Marilyn Wallman

In October 1974 a young man took a walk alongside McGregor Creek at Mount Martin in rural Queensland. The location is near the small town of Miriani and 40 km east of the coastal city of Mackay. The man was a local railway worker and had a purpose for being in such a remote place. He was on the lookout for large palm leaves to cut down and take back to his mother. The keen gardener used them to shield the beautiful orchids growing in her yard from the harsh Australian sun. 

The track was uneven and as he scanned the ground to secure his foot placement something in the dirt caught his attention. He stooped down to pick up the small hard object and examined it closer. Although the item was only a cm, the man immediately recognized it as a piece of human skull. It was a gruesome find but the man did not think it particularly sinister. He assumed it was from the remains of an ancient burial site. He pocketed the item and took it home with him, treating the piece of human remains like an item of curiosity. He did not inform the authorities of his find but began telling his friends about what he had found. 

Three weeks later a local police officer heard the gossip circulating about the gruesome find and visited the young man. The officer told him 1 that he had to contact the Mackay police department and officially report what he had found. The officer suspected the skull fragment may be connected to the disappearance of a teenage girl more than two years previously. It wasn’t until over forty years later that DNA testing conclusively proved it was indeed the partial remains of 14 year old school girl Marilyn Wallman, one of Queensland’s oldest unsolved murder investigations.

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Marilyn Joy Wallman was born on the 6th March 1958 in Mackay, a city on the Coral Coast of Queensland. Mackay is 900km north of the state capital Brisbane. Like many people in the area, the Wallmans were sugar cane farmers. Marilyn's grandfather had been very successful in the business and in the early 1970’s was the head of the Sugar Cane Growers Association. The family farm was in the village of Eimeo, 13km from Mackay. Eimeo is now classed as a suburb of Mackay as it has been engulfed by the growth of the city over the last few decades. In those days Eimeo was the sort of place where no one locked their doors and people would enter their neighbour's houses without even knocking. This all changed in March 1972.

Marilyn's parents were John and Daphne and she had two younger brothers and a sister. In 1972, David was 11, Rex was 9 and little Lenore was the baby of the family. The siblings were close and as the eldest, Marilyn was very protective over the little ones. In an ABC news article in March 2022, David, now aged 61, says that their parents often had to work long hard hours on the farm and Marilyn stepped in to become a mother-like figure to himself, Rex and Lenore. David describes his sister as having a vibrant personality with a kind and upbeat character. She had a lovely smile. Marilyn was very active, strong and into sports. When she was a baby she had brownish red hair, though it had turned fairer as she got older, and at 14 she wore her hair short in a bob cut. She stood at 162cm or 5 feet 4 inches tall and had a slim build and freckles. Marilyn had lots of friends and was a popular pupil of class 9CI at Mackay North State High school. 

On Tuesday March 21st 1972 Marilyn was up early as usual. She was excited as it was the school sports carnival later that afternoon. Marilyn dressed in her white sports kit, socks and canvas daps ready for the races she would be competing in at the event. 

At 7.42pm Marilyn left on her bike for the bus stop outside the Rural Youth Hall, which stood on the junction of Wallam Road and Eimeo Road. This was only around 1km away from the family farm. From here she would catch the school bus along the Bucasia to Mackay Road, to the high school in North Mackay. The school bus was due to reach the pick up point at 8.00am so she had plenty of time. As she started out, Marilyn wore a wide brimmed hat to protect herself from the hot sun, as it was already over 23 degrees. Marilyn set off on her push bike down Wallam Road.

David and Rex followed ten minutes behind their older sister, heading to the local primary school. Both brothers were also travelling on push bikes. After they had been travelling a few minutes they came upon Marilyn's bicycle, lying by the side of the road. It was on its side with the front wheel still spinning. Marilyn’s school bag was lying on the ground with her exercise books scattered around and her summer hat discarded a few metres away. They must have arrived only seconds after whatever had just happened and yet, Marilyn was nowhere to be seen. 

Both brothers instinctively knew that something was wrong. They got off their bikes and began looking around and calling their sister’s name. On both sides of the road lay dense sugar cane fields. Harvest was still three months away so the crop was standing at around 183cm or 6 feet tall, making it impossible to see very far. The eldest brother, David, got back on his bike and headed back to the family farm to get help. Nine year old, Rex stayed at the scene in the hope that Marilyn would soon show up.

As Rex waited anxiously, thoughts raced through his mind as to what could have happened to his older sister. In the stillness the 9 year old’s attention was suddenly jarred when he heard muffled cries coming from far off in the fields of sugar cane. He was then sure he could make out Marilyn's voice complaining that her legs were hurting. He couldn't pinpoint an exact location of the voice, except that it was coming from deep in the sugar cane paddock. The terrified boy didn't know what to do and waited for his brother to return. 

When David returned with his mother, the boys set off in one direction to look for Marilyn, while Daphne went the opposite way. After a little while David and Rex came to a small dried creek bed not far from the road and spotted some tracks in some fresh green grass. It was obvious even to their young eyes that two people had recently walked this way. 

Word travelled fast in the village and dozens of friends and neighbours were soon involved in the search. Unfortunately, by the time the police arrived the tracks the boys had spotted had been destroyed by the many  people who had trampled over the spot.

The group of volunteers and local police could find no trace of Marilyn. The terrain being searched was extremely difficult to navigate. One senior police officer was quoted in the Age newspaper as saying he could put 100 men though the cane fields shoulder to shoulder and they could still miss something.

That night was terrible for the Wallman family. Daphne had a vision, or waking nightmare, that Marilyn was at the front door knocking loudly and calling to be let inside the house. When she went to the door no one was there. From that moment the hard working and doting mother knew in her heart that something awful had happened to her daughter. 

Local and national papers picked up the news straight away and columns featuring Marilyn's disappearance ran parallel with the story of another girl who had vanished in Queensland just two days previously. On Sunday March 19th, 2 ½ year old Shay Marie Kitchin disappeared on her way to buy lollies at a local shop in the town of Mount Isa. This location is 1200km west of Mackay. The toddler’s mother was out of town visiting relatives in Darwin and her children were being looked after by her boyfreind. At 7.30pm Shae told her 3 year old sister that she was going to buy lollies from a local shop situated about 400m away. She had not been seen since. Obviously the distance between the two disappearances was vast but it seemed an eerie coincidence. 

The search for Marilyn continued over the next six days. People stood shoulder to shoulder and waded through the sugar cane and long grass.  Helicopters were brought in to aid efforts. Dozens of gullies and creeks were searched, as well hundreds of properties in the area. 

Belinda Morrissey and co-author Kristen Davis wrote an essay about Marilyn Wallman’s case. It was printed in a 2010 academic publication called “Fear itself” which examined psychological and sociological effects of crime on small communities. 

Morrissey and Davis interviewed members of the Wallman family as well as other members of the Eimeo community involved in the search. Around 50% of the village were involved in looking for the missing girl, either trampling the bush looking for clues or preparing meals and providing other support back at the base. The response from people was genuine and heartfelt but the size of the volunteer force did have its drawbacks. Several people, including John Wallman, Marilyn’s father, said that the search was disorganised with groups of people searching an area that had just been gone over by another set of people. The local police seemed out of their depth and coordination of the effort was sorely lacking. The crime scene itself was not properly inspected for over 24 hours after Marilyn had disappeared by which time literally hundreds of volunteers had walked through the area. Roadblocks were also not set up until two days later. The police and searchers were constantly playing catch-up and never gained the initiative. 

In their essay Morrissey and Davis recall a story from a volunteer on the search team. While making his way through an area of sand dunes the volunteer came upon a stranger with a collection of plastic bags and a bucket. The stranger claimed to be collecting sand for something. The searcher said the police were content with the man’s explanation and did nothing, not even taking down his details. The person telling the story really believed that the man he encountered could have been the person who had abducted and murdered Marilyn. 

Altogether, the search involved over 300 volunteers on foot, horseback, motorcycle and car, covering 160km of highways, creeks and gullies. Leads were few and far between. Suspicion briefly landed on a local man who suffered with mental health issues and had post-traumatic stress from the War. (It was referred to as shell shock at the time). This seemed to be based solely on prejudice rather than any evidence and nothing came of it. Known sex offenders in the area were questioned but it seems none of them were deemed good suspects in the case.

Less than a week after Marilyn had vanished police Chief Superintendent B Barnett  admitted it was likely that Marilyn had been abducted and murdered by persons unknown. A crushing statement for the family to come to terms with. The official search then came to an end, but limited police patrols did still go out from time to time. John Wallman continued to search the local area with a group of committed local volunteers. With the search ending the Queensland state cabinet put up a £2000 reward to incentivise people to come forward with information about who had taken Marilyn.

On the same day the search for Marilyn ended, the body of little Shay Marie Kitchin was found 15km from her home near Lake Moondarra. She had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death. Any possible connection to Marilyn’s disappearance was soon dispelled when 23 year old Neil Manson, the man who had been left in charge of Shay and her siblings, was charged and then later convicted of her murder. 

 In the investigation into Marilyn Wallmans disappearance police said they were keen to trace three cars spotted in the vicinity on the morning Marilyn disappeared. Two of the cars were tracked down and their owners questioned. Both of those people were subsequently eliminated as suspects. The police were having difficulties tracking down the third vehicle. They said they were attempting to locate the owner of a two tone light blue and white Holden HD or HR model sedan. In more recent reports I have heard that a chalky blue coloured Vauxhall was also spotted in the vicinity. 

Police also put out a description of a man they were looking to talk to who was seen driving the Holden. I have not been able to find details of this description. Following up this lead the Chief of Police Scientific Sector Inspector L Bardwell travelled to Mackay from Brisbane to assist in the search of a house and car, though no arrests followed this. 

In early April, police began to focus their attention on a Go-Kart track near Mackay. This followed an anonymous phone call received by police at 8pm on the 3rd of April from a woman who believed Marilyn was buried at the site. Six police officers and 12 civilians, led by Inspector E Stockwell, began their search the following morning at first light. Parts of the track, as well as  open bush land and cane fields adjacent to the site were excavated. They particularly focused on an area of newly disturbed ground. Inspector AG Bianchi of the Mackay police, who was the officer in command of the investigation into Marilyn's disappearance, said they were taking the tip seriously. This time a reconstruction of Marilyn's last known movements was filmed for a slot on ABC’s “The Day Tonight” television programme. The police were hopeful the breakthrough they were looking for was just around the corner. As it turned out they didn't have to wait long at all.

On May 1st 1972 The Age newspaper reported that at a man was arrested in Sydney, New South Wales in connection with the abduction and presumed murder of Marilyn. The man was captured after his car, which matched the description of the two tone Holden, was involved in a road accident. The man was said to match the description the Queensland police had issued in connection with Marilyn's case. As it turned out the authorities had been looking for this particular individual for some time to talk to him about another missing 14 year old girl from Perth, Western Australia. Though in the meantime the focus in that case had turned to a 17 year old girl who was charged in connection with that offence. I believe this man was extradited to Brisbane for questioning but as far as I can see he has never been charged with any crime related to the disappearance of Marilyn Wallman. It had been a promising lead but it had gone nowhere.

As the weeks ticked by, the police got increasingly frustrated. Rex Wallman, Marilyn’s little brother, was questioned repeatedly by police over the muffled voice he had heard coming from the sugar cane paddock. They were convinced he was making it up and that it hadn't been Marilyn he had heard. The police believed the abductor must have had a car at the spot where they ambushed Marilyn, then fled with her in the car rather than heading by foot into the fields. 

If Rex’s statement was correct it would suggest that the abductor had parked their vehicle somewhere else and had deliberately hidden in the spot waiting for someone to come by. Rex Wallman has never changed his story and has remained steadfast that he did hear the voice of his sister in the cane field that morning. Either theory could suggest that Marilyn may have been targeted specifically. The place where Marilyn disappeared was a blind spot. It lay around 180m from the bus stop  in a slight dip. It could not be seen from the Wallman’s farm house or from the Rural youth hall. This suggested that the crime had not been one of opportunity but instead had been premeditated and planned. 

In the aftermath of Marilyn's disappearance the Queensland police minister, Max Hodges, launched a stranger danger campaign. Leaflets were given to school children with guidelines and advice to help protect them. This included, “Never talk to strangers”, “come home before dark”, “run away if you are approached by a stranger” and “never accept gifts from strangers”. Obviously this presumed Marilyn did not know the person who had abducted her. Considering that Eimeo was such a small community and Wallman’s road was rarely used by strangers this was quite an assumption to make. Speaking to 9 News in 2018, Detective Senior Constable Cindy Searle said Wallmans road was quiet and mostly used by family members.

As Marilyn’s grandfather was wealthy, it was briefly thought that she may have been kidnapped for ransom. No ransom demand ever arrived and this was soon dismissed as a credible theory. Other ideas suggested included the thoughts of a local clairvoyant who said Marilyn was hitchhiking 440km south in the coastal city of Gladstone and an alleged sighting which came in from south of Brisbane in the Gold coast. This made no sense to police or the Wallman family as they could think of no reason why Marilyn might run away. 

During the early days of the investigation, local gossip had been circulating suggesting that Marilyn led a “permissive” lifestyle. It was both callous and ridiculous that some people's response was to try and apportion blame to Marilyn herself, a child who had only recently turned 14. The Wallman family thought these rumours were ridiculous and so did the police. 

Other tips checked out included some teenagers who were seen driving in a car and strange lights apparently seen on the road around the time of the disappearance. None of these potential leads checked out. Within months the case went stagnant as police ran out of ideas. A review of several missing persons cases from Queensland in November of 1972 briefly reignited the investigation, but this produced no fruit and Marilyn's story soon disappeared from news reports. 

It was 2 years later in October 1974 that a fragment of the human skull was found by the young railway worker near Miriani, 40km west of Mackay. There was speculation at the time that it could be the remains of Marilyn but forensic science was not at the stage to determine this. It would be decades before anything could be confirmed about the fragment. In the meantime the Wallmans were left in a permanent state of anxiety. David, Rex and Lenore grew up and had their own children but, together with their parents John and Daphne, they struggled to come to terms with the loss of having Marilyn taken from them.

In 1998, over a quarter of a century after Marilyn had disappeared, a potential suspect materilaised following another Queensland murder investigation dating from the 1970’s. 

On Wednesday August 26 1970, seven year old Susan and her five year old sister Judith Mackay (not to be confused with the town, though spelled the same way) vanished while waiting for a bus only 200m from their front door in Aitkenvale, Townsville. Townsville is in Queensland, a four and a half hour drive north of Mackay. The girls never got on the bus but were not known to be missing until they failed to return home later in the afternoon. Their bodies were found two days later 25km away in a dry creek bed. Both girls had been raped and had been stabbed three times each, although this had most likely occurred after death. In Susan’s case the cause of death  had been strangulation and Judith was determined to have died from asphyxiation by sand. Their school uniforms were found neatly placed in their school bags beside them along with their shoes which each contained a folded sock. 

Several witnesses came forward following police appeals to help solve this truly evil crime. One person reported having seen the girls talking to a man at the bus stop in Aitkenvale at 8.10am. An attendant at a fuel station around 85km south of Townsville recalled seeing a man with a car containing two small girls at around 11am on the wednesday morning. She overheard the younger girl asking the man if “they were there yet?” and the older child saying “When are you taking us to mummy? You promised to take us to mummy?”

A driver came forward to say he had been cut off by a man in a car carrying two school girls wearing Aikenvale school uniforms. When the witness looked at the man to rebuke him for cutting him off the man looked like he was trying not to be seen. 

Unfortunately both these last two witness statements were viewed as unreliable. The reason was that both witnesses had said the car the man was driving was a Vauxhall. A blue Vauxhall Victor to be precise, which was a rare car at the time. They also both said that the driver's door was a different colour to the rest of the car. However, other witnesses had said that the car looked like a Holden EH. A  car parked near the location the bodies were found was said to possibly have been a Holden FJ. The police were convinced the murderer had used a Holden car. Both witnesses who had originally identified the car as a Vauxhall appeared to change their minds and signed statements that said the car they had seen was a Holden.

Therefore the two sightings were dismissed, despite the fact that both had given a similar description of the man they saw. The man had a narrow face, with high cheekbones and short hair. He also had large ears. The police never released a sketch. This error of judgement proved very costly and the man went on to commit multiple other offences against children.

Decades later, in 1998, a women came forward to police and told them of a man who she suspected was involved in the murders of Susan and Judith Mackay. The sisters’ case had been undergoing a cold case review and was featured on the TV show Crimestopper. The woman contacted police and told them about the sexual abuse that she herself had suffered at the hands of a male relative. The man’s name was Arthur Stanley Brown.

Born in 1912 Brown was a retired carpenter in his mid eighties and lived in Townsville, Queensland. He had been married to the woman’s cousin at the time of the abuse. Brown’s abuse of children came to the family’s attention in 1982 but following legal advice it was hushed up and he was never prosecuted for his crimes. The lawyers said taking the matter to court would be too traumatic for the survivors.

The woman had always suspected Brown may have had some involvement in the Mackay sisters’ deaths, as Brown had always been obsessed with the case. Sergeant David Hickey of the Queensland Homicide squad interviewed the woman and every other remaining member of her family. The police soon had evidence that connected Brown to 45 instances of sexual abuse and paedophillia and lots of circumstanial evidence linking him to the Susan and Judith Mackay murders. 

Even at 86, Arthur Brown was a dead ringer for the suspect description of the man seen with the two girls at the fuel station. He had been obsessed with the case, even offering to take friends and relatives to the murder scne. At the time of the murders he drove a Vauxhall with an odd coloured door. After the murders he removed the door and buried it in his garden before digging it up and taking it to a rubbish tip. The fact that the Susan and Judith’s clothes were left neatly folded points to Brown as he was renowned for being meticulously tidy . He abused other victims at the same location where the girls' bodies were found.  He had even confessed twice to the murders, once to a stranger in a pub an then to a young apprentice who worked with him. The apprentice at the time didn’t believe Brown as it seemed out of character for him. 

Brown was charged with 28 counts of sexual assault and rape and for the murders of Susan and Judith. At the murder trial in October 1998 the jury could not reach a verdict. Brown’s paedophillia was ruled as prejudicial evidence and could not be brought up. The circumstantial evidence for the murders was not enough to convince the jury. A retrial was scheduled but never took place, as Brown's lawyer successfully argued that he was unfit to stand trial - he was suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Brown died in 2002, taking his secrets to the grave. 

Brown is suspected to have been involved in the death of his first wife, Hester who died in mysterious circumstances in 1978. Brown then married Hestors younger sister, Charlotte. Charlotte appeared to stand by her husband until her death in 2002,  just months before Brown passed away.

Brown is also a suspect in numerous unsolved child murders and disappearances across the country, including the cases of Jane, Arna and Grant Beumont who vanished from Glenelg Beach in South Australia 1966, and Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon who were abducted from Adelaide Oval in 1973. Brown is also a suspect in the abduction and murder of Marilyn Wallman.

Around the time that Marilyn went missing Brown had visited Mackay, as his then wife, Hester, had family living there. One one occasion Brown’s car broke down in Mackay and the family returned to their home in Townsville by train. Brown went back to retrieve the car alone. There is a theory that Brown could have used this opportunity to abduct Marilyn. The timing is a bit sketchy and the date Brown travelled alone to Mackay to pick up the car may have been later than March 21st when Marilyn went missing. However this does not exclude him. He obviously knew the area and his job as a carpenter for Queensland department of public works meant he had a very flexible work pattern and travelled extensively. Unfortunately conclusively linking Brown to Marilyn Wallman is difficult as Brown’s work records were destroyed long ago. 

More time passed and John and Daphne continued to travel the country chasing up leads. Over the years they have travelled throughout Queensland and further afield to Shepperton, Victoria and Gingin in Western Australia in their search for answers. The commitment and tenacity displayed by the Wallman family has meant Marilyn was never far from the thoughts of the Mackay police and her unsolved disappearance continued to be worked. In 2013 a $250,000 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for what had happened to Marilyn. This  decision resulted in some new information and a potential lead.

In 2014 the case was featured on a Crimestoppers television program. Consequently a tip was received by police which led to the backyard of a house near Mackay being excavated. The police never said exactly what they were looking for, but it was generally accepted they believed it possible that Marilyn had been buried there. At the time Rex Wallman expressed that it would be a comfort for the family to find Marilyn’s remains, as it would be a focal point for them to remember and grieve Marilyn. 

Nothing was found at this time but there was a renewed momentum in the investigation. At the very end of the year Mike Condon, Queensland's Assistant Police Commissioner, announced to the press that the tiny piece of skull found near Miriani in 1974 was confirmed through DNA testing as belonging to Marilyn. I believe the fragment was able to be connected to the Wallman family in the early 2000’s but it took many more years of work by the Queensland police, New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and even the FBI to conclusively prove the identity. 

Following this news the remains were returned to the family. On the 6th of March 2015, what would have been Marilyn's 57th birthday, a funeral was held at St Ambrose church in North Mackay. The family made it clear that they wanted the occasion to remember and celebrate Marilyn’s life rather than dwell upon the evil act that had taken her away.  

A full review of the case was undertaken in 2015 and more developments followed. The location where the skull fragment was found was searched again and Queensland police were able to use 3D laser mapping of the area to help pinpoint any possible burial sites. They were the first police department in the world to 3D map a crime scene. That same year pictures of the model of two tone Holden the police were looking for were released, as well as a photo of the Felicia brand wristwatch Marilyn was wearing on the day she disappeared. The thought being that the person responsible for her death may well have kept the watch as a trophy or even tried to sell it at some point. 

The police also took the step to announce that the review had produced a  person of interest in Marilyn's case. With such a significant new development, local and national journalists began to try to discover who this person was. He was an unnamed local man and in 2018, 9 News tracked him down and quizzed him about the case.

In September that year 9 News reporter Emily Prain interviewed a 72 year old retired cane farmer at a caravan park on the outskirts of Mackay. The man was asked several questions by the report about the Marilyn Wallman case and admitted that he had been questioned by police and was a person of interest in her disappearance and presumed murder. He denied having anything to do with it and said he did not kill her. He had met Marilyn a few times, as he had then been related to the Wallmans by marriage. The inference was that this was no longer the case. The man no longer had anything to do with them. He was asked where he was the day Marilyn disappeared and answered not at Wallmans Road. 

The man was then questioned about owning a two tone Holden car in 1972. The man said he had driven a similar car at the time. When asked if he had come forward back then he said he had not been questioned at the time or asked to come forward. The reporter acted confused and said the police made an appeal but he told her the car was down there anyway. The reporter asked where? He replied Wallmans Road and, then added no, in Mackay. It's important to reiterate that the man on more than one occasion denied having anything to do with Marilyn's disappearance. He got visibly frustrated with the questioning and eventually asked the reporter to stop.

In the interview the man is referred to by his full name. I have decided not to do this as his name has not been widely printed since 2018. 

A  written piece by 9 News that accompanied the TV report dated September 17 2018 says when the team from the TV news turned up at the caravan site, there was another individual with the man considered a person of interest. It was the man who had found the skull fragment in 1974.

In the 9 News feature, reporter Emily Prain states there is a theory that Marilyn's death may have been the result of an accident rather than murder. This seems to be based on long standing rumours. In November 2018 the Australian published an article saying the police were no longer investigating the case as a murder. After conducting enquiries within the community, police said they believed Marilyn may have been hit by a car before her abduction and death. This theory has not been widely published and may have been a short-lived ploy on behalf of the police to try and encourage people to come forward with information or even to elicit a confession. Detective Senior Constable Cindy Searle was interviewed in the same 9 News tv  report I mentioned earlier and said she believed they were close to solving the case. Unfortunately nothing concrete materialised from this.

There does seem to have been a marked increase of effort in 2018 to get someone who was withholding information to come forward. That year Mark Ryan, the Queensland Minister for the Police and Corrective Services, announced  that the reward would be increased from $250 thousand to half a million dollars. This remained in place for only 12 months and then returned to $250 thousand. It remains unclaimed.

What happened to the Wallman family has obviously had a profound effect on all their lives. Marilyn's siblings were so young at the time and it was years before trauma counselling was commonplace. They had to cope as best they could, finding support from each other. Daphne recognises how hard it was on her children, particularly Rex, whose claims he had heard his sister calling from the cane fields were disbelieved by police. David, Rex and Lenore understandably grew up to be overprotective parents because of what they had lived through as children. 

Marilyn remains close in the thoughts of the family. Now when they are together they often talk about what she would be like if she was here today. School friends have expressed similar sentiments and Marilyn's 9th grade class continue to meet once a year to remember her. Many of them have struggled to move on from what happened to Marilyn and cannot experience any form of closure without knowing the truth. 

John and Daphne are now both in their mid-eighties and worry that they will never find out what happened to their daughter or see the culprit brought to justice. The latest effort to finally get answers for John and Daphne happened in March 2022 when the family made a plea in the media for the reward money in Marilyn’s case to be increased to one million Australian  dollars. 

The siblings have never wavered in their fight for justice on behalf of  their big sister and are always researching possible leads. In March 2022 David Wallman says he discovered a new person of interest who is being looked into by police. With so many false leads the family can only hope this one produces some results. 

50 years have now passed since Marilyn was taken from her loved ones. On a plaque erected by her ninth grade classmates in a park named after the bubbly 14 year old it says “No length of time can take away our thoughts of you”. Equally the passing of five decades has not dampened the zeal for justice. Rex Wallman says he will continue the fight until he dies.