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The Monster Next Door: Dieter Pfennig | Michael Madigan · Real Crime with Adam Shand

0:05
Speaker 1: Approache production.
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Speaker 2: This episode discusses the abduction and murder of children, including
0:14
Speaker 2: graphic details of the crimes and their investigation. It may
0:18
Speaker 2: be distressing for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome
0:27
Speaker 2: to Real Crime with Adam Shander. I'm your host, Adam Shand.
0:30
Speaker 2: Is there anything more heinous than the kidnap and murder
0:34
Speaker 2: of children? Unfortunately, there's a history of sick, twisted men
0:38
Speaker 2: stealing and killing kids in Australia. The motive is so
0:42
Speaker 2: hard to understand and the crime so calculating that many
0:46
Speaker 2: of these outrages remain unsolved. From the Beaumont children in
0:50
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty.
0:51
Speaker 3: Six, punished from Glenell Beach on Australia Day and their
0:54
Speaker 3: disappearance remains one of Australia's most enduring and high profile
0:58
Speaker 3: cold cases.
1:00
Speaker 2: The Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirsty Gordon a the Adelaide Oval
1:02
Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy three, people were.
1:05
Speaker 1: Watching the football a man walked out with two children.
1:09
Speaker 1: No one stopped him.
1:11
Speaker 2: In Melbourne, there was Eloise Walladge in nineteen seventy six.
1:15
Speaker 4: Aloise Wahlidge went to bed in her Beau Morris home
1:18
Speaker 4: in nineteen seventy six and was never seen again.
1:22
Speaker 5: And Carmen Chan in nineteen ninety one, thirteen.
1:26
Speaker 4: Years old, snatched from her Templestowe home and never found.
1:30
Speaker 2: When one of these monsters is caught, it allows the
1:33
Speaker 2: community a view into the blackness of their souls. Dieta
1:38
Speaker 2: Fenig is serving a life sentence in South Australia for
1:41
Speaker 2: the murders of two ten year olds, Louise Bell in
1:45
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three and Michael Black in nineteen eighty nine.
1:49
Speaker 2: He was arrested in the throes of another abduction and murder,
1:53
Speaker 2: Otherwise his body count could have been much higher.
1:57
Speaker 4: Just as Michael David found Fenig guilty and told him
2:01
Speaker 4: this is the most evil of crimes, he urged to
2:05
Speaker 4: reveal where the children were buried. Fennig showed no emotion
2:10
Speaker 4: and he has never said where they are.
2:13
Speaker 2: Author Michael Madigan has written a book about Fennick called
2:17
Speaker 2: Father Teacher, Child Killer, The Abduction of Lawyers Belle and
2:22
Speaker 2: Michael Black and joined me now in the Real Crime
2:25
Speaker 2: Studio today.
2:26
Speaker 1: Michael, Hi, Adam, how are you very well?
2:30
Speaker 5: Thanks, make congratulations on the book.
2:32
Speaker 2: It's no small enterprise being an independent author in Australia
2:37
Speaker 2: in true crime. It's difficult. You've kept doing it. Congratulations
2:40
Speaker 2: to you. What sort of person is Dieta Fennig.
2:46
Speaker 1: I think you could call him a saddest.
2:50
Speaker 3: You could describe him as with pedophile tendencies.
2:55
Speaker 1: He was a school teacher.
2:57
Speaker 3: He originally came out to Australia with his family when
3:00
Speaker 3: he was a young.
3:02
Speaker 1: Boy, about twelve.
3:04
Speaker 3: He he was very bright, he studied a lot at university. Yeah,
3:10
Speaker 3: he was also a very active person. He was a
3:14
Speaker 3: leading chess player. He was a father of two children,
3:18
Speaker 3: and he was a respected person in the community. But
3:24
Speaker 3: hiding under that veneer was a very evil man. He
3:28
Speaker 3: had two sorts of life. He could be the good teacher,
3:33
Speaker 3: he could be the entertaining person at the party. But
3:38
Speaker 3: he had very, very evil fantasies in his head which
3:43
Speaker 3: he basically carried out.
3:46
Speaker 5: And he was able to hide and play in sight.
3:50
Speaker 2: It always amazes me that these characters, they've often got
3:54
Speaker 2: children of their own. It's hard to reconcile someone who
3:58
Speaker 2: is a loving parent to their own children while abducting
4:01
Speaker 2: and murdering the children of others.
4:03
Speaker 1: Exactly.
4:04
Speaker 3: I talked to one of his children, Petra she's a
4:08
Speaker 3: wonderful woman. She actually gave evidence against him in the
4:12
Speaker 3: Louise Bell trial. She told me that he was a
4:17
Speaker 3: good father, which I couldn't believe at first, but then
4:20
Speaker 3: I did some research and realized that they do live
4:25
Speaker 3: to distinctive lives.
4:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he was a teacher.
4:29
Speaker 3: But since the book has come out, there's been a
4:32
Speaker 3: lot of feedback to me about what sort of person
4:35
Speaker 3: he was as a teacher, and it wasn't very good.
4:40
Speaker 3: He was aggressive, he was abusive verbally. He actually, at
4:47
Speaker 3: one stays, he used to have a motorbike he used
4:50
Speaker 3: to ride to school on one stage. The boys used
4:52
Speaker 3: to muck around with it and put sticky tape and chewy.
4:55
Speaker 1: On his bike. Somehow he rewired.
4:59
Speaker 3: It so that anyone touched anything metal that'd get electric shock.
5:05
Speaker 3: All these things. But I think he was just very,
5:07
Speaker 3: very clever, with terrible, terrible fantasies going inside his.
5:13
Speaker 2: Head and nothing on the surface that would give anyone
5:18
Speaker 2: a clue of this secret life.
5:21
Speaker 5: And it is astounding to me.
5:23
Speaker 2: And let's look at Louise Bell January third, nineteen eighty three.
5:28
Speaker 2: She's sharing a bedroom with her sister Rachel, who's eight
5:32
Speaker 2: they're really best friends and they're in the safety of
5:36
Speaker 2: their home.
5:37
Speaker 5: What happened?
5:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, it was school holidays and in Adelaide it's
5:42
Speaker 3: always very very hot. They had planned the next day
5:46
Speaker 3: to go and see Et the movie. They were a
5:50
Speaker 3: very close knit family. They did everything together. So that
5:55
Speaker 3: night they showered and got ready for bed, and in
5:58
Speaker 3: those days without air conditioning, all the doors and windows
6:02
Speaker 3: were open to let the sea breeze come through. So
6:06
Speaker 3: the children eventually went to sleep around about nine o'clock.
6:10
Speaker 3: During the night, nothing was heard. Missus Bell, Diane Bell,
6:14
Speaker 3: got up, did the usual things and she always checked
6:18
Speaker 3: on the children in the morning and saw that Louise's
6:22
Speaker 3: bed was empty and that there was a quite a
6:25
Speaker 3: big rip in the window material. Of course, she was
6:32
Speaker 3: devastated and went looking and the husband follow crying out
6:37
Speaker 3: for Louise, knocking on doors early in the morning, around
6:41
Speaker 3: about seven o'clock, but Louise wasn't around, so they Mister
6:45
Speaker 3: Bell had to do the unthinkable and ring police saying
6:49
Speaker 3: that his daughter was missing.
6:52
Speaker 5: I can stop you there.
6:54
Speaker 2: I've seen this before where an abductor will choose one
6:57
Speaker 2: child over another. There's Rachel, she's eight two years younger
7:01
Speaker 2: than Louise the kidnapper saw her. Do you have any
7:07
Speaker 2: insight into why she was chosen over Rachel.
7:10
Speaker 3: Well, we found out later in twenty and fifteen sixteen
7:15
Speaker 3: that Louise was friends with Petra, the daughter of diet
7:21
Speaker 3: They were in the same class, they played in the
7:24
Speaker 3: same basketball side, and there's witnesses that have come forward
7:30
Speaker 3: that they saw Dieta walking home Petra and Louise after school.
7:38
Speaker 3: So I think it's plain to see that he had
7:42
Speaker 3: targeted Louise right.
7:45
Speaker 2: So he had clearly he had seen her before and
7:48
Speaker 2: he had foundasies about her. What strikes me also is
7:52
Speaker 2: the rip in the fly screen in Louise's bedroom. It's
7:55
Speaker 2: so similar to Eloise Wallage in Melbourne nineteen seventy six.
7:59
Speaker 2: I wonder whether detectives initially thought, well, maybe this is
8:03
Speaker 2: the same offender, different territory.
8:06
Speaker 1: They did.
8:06
Speaker 3: They contacted the Victorian police and got all the files
8:10
Speaker 3: for that case. And what I'll discuss a little bit
8:14
Speaker 3: later was that Dieter Finick, when he had abducted Louise,
8:20
Speaker 3: he actually rang a neighbor and he told the neighbor,
8:24
Speaker 3: I'm the abductor of Louise Bell, can you give me
8:27
Speaker 3: some help? She's got a medical emergency. And when he
8:32
Speaker 3: asked the neighbor, he actually said Eloise is in trouble
8:36
Speaker 3: instead of Louise. So it does make you think about
8:42
Speaker 3: how many children did end up killing all at least
8:48
Speaker 3: abducting shocking.
8:50
Speaker 1: Whether he was.
8:50
Speaker 3: Playing games or not, it's quite chilling that he mixed
8:54
Speaker 3: up the names of another abducted girl. I think Eloise
8:59
Speaker 3: was around about ten at the time. So in the
9:03
Speaker 3: last piece of my book, I do make reference to
9:06
Speaker 3: Ploise because nothing much has been written about her. And
9:11
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four there was a major inquiry into
9:16
Speaker 3: the school that she went to, and there they found
9:19
Speaker 3: there was a number of pedophiles actively at that school.
9:24
Speaker 5: Correct, I'll do that. I'm gonna do that.
9:26
Speaker 2: In a separate episode, Eloise was eight.
9:28
Speaker 5: At the time.
9:28
Speaker 2: It's a little bit younger, but the similarities were striking,
9:32
Speaker 2: and you wonder whether he's seen the publicity around that
9:37
Speaker 2: and thought that's the modus operando that I can adopt.
9:40
Speaker 5: And he was extraordinarily successful.
9:43
Speaker 2: No one in the home heard anything, not even Rachel
9:46
Speaker 2: in the same room into the night with Louise, and
9:49
Speaker 2: what followed was the largest manhunt search in South Australia's history.
9:54
Speaker 2: It turns up nothing but ten days after the kidnapping.
9:59
Speaker 3: What happened, Well, the first thing that happened was mister
10:03
Speaker 3: Bell and Diane and were sleeping eleven o'clock at night
10:08
Speaker 3: and the phone rang, and so mister Bell rushed the phone, thinking,
10:13
Speaker 3: goodness me, this could be it, this could be good news.
10:17
Speaker 3: But when he answered the phone, the caller said that
10:21
Speaker 3: I've got your daughter and I need thirty thousand dollars
10:25
Speaker 3: to return her and if you don't do that, bang
10:28
Speaker 3: she's dead. Poor old mister bearl was devastated and could
10:33
Speaker 3: hardly get a reply, and the caller hung up. So
10:38
Speaker 3: mister Bell phoned the police and fortunately they were already
10:43
Speaker 3: onto it. They had tapped the phone, so they went
10:47
Speaker 3: around to the person's place, but there was no Louise.
10:51
Speaker 1: It was just.
10:51
Speaker 3: A terrible, disgusting criminal at he had nothing to do.
10:58
Speaker 2: An extortion attempt effectively like a petty criminal who's decided
11:02
Speaker 2: to cash in on their misery.
11:04
Speaker 5: This happens time and time again. There's some I mean,
11:06
Speaker 5: it's one.
11:07
Speaker 2: Thing to abduct a child, but then to then if
11:09
Speaker 2: you haven't done it and get involved like that.
11:12
Speaker 5: It just rubs salt into the wounds of a family,
11:15
Speaker 5: like the bells.
11:16
Speaker 2: And then, as you said, three days later, Dieta calls
11:20
Speaker 2: the neighbor.
11:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, he calls the neighbor and he said, you know,
11:24
Speaker 3: she's got an injury. And the neighbor didn't know Louise.
11:29
Speaker 3: By the way, Dieta lived about ten minutes from Louise
11:32
Speaker 3: in the same suburb, Hackham West, So he rang up
11:36
Speaker 3: this neighbor and the neighbor was shot to hear that
11:40
Speaker 3: it wasn't Louise's asthma.
11:42
Speaker 1: It was another injury, which I don't mention in the book.
11:46
Speaker 3: And he said, look, I need you to contact the
11:49
Speaker 3: newspaper and Channel nine. He was looking for publicity. He
11:55
Speaker 3: was playing with police. He said the police were rubbish.
11:59
Speaker 3: They didn't see this, they didn't do that. And the
12:03
Speaker 3: neighbor said, look, how do I know that you are
12:06
Speaker 3: the abductor?
12:07
Speaker 1: You could be anybody.
12:09
Speaker 3: He said, well, if the police go to the corner
12:12
Speaker 3: of South Road and Doctor's Road, there's a rock, and
12:17
Speaker 3: under that rock you'll find Louise's ear rings, which was
12:22
Speaker 3: pretty chilling.
12:24
Speaker 1: So the police went around there.
12:26
Speaker 3: Sure enough, there were a pair of earrings, and again
12:31
Speaker 3: they had to go to the Bell family and mister
12:34
Speaker 3: Bell cradled them in his hands while he was crying,
12:40
Speaker 3: and he said, yes, they are Louise's because he saw
12:44
Speaker 3: a mark on them that he had repaired. So their
12:48
Speaker 3: devastation was just going from one bad thing to another.
12:52
Speaker 2: So he's rubbing it in. There's lost this tragedy, and
12:56
Speaker 2: it seems likely. I'd imagine that Louise was already dead
13:01
Speaker 2: at this point.
13:02
Speaker 1: I believe so. I believe.
13:04
Speaker 3: So we don't know anything about that, but you'd imagine
13:11
Speaker 3: he was at home and his wife and children were away.
13:15
Speaker 3: He came back from a canoeing trip early, so he
13:20
Speaker 3: had the home to himself for a number of days.
13:24
Speaker 2: Right, And so in February, police go again, second round
13:29
Speaker 2: of door knocks and things.
13:30
Speaker 5: Nothing is really coming up.
13:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, the police decided to change the detectives and appoint
13:38
Speaker 3: Detective White, and he was very, very a real copper,
13:41
Speaker 3: always going with procedure. He saw holes in the way
13:45
Speaker 3: that the first door knocking went. So he gave every
13:50
Speaker 3: officer a list of fifteen questions to ask and if
13:53
Speaker 3: anyone wasn't home anyone, they would be checked again.
13:58
Speaker 1: So they didn't just do Hacken West.
14:00
Speaker 3: They did suburbs to the northeast, west and south, so
14:05
Speaker 3: it was quite extensive.
14:08
Speaker 5: Yeah.
14:08
Speaker 2: Well, typically without a motive and a suspect, this door
14:11
Speaker 2: knocking is sometimes just being busy for the sake of
14:14
Speaker 2: being busy. It doesn't necessarily give you any particular leads.
14:18
Speaker 2: But February twenty eight, something really important was turned up
14:22
Speaker 2: that it looked like it was Louise's pajama top was
14:25
Speaker 2: found in someone's front garden.
14:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, would you believe it was the neighbor that he
14:30
Speaker 1: had called?
14:32
Speaker 5: You're joking.
14:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the neighbor was taking her son to school
14:38
Speaker 3: and noticed a bit of clothing neatly folded on the
14:42
Speaker 3: corner of their property. Anyway, when she returned, she thought, oh,
14:46
Speaker 3: I better pick this up, and she's about to put
14:48
Speaker 3: in the bend, but thought, no, it looks too good.
14:51
Speaker 3: So she took it inside and had a good look.
14:54
Speaker 3: And she looked and thought size ten, this could be Louise's.
15:03
Speaker 3: And so she rang the pleae and explained the floral design,
15:08
Speaker 3: and the police said were coming straight away. So the
15:11
Speaker 3: first detective to arrive was Detective Strange, and he put
15:17
Speaker 3: it to his nose and he could smell an odor
15:19
Speaker 3: like a fishy smell. And again they had to go
15:25
Speaker 3: to the Bell family to make sure that it was Louise's,
15:28
Speaker 3: and again mister Bell said that he had cut the
15:32
Speaker 3: tag off the back of the neck because it was
15:35
Speaker 3: irritating Louise. So it was definitely Louisa's. And that top
15:39
Speaker 3: was taken to forensics, and what they got from it
15:44
Speaker 3: was very interesting. Some of the debris from the top
15:49
Speaker 3: it had been dunked in the nearby Onkaparinga River, which
15:54
Speaker 3: is about two kilometers from their home, so it had
15:57
Speaker 3: been dunked in the river and then washed with normal
16:02
Speaker 3: tap water. So that gave something for police to look at.
16:07
Speaker 3: So there was a big search of that. There was
16:09
Speaker 3: only one particular area of the river and so a
16:13
Speaker 3: large search for two weeks where divers were diving in
16:17
Speaker 3: the muddy waters, and unfortunately nothing was turned up.
16:21
Speaker 2: Right, because you'd have to say on the face of
16:23
Speaker 2: that that you've got something that's been dunked in a river,
16:27
Speaker 2: then washed and left in the neighbour's front guard.
16:30
Speaker 5: This is a red herring being laid by the killer.
16:32
Speaker 1: I'd imagine, Yeah, he was just playing a cat and
16:35
Speaker 1: mouse with the police.
16:37
Speaker 3: As soon as there wasn't anything in the media, he
16:40
Speaker 3: had try something else. But that particular forensic officer did
16:46
Speaker 3: a very very good job. In those days, they used
16:49
Speaker 3: to use sticky tape and they go around the hole
16:53
Speaker 3: of the garment and take whatever was on the and
16:57
Speaker 3: they put it into a petri dish and they kept
17:00
Speaker 3: it as a perhaps some sort of evidence down the
17:03
Speaker 3: track the pajama top, and it was just getting very bizarre.
17:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that forensic evidence did lead police to another suspect,
17:16
Speaker 2: fellow called Raymond John Geesing, who had a history of
17:19
Speaker 2: sex offenses, and he had some sneakers in his car
17:23
Speaker 2: which had matching debris as they'd found on Luis's pajama top.
17:28
Speaker 2: So that was the main evidence against him, and he
17:32
Speaker 2: was arrested in charge.
17:33
Speaker 5: He was already in prison.
17:34
Speaker 3: Though he was he was under child sex offenses. His
17:39
Speaker 3: shoes weren't just found in his car, they were actually
17:42
Speaker 3: hidden hit in a very good spot. But the detective
17:46
Speaker 3: fortunately had the same car and he knew all the
17:49
Speaker 3: ins and outs of the vehicle, so the debris came
17:54
Speaker 3: from that particular area for sure. It was one hundred
17:57
Speaker 3: percent but Geesing said, look, that's my fishing area. So
18:02
Speaker 3: he did have sort of an excuse for having that
18:05
Speaker 3: on his sand shoes. And another thing that didn't come
18:10
Speaker 3: up in court, but I talked to one of the detectives.
18:15
Speaker 3: The detective look, they take any sort of incoming evidence
18:20
Speaker 3: or incoming material. So he was told to go to
18:24
Speaker 3: a place where when Giesing was kicked out of his home,
18:28
Speaker 3: they got rid of all the furniture, and so he
18:31
Speaker 3: had to chase up all the furniture just in case
18:34
Speaker 3: there was evidence. And he got to this place and
18:38
Speaker 3: there was an old cabinet and it's going through everything.
18:42
Speaker 3: It was just old newspapers and tucked into one of
18:45
Speaker 3: the sides hidden was a newspaper, the Truth newspaper, and
18:50
Speaker 3: it was a special lift out on the Eloise Woolich case,
18:56
Speaker 3: which makes I think it must have made the police think, hmm,
19:01
Speaker 3: this is very interesting that it was never brought up
19:04
Speaker 3: in trial. So Gesing was charged, went to court, and
19:09
Speaker 3: then on the following court hearing, he didn't look anything
19:14
Speaker 3: like he used to. He had been bashed terribly in jail.
19:19
Speaker 3: In those days, they didn't separate the Charles six offenders
19:23
Speaker 3: with the main prisoners.
19:25
Speaker 2: Right, some people might say that should be brought back
19:27
Speaker 2: in actually, and they get off too easily in protection
19:30
Speaker 2: and so forth. But so he got bashed and he's
19:33
Speaker 2: found guilty of the abduction and.
19:34
Speaker 5: Murder of Louise.
19:35
Speaker 2: I wonder though, when you look at how clever Fennige is,
19:40
Speaker 2: is he aware of Gesing's habit of fishing on the
19:43
Speaker 2: Oquaparinga River. Is it possible that he framed him? Am
19:46
Speaker 2: I getting into the wild area of speculation?
19:50
Speaker 3: That is certainly speculation, But two things. Fennig and Geesing
19:56
Speaker 3: were both members of the Army Reserve, and Fenick was
20:01
Speaker 3: also a fisherman, and he also fished in around that area.
20:06
Speaker 3: I don't know if they knew each other, but they
20:08
Speaker 3: were both lived very close to Luise Bell.
20:11
Speaker 1: In fact, Geeseing was just around the corner.
20:15
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to say that's a line of inquiry,
20:17
Speaker 2: given how clever and he is. But of course the
20:20
Speaker 2: crown relied upon statements from other prisoners to convict him,
20:25
Speaker 2: and then he gets found guilty. But shortly after the trial,
20:28
Speaker 2: one of the prisoner's contacts are detective and says I
20:30
Speaker 2: lied in court. So the whole thing blows up and
20:33
Speaker 2: Geesing is set free. This must have been a terrible
20:37
Speaker 2: moment for the police and the family because they're back
20:40
Speaker 2: to square one. They've got nobody, they've got no suspect,
20:43
Speaker 2: and the whole thing goes completely quiet up to five years.
20:48
Speaker 3: I talked to the detective who received that phone call,
20:51
Speaker 3: and this prisoner said, look, let's meet at the Adelaide markets.
20:57
Speaker 1: And he thought, well, that's strange. Perhaps he's got a
21:00
Speaker 1: tip for me.
21:00
Speaker 3: So he went to the markets and as soon as
21:02
Speaker 3: he saw the witness, he knew something was up. And
21:06
Speaker 3: so the detective talked to the prisoner that had been
21:10
Speaker 3: just released and he admitted to the detective that he
21:14
Speaker 3: lied in court, and the other prisoners did as well.
21:18
Speaker 2: Right, so the whole thing is back at square one,
21:20
Speaker 2: and you know, they're out of ideas. And then six
21:24
Speaker 2: years after Louise goes missing, ten year old Michael Black
21:28
Speaker 2: is that Murray Bridge, seventy five kilometers from Adelaide. He's
21:31
Speaker 2: on his bicycle there, going out as kids did back then,
21:34
Speaker 2: to go fishing, and he disappears as well. Was there
21:37
Speaker 2: any connection drawn at the beginning between his case and Louise.
21:42
Speaker 3: Well, this is an interesting one. It was a big
21:45
Speaker 3: day for Michael. This is the first day that he
21:48
Speaker 3: was going to go fishing by himself without his father.
21:52
Speaker 3: His father told him, please do not cross the bridge
21:55
Speaker 3: because it's dangerous, and be back by four o'clock. So
22:00
Speaker 3: Michael went down to the river and he was spotted
22:04
Speaker 3: a couple of times, and so at four point fifteen
22:08
Speaker 3: and four point thirty the father decided to go down
22:10
Speaker 3: and have a look for Michael. And he drove around
22:14
Speaker 3: and as you can imagine, he was getting more and
22:16
Speaker 3: more anxious, and so he went home rang the police said. Look,
22:21
Speaker 3: this is not like Michael. He wouldn't disobey me like this.
22:26
Speaker 3: So the police said, okay, stay at home. We're onto it,
22:30
Speaker 3: and they sent a couple of cars looking for Michael.
22:34
Speaker 3: And at about six point thirty the police rang the father,
22:38
Speaker 3: mister Black, and they said, we've found Michael's gear the
22:42
Speaker 3: other side of the bridge. His shorts and thongs and
22:48
Speaker 3: fishing gear was all neatly packed near the edge of
22:51
Speaker 3: the water.
22:52
Speaker 1: And mister Black said, no, that's not Michael.
22:56
Speaker 3: He's not neat at all and he would never disobey
23:00
Speaker 3: me and cross the bridge.
23:02
Speaker 1: So the police.
23:04
Speaker 3: Divers were brought in from Adelaide. They had a remarkable
23:08
Speaker 3: record of drownings. I think out of one hundred and
23:12
Speaker 3: twenty five drownings in the Murray, they recovered one hundred
23:16
Speaker 3: and twenty three. So it was if Michael did drown
23:21
Speaker 3: there was a good possibility that he would eventually be found.
23:27
Speaker 2: Now the police did have a witness because there was
23:32
Speaker 2: a couple of witnesses came and told the police they'd
23:35
Speaker 2: seen Michael talking to a man in a VW Combie
23:38
Speaker 2: van and this guy was about five to ten with
23:40
Speaker 2: a thick mustache, which sounds a lot like Dta Fennig.
23:44
Speaker 2: Do you think that they were describing Fennigh at that.
23:47
Speaker 1: Time they were.
23:49
Speaker 3: What happened was there was another drowning of a boy
23:53
Speaker 3: very similar age who was recovered in the Murray and
23:57
Speaker 3: so police sort of thought, well, perhaps it was a
24:00
Speaker 3: drowning and the case was handed over to the local
24:03
Speaker 3: cop at murray Bridge and went about things very diligently
24:07
Speaker 3: and got a timeline of what Michael was up to
24:11
Speaker 3: and also the leading up to that date. There was
24:16
Speaker 3: one man who saw this mustached guy, obviously diet Finic,
24:22
Speaker 3: and he asked this guy, Finick said, have you got
24:26
Speaker 3: any areas that you can go swimming in the nude?
24:31
Speaker 1: That raised a bit of alarm. And then there was.
24:34
Speaker 3: Two children the day before playing with Dieta Finic in
24:39
Speaker 3: the waters and Dieta invited them over to his combi van.
24:45
Speaker 3: Luckily the children didn't accept invitation. So de Defenick was
24:52
Speaker 3: not looked as a suspect. He was just not on
24:55
Speaker 3: the radar. Perhaps he should have been, because what I
24:59
Speaker 3: haven't discussed yet is he had a couple of issues
25:02
Speaker 3: with He described it as fondling boys. Never went to court,
25:10
Speaker 3: and there was also a case in ninety eighty five
25:14
Speaker 3: which showed up in my investigations. He was actually charged
25:19
Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty five with rape and sexual assault and
25:25
Speaker 3: I never found out what that was about until last
25:28
Speaker 3: year when I bumped into a person, a neighbor of Phoenix,
25:34
Speaker 3: and he told me that Foenick was caught with a
25:37
Speaker 3: young boy in the young boy's garage. I won't describe anything,
25:43
Speaker 3: but the mother came out and found them and she
25:47
Speaker 3: was hysterical, and when it came to court, she had
25:52
Speaker 3: been admitted to a mental health place to because she
25:58
Speaker 3: couldn't give evidence. So he got off in only eighty
26:01
Speaker 3: five Michael Black could still be here.
26:05
Speaker 5: Yeah. That's chilling, isn't it.
26:06
Speaker 2: And particularly these days, someone like that draw a flag
26:11
Speaker 2: straight away when a case like Michael's would come up,
26:15
Speaker 2: and he would have been scooped up in questioned, but
26:17
Speaker 2: he wasn't. And you know, he's so confident, this guy Finnig.
26:21
Speaker 2: And it's remarkable when your book you described the fact
26:23
Speaker 2: that the Sunday after Michael goes missing, he's at the
26:26
Speaker 2: kitchen table with his family and he smiled at the
26:29
Speaker 2: photo of Michael in the paper and said to his wife,
26:33
Speaker 2: I saw this boy when I was there earlier in
26:35
Speaker 2: the week. Do you think I should contact police? It's
26:38
Speaker 2: so bold.
26:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, And he says, oh, look, you couldn't miss him
26:42
Speaker 3: because you know, Michael wore this color shirt at the time.
26:45
Speaker 3: And he then became obsessed with Michael's case. He was
26:50
Speaker 3: a canoeist, a very good canoeist, and he used to
26:53
Speaker 3: row around the Murray River with a friend and he
26:58
Speaker 3: stopped at the place where Michael's belongings were found, and
27:04
Speaker 3: he actually camped for the night, and anyone who would ask,
27:08
Speaker 3: he'd says, yeah, I saw Michael He was sort of
27:12
Speaker 3: playing it up a bit, just like he was with
27:15
Speaker 3: Louise Bell. He was telling people that he was actually
27:18
Speaker 3: a suspect at one stage, which he wasn't. So he
27:23
Speaker 3: was enjoying beating the police.
27:26
Speaker 2: And giving people a sense, giving people some opportunity to
27:30
Speaker 2: suspect him again, because the thing is an offender like this,
27:35
Speaker 2: almost wants people to know how clever he is. Yes,
27:39
Speaker 2: but he then makes a big mistake, doesn't he, Because
27:41
Speaker 2: he then tries to subduct a thirteen year old boy
27:44
Speaker 2: you've called Jason at Port Ullanger, a coastal suburban adelaide.
27:49
Speaker 5: What happened in that case?
27:51
Speaker 3: Yes, well, this is the turning point in Fennix's life.
27:55
Speaker 3: It was the thirtieth of January of the same year
27:59
Speaker 3: that he abducted and killed Michael Black. So this little
28:04
Speaker 3: boy was trialing out his friend's bike. You know, he
28:09
Speaker 3: was speeding down the slopes and he was hot.
28:13
Speaker 1: It was a hot day.
28:13
Speaker 3: So he skidded to a stop near Delhi, and across
28:19
Speaker 3: the road was Fennick and his combi van, and Phinnick
28:24
Speaker 3: asked the boy, please come over. I've lost my keys
28:29
Speaker 3: down a little place in between the seats you know,
28:32
Speaker 3: he raised his hands and said, look, my hands are
28:34
Speaker 3: too big.
28:35
Speaker 1: Could your help?
28:36
Speaker 3: And the boy hesitated, thinking this is a stranger, you know,
28:40
Speaker 3: Mum's always told me don't talk to strangers. But then
28:45
Speaker 3: Fennick used his teacher voice and raised it and the
28:49
Speaker 3: boy was obedient and came over to help Fannick. And
28:55
Speaker 3: within sixty seconds he had already gagged him and hog
28:59
Speaker 3: tied him, thrown him in the van, and grabbed his
29:04
Speaker 3: bike and put that in the van and sped away.
29:09
Speaker 2: I guess, cognizant of the fact that he'd left Michael's
29:12
Speaker 2: gear behind, which was a risk for him, which ultimately
29:16
Speaker 2: would be very important what he left behind on Michael's clothes.
29:20
Speaker 2: So then you start to see the entire mo of
29:25
Speaker 2: Fennig where he sexually abuses poor Jason, keeps him there, overnight,
29:32
Speaker 2: ties him to a chair, He was bathed by Fennig.
29:35
Speaker 2: You're seeing the whole range of this guy's sick fantasies
29:38
Speaker 2: being played out.
29:40
Speaker 1: That's right.
29:41
Speaker 3: He took Jason and he actually asked, Jason, I want
29:47
Speaker 3: thirty thousand dollars from your father. No, it was forty
29:50
Speaker 3: thousand dollars. Can he afford it? And a little boy
29:53
Speaker 3: was just crying. He said, no, my father's a pensionner.
29:57
Speaker 3: What about ten thousand, I've got an accomplice. He was
30:00
Speaker 3: making this up as he was going along. I'm sure
30:03
Speaker 3: he didn't have an accomplice, but he was just again,
30:06
Speaker 3: he was living out a fantasy, and so he kept
30:11
Speaker 3: the boy captive until it got dark. At this stage,
30:16
Speaker 3: his wife and kids had left him, and so he
30:19
Speaker 3: had the home to himself.
30:21
Speaker 2: As you said, they'd left him.
30:24
Speaker 5: So, yeah, his marriage was over.
30:26
Speaker 3: The marriage was over. Actually, the marriage was over soon
30:30
Speaker 3: after Michael Black went missing. It was coming to an end.
30:35
Speaker 1: As you said.
30:35
Speaker 3: He was tied to a chair and fed boiled carrots.
30:39
Speaker 3: He was then taken to the bath and bathes like
30:43
Speaker 3: an infant. And that night Fennick said to the boy,
30:46
Speaker 3: would you like me to tie you up in bed
30:50
Speaker 3: or take these tablets? And the boy was thinking, gee,
30:54
Speaker 3: I don't really want to take tablets, but Fennick just
30:57
Speaker 3: threw them down his throat and they slept. I'm not
31:01
Speaker 3: sure what happened, but next morning Fennick was nicotine attic
31:07
Speaker 3: and he'd run out a cigarette, so he went tied
31:11
Speaker 3: the boy up again to the chair, and he actually
31:15
Speaker 3: told the boy, I've got a big dog. If you move,
31:19
Speaker 3: he's going to eat you up. Anyway, the boy was
31:23
Speaker 3: frantic and started to try to untangle the knots that
31:28
Speaker 3: Finnick had done. And look, Phennick was very good with
31:32
Speaker 3: There's actually a photo in the book this is how
31:35
Speaker 3: different times were. In the school book, the end of
31:39
Speaker 3: year book, they had a photo of Fennig. He had
31:42
Speaker 3: tied up a boy and was leading this boy tied
31:45
Speaker 3: up in rope, and so he knew what knots were.
31:50
Speaker 3: But this little boy was determined. He kept moving his
31:53
Speaker 3: little wrists and of course it was abrasive. He was
31:58
Speaker 3: starting to bleed in his hands, but he felt it
32:01
Speaker 3: come a little bit loose, so he just tried harder
32:04
Speaker 3: and harder, and before too much longer, he got out
32:08
Speaker 3: of the knots, untied his ankles and ran for the door.
32:14
Speaker 3: Front door that was locked, and the back door as well.
32:18
Speaker 3: So he climbed onto the kitchen sink and he kicked
32:22
Speaker 3: out the screen window. He was naked at this stage,
32:26
Speaker 3: and he climbed over a tin fence and headed to
32:31
Speaker 3: the neighbor and knocked on the door. There was no answer,
32:36
Speaker 3: but he knocked again, and a lady came and took
32:40
Speaker 3: him inside and called the police. So when the police arrived,
32:46
Speaker 3: Fennick arrived and they arrested him, and the police said
32:52
Speaker 3: what's your name, and he said Mud.
32:55
Speaker 5: My name is Mud.
32:57
Speaker 1: My name is Mud.
32:58
Speaker 3: And he just lit up a cigarette as if nothing
33:03
Speaker 3: really had happened. He said, Oh, I wanted I just
33:07
Speaker 3: wanted someone to cuddle.
33:09
Speaker 2: Well, what they found in his combie Van suggested more
33:13
Speaker 2: than just cuddling was on his mind, because there was
33:15
Speaker 2: a sack of lime in there, which is typically used
33:18
Speaker 2: to dissolve bodies.
33:20
Speaker 5: When they're buried.
33:21
Speaker 2: And this was clearly this was a bit of an
33:23
Speaker 2: insight into the way Fenig operated. And this prolonged sexual
33:27
Speaker 2: torture and sadistic pleasure followed by eventual murder. And this
33:33
Speaker 2: looked like it was going to be the fate for
33:35
Speaker 2: Jason had he not got out that window.
33:38
Speaker 1: Oh he's a little hero, Jason.
33:42
Speaker 3: He saved his own life, and secondary that we get
33:46
Speaker 3: a bit of an insight on what Fennick was up
33:49
Speaker 3: to with children. So he was arrested and the media
33:54
Speaker 3: announced that a school teacher had been charged with abduction
33:58
Speaker 3: of a child and that really brought out everyone who
34:02
Speaker 3: knew Fennick and all of Bravado had come home to roost.
34:09
Speaker 3: He had told many people that he had seen Michael.
34:13
Speaker 3: He pleaded guilty to the abduction of Jason and sexual
34:17
Speaker 3: assault and I think he got fifteen years. But detectives
34:21
Speaker 3: thought this is so similar to Michael Black that it
34:25
Speaker 3: needs more investigation, so they went down the track of
34:30
Speaker 3: what they called similar facts.
34:34
Speaker 1: So when you go to court, your.
34:37
Speaker 3: Background criminal activities are mentioned, obviously because of a fair trial,
34:44
Speaker 3: but the judge agreed that on this occasion it was
34:49
Speaker 3: necessary to hear about Jason's abduction. He actually spoke at
34:55
Speaker 3: the court and he made up all sorts of excuses.
34:59
Speaker 3: He did admit to meeting Michael, and he said he
35:04
Speaker 3: lent Michael a fishing knife and they were basically talking together.
35:09
Speaker 3: So in the judge's summary, he said, the chances of
35:16
Speaker 3: two child abductors with a van, that you actually needed
35:21
Speaker 3: a van to abduct a child. Any sort of other
35:24
Speaker 3: vehicle wasn't going to be fit. So for two child
35:29
Speaker 3: abductors to be at that time and that place, well,
35:33
Speaker 3: it was just absurd. So he was found guilty and
35:39
Speaker 3: I think he received twenty five years, but the police
35:43
Speaker 3: weren't finished yet. Now they believed that he could have
35:47
Speaker 3: been the abductor for Louise Bell, so.
35:51
Speaker 1: In twenty thirteen they arrested him.
35:54
Speaker 3: They tried digging up Fenix's backyard and underneath the floorboards,
35:59
Speaker 3: but nothing was found, and they were playing around with
36:03
Speaker 3: the DNA, and they sent the DNA over to Holland
36:08
Speaker 3: where they have a machine that is far superior to
36:12
Speaker 3: what we have here. And the only DNA they found
36:16
Speaker 3: was on a piece of fluff on Louise's pajamas.
36:21
Speaker 2: Wow, and that Fennick himself had placed on the lawn
36:25
Speaker 2: of the neighbor as a way to taunt the police.
36:28
Speaker 2: And you know, I guess enjoy the whole but this
36:31
Speaker 2: is what brought him down, Michael, which is fantasy.
36:33
Speaker 3: No, that's so ironic and it's so beautiful actually. And
36:38
Speaker 3: of course the cop that did the forensics at the time,
36:43
Speaker 3: as I said, they put sticky tape, and this little
36:46
Speaker 3: piece of fluff was the downfall of DTA FENI.
36:50
Speaker 1: I looked.
36:51
Speaker 3: There was a lot of other witnesses brought forward, but
36:54
Speaker 3: in the end the judge found him guilty and he
36:58
Speaker 3: believed the DNA there was obviously, the defense said that, well,
37:03
Speaker 3: how did that DNA get there? Because Phoenix's daughter Petra
37:08
Speaker 3: was good friends of Louise, And the defense said, well,
37:11
Speaker 3: that's how it got onto Louise's top. But yeah, it
37:17
Speaker 3: was a bill into one chance of that DNA not
37:22
Speaker 3: being Deeta fenic.
37:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he maintains his innocence about Michael Black and
37:29
Speaker 2: Louise Bell. But he's in jail forever, and you would
37:33
Speaker 2: hope that there would be some spark of humanity and
37:38
Speaker 2: mercy and compassion in him that would lead him to
37:42
Speaker 2: reveal what he did with the bodies of Michael and Louise.
37:46
Speaker 2: Has there been in the attempt to prevail on whatever
37:51
Speaker 2: humanity is in this bloke to reveal.
37:53
Speaker 3: That, Yes, I was talked to one of the detectives
37:57
Speaker 3: and this is back in nineteen nineties, and Fennick just
38:01
Speaker 3: denied ever doing the During the Luise Bell trial, he
38:10
Speaker 3: had a massive heart attack and he was basically on
38:15
Speaker 3: deathbed and police went to him and said, look, mate,
38:20
Speaker 3: your time's running out.
38:22
Speaker 1: What do you got to say?
38:23
Speaker 3: And you didn't say anything, and amazingly he recovered full recovery.
38:28
Speaker 5: Well, you know what, I'm glad about that.
38:30
Speaker 2: I'm glad about that because the longer he lives, the
38:33
Speaker 2: more he can suffer in prison. I think an escape
38:36
Speaker 2: with a heart attack would be a mercy he doesn't deserve.
38:39
Speaker 1: Oh, that would have been terrible.
38:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you've had a chance to talk to his family, Petra,
38:44
Speaker 2: you mentioned earlier, how did they feel about the secret
38:47
Speaker 2: life that their father was conducting.
38:51
Speaker 1: Well, looks say, clearly a little bit embarrassed. I guess
38:56
Speaker 1: Petra is such a strong woman. I remember this is
39:00
Speaker 1: going back twenty thirteen. We were emailing each each other
39:05
Speaker 1: and she told me that every night before she goes
39:09
Speaker 1: to sleep, she prays for the children that have been
39:12
Speaker 1: abused by Finnick, and she just has come to the
39:18
Speaker 1: conclusion that, yeah, he lived two lives. He was a
39:22
Speaker 1: reasonably good father provider, but he had an evilness inside.
39:28
Speaker 1: And even talking to Dita's former wife, she stuck around
39:35
Speaker 1: because you know, he was a reasonable father. But in
39:39
Speaker 1: the end I.
39:40
Speaker 3: Think she believed that, Yeah, it was just getting too
39:43
Speaker 3: much for her, trying to deny. See, another neighbor contacted
39:49
Speaker 3: me and told me how Fenick loved to tutor the
39:52
Speaker 3: neighborhood kids and one neighbor said that he saw Nick
39:57
Speaker 3: with binoculars looking inside the windows of the other side
40:00
Speaker 3: of the streets, so he was yeah, he was complex
40:05
Speaker 3: that really.
40:06
Speaker 5: That's one word for it.
40:08
Speaker 2: But I guess Michael was fantastic to talk to you
40:10
Speaker 2: about your book, and people should look at your book.
40:12
Speaker 2: Father teacher, child killed the abduction of Louise Bell and
40:15
Speaker 2: Michael Black. But my question to you as we finish here,
40:18
Speaker 2: is he was caught for these how many more matters
40:24
Speaker 2: was he involved with? And also how many children narrowly
40:28
Speaker 2: evaded being grabbed by this monster?
40:31
Speaker 3: Well, let's start with Eloise. Fennick used to do a
40:37
Speaker 3: lot of traveling school holidays. Yes, he did take his
40:41
Speaker 3: family with him most of the time, but there were
40:43
Speaker 3: times when he went to Victoria, and the similarity of
40:49
Speaker 3: the two abductions is just amazing. I mean, we're all
40:54
Speaker 3: speculating here. But then we go forward to the abduction
40:59
Speaker 3: at Adelaide. Ovalde De Fennick was actually working with Kirsty
41:06
Speaker 3: Gordon's dad at the time as teachers that were both
41:10
Speaker 3: science teachers in nineteen seventy three, and I contacted the
41:16
Speaker 3: Adelaide High School and they said the Finnig left in
41:20
Speaker 3: nineteen seventy three under circumstances.
41:23
Speaker 1: They didn't say what.
41:26
Speaker 3: So, yeah, he was actually working with little Kirsty.
41:31
Speaker 1: Gordon's dad, poor little four year old. Yeah, the four
41:35
Speaker 1: year old.
41:37
Speaker 5: So Michael, I think this really I think we'll have
41:40
Speaker 5: to wrap up.
41:41
Speaker 2: Now, but I think the investigations into Phinich should continue.
41:45
Speaker 2: And I guess anyone listening who knew Phoinig through these years,
41:49
Speaker 2: I think the hallmark of these offenders is that they
41:52
Speaker 2: need to continue abducting and killing. They don't have long gaps.
41:56
Speaker 2: There's a need a craving for the thrill of what
41:59
Speaker 2: they're doing, so they tend to have a regular interval
42:03
Speaker 2: between their outrages. And I think that's your right to
42:07
Speaker 2: say that Eloise Wallage is a possibility as a jar
42:10
Speaker 2: Anne Ratcliffe and Kirsty Gordon, So there's more information out there.
42:14
Speaker 2: I know South Australians are notorious and keeping secrets to
42:18
Speaker 2: state for that, but you would hope that people would
42:20
Speaker 2: come forward and to assist you, and maybe there'll be
42:23
Speaker 2: a sequel to your book.
42:25
Speaker 1: That'd be great.
42:30
Speaker 2: That was Michael Madigan. It's a harrowing tale. I would
42:33
Speaker 2: recommend you get hold of the book. As I said,
42:35
Speaker 2: it's called Father Teacher, Child Killer, the abduction of Louise
42:39
Speaker 2: Bell and Michael Black, And you think of the unending
42:44
Speaker 2: trauma for the Bell family, the Black family, and for
42:49
Speaker 2: that matter, the Walert's family and others who've never found
42:52
Speaker 2: the bodies of their children. Will Dieta Fennegg ever reveal
42:57
Speaker 2: what he did with the bodies of those kids. Unfortunately,
43:00
Speaker 2: my experience in dealing with these sorts of stories, they don't.
43:03
Speaker 2: It's the last piece of cleverness, the last leverage they
43:07
Speaker 2: have over the authorities is to withhold the final resting place,
43:13
Speaker 2: if ever a child can rest who's killed in these circumstances,
43:16
Speaker 2: but to withhold that information from police. And I would
43:20
Speaker 2: hope that Fenig would break that stereotype, but I don't
43:22
Speaker 2: think you will. If you have any information about this
43:25
Speaker 2: case or any other cases like this, please call crime
43:28
Speaker 2: Stoppers one it out of triple three, triple zero. If
43:31
Speaker 2: you don't trust the police, and many people don't, you
43:33
Speaker 2: can always email me Adam shanderwriter at gmail dot com
43:37
Speaker 2: and I will pass on the information to Michael.
43:38
Speaker 5: I know he's still following this case, but these cases
43:41
Speaker 5: need to have an end.
43:42
Speaker 2: Before Fenig gets the ultimate release of death, he needs
43:48
Speaker 2: to let us know what happened.
43:51
Speaker 5: This has been Adam Sham for real crime.
43:52
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44:05
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