Ph 3259 1900 (24 hours) - Queensland Police Union

The Coldest Case – The 60th Anniversary of the Betty Shanks murder
“The distance between the terminus and Betty’s
home was no more than 500 metres, a quiet
stretch of a quintessential 1950s Queensland
street, which was to become the most
examined stretch of footpath in the state.”
almost to the neck ... There was no
evidence of … sexual intercourse.’
Despite the lack of evidence of
sexual interference, rumours circled
and spread that the motive of the
attack was rape, with the Sunday
Mail reporting a ‘chance strike by a
maniacal killer’.
side fence near their residence, and
I might have been looking through
or over the hibiscus trees of Hill’s
residence, I saw lying on the lawn the
body of a female in Hill’s yard’.
Const Stewart immediately jumped
the fence into his neighbour Mr
Coat’s yard, and he rang the Wilston
police. ‘I had no idea at the time that
Betty Shanks was missing,’ he said.
BETTY IS FOUND
Betty’s parents, however, were
well aware that she was missing,
because she hadn’t arrived home
from an evening lecture at the State
Commercial High School in the city at
her usual time.
Betty’s father had phoned the police
at 1:35am on 20 September to report
her as a missing person. It was only
four hours later that her battered
and strangled body was found in a
neighbour’s yard.
A CIB circular written by Inspector
Donovan, who was in charge of the
investigation, reported that Betty’s
body was found ‘on its back with both
arms outstretched above the head ...
Her face and neck were covered in
blood and there were signs of severe
injuries to the face.
‘Her black handbag was open and was
partly underneath [the] deceased’s
head. The contents of the handbag
were strewn about the lawn near the
body and it is not thought anything is
missing from the handbag.
‘A gold wristlet watch which [the]
deceased was wearing was stopped
at 9:53pm, and a valuable gold ring
was found to be intact on her finger.
[The] deceased’s skirt and slip had
been lifted almost waist high and her
private part was exposed.
‘Her blouse had been pulled out from
the skirt band and was wide open
Any police attempts at the time
to dispel these rumours had little
effect, and in fact police advised
householders to take precautions and
report any suspicious behaviour.
“A gold wristlet watch
which the deceased
was wearing was
stopped at 9:53pm, and
a valuable gold ring
was found to be intact
on her finger.”
EXAMINATION OF THE SCENE
Upon examination of the crime scene,
police found a trail of blood from
where Betty was first attacked on
the footpath of Thomas Street to her
final resting place in the Hill family’s
backyard. Her body had been lifted or
thrown over the fence encircling the
Queensland Police Union Journal August 2012 29