Tasmania is often regarded as a quiet and relatively safe part of Australia, but the state has a number of disturbing mysteries that have remained unresolved for decades. They include unexplained disappearances, suspected murders and killings in which investigators have never been able to identify or convict the person responsible. Some of these cases date back more than 30 years, yet they have not simply been forgotten. Tasmania Police continues to appeal for information in a number of historical investigations, and substantial rewards have been offered in the hope that someone will eventually provide the information needed to solve them.
Homicide Investigation
One of Tasmania’s best-known unsolved murders is the death of 20-year-old Italian tourist Victoria Cafasso, who was killed on Tasmania’s East Coast on 11 October 1995. Victoria had been staying in the Beaumaris area when she went to the beach near Freshwater Creek. She was subsequently found dead on the beach. Despite an extensive investigation and numerous appeals for information, nobody has been convicted of her murder. The case has continued to attract police attention decades later. Investigators have revisited witness statements and other evidence in an attempt to identify people who were in the area around the time Victoria was killed. One particular focus has been a light-coloured 1970s Subaru station wagon reportedly seen at several locations around Beaumaris and Freshwater Creek. Police have also appealed for information about a man seen in the area who was described as being in his twenties, around six feet tall, slim but very fit, with blond hair and tanned arms and legs. In 2023, almost 28 years after the murder, Tasmania Police conducted further searches near St Helens following a review of the investigation and information concerning the movements of the Subaru. A substantial reward remains available for information leading to a conviction.
Date: 11 October 1995
Location: Freshwater Creek, Beaumaris, East Coast Tasmania
Status: Unsolved murder
Missing Person / Suspected Murder
The disappearance of German traveller Nancy Grunwaldt remains one of Tasmania’s most enduring mysteries. Nancy had left Germany in 1992 and travelled through New Zealand and Australia before arriving in Tasmania in March 1993. She hired a red mountain bike in Devonport and began travelling around the state. Police were eventually able to trace her movements through northern and north-eastern Tasmania. The last confirmed sighting occurred on 12 March 1993, when the 26-year-old was seen riding her red bicycle south along the Tasman Highway approximately five kilometres south of Scamander. After that sighting, Nancy apparently vanished. Despite extensive searches and investigations, neither Nancy nor her bicycle has ever been located. Her disappearance was eventually referred to the Coroner, who determined that Nancy had died as a result of foul play. The absence of Nancy’s body, bicycle and belongings has made the case particularly difficult to resolve. Tasmania Police nevertheless continues to regard the disappearance as an unresolved suspected murder. A substantial reward has been offered for information leading to the conviction of the person or people responsible.
Date: Last confirmed sighting 12 March 1993
Location: Tasman Highway south of Scamander
Status: Missing, presumed deceased as a result of foul play
Missing Person / Suspected Murder
The disappearance of young Burnie mother Helen Munnings has remained one of north-west Tasmania’s most troubling unsolved cases since 2008. Helen disappeared from the Burnie area on or around 23 July 2008. Despite extensive investigations, she has never been found. The case eventually came before the Coroner. In 2012, the Coroner determined that Helen had died in Burnie on or about the day of her disappearance. Tasmania Police has continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death and has publicly stated its belief that there are people in the community who possess information about what happened to Helen. Investigators have followed new leads and identified additional locations of interest for searches as the investigation has progressed. The passage of time has not ended the investigation. Police have repeatedly appealed to anyone who may have withheld information because of personal relationships, loyalties or fear to reconsider and come forward.
Date: 23 July 2008
Location: Burnie, North-West Tasmania
Status: Suspected murder – remains not recovered
Missing Person / Suspected Foul Play
Eve Askew was just 14 years old when she disappeared from her home at Fitzgerald in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley in November 1991. Her disappearance has remained unresolved for more than three decades. Despite extensive inquiries, Eve has never been located. Police believe that she may have met with foul play, transforming what began as a missing-person investigation into one of Tasmania’s longest-running suspected criminal cases. The isolated rural environment surrounding Fitzgerald has added to the mystery. Investigators have examined information received over many years, but no discovery has provided a definitive explanation for what happened to Eve. Her case remains open, and Tasmania Police has offered a substantial reward for information that leads to a conviction in relation to her suspected death.
Date: November 1991
Location: Fitzgerald, Derwent Valley, Tasmania
Status: Missing – suspected foul play
Missing Person / Suspected Murder
The disappearance of Paul Winston Byrne in 1996 is another Tasmanian missing-person case that police strongly suspect involves murder. Paul was reported missing in 1996 and investigations subsequently centred on the former mining community of Rossarden in north-eastern Tasmania. Although his remains have never been recovered, Tasmania Police has publicly stated that Paul is strongly suspected to have been murdered at Rossarden. Like many historical cases, the investigation has been complicated by the passage of time and the absence of a body. However, a missing body does not prevent police from continuing to investigate a suspected homicide. Investigators believe information capable of explaining Paul’s disappearance may still exist within the community. His case has therefore remained among the Tasmanian suspected murders for which police have appealed for information and offered a substantial reward.
Date: 1996
Location: Rossarden, North-East Tasmania
Status: Missing – suspected murder
Unsolved Shooting
The murder of Simon Crisp is a much more recent Tasmanian cold case. Simon was shot and killed in the car park of the Marrawah Hotel in Tasmania’s far north-west in 2013. The circumstances were very different from many long-term missing-person investigations because police knew where and how the victim had died. The challenge was establishing who was responsible and obtaining sufficient evidence to bring that person before the courts. Extensive investigations followed the shooting, but no person has been convicted of Simon’s murder. Tasmania Police has continued to appeal for information and has included the case among the state’s unresolved murders for which a substantial reward is available. As with many small-community investigations, police believe that information known by members of the public may ultimately be crucial in resolving the case.
Date: 2013
Location: Marrawah Hotel, North-West Tasmania
Status: Unsolved murder
Abduction / Suspected Murder
The disappearance of Christopher Dean Watkins from Launceston in August 2013 is particularly concerning because Tasmania Police has said there is significant and credible information indicating that he was abducted and murdered. Christopher disappeared from a unit in Box Street, Mayfield, on or around 7 August 2013. His disappearance prompted an extensive investigation, but his remains have not been recovered and nobody has been convicted of his suspected murder. Police have continued to treat the case as a homicide investigation rather than simply an unexplained disappearance. The case demonstrates one of the major difficulties faced by investigators in suspected murders where a body has never been located. Police must attempt to reconstruct events and establish what happened using witness accounts, forensic material, intelligence and other evidence without one of the most important pieces of physical evidence normally available in a homicide investigation. Christopher’s case remains unresolved and Tasmania Police continues to seek information that could identify the person or people responsible.
Date: Around 7 August 2013
Location: Mayfield, Launceston
Status: Suspected abduction and murder
Missing Person / Suspicious Disappearance
Another case worth including is the extraordinary disappearance of Darlene Avis Geertsema, a 30-year-old mother who vanished from Devonport in 1978. Darlene was last seen leaving her family home in Best Street, Devonport at approximately 10pm on 23 October 1978. She was driving her red 1977 Holden Sunbird. Two days later, the vehicle was discovered locked and abandoned in a car park near Devonport Oval on Victoria Parade. Darlene herself had vanished. She was the mother of six children. Four of her older daughters were living in Queensland, while her two youngest children remained in Tasmania. Police have said they do not believe Darlene would have voluntarily abandoned her children or completely stopped communicating with her family. A later review of the case resulted in witnesses being re-interviewed and fresh information being examined. Tasmania Police subsequently said it had become increasingly apparent that Darlene was probably deceased and had died in suspicious circumstances. Her body has never been found and there have been no confirmed sightings of her since the night she disappeared. A significant reward has been offered in an attempt to finally determine what happened to her.
Date: 23 October 1978
Location: Devonport, North-West Tasmania
Status: Missing – believed deceased in suspicious circumstances
Historical murder and missing-person investigations present enormous challenges. Physical evidence may have deteriorated or disappeared, witnesses may have died, memories become less reliable and locations can change dramatically over several decades. However, the passage of time can sometimes help an investigation as well. Relationships and loyalties change. People who were unwilling to speak to police at the time of a crime may eventually decide to provide information. Advances in DNA analysis and forensic science can also allow evidence collected decades earlier to be examined using techniques that simply did not exist when the crime occurred. This is one reason apparently dormant cases can suddenly produce significant developments many years later.
Tasmania Police has offered substantial rewards in connection with a number of unresolved murders and suspected murders. The purpose of these rewards is not simply to generate publicity. Investigators hope they may encourage someone with crucial information to reconsider their decision to remain silent. Information that appears insignificant can sometimes become important when combined with evidence already held by investigators.
Yes. Tasmania has a number of unresolved homicide and suspected-homicide investigations. Some involve confirmed murders, while others involve missing people whom police believe may have been murdered.
Yes. Unsolved serious crimes can remain open, and new information can be investigated even decades after the original offence.
Potentially. Improvements in DNA profiling and other forensic technologies mean evidence collected during an old investigation may sometimes be re-examined using techniques unavailable to the original investigators.
Rewards can encourage witnesses or people with knowledge of a crime to come forward. Relationships, loyalties and personal circumstances can change considerably over time, and information withheld decades earlier may eventually be provided to police.
Yes. Information about an unsolved Tasmanian crime can be provided to Crime Stoppers anonymously. Information can also be provided directly to Tasmania Police.
Behind every cold case is a victim and a family that has lived for years, and sometimes decades, without knowing exactly what happened.
The disappearances of Nancy Grunwaldt, Helen Munnings, Eve Askew, Paul Byrne, Christopher Watkins and Darlene Geertsema, along with the murders of Victoria Cafasso and Simon Crisp, remain reminders that even very old investigations can still depend on one person finally deciding to come forward.
Anyone with information about an unresolved crime in Tasmania should contact Tasmania Police or Crime Stoppers Tasmania.