Chris Dawson has been arrested and is expected to be charged with the 1982 murder of his wife, Lyn. Photo / Supplied
Chris Dawson has been arrested and is expected to be charged with the 1982 murder of his wife, Lyn. Photo / Supplied
Shockwaves are being felt around the world today by millions who have followed the tragic disappearance and probable murder of Lyn Dawson.
After almost 37 years of heartache for the Sydney mum's family, two coronial inquests which found she had been killed, and several police investigations and digs, not to mention 15 episodes of an explosive investigative podcast — The Teacher's Pet — Lyn's husband Chris Dawson was arrested this morning.
And while police say her family is relieved by the news as the former Newtown Jets rugby league star awaits charges over her probable murder, there's one crucial clue they would like detectives to find more than anything else — her body.
Throughout the podcast series Lyn's family said they wanted Lyn's two daughters, Shanelle and Sherrin, who were just toddlers when their mother vanished, to know she didn't just run away and abandon them.
That was what Mr Dawson told police after reporting his wife missing for almost six weeks after she disappeared in 1982.
Lyn Dawson's body has never been found, but police say they are confident in their case. Photo / Supplied
Two coroners have since found Lyn was probably murdered by Mr Dawson, but there has never been enough evidence to back this up in a criminal court.
Chris Dawson has continued to deny any involvement in his wife's disappearance or suspected death.
One of the major clues is Lyn's body, which was suspected to have been buried at the former Dawson family home at Bayview on Sydney's northern beaches.
However, despite several digs, including one in September, her remains have never been found.
The former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery QC, declined to prosecute Mr Dawson due to a lack of evidence — telling ABC's Australian Story the case against Mr Dawson was "weak" without a body.
"Without a body, without knowing first of all whether in fact she is dead, without knowing secondly if she is dead, how she died, it's very hard to mount a case of a reasonable prospect of conviction just on motive and the undefined existence of means and opportunity. That makes it very weak," Mr Cowdery said.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters this morning that no new evidence arose from the latest dig at the former Dawson family home — but that wasn't going to stop police pushing ahead with the murder charge.
Chris Dawson has always denied killing his wife. Photo / Supplied
"We have solved homicide before without identifying the body," Fuller said. "Ideally in this case we will not give up on trying to identify the whereabouts of Lynette Dawson, but from our perspective, it is not crucial to finalising the matter.
"We haven't given up hope in terms of finding Lynette Dawson's body."
Detective Superintendent Scott Cook told reporters detectives were "confident" about their case against Mr Dawson.
"There are other examples in policing history and history of the courts where people have been convicted of murder without a body," Cook said. "That may or may not be accepted in this particular case. It is a matter for the court in due course."
When asked what new evidence had led to the arrest, he said statements from witnesses — as a result of media coverage — had "helped pull pieces of the puzzle together" and led to Mr Dawson's arrest.
In fact, there have been six cases in Australia's history where killers and wrongly convicted suspects have been convicted without a body ever being found.
The most famous is the case of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton who was wrongfully convicted in one of Australia's most publicised murder trials for the death of her nine-week-old daughter, Azaria, while camping at Uluru in 1980.
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton's daughter's body was never found. Photo / Getty Images
She famously said "a dingo ate my baby" and her daughter's body was never found — but the mother was convicted murder in 1982.
However, after baby's clothing in an area frequented by dingoes, the charges were overturned in September 1988.
Anthony Guider
Paedophile Michael Anthony Guider was found guilty in 2002 of the manslaughter of Bondi schoolgirl, Samantha Knight, 9.
Guider serving a 17-year prison sentence for the death of Samantha, who vanished from her mother's Bondi flat in 1986.
Samantha Knight was nine when she was killed. Photo / News Corp Australia
Her remains have never been found, but Guider pleaded guilty to Samantha's manslaughter in June 2002. It's believed her body may have been removed or destroyed during the construction of a carpark after Guider dug up and reburied her body in two different Sydney locations to evade suspicion.
Bruce Burrell
Killer Bruce Burrell, from Sydney, was sentenced to life plus 28 years for killing Dottie Davis in 1995 and the sensational abduction murder of Kerry Whelan two years later.
Bruce Burrell took the location of the bodies to his grave. Photo / Getty Images
The bodies of both women were never found and Burrell took the secret to his grave when he died of liver cancer in 2016.
Convicted child killer Keli Lane was found guilty in 2010 of murdering her two-day-old baby Tegan in 1996, in a case that captivated the nation.
Tegan's body has never been found. However, Lane was sentenced to 18 years in jail for murder and three counts of making a false statement on oath. She will be eligible for parole in 2023.
Accused Keli Lane was convicted of murdering her newborn daughter Tegan, who has not been seen since her birth in 1996. Photo / Getty Images
However, a three-part ABC documentary series examining every detail of the bizarre case, Exposed: The Case Of Keli Lane, has cast serious doubt on the integrity of her prosecution.
The murder of Keith Allan
Three men, Sudo Cavkic, Costas Athanasi and Julian Michael Clarke were sentenced to lengthy jail terms in 2007 for murdering Melbourne solicitor Keith Allan, 53, in 2000.
The location of his body has remained a mystery since Allan's disappearance in May 2000.
The trio received minimum jail terms of between 19 years and 23-and-a-half years after a jury convicted them in 2007 following a third trial.
Bradley John Murdoch
Outback killer Bradley Murdoch is serving life imprisonment for the July 2001 murder of English backpacker Peter Falconio in the remote town of Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory.
Bradley Murdoch killed a British backpacker at Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory. Photo / Getty Images
Despite a massive manhunt, Falconio's body has never been found. Murdoch has lodged two appeals against his conviction but both were unsuccessful.
Murder of Bob Chappell
Convicted killer Susan Neill-Fraser is serving a 23-year sentence for the murder of her partner, Hobart radiation physicist Bob Chappell, on board their yacht.
