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Hyundai's music contest on TikTok. The

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twist? Their performances were all powered

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by the all-electric Hyundai IONIQ 5.

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fans got to check out the Hyundai dance floor at

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Visit fuelrewards.com slash status. It's been

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four years since I first learned about

1:10

the disappearance of Neham May, an

1:12

18-year-old who went missing from the small New

1:15

South Wales town of Batlow back in 2002.

1:19

I don't know if it's because Neham

1:21

and I finished high school in the

1:23

same year, or we shared a similar

1:25

taste in music, but I felt instinctively

1:27

drawn to her story. As

1:29

I learned more about Neham's story,

1:31

the revelations that unfolded left me

1:34

in shock. The

1:36

result is Missing Neham, the

1:38

latest 12-part series from Casefile

1:40

Presents. Researched and

1:42

hosted by me, the series features

1:44

exclusive interviews with key players who

1:47

help us dive into the details

1:49

of Neham's case as we go

1:51

back to Batlow to try and

1:53

make sense of what really happened.

1:56

The entire 12-part series is

1:58

available now. Stay

2:01

tuned to the end of today's episode

2:03

to hear the trailer. Our

2:25

episodes deal with serious and often

2:27

distressing incidents. If you

2:29

feel at any time you need support,

2:32

please contact your local crisis centre. For

2:35

suggested phone numbers for confidential support,

2:37

and for a more detailed list

2:39

of content warnings, please see the

2:41

show notes for this episode on

2:43

your app or on our website.

2:47

Today's episode involves crimes against

2:49

children, and won't be suitable

2:52

for all listeners. In

2:58

the winter of 1996, Stacey Gaylord

3:00

stood by the water's edge at

3:03

the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

3:06

As a member of the Balmain Women's

3:08

Water Polo team, it was a familiar

3:11

scene for Stacey as she and her

3:13

teammates milled around the poolside in their

3:15

swimsuits and bathing caps, waiting for their

3:17

training session to begin. When

3:20

it came time to enter the water,

3:22

Stacey glanced over and noticed that her

3:24

friend and teammate, 21-year-old Kelly Lane, was

3:27

sitting on the edge of the pool

3:29

with her towel wrapped tightly under her

3:31

arms. She

3:33

held it there until the very last

3:35

moment, before dropping it to one side

3:38

and discreetly slipping into the water. Stacey

3:42

found this unusual. Kelly

3:45

was an accomplished athlete who'd been competing

3:47

in water sports all her life. She

3:50

was no stranger to wearing her

3:52

swimsuit in public, and until relatively

3:54

recently, she typically walked around confidently

3:57

in her bathers before diving straight

3:59

into the into the pool. Stacy

4:02

had also noticed that Kelly had

4:04

taken to wearing tracksuits over her

4:06

swimsuit, no matter the weather. Stacy

4:10

had her suspicions as to why.

4:13

She put her goggles on and ducked under

4:16

the water to catch a glimpse of Kelly's

4:18

body. It was

4:20

just as she suspected. Kelly

4:23

Lane was pregnant. This

4:26

was significant for several reasons. For

4:29

starters, the two were close friends,

4:31

and Kelly had never once mentioned

4:34

that she was expecting a baby.

4:37

Secondly, water polo was a

4:39

physically demanding contact sport in

4:41

which injuries are commonplace, not

4:44

the type of activity one would expect

4:46

to see a heavily pregnant woman participating

4:48

in. Stacy

4:51

knew Kelly's long-term boyfriend, rugby

4:53

player Duncan Gillies, and she

4:55

assumed the couple had decided

4:57

to keep the pregnancy quiet.

5:00

Respecting their privacy, she said nothing

5:02

to Kelly about it. Stacy

5:06

didn't see Kelly play another game after

5:08

that. A

5:10

few weeks later, she noticed Kelly

5:12

was no longer pregnant. It

5:15

occurred to her that Kelly must have

5:17

given birth, but she didn't stop to

5:19

think about what had happened to the

5:21

baby. Just

5:50

short of three years later, on

5:52

Wednesday, June 2, 1999,

5:55

Anglicare Adoption Services social worker

5:57

Virginia Fung arrived at Ride

5:59

Hospital. hospital in northern Sydney. A

6:03

young patient had called the agency

6:05

the previous day with a somewhat

6:07

unusual case. She

6:10

had just given birth and wanted to place

6:12

her baby for adoption. Virginia

6:15

was a little taken aback. It

6:18

was incredibly rare for a new mother to

6:21

make such a request. The

6:23

adoption process typically began much earlier

6:25

in the pregnancy, with appropriate arrangements

6:28

already in place by the time

6:30

the baby was born. Virginia

6:34

was introduced to the patient,

6:36

24-year-old Kelly Lane, and her

6:39

two-day-old son Jacob –

6:41

not his real name. Kelly

6:43

explained that she'd been living in London

6:45

for the past year with her boyfriend

6:47

Duncan Gillies, a professional rugby player who

6:50

was still in the UK. The

6:53

couple had recently broken up and she didn't

6:55

feel able to care for a child. Not

6:59

only was she due back in London for

7:01

work in a few weeks' time, her parents

7:03

weren't happy about the pregnancy and couldn't offer

7:06

any help. Duncan

7:08

wasn't prepared to be a parent either,

7:11

so they'd agree to their best option

7:13

was to have the baby adopted. Virginia

7:18

was a little concerned. Kelly

7:20

appeared to be a doting mother to Jacob.

7:24

Virginia worried she'd made a rash decision and

7:26

might change her mind in a few days'

7:29

time. She began making

7:31

arrangements to place Jacob into short-term

7:34

foster care, while Kelly was discharged

7:36

from hospital to think about her

7:38

options. The

7:41

following day, a midwife arrived at

7:43

the address Kelly had provided to

7:45

administer routine post-natal care.

7:49

A confused man answered the door.

7:52

He said Kelly Lane hadn't lived at the property

7:54

for a year and a half. Virginia

7:58

Fung dialed the landline. Kelly

8:00

had supplied, only to find that it

8:02

was a wrong number. She

8:05

called Kelly's mobile, but it went

8:07

straight to voicemail. When

8:10

Kelly arrived for a pre-arranged meeting with

8:12

Virginia a few days later and was

8:15

told about the midwife's failed visit, Kelly

8:18

insisted it was the right address.

8:21

She was staying there with friends, and the

8:23

man who answered the door just hadn't been

8:26

aware of this fact. The

8:32

foster care agreement Kelly entered into

8:35

was only valid for one month,

8:37

during which she was expected to

8:39

attend access visits with baby Jacob.

8:42

Once the month was over, she'd

8:44

have the option of officially signing

8:47

the adoption papers. But,

8:49

as the weeks passed by, Virginia

8:52

found it increasingly difficult to get

8:54

in touch with Kelly. Her

8:57

mobile was almost always switched off,

8:59

and she only returned Virginia's calls

9:01

out of hours, typically to cancel

9:03

meetings at the last minute. Kelly

9:07

had various explanations for her

9:09

lack of availability. She

9:11

said she had to travel to Canberra

9:13

to sort out some issues with her

9:16

UK visa, and that her ex-partner Duncan

9:18

had frozen their joint bank account, and

9:20

she needed to see a solicitor to

9:22

sort it out. Virginia

9:26

was a consummate professional who treated

9:28

all the mothers she worked with

9:30

compassionately. But, she

9:32

couldn't help but feel that Kelly

9:34

Lane wasn't being completely honest. Virginia

9:38

wondered whether Kelly was purposely

9:40

stalling the adoption process because

9:42

she was reluctant about moving

9:44

forward. During

9:46

the few visits she'd had with

9:48

Jacob, she'd been very loving towards

9:51

him, bringing him presents and shedding

9:53

tears over the agonising decision she

9:55

faced. As

9:58

the one-month deadline approached, Kelly

10:00

finally agreed to meet with Virginia to

10:02

sign the adoption papers. But

10:06

when the day came, she

10:08

failed to show. Virginia

10:10

tried the number of a friend Kelly

10:13

said could offer her support. That

10:16

too was false. The

10:20

foster care agreement expired, leaving Virginia

10:22

with no choice but to hand

10:25

the case to the NSW Department

10:27

of Community Services, or DOCS. In

10:31

the eyes of the law, Kelly had

10:33

technically abandoned her baby boy. Virginia

10:37

had also been unsuccessfully trying

10:39

to make contact with Jacob's

10:41

father, Kelly's ex, Duncan Gillies.

10:44

Kelly kept saying she'd give Virginia

10:46

Duncan's UK phone number, but she'd

10:48

failed to do so. Not sure

10:52

what else to do, Virginia wrote a

10:54

letter to Duncan's former rugby club in

10:56

Sydney in the hopes they could forward

10:58

it on to him. Shortly

11:02

after, Duncan called Virginia in a

11:05

state of shock. As

11:07

far as he was concerned, there was no

11:10

way he could be Jacob's father. While

11:13

he and Kelly had been a couple

11:15

for several years during their early 20s,

11:17

Duncan said their relationship had ended about

11:20

18 months prior, and

11:22

they hadn't had contact since. Duncan

11:26

had moved to London for a period of time, but

11:28

as far as he knew, Kelly still lived in Sydney

11:32

and always had. Virginia

11:35

confronted Kelly with this

11:38

information. Kelly broke down, admitting she made

11:41

the story up because she thought it would be better if

11:43

Jacob grew up thinking he'd been the result of a loving,

11:46

long-term relationship. Kelly said that Jacob's father was actually a man

11:48

named Aaron

11:52

Williams, an Aussie she'd met while living in

11:54

London. Kelly told Virginia that Aaron

12:00

knew about the pregnancy and had

12:02

consented to the adoption. She

12:05

signed an affidavit confirming this, but

12:07

was unable to provide any contact

12:10

details for Aaron. All

12:12

she knew was that he had a

12:14

university degree and worked at Barclays Bank

12:17

in London. Virginia

12:20

contacted the Australian and UK offices

12:23

of Barclays Bank only to find

12:25

that no one named Aaron Williams

12:27

was employed there. This

12:30

was unsurprising given Virginia already knew

12:32

that Kelly had never lived in

12:34

London. She

12:37

was starting to have some serious

12:39

concerns about Kelly's mental health and

12:41

whether she was even fit to

12:43

give legal consent to Jacob's adoption.

12:46

In addition to giving evasive

12:48

answers, being un-contactable and dragging

12:50

out the adoption process, Kelly

12:53

had told another lie that Virginia

12:55

simply couldn't make sense of. When

13:02

Kelly presented at Wright Hospital to

13:04

give birth to Jacob, their records

13:06

showed that she'd previously visited three

13:08

years earlier in September 1996. Kelly

13:10

had been heavily

13:14

pregnant at the time and asked to

13:16

be induced. Staff

13:19

declined to do so because she hadn't

13:21

quite reached full term, but their records

13:23

showed that she went on to have

13:26

the child across town at Auburn Hospital.

13:30

During Jacob's birth in 1999, Wright

13:33

Hospital staff questioned Kelly about

13:35

this previous birth. Kelly

13:38

said she'd had a daughter whom she'd

13:40

breastfed for six months and who had

13:43

travelled with her from London to Sydney.

13:46

But when Virginia Fung asked

13:48

Kelly if she had any other

13:50

children, she gave an entirely different

13:52

answer. She

13:54

said Jacob was her first and

13:56

only child. Doc's

14:00

social worker assigned to Kelly's

14:02

case, John Barovnik, obtained Kelly's

14:05

medical records. If

14:07

Jacob had a sister, it was only fair

14:09

that it went on his records so he

14:12

could contact her in the future if he

14:14

so desired. John

14:16

confirmed that Kelly had indeed given

14:18

birth to a baby girl named

14:20

Tegan in September of 1996. But

14:25

she'd also given birth to another girl

14:28

in March 1995

14:30

called Kayla, not her real name.

14:35

The hospital records of Jacob, Tegan,

14:37

and Kayla each listed Duncan Gillies

14:39

as the father. From

14:42

the records, it was clear that Kayla

14:44

had been legally adopted to a loving

14:47

family, but John could

14:49

find no record of what happened to

14:51

Tegan. John

14:54

called Kelly and asked her if she'd

14:56

previously given birth. She

14:59

admitted that she'd placed Kayla for adoption

15:01

in 1995, but

15:04

denied ever being pregnant in 1996 or

15:07

visiting Wright Hospital at that time.

15:11

John knew Kelly was lying. He

15:14

had her records in front of him and could

15:17

see it for himself. But

15:20

if Kelly didn't have Tegan and

15:22

she hadn't been formally adopted, then

15:25

where was she? John

15:30

Barovnik told Kelly that he had no

15:32

choice but to contact the police and

15:34

inform them of the matter. Kelly

15:37

wrote John a letter explaining that

15:40

she intended to discuss the situation

15:42

with Virginia Fung. She

15:45

asked that John refrain from

15:47

making any inquiries in the

15:49

meantime, explaining, "...many

15:51

people have been involved by name

15:53

who actually have no knowledge of

15:55

what has occurred and therefore are

15:58

useless in your inquiries." Please

16:00

do not contact them before giving me

16:02

prior notice as they will be completely

16:05

unaware of what you were talking about.

16:09

A few days later a fax

16:11

from Kelly arrived at Virginia's office

16:13

which read Dear

16:16

Virginia Firstly, thank you

16:18

for all of your time your patience

16:20

and your understanding even though I have

16:22

not been entirely honest with you I'm

16:26

glad now that I can stop telling

16:28

half truths and lies And

16:30

perhaps move on in my life It

16:34

must be very hard for you to understand

16:36

what has been going on and why I

16:38

have done the things I've done and I'm

16:40

not sure I can give you all the

16:42

answers Overall

16:44

of these weeks my main concern was

16:47

Jacob and making sure that he was

16:49

safe and happy and that you would

16:51

find him a loving and secure home

16:55

So where do I start? I'm

16:57

not sure My life for

17:00

the last six years has been a nightmare

17:03

Many people including my family

17:05

have disowned me and

17:07

looking at the situation I guess it's

17:09

not hard to figure out why There

17:13

were three children Obviously,

17:16

I can't lie anymore as the

17:18

paperwork is there The

17:21

middle child lives with a family in Perth,

17:23

although I have not had contact with them

17:26

for a long time They

17:29

befriended me just before I had

17:31

her and supported us I

17:34

am not able to give you many details

17:36

as I am not sure of them myself

17:39

If my story isn't unusual enough as

17:41

it already is I

17:44

know you probably can't believe it, but

17:46

I know somehow that you know, I

17:49

am now being honest with you I

17:51

am not sure of them Kelly

17:53

went on to explain that no one in

17:56

her life knew the full story and she

17:58

wanted to keep it that way She

18:01

said people close to her had dropped

18:03

her from their lives when they found

18:05

out she was going to place her

18:08

babies up for adoption and she was

18:10

doing her best to settle down and

18:12

find some sort of stability. Kelly

18:15

said her parents lived in London and

18:17

she hoped to rebuild a relationship with

18:20

them when visiting in a few weeks

18:22

time. I

18:24

hurt mentally, emotionally and physically

18:26

every day, Kelly wrote. I

18:30

have to live with this for the rest of my

18:32

life. I constantly feel

18:34

sick. I'm always on edge.

18:37

I guess I knew all along that it

18:39

would all come out in the open and

18:41

in some ways I'm glad it has. While

18:46

Kelly asked Virginia to respect her

18:48

need for discretion, she gave

18:51

Virginia permission to share this information

18:53

with the dox worker John Barovnik.

18:56

But Kelly's explanation did little

18:58

to ease John's concerns about

19:00

the situation. Still

19:03

perplexed as to why she lied about

19:05

Tegan's existence and baffled by the explanation

19:08

that she'd been sent to live with

19:10

a family in Perth, John

19:12

passed the information on to the police.

19:20

When Kelly Lane's file landed at

19:22

Manly Police Station, the detective assigned

19:25

to it recognised the name right

19:27

away. The

19:29

Lane's were well known and

19:31

respected around Manly, a bustling

19:33

seaside suburb in Sydney's Northern

19:36

Beaches region, an area known

19:38

colloquially as the Insular Peninsula

19:40

due to its close-knit reputation.

19:44

Not only were the Lanes heavily

19:46

involved in the local sporting community,

19:48

Kelly's father Rob had recently retired

19:50

as a sergeant from Manly Police

19:53

Station. Digging

19:55

into the personal life of his

19:57

only daughter wasn't exactly a welcome

19:59

task. By

20:01

all accounts, the blonde and bubbly

20:03

Kelly was a popular social butterfly

20:05

who many regarded as a golden

20:07

girl. A

20:10

successful athlete from a young age, she'd

20:12

gone on to play water polo at

20:14

an elite level, even

20:16

representing Australia overseas. As

20:19

far as police were concerned,

20:21

Kelly's previous indiscretion wasn't a

20:23

high priority. Unaware

20:27

of the various versions of events

20:29

Kelly had told about her second-born

20:32

child, the detective looked over her

20:34

file. Hospital

20:36

records revealed that on the afternoon of

20:38

Wednesday, September 11, 1996, 21-year-old Kelly had

20:40

presented at Auburn Hospital in

20:45

Western Sydney. This

20:48

was around 35 kilometres from

20:50

where Kelly lived with her parents

20:52

in the suburb of Fairlight, and

20:54

she'd never been a patient there

20:56

before. Kelly,

20:58

who was heavily pregnant, told staff that

21:00

she'd been intending to have a home

21:02

birth with a private midwife. However,

21:05

her baby was overdue, so a

21:07

home birth was no longer possible.

21:11

Kelly asked to be induced instead.

21:15

While she didn't bring any of her

21:17

antenatal records with her, she gave staff

21:20

the contact number for her midwife. After

21:24

several unsuccessful attempts to contact

21:27

Kelly's midwife, the Auburn Hospital

21:29

staff agreed to induce her

21:31

the following day. At

21:34

8pm on Thursday, September 12, baby

21:37

Tegan Lee Lane entered the world.

21:41

While Tegan was the image of

21:43

health, the birth wasn't without complications.

21:47

It turned out that Tegan wasn't

21:49

overdue as Kelly had claimed, but

21:51

actually appeared to be two weeks

21:54

early. Kelly's

21:56

placenta was retained during labour and

21:58

had to be manually removed. removed,

22:00

which resulted in significant blood

22:02

loss. She

22:04

made a quick recovery, and records showed

22:06

she bonded well with her newborn daughter.

22:10

Regardless, the staff were a

22:13

little concerned. Kelly

22:15

had shown up alone at the hospital

22:17

and hadn't had a single visitor. This

22:21

was unusual for a young mother, and

22:23

they were worried about her lack of

22:25

support. Little

22:29

worker Alicia Bautra Vasquez was assigned

22:31

to pay Kelly a visit on

22:34

Friday, September Kelly

22:37

told Alicia that she and Tegan's

22:39

father, Duncan Gillies, had only recently

22:41

relocated to Sydney from their hometown

22:44

of Perth, and that's why she

22:46

was alone. Duncan

22:48

had every intention of being

22:50

present for Tegan's birth, but

22:53

Kelly being overdue complicated this

22:55

plan, as he had rugby

22:57

commitments overseas. Kelly

23:00

asked to be discharged the following day,

23:02

but Alicia didn't think this was a

23:05

good idea. While

23:07

Kelly appeared to be happy with Tegan

23:09

and was breastfeeding with no issues, she

23:12

also got a bit teary at times.

23:15

Although this was normal for any

23:17

new mother, Alicia was reluctant to

23:19

send Kelly home alone in an

23:22

emotionally fragile state. She

23:25

also required post-operative care. Alicia

23:29

voiced her concerns to Kelly, but Kelly

23:31

assured her there was no reason to

23:33

worry. She

23:35

explained that a lady was coming to

23:37

stay with her until her parents arrived

23:40

in a few days' time. Duncan

23:43

was also due back from overseas

23:45

the following week. In

23:48

the meantime, her private midwife would

23:51

take over her post-partum care. Satisfied

23:55

with this explanation and happy

23:57

with Kelly's recovery on Saturday.

24:00

a September 14, it was agreed

24:02

by hospital staff that Kelly and

24:04

Tegan could be discharged. At

24:07

around midday, the attending doctor gave

24:09

Tegan one final examination before concluding

24:12

she was fit to go home.

24:16

Kelly completed the mandatory Medicare form

24:18

and was given various pieces of

24:20

paperwork to fill out, including a

24:22

consent form to have a blood

24:24

sample taken from Tegan known as

24:26

a Guthrie test, as well as

24:28

a registration form to submit to

24:30

the registry of births, deaths and

24:32

marriages. At

24:35

around 2pm, the nurse on duty

24:37

was doing her rounds when she

24:39

entered Kelly's room, only to find

24:41

that the mother and baby had

24:43

already left. Strange,

24:45

she thought, when Kelly hadn't submitted

24:47

the requisite paperwork, nor told any

24:50

of the nurses she was leaving.

24:53

Nonetheless, she was free to do as

24:56

she pleased. The

24:59

nurse arranged for a hospital midwife to visit

25:01

Kelly in a couple of days' time to

25:03

make sure everything was in order. But

25:06

on Monday, the midwife program received

25:08

a phone call. It

25:11

was Kelly calling to say she

25:13

didn't require their services. Her

25:17

private midwife had everything under

25:19

control. 4

25:25

years later, the detective assigned to

25:27

look into Tegan Lane's whereabouts typed

25:29

Tegan's name into the NSW registry

25:32

of births, deaths and marriages. There

25:35

was no one by that name registered as

25:38

being born in September 1996, and

25:41

no such birth certificate had ever been

25:43

issued. While

25:45

it would have been difficult to do

25:47

so, it was possible that Tegan could

25:49

have been registered under a different name

25:51

or with a different date of birth.

25:55

It was mandatory for parents to register

25:57

the birth of their children, but failure

25:59

to do so only resulted

26:01

in a $1,000 fine and

26:03

no particular authority followed up.

26:07

It was therefore possible that Tegan's

26:09

birth was simply never registered. The

26:13

detective read over Kelly's hospital records

26:16

and noted that she had listed

26:18

her private midwife as a woman

26:20

named Julie Melville. Some

26:23

around Manly Police Station recognized

26:25

the name. Julie

26:28

was Duncan Gilly's mother. The

26:32

detective called Julie Melville and asked

26:34

her about the postnatal care she'd

26:36

provided to Kelly Lane and baby

26:38

Tegan. Julie

26:40

was stunned. Not

26:43

only had she not been a registered

26:45

midwife in September 1996, she

26:47

had no idea that Kelly had

26:49

ever been pregnant, let

26:52

alone with her son's child. Duncan

26:56

Gilly's was still trying to get his

26:58

head around the debacle involving the adoption

27:00

of Kelly's son Jacob when he received

27:03

a phone call from the detective asking

27:05

about baby Tegan. Like

27:08

his mother, Duncan was flabbergasted.

27:12

He told the detective there was no

27:14

way Kelly could have been pregnant in

27:16

1996. The

27:18

two had been in a committed relationship for

27:21

around four years between 1994 and 1998. Although

27:23

they both had busy schedules with various sporting

27:30

commitments during that time, Kelly

27:32

spent several nights a week at Duncan's

27:34

house in 1996. Duncan

27:38

said if she'd been pregnant, he would

27:40

have known about it. As

27:43

for baby Kayla being born in 1995,

27:47

he claimed to have no idea about

27:49

that pregnancy either. Although

27:52

the detective was confused by these

27:54

reactions, it took three months before he

27:57

reached out to Kelly Lane directly. By

28:01

this point, 15 months had

28:03

passed since Doc's social worker John

28:05

Barovnik first alerted the police to

28:08

the unknown whereabouts of Tegan Lane.

28:12

Kelly's life had changed significantly during

28:14

that time. Jacob's

28:16

adoption had been finalised and Kelly

28:19

commenced a new relationship with a

28:21

family friend. By

28:23

the time she was brought into the police station

28:26

on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 for her

28:29

first formal interview, she

28:31

was seven months pregnant with baby

28:33

number four. When

28:40

asked to describe the circumstances

28:42

of Tegan's birth and the

28:44

subsequent events, Kelly's discomfort was

28:46

obvious. She

28:49

admitted that in late 1995, during

28:51

her relationship with Duncan Gillies, she'd

28:53

met an older man named Andrew

28:56

Morris. The

28:58

two had a brief affair and in March 1996,

29:02

Kelly discovered she was pregnant with Andrew's

29:06

baby. This wasn't welcome news. Kelly

29:09

was a student at the time and

29:11

she didn't feel financially or mentally prepared

29:13

to raise a child. Kelly

29:17

told the detective that she and Andrew came

29:19

to an agreement. She

29:22

would carry the baby to full term

29:24

and Andrew and his girlfriend Mel would

29:26

then take custody of Tegan. As

29:30

Kelly explained, Andrew

29:32

earned good money and he had a

29:35

partner. They indicated to

29:37

me that they were going to be together

29:39

and I thought that would be more suitable

29:41

than me on my own at uni. Kelly

29:46

said that she was discharged from hospital

29:48

around midday on Saturday, September 14, 1996,

29:52

at which point Andrew, Mel and

29:54

Andrew's mother came to take custody

29:57

of Tegan. recalled

30:00

that Andrew dropped her at Duncan's

30:02

house where she was living part-time

30:05

and then took Tegan with him into

30:07

his care. She

30:09

claimed she saw Tegan a number of

30:12

times after that, but the visit stopped

30:14

in early 1997

30:16

when Tegan would have been about four months old.

30:20

Kelly said she'd had no contact with

30:22

Andrew Mel or Tegan after that and

30:24

she no longer knew where they were.

30:29

Kelly said that at the time

30:31

of their affair, Andrew had lived

30:33

in Balmain, an affluent inner city

30:35

suburb about 18 kilometres southwest of

30:38

Manly. While

30:40

she didn't think she'd be able to

30:42

identify his apartment after four years, she

30:44

agreed to look for his old mobile

30:46

number to see if it was still

30:48

active. Although

30:52

Kelly's story sounded a bit odd, the

30:55

interviewing detective still didn't think too much

30:57

of it. Besides,

30:59

Manly police station had bigger

31:01

fish to fry. Two

31:04

of their senior officers had recently been

31:06

busted as part of a crackdown on

31:08

corruption and the whole station was in

31:11

a state of turmoil. Kelly's

31:14

case languished for the rest of the

31:16

year as the corruption scandal went before

31:18

the courts. It

31:21

was only after a major restructure

31:23

of personnel that Kelly's case finally

31:25

appeared on the desk of a

31:27

new detective senior constable. Having

31:30

no connection to Kelly's father, he

31:32

wasted little time in looking into

31:34

what he believed would turn out

31:36

to be a relatively minor incident.

31:39

All they had to do was locate

31:42

Tegan and they could get the missing

31:44

person's case off their desks for good.

31:48

By the time Kelly Lane was called in

31:50

for questioning a second time, 19 months

31:53

had passed since she'd last spoken to the

31:55

police and it was now October 2002. 27-year-old

32:00

Kelly now had a healthy baby

32:02

girl called Emily, not her real

32:04

name, who was 17 months

32:06

old. Kelly

32:09

was in a loving relationship with

32:11

Emily's father and the two were

32:13

doting, devoted parents who were preparing

32:15

to travel to the UK to

32:17

spend Christmas with Kelly's partner's family.

32:20

Although Kelly no longer competed in

32:23

any sport at an elite level,

32:25

she'd made good use of her

32:27

athletic skills by becoming a much-loved

32:29

physical education teacher at Ravenswood School

32:32

for Girls, an esteemed private Christian

32:34

school. There

32:36

certainly wasn't anything about Kelly that

32:38

raised any suspicions for the detective.

32:42

But when she started talking, that

32:45

all changed. Case

32:53

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By supporting our sponsors, you

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deliver quality content. While

36:43

Kelly Lane repeated her story about

36:45

giving Teigen to the child's biological

36:48

father, there was a

36:50

significant discrepancy. When

36:52

interviewed in early 2001, she said the father's

36:55

name was Andrew Morris. This

36:58

time, she said his name was Andrew

37:00

Norris with an N. But

37:03

that wasn't the only difference. Her

37:07

previous account made it sound like

37:09

a relatively amicable agreement, but

37:11

she now claimed Andrew had actually been

37:13

furious with her for getting pregnant. He

37:17

hated me, Kelly said. I

37:19

felt like a slut. In

37:22

contrast to her previous story in which

37:25

she claimed Andrew had dropped her at

37:27

Duncan's house after she was discharged from

37:29

the hospital, this time Kelly

37:31

said she took a taxi home alone.

37:36

The detective pointed out this was a

37:38

markedly different story to the one she'd

37:40

given previously. Kelly

37:43

explained that she'd lied during the last

37:45

police interview because she was embarrassed and

37:47

wanted to make the situation sound better. But

37:49

she was resolute about

37:52

one thing. The

37:55

name of Teigen's father was definitely

37:57

Andrew Norris, not Morris. The

38:03

detective was starting to have some

38:05

serious doubts. Not only

38:07

had some of Kelly's details changed,

38:09

there were certain elements that didn't

38:11

quite make sense. For

38:14

starters, if Andrew was so furious with

38:16

Kelly for getting pregnant, why would he

38:18

agree to take custody of their baby

38:21

without so much as a DNA test

38:23

to confirm the baby was indeed his?

38:26

Even more perplexing, why would his

38:28

partner Mel agree to raise Tegan

38:30

knowing she was a result of

38:32

her partner's infidelity? And

38:35

if Tegan really did go to live

38:38

with her biological father, why

38:40

wasn't Kelly forthright about that from

38:42

the get-go instead of telling hospital

38:44

staff and social workers otherwise? If

38:48

Kelly's story was true, investigators just

38:50

had to locate Andrew Norris and

38:52

the whole mess could be cleared

38:55

up. The problem

38:57

was, Kelly said she no

38:59

longer had a contact number for Andrew,

39:01

nor could she remember exactly where he'd

39:03

lived back in 1996. Kelly

39:07

didn't know much about Andrew at all,

39:09

save for the fact that he worked

39:11

in finance and had studied at the

39:14

University of Sydney. At

39:17

the time Tegan was born, he

39:19

was 30 years old, well-built and

39:21

tanned with bleached blonde hair. Kelly

39:25

said she no longer hung around the

39:27

same crowd that she did back then,

39:29

but there was one friend who knew

39:31

about the affair and could verify her

39:33

story, a woman named

39:35

Lisa Andriada. Unfortunately,

39:38

Lisa had relocated to Brisbane

39:40

and they had lost touch.

39:45

Kelly told the detective that there were

39:47

some diaries of hers in storage at

39:49

Duncan Gilly's previous home in Glaeseville. She

39:52

promised to go collect them in the coming

39:55

days. They might contain

39:57

Andrew's old mobile number or the numbers

39:59

of the... their mutual friends. Over

40:04

the following weeks, the detective made

40:06

multiple attempts to contact Kelly, but

40:08

she seemed to be avoiding his

40:10

calls. Increasingly

40:13

convinced that Kelly was lying, the detective

40:15

reached out to Medicare to see if

40:17

any claims had ever been made for

40:19

Teague and Lee Lane. Medicare

40:23

is Australia's publicly funded health insurance

40:25

scheme. Officials

40:27

are required to provide their details when

40:29

visiting a doctor, dentist or hospital, or

40:32

when receiving a vaccination. Kelly's

40:36

Medicare card still had Tegan's name listed

40:38

on it. She

40:40

had shown this to the police herself,

40:42

explaining that she'd registered Tegan on her

40:44

card just in case Tegan was ever

40:46

in her care in the future. But

40:51

Medicare records proved that there hadn't

40:53

been a single claim for Tegan

40:55

in six years. While

40:59

it was implausible to believe that

41:01

a six-year-old could have gone their

41:03

whole life without needing publicly funded

41:05

healthcare, it wasn't enough to prove

41:07

Tegan was deceased. Police

41:10

sent a memo to all New South Wales

41:12

primary schools asking if any had a student

41:15

named Tegan who was born on September 12,

41:17

1996. They

41:21

also began conducting searches for Andrew

41:23

Norris. In

41:26

Kelly's first police interview, she recalled

41:28

that Andrew celebrated his 30th birthday

41:30

a couple of months before Tegan

41:33

was born. This

41:35

meant he would have been born around mid-1966. A

41:40

search of the New South Wales electoral roll

41:42

didn't bring up any men by that name

41:44

who lived in Balmain around 1996. Contact

41:49

was made with the University of Sydney

41:51

to see if anyone named Andrew Norris

41:53

or Morris had attended classes there in

41:55

the 1980s. There

41:59

were no former students. students enrolled under

42:01

either of those names. By

42:05

early December, Kelly still seemed to be

42:07

avoiding the police and hadn't provided any

42:09

of the information she'd promised to look

42:12

for. Fed

42:14

up with her lack of cooperation, two

42:16

detectives went to Duncan Gilly's former address

42:18

in Gladesville to see if they could

42:21

track down the information for themselves. When

42:25

they knocked on the door, they were

42:27

surprised to discover that three female police

42:29

officers lived there. The

42:32

detectives asked if anyone had come by

42:34

asking to look through old boxes of

42:37

paperwork. Nobody

42:39

had. It

42:45

became clear to the investigators that if

42:47

Kelly was telling the truth about anything,

42:50

it was that people in her life

42:52

seemingly had no knowledge that she'd ever

42:54

been pregnant during her early twenties. The

42:58

screening queries were made with some of

43:00

Kelly's close friends to see if they

43:02

could shed light on the Tegan Lane,

43:04

Andrew Norris situation. The

43:07

Kelly they knew had spent her early

43:09

twenties playing water polo and drinking at

43:11

the pub with friends. As

43:14

far as they were all concerned, the only

43:16

child Kelly had ever given birth to was

43:18

Emily in 2001. She

43:22

was a terrific mother and an

43:24

adored teacher who loved children. There

43:27

was no way she would have done anything

43:29

to harm a newborn baby. Police

43:33

managed to track down some of Kelly

43:35

Lane's former water polo teammates. Stacey

43:38

Gaylord, who'd played alongside Kelly in 1996,

43:41

said she'd never heard of Kelly being

43:44

involved with someone named Andrew

43:46

Norris. However, she

43:48

did recall being suspicious at the time

43:51

that Kelly might have been pregnant. Stacey

43:55

and another teammate, Taryn, both

43:57

admitted they'd noticed Kelly becoming

43:59

self-conscious. She

46:00

had met Kelly while the two were

46:03

completing tertiary studies at the Australian College

46:05

of Physical Education and they became good

46:07

friends. Lisa

46:10

had never heard of Andrew Norris, nor

46:12

about his alleged affair with Kelly. As

46:15

far as Lisa knew, Kelly was

46:17

never pregnant in 1996. Lisa

46:22

lived in the UK, not Brisbane,

46:24

and she'd never lost contact with

46:26

Kelly. In fact, the

46:29

two friends had recently caught up over

46:31

Christmas during Kelly's trip to England. At

46:34

no point had Kelly said anything to

46:37

Lisa about a missing child or a

46:39

police investigation. Failing

46:43

to find any record of Tegan

46:45

Lane or Andrew Norris, the police

46:48

had no doubt that Kelly was

46:50

lying. They just couldn't figure out

46:52

why. It

46:54

didn't make sense that she'd gone

46:56

through the official adoption process with

46:58

babies Kayla and Jacob, but not

47:00

with Tegan. Was

47:03

she trying to protect herself

47:05

or someone else? Investigators

47:10

considered the possibility that Kelly could

47:12

have sold Tegan in a private

47:14

surrogacy arrangement, which is illegal in

47:16

Australia. They checked

47:18

Kelly's bank accounts, but she hadn't received

47:20

any large sums of money in 1996.

47:25

She'd been a student at the time, living

47:27

at home with her parents, and her bank

47:29

accounts were barely touched. None

47:33

of Kelly's friends recalled any changes in

47:35

her spending habits. Police

47:39

obtained a record of all the

47:41

other babies born in Auburn Hospital

47:43

on September 12, 1996. Tegan was

47:45

one of only two girls born

47:47

that day. The

47:50

other baby girl had been stillborn. This

47:53

prompted the theory, what if

47:56

Kelly, in a moment of desperation, had

47:58

broken a deal with the bereaved girl?

48:00

mother. The

48:02

mother of the stillborn child was tracked

48:04

down. She now

48:06

had two children, but neither was

48:09

Tegan Lane, and she hadn't ever

48:11

crossed paths with Kelly. In

48:15

each version of events Kelly had

48:17

given, she claimed that after Tegan's

48:19

birth she went back to Duncan's

48:21

house in Gladesville. Working

48:24

on the theory that Tegan could

48:26

have been killed or died by

48:28

accident, officers visited the property with

48:30

a cadaver dog and conducted a

48:32

cursory search. While

48:35

it yielded no results, they were no

48:37

longer prepared to give Kelly the benefit

48:39

of the doubt. In

48:46

May 2003, Kelly was summoned back

48:48

to Manly police station for a

48:50

formal recorded interview. Confronted

48:53

with the inconsistencies in her accounts,

48:55

Kelly maintained the crux of her

48:57

story, that Andrew Norris and his

49:00

partner Mel had taken custody of

49:02

baby Tegan. The

49:04

detective asked if this was the case,

49:07

why did Kelly tell Virginia Fung that

49:09

Tegan had gone to live with a

49:11

couple in Perth? Kelly

49:14

responded, I'm not sure

49:16

where they are, I wasn't sure

49:18

what Andrew was going to do. Confused

49:22

by this explanation, the detective asked

49:24

Kelly if she was suggesting that

49:26

Andrew had relocated to Perth. Kelly

49:30

replied, I'm

49:32

not sure what his plans were, he

49:34

wasn't going to tell me. Some

49:36

of the conversations I had with Andrew

49:38

indicated perhaps he wasn't going to stay

49:40

in Sydney because of the embarrassment that

49:42

I'd caused him. I'm

49:46

aware that investigators had already conducted their own

49:48

inquiries. Kelly was caught in multiple lies. She

49:50

claimed that she'd retrieved her paperwork from Duncan's

49:53

old house, but

49:55

couldn't find any contact numbers for people's lives.

50:00

who could verify Andrew's existence.

50:03

She also maintained that she no longer

50:05

had contact with the one person who

50:08

could, Lisa Andriada.

50:11

The detective told her, "'Kelly,

50:14

it's obvious that you're not telling us

50:16

the truth. This matter is not

50:18

going to go away.' He

50:21

urged Kelly to come clean. All

50:24

they had to do was establish where

50:26

Tegan was and Kelly could move on

50:28

with her life." The

50:31

detective pressed on, "'You've

50:34

been telling us lies for whatever

50:36

reason. If you know where

50:38

the child is or what happened to

50:40

the child, it's your opportunity to tell

50:43

us now.'" Kelly

50:45

Lane sat in silence. She

50:48

looked down at her hands which were resting on

50:50

the table in front of her as though she

50:53

was deep in thought. The

50:56

seconds ticked by until almost a

50:58

minute passed. The

51:01

detective asked her again if there was anything

51:03

she wanted to say. After

51:06

14 more seconds of silence,

51:09

Kelly responded quietly, "'No.'"

51:14

The detective then asked Kelly outright if

51:17

she had killed Tegan. Kelly's

51:20

demeanor immediately changed, her eyes

51:22

widening as she firmly exclaimed,

51:24

"'No, I did not.'" Kelly

51:28

said that no one else knew about

51:30

the situation and she didn't want her

51:33

family and friends being pulled into it.

51:36

She warned the detectives that if they

51:38

went poking around, no one would have

51:41

any idea what they were talking about.

51:44

"'This is between me and Andrew,' she

51:46

said. Nothing has

51:48

happened to Tegan. He

51:50

said he would contact me if there was an

51:52

emergency. I haven't

51:54

heard kui from them, not

51:56

one word. I don't

51:59

have anything else to say.'" say. Despite

52:05

previously telling the police that she

52:07

wouldn't be able to locate Andrew's

52:10

former unit, Kelly agreed to accompany

52:12

manly detectives to Balmain to see

52:14

if something might trigger her memory.

52:17

It had been many years since she'd

52:20

frequented that side of town and Kelly

52:22

couldn't remember any details that could help

52:24

her identify the building. All

52:27

she remembered was that Andrew's place was

52:29

about a 5-10 minute walk from the

52:31

Town Hall Hotel. Kelly

52:34

said that over the six months they'd

52:36

been seeing each other, she'd only gone

52:39

back there about six times, always in

52:41

the early morning hours after a night

52:43

out. The

52:46

police wove through various neighbourhoods

52:48

until they made their way

52:50

down Whizbeach Street, a residential

52:52

tree-lined street dotted mostly with

52:54

freestanding houses. As

52:57

they passed by one of the only

52:59

apartment buildings on the street, Kelly pointed

53:01

it out. She

53:04

thought that might be it. It

53:06

was a nondescript three-story block of units

53:09

with an undercover car park and two

53:11

sets of windows overlooking the street. They

53:15

got out of the car and went into the foyer.

53:18

It was just as Kelly remembered. Kelly

53:23

said that Andrew's unit had been on the first

53:25

floor facing the street. Although

53:28

she couldn't remember which one or much else about

53:30

it, a tenant on the ground floor let them

53:32

in and Kelly confirmed the layout was exactly the

53:35

same. This was a major breakthrough for detectives.

53:43

There were only two first floor units

53:45

overlooking the street, units 10 and 11.

53:49

For the first time since their inquiries began, they

53:51

had a possible solid lead to track Andrew Norris

53:54

down. It turned out that the entire area was

53:56

a entire

54:00

building was managed by a single

54:02

real estate agency. Detectives

54:05

contacted the agent, who went through their

54:07

records to see if an Andrew Norris

54:09

had lived there in 1996. They

54:13

had no records of a tenant by

54:15

that name. At

54:18

the time Kelly claimed to have

54:20

visited the property, Unit 10 was

54:22

occupied by a man named Sean

54:24

Greaves. Although he

54:27

was of similar age to Andrew

54:29

Norris, Sean didn't fit the description

54:31

Kelly had provided. When

54:34

questioned, Sean said he'd never lived with

54:36

a woman named Mel, nor did he

54:38

know a woman named Kelly Lane. He'd

54:42

never had housemates or sublet

54:44

his apartment either. In

54:48

1996, Unit 11 had been leased by two brothers, Peter

54:53

and Stephen Clark. Neither

54:55

of them recalled ever seeing Kelly Lane

54:58

in the building. One

55:01

of the brothers did know a man

55:03

named Andrew Morris, but he was of

55:05

Asian appearance and had never visited their

55:07

unit. Neither

55:09

they nor any of the other

55:12

former tenants recalled ever having seen

55:14

mail addressed to an Andrew Norris

55:16

or Morris. Kelly

55:19

had told the detectives that on a

55:22

couple of occasions after visiting Andrew, she

55:24

went straight to her early morning water

55:26

polo training sessions at the Dorn Fraser

55:28

pool, which was only a short walk

55:30

away. Further

55:32

investigation revealed that these training

55:34

sessions weren't even held at

55:36

the Dorn Fraser pool, but

55:39

at another location, a 20-minute

55:41

drive across town. With

55:47

Kelly's lies piling up, the

55:49

hunt for Andrew Norris intensified.

55:53

Investigators ran a search for anyone with that

55:55

name born between 1960 and 1976 in the

56:00

of each state and territory in Australia.

56:03

They ran checks with the Australian Taxation Office,

56:06

the Electoral Commission, the Department of

56:08

Immigration, the Roads and Traffic Authority

56:11

and Centrelink. Utility

56:13

and telecommunication providers who serviced the

56:16

Balmain area were contacted,

56:19

as was Australia Post. Police

56:22

records were checked to see if Andrew Norris had

56:24

been listed anywhere as a missing person. Eventually,

56:29

they had a list of 41 men named

56:31

Andrew Norris who were

56:33

born in Australia between 1960 and 1976. Contact

56:39

was made with most of them, but none had

56:41

been in Balmain at

56:43

the time Tegan Lane was conceived, nor

56:45

did they know a Kelly or Tegan

56:47

Lane. They

56:50

decided not to extend the search to include

56:52

the name Andrew Morris. Morris

56:56

was a much more common surname,

56:58

and searching for anyone with that

57:00

name born over the same 16-year

57:02

period would have yielded thousands of

57:04

possibilities around the country. Besides,

57:08

Kelly remained adamant that Norris

57:10

was the correct name, though

57:12

this did little to sway

57:14

detectives. They

57:17

were more convinced than ever that

57:19

Andrew Norris was a fictional character

57:21

created by Kelly. But

57:25

if Andrew wasn't real, then who

57:27

was Tegan's father? Some

57:30

suspected it was Duncan Gillies, just

57:33

as Kelly initially claimed. Because

57:36

Kelly never had a Guthrie test done

57:38

for Tegan, there were

57:40

no medical records to check anyone's

57:42

DNA against. Police

57:45

tracked down a man named Juan Ramirez,

57:47

who had lived with Duncan Gillies in

57:49

1996. According

57:52

to Juan, Duncan had confided in

57:54

him back then that Kelly was

57:57

pregnant and that they had to

57:59

keep it a secret from him.

58:01

Kelly's family. Juan recalled Duncan saying

58:03

that Kelly was going away to

58:05

have the child, which she would

58:07

then place for adoption. Duncan

58:11

Gillies firmly denied this. He

58:14

didn't consider Juan a close friend,

58:16

let alone a confidant. As

58:19

far as Duncan was concerned, it was

58:21

just as possible that Juan could be

58:23

Tegan's father. Police

58:25

considered this possibility too, but

58:28

checks with immigration revealed that Juan hadn't

58:30

even been in Australia at the time

58:33

of Tegan's conception. It

58:36

was calculated that Tegan would have been

58:38

conceived around November or December of 1995.

58:43

Duncan Gillies said he wasn't even in

58:46

Sydney at that time. He'd

58:48

been out of town for three weeks with

58:50

some friends and had bank statements to prove

58:53

it. He

58:55

insisted he had no idea Kelly

58:57

was pregnant twice during the course

58:59

of their relationship, even though they

59:01

were intimate throughout. As

59:04

far as Duncan knew, Kelly had

59:06

been taking the contraceptive pill the

59:08

whole time they were together. By

59:15

the start of 2004, it

59:17

had been several months since police had

59:19

any contact with Kelly. They'd

59:22

been busy behind the scenes, cross-checking

59:24

her stories, making discreet inquiries with

59:27

her friends, and searching for the

59:29

elusive Andrew Norris. The

59:32

more they discovered, the more convinced

59:34

they became that Kelly was covering

59:37

up something major. On

59:40

Thursday, January 8, 2004,

59:43

Kelly was summoned back to Manley

59:46

Police Station for her third formal

59:48

interview regarding Tegan's whereabouts. By

59:51

this time, she was busy planning her wedding,

59:53

which was set to take place the following

59:55

month. Kelly grew

59:58

visibly upset upon learning. While

1:12:00

the investigation continued, the public hearing

1:12:03

for the inquest commenced in June

1:12:08

The most intimate details of Kelly

1:12:10

Lane's private life became daily fodder

1:12:12

for reporters, with readers

1:12:14

enthralled by the prospect of an

1:12:17

accomplished young woman with a close-knit

1:12:19

family, a wide circle of friends,

1:12:22

a long-term boyfriend, and various sporting

1:12:24

coaches, successfully concealing

1:12:26

three pregnancies without anyone

1:12:28

asking a single question.

1:12:32

The public was gripped by the

1:12:34

possibility that this seemingly loving mother

1:12:36

could have done something to harm

1:12:39

her newborn baby and equally fascinated

1:12:41

by the salacious details of Kelly's

1:12:43

personal life. Tongues

1:12:45

wagged about how she could have become

1:12:48

pregnant so many times and who the

1:12:50

fathers might be. People

1:12:53

wondered why Kelly had gone through with each

1:12:55

pregnancy when the secrecy of it all would

1:12:57

have been such a heavy burden for a

1:12:59

young woman to carry alone. Reporters

1:13:06

gathered outside the courthouse each day

1:13:09

of the hearing, snapping photos of

1:13:11

those involved as they arrived to

1:13:13

reluctantly provide their testimony. On

1:13:16

the stand, Duncan Gillies said that to

1:13:18

describe the whole situation as a hell

1:13:21

of a shock would be an understatement.

1:13:25

Throughout his relationship with Kelly, he'd never

1:13:27

once suspected she was cheating on him.

1:13:31

Duncan was forced to reveal details

1:13:33

about his and Kelly's sex life,

1:13:35

while Kelly's friends maintained they had

1:13:37

no idea about her alleged affair

1:13:40

with Andrew Norris. Those

1:13:43

who socialised with Kelly in their early twenties

1:13:45

testified that she was not the type of

1:13:47

person to have a one night stand or

1:13:50

go off with someone else when she was

1:13:52

in a committed relationship. Little

1:13:56

did Kelly's friends know, Duncan had

1:13:58

already consented to a dandy. asking

1:16:00

anyone who may have adopted Tegan

1:16:02

to come forward. When

1:16:05

this failed to generate a response, the

1:16:07

coroner issued a second appeal, asking

1:16:10

people to come forward if they knew a childless

1:16:12

couple in 1996 who'd suddenly had a baby. Meanwhile,

1:16:18

staff at a Queensland primary school

1:16:21

roughly 900 kilometres away

1:16:23

received the memo about Tegan

1:16:25

Lane and searched through their

1:16:27

database. It

1:16:29

turned out they had a female student enrolled

1:16:31

who was born on September 12, 1996. Her

1:16:36

name was Tegan Chapman. Although

1:16:40

her first name was spelled

1:16:42

differently to Tegan Lane's, the

1:16:44

similarity couldn't be ignored once

1:16:46

staff realised her father's name,

1:16:50

Alan Norris. The

1:16:54

inquest was put on hold while investigators

1:16:56

from New South Wales immediately travelled to

1:16:58

Queensland to chase one of the only

1:17:00

promising leads in the case to date.

1:17:04

When Tegan Chapman's mother, Debbie, found

1:17:06

out she insisted police were making

1:17:09

a mistake. Debbie's

1:17:11

mother also gave a statement saying she'd

1:17:14

been present for her granddaughter's birth and

1:17:16

there was no way Debbie wasn't the

1:17:18

mother. But

1:17:20

the police weren't willing to take any chances.

1:17:24

They obtained Tegan Chapman's medical

1:17:26

records and ran a DNA

1:17:28

test against Kelly Lane. It

1:17:31

wasn't a match. Up

1:17:38

until this point, Kelly's parents had

1:17:40

been tight-lipped about the whole situation.

1:17:43

Robert Lane accompanied his daughter to court

1:17:46

each day, making it clear to the

1:17:48

surrounding press that he intended to stand

1:17:50

by Kelly no matter what. Hearing

1:17:54

the witness testimony in court was the

1:17:56

first time he'd heard the full story

1:17:59

about Kelly's death. three secret

1:18:01

pregnancies. On

1:18:03

the stand, Robert explained that Kelly's weight

1:18:05

had always fluctuated depending on what sport

1:18:07

she was playing at the time. In

1:18:11

hindsight, I feel a bit foolish that

1:18:14

I didn't notice anything, he said, but

1:18:17

I had no reason to believe she was pregnant

1:18:19

at all. The

1:18:22

lanes weren't particularly religious, and both

1:18:24

of Kelly's parents were aware that

1:18:26

she was sexually active. The

1:18:29

only reason Robert could think of for

1:18:31

Kelly concealing the pregnancies was that she

1:18:34

didn't want to disappoint her family. She

1:18:38

was held in very, very high esteem

1:18:40

in the family, Robert said. She

1:18:43

was very, very well known in the community.

1:18:46

I believe she was trying to hide

1:18:48

this episode in her life from everyone

1:18:50

because of those pressures. Like

1:18:54

Kelly's friends and husband, Robert said

1:18:56

that after finding out about the

1:18:58

investigation, he didn't feel the need

1:19:01

to ask Kelly any questions about

1:19:03

Tegan's whereabouts. While

1:19:05

he agreed that Kelly's story

1:19:07

about Andrew Norris was unusual,

1:19:10

he accepted it unequivocally. If

1:19:13

anything, he thought the man Kelly had

1:19:15

an affair with had likely used a

1:19:17

fake name. The

1:19:21

only time Kelly's mother, Sandra Lane, attended

1:19:23

court was when it was her turn

1:19:25

to provide testimony. Sandra

1:19:28

described her relationship with Kelly as

1:19:31

very good. She

1:19:33

didn't think she'd been strict with Kelly

1:19:35

while she was growing up and believed

1:19:37

they had an open and honest relationship.

1:19:41

Sandra firmly denied having any

1:19:43

knowledge of Kelly's three secret

1:19:45

pregnancies. She said

1:19:48

if she had known, she

1:19:50

would have supported her. Sandra

1:19:52

couldn't think of any reason why Kelly

1:19:54

hadn't told her about them. Like

1:19:57

the others, she admitted she had an answer.

1:28:01

What started out as a potential

1:28:03

Casefile episode turned into a 12-part

1:28:05

series that took over four years

1:28:08

to research. He didn't

1:28:10

smile or anything. He just kind of looked empty and

1:28:12

just like get in the car. It

1:28:15

was just kind of like aggressively like get in

1:28:17

the car. Join me

1:28:19

as we uncover what happened

1:28:21

in Missing Neem, the new

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12-part podcast series from Casefile

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Presents. Something had obviously

1:28:28

woken me suddenly because I was disorientated. That's

1:28:30

when I realised that there was just a

1:28:33

cold rough hand holding my hand because I

1:28:35

had my hand over the edge of the

1:28:37

bed. And I could see the outline of

1:28:39

somebody leaning over the bed. Evil,

1:28:42

I guess, has to be somewhat attractive, doesn't

1:28:44

it? Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to sneak

1:28:46

into every corner. So

1:28:48

I whispered to my sister, asked

1:28:50

her if she was awake and she said yes. I

1:28:52

said, there's someone in the room and she said I

1:28:54

know. Missing Neem is

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available now. Be sure

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to download and follow Missing Neem

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wherever you get your podcasts. Share

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joke, Pemko Mutual Insurance Company, Seattle,

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Washington.