Margaret and Seana Tapp

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0:53This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney, and this is Voices for Justice.

1:16Today, I'm discussing the case of Margaret and Shawna Tapp. In 1984, the Tapp family made a home at 13 Kelvin Drive in the suburb of Ferntree Gully in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. It's been described as a safe, peaceful suburb with a crime rate that's next to nothing. I'm sure 35-year-old Margaret Tapp thought it was an ideal place to raise her two children, 9-year-old Shauna and 14-year-old Justin. She'd been divorced from her husband, Donald Tapp, for about five years, and was full steam ahead with forging this new life for herself and her children. She worked full-time as a nurse and was in her third year studying law full-time at Monash University.

1:58Her goal was to combine her work experience to specialize in medical malpractice cases. But before she could realize all these dreams, before she could graduate, before she could see her kids graduate and start families of their own, it all came crashing down. This is the case of Margaret and Shawna Tapp. The Tapp House had many visitors on Wednesday, August 8, 1984. The first was a next-door neighbor, a young girl who came looking for nine-year-old Shauna Tapp so they could walk to school together as they sometimes did. When there was no answer, she walked alone. The next was Margaret Tapp's sister's boyfriend, Tony Blackwell.

2:41He was out running errands and came to the house around noon. He remembers seeing the newspaper in the front yard, so he picked it up to bring it to Margaret. but like the young neighbor, he also received no response, so he left the paper by the front door and left. The third was 44-year-old James or Jim Rollins. He got to the house at about 6 p.m. to pick Margaret up for their prearranged night out at the opera. He'd come to pick Margaret up at her home several times before, but something was clearly different this time. The blinds were closed, Margaret's car was sitting in the driveway, and the morning paper was still sitting by the front door.

3:20But like the other two visitors that day, he also received no response when knocking on the door, which was locked. This just wasn't like Margaret. She and James had known each other for years and she wasn't one to just cancel plans without letting you know. So James is understandably concerned. He walks around to the back of the house to the back sliding door, which he knew had a broken lock. When he lets himself in, he calls out for Margaret. but there's no answer. From there, he begins walking to Margaret's bedroom. When he peeks in, he sees that the bed isn't made, and the comforter is kind of bunched up around Margaret, covering everything but her face from the mouth up.

4:02James walks in the room, puts his hand on the comforter, and says, Marg? He can tell that her complexion is pretty pale, and according to statements he gave police, at first he thinks she might be sick in bed, but then he pulls the comforter down. In his statement, James said, quote, her hands were crossed, with her right over her left, and resting on top of her chest, just covering the lower part of her neck. I don't think I saw blood, but it was blood colored. I thought Marg was dead, and then rang police, end quote. Now, of course, at this point, he's worried about Shauna. Justin was staying with his grandparents, so he's safe.

4:45But the neighbors at 11 Kelvin Drive were supposed to be watching Shauna while he and Margaret went to the opera. So James runs next door to check on her, tell them about Margaret, and probably just get some help in this situation. But then they tell him something that makes his heart drop. Shauna wasn't there. So James rushes back to the tap house and to Shauna's room, where, like Margaret, he finds her deceased in her bed. Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door, expertly cleaned and folded, so you could take the time once spent folding and sorting and waiting to finally pursue a whole new version of you, like tea time you.

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6:04Savings compared to current regular monthly price. Hence$12.1. Offer for ad-supported Disney Plus Hulu bundle only. then$12.99 a month or then current regular monthly price. 18 plus terms apply. According to reporting by Nathan Jolly for news.com.au, Margaret and Shauna had both been strangled. Investigators say likely with some type of rope, judging from the fibers around their necks. Margaret had not been sexually assaulted, but nine-year-old Shauna had. Ken Mahon, a now-retired detective senior agent with the Victoria Police, spoke with Denise Erickson for the New Daily. Quote, It was a horrible scene, that poor little girl who had her whole life cut short.

6:45She had her whole life ahead of her. I was absolutely gutted. End quote. Now, like I said, luckily, Margaret's son Justin was staying with his grandparents, so he wasn't home when any of this happened. As far as we know, he was never considered a suspect, nor had any motive to commit the murders. After finding out about his mom and sister, the police actually let him come to the scene to see their bodies. And all of this is really something that haunted him for his entire life. He told many people that he felt guilty he wasn't there to help them. But investigators do believe that whoever did this likely knew the family and the layout of their home, because there was no forced entry and nothing had been taken.

7:28Whoever did this was either let in through the front door or used the broken back door. So let's go over what we know about this scene and what the killer, or killers, may have left behind in terms of evidence. Now, we're a bit before DNA was the name of the game in investigations like this, but investigators still collected and retained some semen found on Shauna's nightgown. They also found many sets of fingerprints, mostly belonging to friends and family, and two different hairs on Shauna's bed. They also found footprints in Margaret's bathroom and bedroom. Investigators quickly determined that they were made by a pair of size 11 Dunlop volleys.

8:08These are pretty well known in Australia, but for my US listeners who may be a little lost here, like I was before looking them up, they're basically a kind of tennis shoe. They almost look like a cross between low-top Converse and Vans. And these shoes left behind red dust that they determined came from a tennis court. So we have DNA, we have hair, we have fingerprints, we have these footprints along with this dust, and soon witnesses began reporting seeing a suspicious vehicle, a red ute, parked down the street on the day of the murders as well. A ute is kind of like a truck in terms of style.

8:44Neighbors also reported hearing a muffled scream around 11pm, and the Tapp family dog barking frantically around the same time, which they report was unusual. Another neighbor's dog also began barking shortly after that, which they again say was unusual. So they seem to have quite a bit of evidence here. And as investigators start retracing steps, going through the house and speaking to whoever they can, they're also able to put together a pretty loose timeline. They believe Margaret and Shauna were killed late on August 7th after they both went to sleep, or in the early hours of August 8th. The last time anyone physically saw Margaret or Shauna was the 7th.

9:27Their neighbors, the Baumfords, remember that Shauna and their 11-year-old daughter Karen got into a fight while walking home from school. It seemed like just kid stuff. And at about 5pm, they also saw Margaret sitting alone in her home studying, which was a pretty common occurrence. And the last time anyone spoke with Margaret was at 7.35pm that same day, Tuesday the 7th. Who it was is a bit unclear. According to 1984 reporting from The Age, this person was only described as a male friend. Though other reporting states it may have been James Rowlands to confirm their plans to attend the opera.

10:06So take that for what you will. Now, you'd think this is a case that would be splashed all over the media. A mother and her young child killed in their own home. I mean, we know that these are the kinds of cases that most major media outlets gravitate towards. Really, just the most unthinkable of crimes. But there were really only a handful of articles written for the local papers back in 1984. According to that same reporting by Nathan Jolly that I mentioned earlier, he accredits this to Margaret's loved ones, and specifically her parents. He describes them as strictly religious and private people who didn't want the details of Margaret's social life to become a matter of public folly, so they essentially shied away from doing media.

10:49Keith Moore for the Herald Sun added to this sentiment, stating in his reporting that Margaret's ex-husband, Donald Tapp, also shied away from interviews. He said he wanted to protect his family and their son, Justin. I'm sure they were hoping that this would be solved quickly and privately, as I think most people would, But the truth is, much of what we know about this investigation, what really became public, does largely stem from Margaret's social life. Like I told you earlier, she'd been divorced for about five years now, and her ex-husband, Donald Tapp, was cleared rather quickly. By all accounts, their divorce was amicable, and it seems that afterwards, Margaret was a very eligible bachelorette, and a bit of a heartbreaker.

11:32In fact, after speaking with Margaret's friend-slash-co-worker of eight years, investigators believe she was likely killed by one of these lovers. Like I said, Margaret was a bit of a heartbreaker, and this friend is very honest with investigators about this. According to reporting by Keith Moore for the Herald Sun, this friend describes Margaret as a, quote, real bitch to the men she had relationships with, end quote. She added that Margaret would often ridicule men due to their lack of sexual experience, and that, quote, Margaret could chop men up into little pieces, end quote. I mean, we love an honest friend, especially because it does seem particularly relevant to the investigation.

12:17So they start looking at men in Margaret's life to see if any of them may have felt scorned or gotten their ego bruised and felt the need to get revenge. Of course, they looked at James Jim Rollins, the man who came to pick Margaret up for the opera that night. Now, this is a man who'd been in Margaret and her children's lives for years. James and his wife used to live next to Margaret and Donald Tapp before their divorce in 1979. James' wife had unfortunately passed away from cancer, and Margaret helped care for her. Their relationship is a bit unclear as whether it was platonic or romantic. Some reporting calls them just friends, some say it was her boyfriend.

12:57So again, take that for what you will. But overall, this man has been described as someone who'd been around for a long time and as a very kind man. He was interrogated and cleared early on. Now, like I told you at the very beginning of this episode, Margaret was a nurse before she was killed. And she didn't just work at one hospital. She worked at quite a few. And it seems that at the time of her death, investigators obtained the names of at least five doctors across these different hospitals that she dated after her divorce. And one of these doctors had an obviously more serious relationship with Margaret than the rest.

13:35This is Dr. John Bradkey, who was married. And you guys, this was not a secret. He bought Margaret's home for her on Kelvin Drive in 1981, that way they could have a place to engage in their affair. His wife, Kay, told police that Margaret had also, on at least one occasion, come to her home to beg John to leave his wife. According to case statements to police, when he refused, Margaret threw a rock through their window before taking off all her clothes and lying naked in the front yard. She and her children hid in one of the bedrooms while her husband drove Margaret home. And according to reporting by Keith Moore for the Herald Sun, his wife also found a homemade sex tape of Margaret and the doctor.

14:22So again, none of this was a secret between the two families. But we know that John Bradkey did not kill Margaret or Shauna. He died in a car accident in 1983 while on his way to deliver a baby in the middle of the night. And that's really where things get more complicated. According to Margaret, he'd arranged for the home on Kelvin Drive and a bit of money to be left to her in the unlikely event of his death. But by the time they got to court, that's not what happened. Kay produced a version of the will where nothing was left to Margaret. Now, Margaret did contest this, arguing that his wife potentially altered or destroyed documents.

15:03And Margaret kind of won in court. She was awarded half the home he'd purchased for her, and then proceeded to buy the other half from his estate, basically from Kay. So at this point, all eyes were on Kay. While she has been described as being cooperative with police, she was at the top of their suspect list, as according to one court document, she had previously threatened to kill Margaret, and not alone. The theory was that she enacted her revenge for the affair by hiring an unnamed pedophile friend of hers to kill Margaret and sexually assault and kill Shauna. It's definitely dark, but this theory was so viable to investigators that they actually tapped Kay's phone, and the phone of this supposed pedophile friend.

15:52And according to that same reporting by Keith Moore, the wife of this pedophile told police that Kay Bradkey had given her husband about$50 ,000 just a few months before the Tapp murders. And as if that wasn't enough, she added that her husband told her the murders happened because Margaret Tapp was an evil woman who deserved to die because of her relationship with John Bradkey and putting his wife through hell. And in a sworn statement to police, Kay Bradkey admitted to giving this friend a loan for$52 ,000 in early 1984, but she says he'd paid most of it back before the murders took place. And that's not even it.

16:34After his death, John Bradkey's parents wrote to Margaret Tapp and told her they believed Kay was in a relationship with a pedophile. A relative of John Bradkey also told police he believed Kay had motive for the tap murders, because Margaret was attempting to contest John Bradkey's will. John Bradkey's own father also wrote to Margaret's parents after her murder to tell them that Kay and Margaret were arguing over the correct ownership of the property, and that Margaret believed there was another will hidden somewhere inside of Kay's home. The letter added that Kay hated Margaret. This belief that there was a hidden will was also reiterated by 14-year-old Justin, who told police that Margaret believed Kay had destroyed John Bradkey's newest will, leaving much more to his mother.

17:23It's a lot of evidence stacked up against Kay Bradkey. But unfortunately, the police have been very clear that one of the biggest hurdles in this case is not a lack of suspects, but an abundance, all as suspicious, if not more suspicious, than Kay Bradkey.

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18:39Let's go down the list of suspects and persons of interest in this case, because there are many. Some have been investigated and ruled out. The others, well, it's a bit unclear what has or hasn't been done, and many of them have never been named. But let's go through it. Now, we know that Margaret was a busy woman with many passions. She worked as a nurse, and beginning in 1981, she was in her third year studying law at Menash University. At school, she met another student who struck her fancy. They were together four days before her murder, and went to lunch just the day before her murder. But this man is kind of a footnote in this case.

19:19It's unclear if he was ever extensively investigated. As if Margaret wasn't busy enough, she was also pursuing her semi-trailer license to help an ex-boyfriend's family harvest their crops, and she found a friend who agreed to teach her for free because he enjoyed her company. He was interviewed by the police with his wife present. During that interview, he admitted that he was her instructor and had been to her home several times to pick her up and drop her off, but he made it crystal clear that he never went inside the house. However, as it turns out, his fingerprints were found inside the tap home.

19:56So he lied to the police, and he lied to his wife. Whether or not that was to hide a crime or hide cheating is unclear, but he doesn't seem to be the focus of this investigation. They also looked into a teenager who lived on the same block who was apparently known for making, quote, sexually charged comments, end quote, to women. In fact, Margaret was apparently warned of this before she agreed to let him cut her lawn regularly. According to that reporting by Keith Moore, this teenager came from a family that's been described as notorious, but he was never brought in for questioning. Now, this was a larger family with many children, and after the murders, the boyfriend of one of their daughters, who was apparently living on the property, was charged with a sex crime against a child.

20:47However, it doesn't seem that police have made any connection between him and the murders at this time. There were some other interesting, possible connections made as well. Investigators learned that Margaret's brother and a few of his friends had helped Margaret move some furniture into the home. And one of these friends was the owner of a ute, which is the same vehicle a witness reported seeing parked down the street on the day of the murders. This friend was identified and questioned, but ultimately never tied to the murders. They of course looked at her sister's boyfriend who stopped by around noon that day, but he was quickly questioned and cleared But Margaret's sister had another name for police Ian Cook, a former police officer who was much older than Margaret He was actually a friend of her parents Ian's name was actually the first that Margaret's sister Joan suggested to police as a possible person of interest She explained to investigators that he would stop by Margaret's home often and basically tried to sleep with her, but she refused.

21:50Margaret also complained to friends that he'd come on very strong. So a lot of people knew about Ian Cook. And wouldn't you know it, Ian Cook was friends with someone on the homicide squad, an officer named Jimmy Fry. And Ian Cook was there the day that Margaret and Shauna's bodies were found. He came to the home to retrieve a book he says he lent Margaret. He was let into the active crime scene, removed at least this book and left. Now, police did search his vehicle at one point and found a rope and whip inside, but when they went to follow up and question him about his relationship with Margaret, he refused to be fingerprinted, reportedly on principle.

22:32But it's not like he shied away from the case or this family. He actually insisted on riding in the same vehicle as Margaret's family during her funeral procession. Ian Cook has never been charged with any crime related to Margaret or Shauna, but definitely remains one of the most discussed persons of interest to this day. But like I said, there's no shortage of suspicious people in this case. They also looked at a colleague of Dr. Bradkey and of Margaret, which reporting for the Herald son has called Dr. X. He was younger than Dr. Bradkey, and eventually his crimes of being a serial sexual predator came to light.

23:12He was found guilty of two sex charges, but was accused of sexually assaulting children and women ages 4 to 29. Not only that, he allegedly wore size 11 Dunlop volleys and played tennis just 14 minutes from the tap home on the night of August 7th. The shoe prints and red dust found in Margaret's home were a match. But he's never been named, let alone convicted in this case. Despite all these persons of interest, and despite the Victorian government offering a$50 ,000 reward in 1986, the case just sat. At this point, investigators said that they weren't following just one particular lead, and still didn't have any motive for the murders.

24:02Detective Senior Sergeant Jack Jacobs added that he wasn't sure if the murders happened after a burglary or if it was a straight-out assault. Which, I will say, I thought was an interesting statement given that previous reporting stated that nothing was taken from the home. Either way, again, the case just sat. But as we've seen in so many cases, as the years passed and as DNA technology developed, investigators decided to revisit DNA found at the scene in 2008, nearly 25 years after the murders. The semen found on Shauna's nightgown was compared to over 400 ,000 DNA profiles in a national database.

24:43It was also compared to DNA collected from persons of interest throughout the course of the investigation. And this testing produced a match. the Victoria Police Laboratory made a match to a man named Russell John Gesche who was promptly charged with both murders. Margaret's father told the Herald's son that he was very pleased that he and his family had waited 24 years for this day. But you guys know that since I'm bringing you this case this comfort, what seemed like answers, quickly fell apart. It turns out that the DNA samples were contaminated his DNA was found on another item tested on the same day in the same lab as Shauna's nightgown.

25:28When they did another round of testing, Kesha's DNA was not a match to the DNA found at the tap home, and the charges were dropped. The police issued a formal apology to all parties. I can't even imagine how upsetting and frustrating this was for their loved ones, and unfortunately, this was not the first time there'd been this type of error. According to reporting by the Sydney Morning Herald, in 2003, they discovered that at least 39 cases were identified as needing diagnostic and corrective action, mostly due to contamination. And in 2008, another man was convicted of a rape he didn't commit due to another lab error by the Victoria Police.

26:13This man served 16 months for a crime he didn't commit. I think in true crime, DNA is king for good reason. But this is also a good reminder that these things can happen. DNA is subject to human error, which the Victorian government reiterated. They said clearly that this wasn't an issue of funding or lack of resources, but pure human error. Now, all of this led the Victoria police to rewrite their manual to put less emphasis on DNA evidence without circumstantial evidence. They also had to revisit thousands of crimes that had been solved by DNA evidence. And while we're here, let's talk about who has not been formally cleared by DNA evidence in the Tapp case.

26:59Now, this list comes from Andrew Rules reporting for the Herald News. He says that on the 20th anniversary of the murders, he revisited the case and compiled this list. So again, these are the people who he says have not been cleared by DNA. Margaret's brother Margaret's brother's friend who owned the red Ford Ute The man who gave her driving lessons The man from Margaret's school The boyfriend of the woman who lived down the road Dr. X And Ian Cook, the former police officer However, in conflicting reporting by Keith Moore for the same parent news organization he claims that Cook may have been cleared using DNA in the late 1990s, along with a surgeon Margaret was seeing and Kay Bradkey's pedophile friend.

27:51So, like I always say, take that for what you will. It's also unclear kind of where the DNA stands, if there's still a viable sample for testing.