Murder of Chrissie Clare Venn

On Feb. 20, 1921, around 5 p.m. 13-year-old Chrissie Venn left her home on Allison Road in North Motton, Tasmania, Australia. She was going to run some errands and it was only 3 miles away. She didn't return home and this worried her family. A search was had, but she wasn't found till March 1st in a tree stump that was close to Allison rd, which she used to walk into town.

There are two different stories of how she was found and the condition of her body. Her body was either mutilated and left in a hollow tree stump or she was suffocated or stranged with no mutilation. She was half-dressed and seemed to have been sexually assaulted. One source states that twine used for hay bailing was tied around her neck and her mouth was stuffed with pieces of cloth from her dress, and the cloth had a gold pin attached to it.

It's believed that she may have died sometime on Feb 26th.

Former police officer and minor, George William King, was tried for the crime. He had cuts on his hands that made him suspicious. He claimed his hands were cut up due to a log falling on them while searching for Chrissie. The trial started on August 21 of the same year and was done in Hobart. Albert Ogilvie defended him and William was found not guilty.

It's believed that Chrissie haunts the road she was killed on.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave
Daily Herald
Examiner
Revolvy
Wikipedia
Press Reader

Murder of Evelyn Mary Maughan

Mug Shot of Fredrick Thompson

On the morning of 8 July 1945, 8-year-old Evelyn Maughan left her home On Goulburn Street Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. She was walking alone was supposed to go to church like she did most Sundays. She never was seen again after this. Her family worried reported the girl missing and searches for the girl was done, but she wasn't found until three months later.

On 5 October by  Edmund Charles Mead at the Queensborough Cemetery Sandy Bay. He was looking for his father's grave when he found Evelyn's body covered with sticks. He automatically went to the nearest public phone box and called the police. Eveleyn's uncle Jack was sent to identify the body, and it was her.


Evelyn had been bound and fully clothed. It wasn't for sure what her cause of death was or if she had been sexually assaulted. Strips of a blanket were found wrapped around the girl, and her hands had been tied, a khaki handkerchief was tightly tied around the girl's neck and is believed to be what killed her.

Mrs. Dorothy Adele Lewis claimed to have been looking out her window on July 8. She said she saw a young man cross Collins-Street with a bath on his shoulder with what looked like a child covered with a blanket inside. A Few minutes later he returned walking in a hurry and it appeared that a wooden toy was in the bath. He was later identified to be Fredrick Thompson.

A few days after Evelyn's body was discovered 31-year-old Fredrick Thompson was arrested and charged with her murder. In his home, they found strips of blanket similar to what tied Evelyn up. Fredrick's wife also suspected him asking him and his friend if they had heard of the missing girl. Another woman saw Fredrick at the cemetery gate that Evelyn was found in.

Fredrick maintained his innocence throughout the trial and never seemed upset during it. It took less than two hours to get a guilty verdict. He was hanged at 6 a.m. on 14 Feb. 1946 and was the last man executed in Tasmania. It's never been revealed what had happened to Evelyn and some suspected that Fredrick didn't kill the girl on his own and had an accomplice.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave (Evelyn Mary Maughan)
Find A Grave (Fredrick Henry Thompson)
ABC
The Mercury
The Age (08 October 1945)
The Age (12 December 1945)
The Age (18 December 1945)