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Thread: Hayley Marie Dodd (17) missing 29 July 1999 from Badgingarra, Western Australia

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    Hayley Marie Dodd (17) missing 29 July 1999 from Badgingarra, Western Australia

    I am adding an entry for missing 17 year-old Hayley Dodd, who disappeared while hitch-hiking on 29 July 1999 from Badgingarra, in Western Australia. It is believed she has been abducted and murdered.

    There has been some recent possible developments in her case today, which I will include in the next post.

    HAYLEY MARIE DODD



    MISSING: 29 JULY 1999
    LAST SEEN: BADGINGARRA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

    Hayley Marie Dodd (17) disappeared on Thursday, 29 July 1999, while hitch-hiking  from Dongara to a new farm job at a family friend’s property in Badgingarra, 200km north of Perth, in Western Australia.

    Hayley had been working as a roustabout in Dongara with a girlfriend, who last saw Hayley at 8:30AM that Thursday morning, as she set off on her journey to the new property.

    Hayley left Dongara, hitching a ride with a motorist, who dropped her off at a phone box at the Badgingarra Roadhouse, where she made a phone call. Hayley was then given a lift by a female motorist to Winjardie Road and North-West Road, where she was dropped off at approximately 11:35AM.

    Hayley was last seen by a female motorist walking in a south-east direction towards the farm, at the corner of Wathingarra Road and North-West Road, approximately 3km past the Badgingarra-Dandaragan Road corner.


    The witness also revealed that she had seen a shiny blue-green car and an army-style truck travelling along the road at that same time and police are seeking to identify the drivers of these vehicles so that they can be eliminated from their inquiries.

    A man has also come forward claiming he had seen two “suspicious young men” on the same road just hours after Hayley was last seen. The potential witness stated that he had been driving along North-West Road near Badgingarra when he had seen two men in their 20s next to a four-wheel drive vehicle in bush on the side of the road.

    Hayley Dodd has not been seen or heard from since this date and there are grave concerns for her safety and welfare.  Hayley is described as 155cm tall, slim build, with brown hair and grey eyes.

    She was last seen wearing light brown hiking boots, blue denim jeans, black v-neck top, grey men’s jacket with a hood, silver cross and chain, sunglasses and carrying a light brown backpack with the word ‘EQUIP’ on the flap.

    It is presumed that Hayley Dodd has been abducted and murdered. The case is an on-going investigation (Operation Blue-Gum).

    Margaret Dodd (Hayley’s mother) has been critical of the police investigation and has persistently maintained that W.A police have bungled the investigation into her daughter’s disappearance.


    Hayley Dodd Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33590850008#

    AFP missing person profile: http://www.missingpersons.gov.au/profile.aspx?Id=1337

    Help Find My Child page: http://www.helpfindmychild.net/hayley-dodd

    Transcript from 2006 Stateline broadcast “Missing without a trace – a Perth mother still searching for answers”: http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/wa/content/2006/s1701452.htm


    I can't remember where I sourced these photos from, but I do believe they were posted originally by Hayley's mother, Margaret Dodd. The first photo is of Hayley Dodd's 18th birthday memorial, the second photo is of the Wishing Well memorial:










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    Re: Hayley Marie Dodd (17) missing 29 July 1999 from Badgingarra, Western Australia

    Convicted murderer, Robin David Macartney, has long been suspected as a prime person of interest in the disappearance of Hayley Dodd, and he has more than once been implicated in some way in the investigation. The media has now revealed that new information has been received that alleges Macartney has previously confessed to another in-mate that he was responsible for Hayley's disappearance and subsequent murder. Wouldn't be the first time he has run his mouth in that regard either.

    Here are the articles:

    Killer 'confessed' to Hayley Dodd murder - prisoner claims
    EXCLUSIVE By NICOLE COX Police Reporter
    From: The Sunday Times
    October 09, 2010 7:00PM 

    POLICE are investigating a startling breakthrough in the 11-year hunt for missing teenager Hayley Dodd, amid claims a convicted killer confessed to his involvement in her murder.

    The Sunday Times can today reveal the Special Crime Squad has received new information about Hayley's suspected abduction and murder, one of WA's most mysterious cases.

    A released prisoner has come forward claiming Robin David Macartney confessed to killing the 17-year-old.

    Macartney, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Lalita Horsman in Geraldton in December 1999, has long been considered a suspect in Hayley's disappearance, but police have been unable to pinpoint his precise movements on the day she went missing.

    The released prisoner claims Macartney, who is known by his middle name David, told him he had killed Hayley because she would not have sex with him.

    In an earlier conversation it is claimed Macartney told the former inmate he knew the whereabouts of Hayley's body.

    In a copy of the former prisoner's statement to police, made to Det-Sgt Geoff Buck on August 27 this year and seen by The Sunday Times, the released prisoner also claims:

    * He found a file of newspaper clippings about Hayley and two articles stuck on the wall of Macartney's Casuarina Prison cell while snooping when Macartney was in hospital in 2009.

    * A photograph of Hayley's mother, Margaret, was uncovered in Macartney's cell with holes in her face that appeared to have been made with a pen. The word "bitch" was scawled above her name.

    * He overheard Macartney discussing Hayley's disappearance with at least two other inmates at the jail, each time recounting that he had been different distances from where Hayley was last sighted on the day she disappeared.

    The Sunday Times has strong information that police and prison authorities conducted at least two raids of Macartney's cell in recent weeks and that items had been seized from his living quarters.

    While police said the cell raids were not related to the Hayley Dodd case, Mrs Dodd said detectives had confirmed to her they had been investigating the new claims for about two months and had searched Macartney's cell.

    Mrs Dodd, who visited Macartney in jail in 2005 after he contacted her saying he had information about Hayley's disappearance, said she was only alerted to the heightened police investigation after inquiries made by The Sunday Times.

    Police contacted her again on Friday asking her not to comment publicly on the latest claims.

    But she described as "disturbing" the account that Macartney had news clippings of Hayley in his cell.

    Hayley vanished after she hitched a ride from Dongara, where she was working as a roustabout, on July 29, 1999. She was last seen walking along North West Rd, near Badgingarra, about 200km north of Perth.

    Police are convinced Hayley was abducted and murdered, though her body has never been found.

    Ms Horsman, 27, was suffocated and her body dumped in the sand dunes of a Geraldton beach five months after Hayley disappeared.

    The former prisoner, who was released from jail this year, claims that he spoke with Macartney on several occasions about Hayley's disappearance after a TV news report on June 28, 2009, named him as being a suspect in the case.

    "I ask(ed) him, 'What happened, how come they accused you of murdering Hayley?'," the former prisoner said in a statement.

    "He said, 'I was accused of it because they accused me of killing the girl in Geraldton and they thought I killed Hayley before I killed her'. He said, 'But I do know where the body is because the person who killed her told me where her body is'.

    "I said, 'That can't happen. I think you should tell the police where the body is so the mother can have closure to this'. He said, 'No, that would spoil my appeal'."

    In the statement, the ex-prisoner said: "It troubled me what David said to me, no one would know where the body was unless he was the murderer, that's what I thought."

    He said, while Macartney confessed to knowing where Hayley's remains were, he did not detail the location.

    The man claims that Macartney gave him his cell key so he could clean up before he returned from hospital where he was having treatment for bowel cancer.

    "On his wall he had pictures and news items cut out of the newspaper about Hayley Dodd," the statement said. "There was only two on the wall, they were from 2009."

    Inside the cell, the prisoner says he found two plastic files with newspaper clippings about Hayley's disappearance and other cases involving Dannie Wright, who was convicted for raping and murdering Chinese student Jiao Dan in Innaloo in October 2007, and American Dennis Maher, who was exonerated after serving 19 years in jail for raping three women in 1983.

    "The red folder was all about Hayley," he said. "I saw some clippings had red ink around them.

    "There was one picture of Margaret Dodd and it had holes in her face. It looked like the holes were made with a pen. The word 'bitch' was scribbled above her name."

    The prisoner said, when he heard the prison guards coming, he returned the files to where he found them and never spoke to other prisoners about the find.

    He said he told Macartney that he would give him an opportunity to go to police, but if he had not contacted them by June then he would.

    "I'm telling the police this now as he didn't tell the police himself and the family needs to know and they need to get Hayley back," the statement said.

    Mrs Dodd said three people had now come forward with similar stories about Macartney confessing to an involvement in Hayley's disappearance.

    "One person could be lying, two perhaps collaborating but three people . . . there is no doubt Macartney is saying these things," she said.

    Det-Insp Casey Prins, officer-in-charge of the Special Crime Squad, declined to comment.

    A Department of Corrective Services spokesman said he was unable to comment or release information about operational or security issues regarding individual prisoners.

    A $250,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for Hayley's disappearance.

    http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/killer-confessed-to-hayley-dodd-murder-prisoner-claims/story-e6frg13u-1225936419185

    Margaret Dodd: Why weren't we told about Macartney development
    By NICOLE COX
    From: The Sunday Times
    October 09, 2010

    HAYLEY Dodd's heartbroken mother says she will never give up on finding out what happened to her daughter, despite an 11-year lapse since the teenager's disappearance.

    Margaret Dodd said her family had painstakingly mounted independent searches for Hayley, desperate for answers amid concerns that police had bungled the investigation.

    They also called for a coronial inquest, but a date is yet to be set.

    Hayley was 17 when she was last seen walking along North West Rd near Badgingarra in the WA wheatbelt on July 29, 1999, after picking up a lift while hitch-hiking.

    Mrs Dodd said she was angry that police had not kept her abreast of developments in the case, including the latest man to come forward with a claim convicted killer Robin David Macartney had confessed to being involved in Hayley's disappearance.

    She said police had only confirmed the development to her when she questioned them after being alerted by The Sunday Times.

    "Whoever is responsible for Hayley disappearing is still out there and I still desperately want them to be caught," Mrs Dodd said. "I get annoyed. Police should be telling me everything. I shouldn't be hearing it from the media."

    Macartney, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Lalita Horsman in Geraldton in December 1999, has long been considered a suspect in Hayley's disappearance. But police have been unable to pinpoint his precise movements on the day she went missing.

    Mrs Dodd said she did not believe police had done everything they could to rule Macartney out of their investigation into Hayley's disappearance.

    In 2005, Mrs Dodd and her husband Ray visited Macartney four times in Casuarina Prison after the killer requested a meeting, claiming he had information about Hayley's case. During the meetings, he denied having anything to do with Hayley's disappearance but named a person whom he believed had not only killed Hayley, but was also responsible for Ms Horsman's murder.

    Macartney also sent Mrs Dodd a copy of a police videotape, which showed graphic footage of the police recovery of Ms Horsman's body, to which he had controversially gained access in preparation for an appeal against his conviction.

    Mrs Dodd severed contact with Macartney.

    "I felt like he was playing with us, trying to give us hope but not coming through with any genuine information," she said. "I don't sit there and cry anymore. I listen to the information and then try to see if there is any truth to it ...We want to know where she is, we need to know."

    WA Police declined to comment on Mrs Dodd's claims of police bungling.

    http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/why-werent-we-told/story-e6frg13u-1225936415976
    My heart goes out to the Dodd family. I admire Margaret Dodd's strength and persistence under such overwhelming circumstances to bring her daughter home.

    I hope there will be a breakthrough in this case soon. Eleven years is a long time and this family needs some sense of closure.

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    INQUEST FINALLY ANNOUNCED JUST DAYS AGO - ALMOST 14 YEARS TO THE DAY SHE DISAPPEARED

    Hayley Dodd's mum has long been critical of the police investigation into her daughter's disappearance & says she welcomes news of an inquest.



    Link to story & video footage of news report re inquest announcement -

    http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...solves/riddle/



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    Poor kid. It looks like a real-life Wolf Creek.


    http://mobile.news.com.au/national/f...-1226779188870


    Fourteen years on, what happened to missing person Hayley Dodd? MATT YOUNG & TIM CLARKE news.com.au December 09, 2013 6:12PM



    17-year-old Hayley Dodd with her sister Raeanne in December, 1998.

    IT'S been fourteen long years since Margaret Dodd saw her daughter alive. It was July 29, 1999, when 17-year-old Hayley Dodd disappeared while she was hitchhiking along North West Road, two hours north of Perth near in the remote town of Badgingarra. She had hitched a lift from Dongara, approximately 150km north-northwest from Perth, where she was worked briefly as a roustabout before deciding to move on to Moora, a 160km journey, to visit family friends. According to Crime Stoppers Western Australia, she set off on foot at around 8am wearing "light brown suede hiking boots, blue denim jeans, a black v neck top, light grey jacket with hood and silver sunglasses."

    She grabbed a lift with a 50-tonne low loader at a service station and during the lift, Hayley discussed her plans but said she would return to Dongara the following Monday or Tuesday. After being dropped off, she reportedly made a phone call at 10.30am and was given a lift by a woman to North West Road, where she was last spotted at around 11am by a motorist who saw her walking towards a farm. The disappearance of Hayley in WA's wheatbelt district remains one of the State's most baffling unsolved cases, no one has yet been charged and for years, the Dodd family has been searching for answers.


    A 16-year-old Hayley Dodd with her father Ray in January, 1998.

    The Special Crime Squad, an elite team of detectives whose task it is to solve "cold cases", has been handling Hayley's case for the last few years, but up until now there has been little result. "I feel as though I am in a house of horrors with two doors to open, and whichever I choose to walk through the result is going to be terrifying," Margaret wrote on Hayley's Missing Person's Facebook page. But there is renewed hope to find Hayley. Nearly two weeks ago, a Special Crime Squad unit returned to a property in Badgingarra after a cold-case re-examination uncovered significant new evidence. The property is less than a kilometre from where Dodd was last seen, while reports have revealed a former owner of the property is doing time for the abduction and rape of a woman in rural Queensland.


    Police search John Wark’s property near Badjingarra for the Hayley Dodd missing person case.


    An aerial picture of the Badgingarra property that police are searching in relation to the disappearance of Hayley Dodd.


    Francis John Wark, who sold the Badgingarra property four months after Hayley went missing, is serving a 12-year prison term for the 2007 kidnap and rape of a woman in her 30s, who he picked up as she was hitchhiking. This isn't the first time the property has been searched, but this time, forensic police are using a ground radar to penetrate the earth and look for objects of interest buried beneath the earth. Detectives reportedly flew to Queensland late last week to interview 57-year-old Wark, but police have not commented on whether he is a suspect. A WA police spokeswoman said the search could continue for weeks.





    "This has been a long and difficult case for Hayley's family," said Acting Commander Scott Higgins from the State Crime Command. "The WA police are very, very keen to resolve this matter." Because of the new developments, a coronial inquest into the teen's disappearance that was scheduled to take place in January has been postponed. "God bless you all for doing what you are doing now, the fourteen years of anguish, and arguments with the police mean nothing," said Margaret via Facebook. "Find my daughter, then her killer. That is all that matters today."


    Last edited by blighted star; 12-09-2013 at 03:07 AM.

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    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-2...y-dodd/5174370



    Police have completed their search of a property in Western Australia's Mid West but say they have found no evidence to explain the disappearance of Hayley Dodd 14 years ago.

    The 17-year-old was last seen on North West Road near Badgingarra, where witnesses said she had been hitchhiking.

    Late last month, police revealed they had received a significant piece of information that led them to re-search a nearby property.

    But after three weeks spent combing the area, they have been unable to find any fresh evidence.

    Detective Superintendent Anthony Lee says police are handing the property back to its owners, who are not suspects.

    "[We] wish to thank the current owner of the property for his co-operation and understanding of the police action," he said.

    "The search has been extensive and has represented a significant inconvenience to him.

    "WA Police will continue to work with the owner to ensure the property is returned to its original state."

    Detective Superintendent Lee said the investigation into Ms Dodd's disappearance continues.

    "The Dodd family continue to be fully apprised of police action and our best wishes go out to them during this difficult time," he said.

    "We will continue to investigate this matter and further searches in the vicinity will be undertaken."

    The owner says the property has been ripped apart and he wants compensation.

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    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-2...murder/6495762

    25th May 2015

    Warrant issued over murder of missing teenager
    Updated about 6 hours ago


    PHOTO: Hayley Dodd has not been seen since 1999 when she disappeared near Badgingarra in Western Australia.
    MAP: Badgingarra 6521
    Police in Perth have issued a warrant for the arrest of a 59-year-old man for the 1999 wilful murder of missing teenager Hayley Dodd.

    They declined to identify the suspect but the charge follows a cold case investigation by the Special Crime Squad.

    The 17-year-old was last seen hitchhiking between Moora and Badgingarra on July 29, 1999.

    She was travelling to the farm of a family friend but never reached her destination.

    There were a number of reports from people who saw her walking near Badgingarra and others who had given her lifts part of the way.

    Commander Pryce Scanlan said detectives notified the man the warrant had been issued.

    "It will be alleged the man abducted Hayley as she was walking on North West Road, Badgingarra," he said.

    "It is further alleged he murdered her and disposed of her body."

    Commander Scanlan said the warrant was the result of the cold case review.

    "During that review, a number of investigative opportunities were identified, those have been followed up," he said.

    "We have forensic advances, we have people whose relationships may have deteriorated over time.

    "In any of these cold case reviews, you embark on re-investigating these matters using today's technology."

    Family informed of breakthrough

    Commander Scanlan said Ms Dodd's family had been informed of the breakthrough.

    "[They're] very pleased and it offers them a degree of comfort now that someone has been charged," he said.

    "I'm very pleased with the progress of the investigation but I'm more pleased that it does provide that degree of comfort to the family."

    He said they still did not know where Hayley's body was.

    "Detectives are still seeking information regarding the whereabouts of Hayley's remains," he said.

    Police spent three weeks searching a nearby Wheatbelt property in 2013.

    But the 10-person police taskforce and volunteer searchers, who used ground-penetrating radar, failed to find any signs of the missing teenager or fresh evidence at that time.

    The current owners of the property were not living there when Ms Dodd disappeared and were not suspects.

    An inquest that was due to be held into Ms Dodd's disappearance was delayed after police re-opened their investigation.

    The cold case investigation was referred to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for its consideration in February and advice was received in support of criminal court proceedings.

    Police said preparations would commence with a view to prosecute the man in a Western Australian court.


    Wark (the POI mentioned earlier in the thread) was 57 last time I posted. The guy they just arrested is 59
    Last edited by blighted star; 05-25-2015 at 07:07 AM.

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    West Australian police have charged a man over the 1999 murder of teenager Hayley Dodd.

    Francis John Wark was extradited from Queensland yesterday, where he was in the custody of the Department of Corrective Services.

    Wark is accused of murdering 17-year-old Hayley Dodd, who went missing while hitchhiking near Badgingarra on July 29, 1999.

    The 59-year-old has denied the accusation and indicated earlier in the year through his lawyer he would plead not guilty.

    Wark owned a property near where Hayley was last seen.

    He is expected to face Perth Magistrates Court on Monday.


    Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/201...VRmTLDjcKPX.99

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    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-2...-close/9189038
    The mystery of Hayley Dodd's disappearance and the trial of Francis Wark, her accused killer
    By Joanna Menagh
    Updated about 3 hours ago

    PHOTO: Francis John Wark is walked through the town where Hayley Dodd (inset) disappeared during his trial. (Supplied: Pool)


    It has been one of WA's most enduring and baffling mysteries for the past two decades ? how did teenager Hayley Dodd seemingly vanish into thin air while walking along a road in the State's Wheatbelt?

    Her fixture on the long-term missing persons list would have led many to assume there would never be an answer to this question.
    Then, in 2013, came a breakthrough ? a newly discovered piece of evidence and improved DNA testing finally linked a suspect to the crime.

    Now after years of heartbreak, Hayley's family and friends will be hoping for some closure when a Supreme Court judge delivers her verdict in the trial of Francis John Wark ? the man prosecutors say abducted and murdered the teenager, before disposing of her body, never to be found.

    The victim
    At 17, Hayley Dodd was a happy young girl who wanted to go on an adventure, according to one of the last people to see her alive ? her close friend Lisa Frederickson.

    Lisa Frederickson has given evidence at the Hayley Dodd murder trial

    PHOTO: Lisa Frederickson has told the WA Supreme Court she had hitchhiked with Hayley Dodd from Mandurah to Dongara. (ABC News: Emily Piesse)


    In July 1999, unbeknownst to Hayley's parents, the two had decided to hitchhike their way from Mandurah, south of Perth, to Dongara in the State's Wheatbelt, to work as roustabouts for a local shearing team.

    They stayed at the local caravan park, but before starting work, Ms Dodd had decided to visit friends on a farm near Moora, about 200 kilometres away.

    "Hayley was happy, excited, looking forward to it," Ms Frederickson told the Supreme Court.
    "She told me she was coming back," an emotional Ms Frederickson said, testifying she gave Ms Dodd a pocket knife for protection, and "a kiss and a cuddle" before the teenager set off to hitchhike to her destination.

    Donald, wearing a checked shirt, large white cowboy hat and over-sized belt buckle, walks with grass in the background.

    PHOTO: Truck driver Donald Wayne Spry gave Hayley a lift as far as Badgingarra. (ABC News)

    A truck driver who picked her up soon after took her to Badgingarra, which was on the way to Moora.

    He described Hayley as being a "very happy and bubbly girl", who looked like she was about 14.

    He dropped her off at a service station and she was seen walking along North West Road by other motorists ? the last believed sighting of her was about 11:45am.

    Her family has not seen or heard from her since.


    The accused

    Francis John Wark walks across the road with an officer. They are chained together. The officer's face is blurred.

    PHOTO: Francis John Wark denies murdering Hayley Dodd. (Pool photo: The West Australian)


    Francis John Wark owned a property near where Hayley Dodd was last seen.

    At the time of her disappearance, he was one of dozens of so called "persons of interest" who police investigated but who were neither "implicated nor eliminated" from involvement.

    That list also included Mr Wark's housemate, a convicted paedophile ? Robin McArtney ? who five months later would murder a woman on a beach near Geraldton, and Mark Pendleton, a teacher at a local school who was later outed as one of WA's worst paedophiles.

    Mr Wark contacted police in the days after Hayley vanished and gave two statements in which he said at the time she was last seen he was in the process of his "weekly ritual" ? travelling to and from Moora, about 50 kilometres away, where he had returned and hired videos, paid bills and shopped for supplies at the supermarket and butchers.

    He said he had returned home about 1:00pm before setting out on his motorbike to travel to Perth for a party.

    It was not until 14 years later that Mr Wark became the main focus of attention.

    In August, 2013, police were examining the case in preparation for a coronial inquest set down for January of the following year. After looking at Mr Wark's statement, questions were raised about the veracity of his alibis.


    The breakthrough

    That prompted a full-scale re-examination of the evidence police had collected from his property and the car he had been driving on the day.

    On September 5, 2013, in the sterile environment of a PathWest laboratory, forensic scientist Tracy Horner saw what no one had seen before in the 14 years and 38 days since Hayley disappeared ? a small earring caught in the fabric of a car seat cover taken from the borrowed ute Mr Wark had been driving on that fateful day.

    Hayley Dodd murder trial

    PHOTO: The earing embedded in a carseat cover from a ute borrowed by Wark. (Supplied: WA Supreme Court)

    The earring ? an Egyptian-style cross, or ankh ? matched drawings done years before by Ms Frederickson of the jewellery Hayley was wearing.

    A sketch of the earing with words "not certain of join" and "blue turquoise stone", inset with a very similar-looking earing.

    PHOTO: The earing sketched by Lisa Frederickson, and the one found in a car used by Francis Wark. (Supplied: WA Supreme Court)

    Ms Frederickson had said in her testimony Ms Dodd had bought the earrings from a local shop just two days before she vanished. The shop owner described the jewellery as "mass produced" and "very popular".

    The PathWest examination also recovered a human hair from the dust, dirt and debris vacuumed from the floor of the ute.

    Over the following months it was tested at laboratories in WA, Victoria and the United Kingdom, which found there was a 7.2-million-to-one chance Hayley had not contributed to the very low trace levels of DNA found on the hair and its root.

    But there was another far more disturbing fact that firmly put Mr Wark in the picture.


    'Mrs M' and the earring trophy

    At the time of the police review, he was serving a 12-year jail term in Queensland for tying up and sexually and physically assaulting a woman, known only as "Ms M".


    A smiling Hayley Dodd sits on a bed wearing a light blue school polo shirt.

    PHOTO: Hayley Dodd, a teenager who went missing near Badgingarra in the Wheatbelt in Western Australia in 1999.
    (AAP: Australian Missing Persons Register)


    Ms M had accepted a lift from Mr Wark while walking along a remote road.

    He took her to his home, tied her to a bed and physically and sexually assaulted her.

    She managed to escape and later told WA police that during her ordeal Mr Wark had made her give him one of her earrings, telling her, "I wanna keep it".

    Detectives travelled to Townsville to talk to Mr Wark who, in a three-and-a-half-hour video recorded interview, repeatedly maintained he had been shopping in Moora when Hayley Dodd disappeared and that he had not seen any hitchhikers on the road that day.

    At the end of the interview, when asked if he there was anything else he wanted to say, he replied: "I'm not guilty. You're wasting your time."

    Mr Wark was extradited to Perth from Queensland in December, 2015, and charged with Hayley Dodd's wilful murder, pleading not guilty to the charge days later at his first court appearance.


    The trial

    On the first day of a seven-week, judge-alone trial before Justice Lindy Jenkins, Prosecutor Amanda Burrows outlined the state's case, alleging sometime between 11.50am and 1.30pm on July 29, 1999, Mr Wark lured Ms Dodd into his car, intentionally killed her and disposed of her body in an unknown location.

    The lapse in time meant it was a difficult trial, with some witnesses having since died and others asked to recall exact details of what they were doing on a particular day 18 years ago. <<cont'd>>

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    <<cont'd>>

    PHOTO: Margaret Dodd has endured 18 years of never knowing her daughter's fate. (ABC News: Emily Piesse)

    In 1999 technology was not what it is today, so there was no evidence about mobile phone records or CCTV footage which is common in modern day trials.

    The earring and the DNA on the hair were crucial, as were details of Mr Wark's 2007 Queensland conviction, which Ms Burrows said was evidence that Mr Wark was "the sort of person likely to have committed this sort of crime".

    "The propensity is of a man who committed crimes of violence against a woman, who is walking alone, in a remote area," she said.

    "There is a chilling thread when one looks at the removal of Ms M's earring ? there's a propensity to take a trophy."
    Ms Burrows said the case was a circumstantial one, but when its four "planks" or "strands of rope" were considered as a whole ? opportunity, the earring, propensity and DNA ? "there is not a shadow of doubt, that this man killed Hayley Dodd".

    The defence

    Mr Wark did not give evidence at his trial.

    In his closing submission, his lawyer Darryl Ryan said the alleged events "never happened," his client's version of events had remained the same, and any "small errors" in what he told police in 2013 could be explained by the lapse of time.

    Mr Ryan said it was "unrealistic if not impossible" for Mr Wark, after completing his shopping, to have lured Hayley Dodd into his car, murdered her and disposed of her body, as the State alleged.

    He also raised questions about the storage and handling of the crucial car seat cover, from when it was first seized in 1999 to the day 14 years later at PathWest, when the earring was discovered.

    He then suggested the earring may have been "planted" by police, saying the "shambolic" system for handling stored pieces of evidence meant there was no way of knowing who, if anyone, had accessed them.

    Wark walks across a road with four police officers, one of whom he is chained to. He wears a black suit and white shirt.

    PHOTO: Francis John Wark - accused of murdering Hayley Dodd - walks across a street in Moora. Date: October 24, 2017. (Pool photo: The West Australian)


    Mr Ryan also urged Justice Jenkins to reject the DNA evidence from the hair, saying the very small traces of DNA found were "as low as you can go," rendering the evidence "meaningless."

    Male DNA was also found on the hair, and the defence argued that the hair therefore could not have come from Hayley Dodd.

    The scientist who found the 18 millimetre strand had described it as being black and coarse, but Mr Ryan said Hayley had brown, long and fine hair.

    "The overwhelming conclusion is that it's definitely not Hayley Dodd's hair," he said.

    Justice Jenkins said because of the large amount of evidence, and the requirement for her to provide written reasons, it would take some time before she could deliver her verdict

    She said she expected to hand down her decision by January 15, and remanded Mr Wark in custody to await the verdict.

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    Quote Originally Posted by raisedbywolves View Post
    Wow so this guy was roommates with the other suspect McCartney? What are the chances? I wonder if they committed her murder together or had some sick competition going

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    https://7news.com.au/news/crime/hayl...found-c-371345

    Monday, 29 July 2019 3:12 pm

    WA mum’s appeal for daughter Hayley Dodd on 20th anniversary since her abduction
    (Source: 7NEWS Perth)

    Hayley Dodd's killer has been convicted but her body has never been found.

    It's been 20 years since Perth teenager Hayley Dodd was abducted and murdered and, while her killer has been convicted, her body has never been found.

    Dodd was 17 when she was abducted while hitchhiking in Badgingarra, a small Wheatbelt town about 200km north of Perth.

    Watch the video above

    Her killer, Francis John Wark, was finally convicted last year of murdering Dodd, but for her mother Margaret, there will be no closure until her daughter's body is found.

    Wark was found guilty of luring Dodd into a borrowed ute on July 29, 1999, before sexually assaulting and killing her.

    It wasn't until 2015 that he was charged with her murder.


    Wark was already serving a 12-year sentence in Queensland for sexually assaulting a woman he had picked up on a remote stretch of road in the state's north.

    During his trial, Justice Lindy Jenkins said Wark "had a propensity to pick up a lone female hitchhiker and to violently and seriously assault her so that she could not resist his sexual assault."



    Francis John Wark was convicted of murdering the Perth teen 18 years ago.
    On the 20th anniversary of her daughter's death, Margaret Dodd released a statement saying the family remains in "great despair."

    Family statement

    "We no longer hold expectations of finding Hayley," the statement reads.

    "Twenty years of searching and false hope have left us in great despair.


    "However, we pray that one day someone will find her and we can bring her home. But the likelihood of that happening is extremely remote.

    "It seems that we are forever doomed to living a life of the unknown and never having an end to this torturous nightmare and peace in our lives."

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