the police instead, due to his car being linked to the scene. That's the reason they're thinking I ran away because I did something or I killed the person. Singh explained. He never said why he ran away instead of reporting Toyah's murder to the police. But he told Jacob that he'd been in shock ever, ever since. And he was a gentle person who'd never even raised his voice to someone before. He also shared his spiritual beliefs, stating, whatever we are doing in this life, we have to pay for every one of our actions in the next life. And whatever we get now, it is because of some past life. What Singh didn't realise was that the fellow inmate he was talking to was actually an undercover police officer and their entire three hour long conversation was being covertly recorded. The same week that Singh returned to Australia, Toyah's beloved dog, Indy had to be put down after becoming sick with cancer. Farewelling Indy was another heartbreaking blow for Toyah's loved ones. Razwinder Singh spent almost two years in custody until his trial began at the end of February. In 2025, the now 40 year old Singh pleaded not guilty and opted against giving evidence. Due to the case's notoriety throughout the region, a larger jury pool than usual was drawn before being admitted to court. To have their numbers drawn, all potential jurors were required to fill out a questionnaire in order to determine whether they could could be impartial. They were asked whether they'd ever displayed a Toyah bumper sticker or if they were a member of any social media groups about the case. Ultimately, eight men and four women were selected and would hear evidence presented from more than 70 witnesses over 12 days. There was forensic evidence relating to the DNA evidence, Toya Cordingley's phone data and Singh's Alfa Romeo, as well as testimony from those close to both Toyah and Singh. When Singh's wife, Sukhdeep Kaur, testified, she acknowledged that seeing her husband in the courtroom that day was the first time she'd seen him since he fled the country more than six years earlier. Neither she nor any of her children had heard from him since. The recording of the conversation Singh had with the undercover officer in the Cairns watch house was also played to the crowd court and the jury was provided with transcripts. The defence asked them to consider whether anyone else could be responsible for killing Toyah, including her boyfriend, Marco Heidenreich. They portrayed Singh as a coward, not a killer. Claiming he was a man trapped in an unhappy marriage who'd abandoned his family but was incapable of violence. He was also being bullied at work by a colleague and was already under stress when he witnessed Toyah's murder and handled it badly. He might have driven an indirect and convoluted route home to avoid being pursued by the real perpetrators, then left Australia in fear. After the prosecution and defence presented their closing arguments, the jury left to deliberate. They did so for two and a half days, until they sent a note to the judge, Justice James Henry, at 12:05pm on Tuesday, March 18, informing him they could not reach a unanimous decision. It read, we asked the jury group, are there any more things to discuss? Is there any more evidence to review? Are there any more questions to present to the judge? All members answered, no. We voted again and we are deadlocked. We cannot see a path to being unanimous. Please advise. Justice James Henry explained that although judges were usually reluctant to declare a hung jury, he could see that they were at a point where they had discussed the case evidence at length and were still unable to decide. He discharged the group, thanking them for their service and noting, no one could accuse you of not trying to resolve the case. It was a bitterly disappointing conclusion for Toyah's family and friends. But Rajwinder Singh was not free to go. Instead, he would be facing another trial. Singh's retrial began eight months later, on Monday, November 10, 2025, to be presided over by a new judge, Justice Lincoln Crowley. Once again, Rajwinder Singh was pleading not guilty and would not be giving evidence in his defence. The same stringent process was followed to find objective jurors, with 10 men and two women selected, as well as three female reserve jurors. In the months after the first trial, the prosecution had ordered more forensic testing on the DNA samples recovered from the crime scene. Specifically, they had the samples taken from Toyah Cordingley's fingernails tested again for Y chromosome DNA. As it was a mixed profile sample that contained both male and female DNA, it should have been tested separately for markers on the Y chromosome, which is present only in males and passed down the paternal line. One test revealed that 26 of the 27 genetic markers matched those of Singh's Y chromosomes. In a second test, all 27 markers matched. Addressing the fact that Singh's DNA wasn't recovered from Indy's leash or collar, Crown Prosecutor Nathan Crane suggested that Singh might have forced Toyah to restrain Indi herself or covered his hands with Toyah's clothes while tying the lead before later disposing of them along with Toyah's phone and other belongings. However, the defence argued that the absence of Singh's DNA there was notable and criticised the prosecution's decision not to test the hairs found in Toyah's hand. The jury was also presented with extremely detailed evidence about Toyah Cordingley's phone pings and how detectives had matched those with the journey made by Rajwinder Singh's Alfa Romeo. Singh's wife, Sukhdeep Kaur, gave evidence again about her unhappy marriage and the way her husband had completely disappeared from her and her children's lives. Vanessa Gardiner spoke of how she'd found Toyah's dog tied to a tree. And Troy Cordingly shared how he'd found his daughter's burial site. Almost a year's worth of text messages sent between Toyah and her boyfriend Marco were entered into evidence to illustrate how ordinary and devoid of conflict their relationship was. During the trial's second week, the jury took an excursion to Wongeti beach to see nine key locations related to the crime, including where Toyah was buried and where her dog Indi was tied up. This involved a four kilometre walk from the southern car park to the northern end of the beach. The trip was intended to give the jurors crucial context around the crime rather than provide evidence. Once again, Singh's recorded conversation with an undercover officer was played to the court. The defence questioned why Rajwinder Singh, who was softly spoken and didn't have a history of violence, would commit such a brutal murder against a stranger seemingly out of nowhere. They pointed to his history of steady employment as a nurse and the fact that he was a vegetarian who didn't drink alcohol as indicators of his good character. His own mother had claimed that Singh wouldn't even step on an ant for fear of causing harm. The defence suggested there were other men in the area who made for more likely suspects, like pig hunters armed with large knives and men with drug problems or mental health issues who were said to frequent Wongeti Beach. Two weeks into the trial, a juror sent a note to the judge, Justice Lincoln Crowley, sharing concern about some things that the jury's speaker, also known as the foreperson, had said. According to the other juror, the speaker had expressed a prejudice against the police and remarked that he'd heard all he needs to despite the fact that the trial was ongoing. He'd also claimed to have a history of violence and had been disrespectful to a fellow juror. Once this came to light, Singh's defence team argued that the entire trial should be aborted. Justice Crowley disagreed, ultimately dismissing the speaker and ruling that the trial would conclude without him. It finally wrapped in the first week of December, with both sides presenting their closing arguments. The defence argued that Rajwinder Singh as a lone offender made no sense. How would he have overpowered both Toyah and her dog Indi? They believed there were other, more likely suspects that detectives failed to properly investigate. The Crown pointed to evidence that ruled those other men out via their phone records and CCTV footage, adding that if it had been one of those people, police would have had a much easier job compared to pursuing Singh in India. Nathan Crane emphasised Singh's DNA at the scene and Toyah's phone being linked to his car, something that only the killer could have done. In handing down his instructions to the jury, Justice Lincoln Crowley reminded them that identifying a motive was not necessary for a guilty verdict. At 3:13pm on Friday, December 5, the jury began their deliberations. By the afternoon of Monday, December 8, they had a verdict. Rajwinder Singh was guilty of murdering Toyah. Cordingly, as the verdict was read aloud, gasps and cries broke out across the courtroom and Toyah's father, Troy, said, rot in hell, you bastard. In the dark, Rajwinder Singh sat still and expressionless. After Singh's conviction, it emerged that his claim of having witnessed Toyah's murder wasn't the only story he told about that day on Wonkiti Beach. Following his arrest in India, he'd spun a different tale to the authorities over there. Multiple Indian news outlets reported that Singh had told the Indian police that he had gone to Wangadi beach carrying a kid, a kitchen knife and some fruit. While there, he'd encountered Toyah and Indy and got into an altercation with Toyah after Indy started barking at him. Angered by the barking, Sing said, he repeatedly stabbed Toyah before burying her body in the sand and tying Indi to a tree. This provided a possible answer as to how Indi came to be found in the way that she was, as Toya's loved ones were adamant that she would never have restrained her dog in such a way. Indi had never been known to show aggression towards a person, so it was unknown how she might react towards a stranger in such a scenario. The motive, however, rang hollow to those closest to the case. During Sentencing on Tuesday, December 9, Justice Lincoln Crowley offered up his own speculation as to why Singh had killed Toyah. He suspected that Singh's people watching at Cairns Central Shopping Centre on the day of the Murder prompted him to then head to an isolated area of Wangati beach to continue watching people in a more nefarious way. It is hard to imagine what motivated you to set upon that vulnerable young woman. But given the vicious attack that transpired, it is quite possible that she discovered you there, engaged in some type of distress, disgraceful and embarrassing activity at a secluded spot where your true self could emerge uninhibited and where your deeper, darker urges and desires could reveal themselves. The obvious explanation that comes to mind is that Ms. Cordingley caught you, or you approached her while you were engaged in some kind of activity of a sexual or perverted nature, and that she challenged you. Given that you took her mobile phone after you killed her, it raises the prospect that she may have recorded you or sought to call the authorities after catching you doing whatever you were doing. This was a supposition that investigators and prosecutors agreed with. Toyah's phone was never recovered, and its movements in conjunction with Singh's car up until he reached a body of water, suggested he'd deliberately disposed of it. The obvious explanation for why he'd do such a thing was that there was something on Toyah's phone he didn't want anyone to see. Justice Crowley observed that Singh had never shown any remorse and had fled like a gutless coward, harming his own family and prolonging the pain of Toyah's loved ones. Then he caused even more suffering by allowing others to fall under suspicion. You sought to blame others through your conduct, through your defense of this matter, particularly Toyah's boyfriend, Marco Heidenreich. You cast the net far and wide, seeking to besmirch the character of others, embarrass, point the finger at as many people as possible in an effort to set up further false possibilities as to who might be the killer. The prospects of rehabilitation, I consider, must be poor. Your offending was extremely violent and incomprehensible. You have denied all responsibility. Murder in Queensland carries a mandatory life sentence, with the judges then setting a minimum non parole period that perpetrators must complete. The standard is 20 years. But the aggravating factors in Singh's case led to Justice Crowley sentencing him to a 2035 year minimum. Rajwinter Singh has since lodged an appeal, which is scheduled to be heard in October 2026. Outside of court, Vanessa Gardiner read a statement to the media expressing gratitude for the police, the community and the verdict, as well as overwhelming grief. Those who loved Toyah had been waiting for justice for more than seven years. Years. And they'd finally received it. Today is a big piece of this journey that needed an ending and most of all, justice for our Toya. This event turned our world upside down for years and we all know a special part of our fun tight knit family is now gone forever due to the actions of this individual. Vanessa noted that her family would never forgive Rajwinder Singh, whom she pointedly refused to name before adding that Toyah wasn't the only victim of his actions. Singh had also victimised Marco Heidenreich and even his own family. With his wife and children becoming more collateral damage. Troi Cordingly also spoke outside court stating today's verdict has delivered a form of justice. But for us there can never be true justice as we now live in a world without Toyah and the world is a poorer place for it. But Toyah will always be alive in our hearts and in the hearts of a great many others. Toyah was Troi's only child and the trauma of losing her and being the one to discover her body left Troy with a number of mental health conditions, including ptsd. Toyah is remembered as a loving, kind and generous daughter, sister and friend. She was close with both of her parents and appreciative of the upbringing they gave her. In an interview with the abc, Troy remembered how happy Toyah's childhood was, stating I have other images permanently etched in my mind. Toyah used to spend a week with her mother and a week with my partner and I as she grew up. I remember our backyard full of laughing, happy kids. I remember wonderful birthday parties and Christmases. She always said how lucky she was to have two mums and two dads. Toyah grew into a beautiful, caring young woman. We are all so proud of that. Toyah and I shared a love that only a father and daughter can understand. I feel lost and empty inside, but will always have the wonderful memories of those 24 years. She should have had so many more. In the years following Toyah's murder, multiple memorials to her sprung up throughout the region. A reflection of the incredible mark she left on Far North Queensland. The owners of K9 River Retreat Boarding kennels in Kuranda where Toyah had worked for a time, sectioned off 50 acres of land as part of of a piece permanent walking track and dubbed it Toyah's Walk. Designed as a trail that people could enjoy with their dogs, Toyah's Walk features memorials to Toyah and safety features such as CCTV cameras and fencing so walkers feel secure paws and claws. Animal shelter where Toyah volunteered remembered her as someone who could calm the most distressed dog with grace and handle the large and boisterous ones with ease. After receiving a grant from the government, they were able to build a new shelter with a puppy nursery dedicated to Toyah's legacy. Outside is a boulder with a plaque featuring a photograph of Toyah and her name, as well as the inscription, my sunshine doesn't come from the skies, it comes from the love that's in a dog's eyes. Inside, a wall features a mural depicting Toyah, her dog Indi and her cat Sally against a backdrop of sunflowers, Toyah's favourite flower. A permanent memorial was also built at Wangiti beach by friends of the Cordingley family. It took the form of a hand carved concrete boulder and a sculpture featuring Indian Sally. A plaque behind the sculpture reads, Toyah be the change you want the world to be. Toyah's mother, Vanessa Gardner, spent hours at the beach painstakingly painting the memorial. It was officially opened in front of a large crowd on Saturday, October 19, 2019, almost one year after Toyah's murder. A statement written by Vanessa Gardner was read aloud on her behalf. I would like to say thank you to all of you beautiful people who have come here today to pay your respects to our daughter Toyah. The last year has been like living in hell. Without the continuous love and support in our community and the rest of the world, it would be extremely hard. I would like to explain why I chose the quote for Toye's people say be the change you want want to see. Touya already saw that, so she chose to be the way she wanted the world to be. So caring and loving to all mankind and creatures, no matter what a truly beautiful spirit she was. Sa.