June 13, 2024 • 25 mins
Imagine watching your child walk to the store and never returning. This is the harrowing reality for Carrie Greenhill, whose six-year-old daughter, Sheree Beasley, vanished on a warm afternoon in Rosebud, Melbourne, in June 1991. We recount the frantic search efforts by police, volunteers, and the local community, all racing against time to find Sherry. As the town grappled with fear and uncertainty, a young boy's report of seeing Sherry being forced into a blue car became a critical lead, breathing new life into the investigation.
Join us as we examine the gripping trial of Robert Arthur Selby Lowe, a church elder charged with Sherry's murder, kidnapping, and false imprisonment. Hear the compelling courtroom testimonies, including those from a boy who witnessed Sherry's abduction and individuals who saw a distressed girl in a blue car. Lowe's estranged wife, Lorraine, offers a chilling glimpse into his dark obsessions, while damning evidence, such as a tape-recorded confession, exposes his shifting narratives. Listen in as we piece together this intricate puzzle of a community shattered by a tragic crime.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It was a warm afternoon in Rosebud, an outer
suburb of Melbourne, victoria,on the 29th of June 1991.
This afternoon, six-year-oldSherry Beasley was sent to the
nearby store by her mother topick up some groceries.
She hopped on her bicycle andmade it safely to the store and
purchased the groceries.
However, sherry never made ithome.
(00:20):
Welcome to another episode ofHuman Wreckage True Crime
Podcast.
My name is Thomas.
I will be taking you throughthis heartbreaking case of
Sherry Beasley and the monsterthat took her life.
Let's get into it.
(00:56):
Cherie was a grade one pupil atRosebud Primary School and lived
on South Road.
According to her mother, carrieGreenhill, she was a very
talkative and lively little girl.
She said that she was herfirstborn and was very special
to her.
While Sherry was exceptionallyfriendly, she still knew of
stranger danger and would neverspeak to somebody that she
didn't know.
In fact, carrie had always toldSherry if a stranger approached
(01:20):
her to run to the nearest housefor help.
That afternoon, carrie handedSherry money to pick up some
milk, a bottle of lemonade, meatpies and some cigarettes.
She also handed her 50 cents tobuy herself some sweets.
As she left the home thatafternoon, sherry called out to
her mother I'll be back in acouple of minutes.
Mom, I love you.
Unbeknownst to Carrie, this wasthe last time she would ever
(01:44):
speak to her daughter.
Around an hour after Sherry leftthe store with the groceries,
the alarm was raised.
A local resident discoveredCherie's abandoned bicycle and
groceries in the middle ofParkmore Avenue, a dirt road
located just off the NepeanHighway, around a few feet away
from the store.
The man who found the bicycleplaced it against a nearby tree
(02:04):
and moments later, another localwoman spotted the bicycle.
This woman knew Sherry and herfamily and recognized it
immediately as Sherry's bicycle.
The woman contacted Sherry'smother, carrie Greenhill, who in
turn called police to reporther daughter missing.
Investigators would launch anextensive and exhaustive air and
ground search for Sherry,mobilizing all available
(02:26):
resources, including snifferdogs, state emergency services
and country fire crews.
They stopped motorists on theNepean Highway and near the
crime scene and handed themphotographs of Sherry and asked
them if they had seen her.
In addition, over 100volunteers assisted in the
search for Sherry.
They trudged through thesurrounding woodland and combed
the shoreline.
(02:46):
However, the search turned upno evidence.
It was as if Sherry hadvanished into thin air.
Investigators wasted no time inannouncing that they were
extremely concerned for Sherry'ssafety.
The following day Sherry'smother, carrie, made a tearful
plea on national television forher safe return.
She said If someone has got her, bring her home.
(03:07):
She has been through enoughtrauma.
She lost her little brotherlast year.
Please bring her home.
We love her too much.
Don't hurt her, she's only six.
Carrie also revealed that aroundtwo months earlier somebody had
attempted to abduct Sherry.
She said that Sherry had beentaken to school by a taxi one
morning and on her way home aman approached her as she biked
(03:28):
home alone.
Carrie said that following theterrifying ordeal, sherry hadn't
been allowed to bike home alonefor a while.
Meanwhile, investigatorscontinued to hand out missing
child flyers with Sherry's faceemblazoned on the front.
The flyers described Sherry.
They also displayed a mannequinwearing clothing matching those
worn by Sherry at the time shevanished, hoping that it would
(03:49):
rejog a potential witness'smemory.
She had been wearing a purpletracksuit and black shoes.
They would look into whetherSherry's disappearance was
related to the abductions ofthree schoolgirls in Melbourne
over the past three years.
Those three victims wereCarmine Chan, nicola Lenas and
Sharon Wills.
A police source stated IfSherry has been snatched and
(04:10):
that appears to be the mostlikely scenario, then we are
dealing with someone who preyson very young children and
someone who is prepared tostrike in broad daylight.
They said that the modusoperandi between Sherry's
potential abduction and theabduction of the three other
girls varied substantially.
The disappearance of Sherrystruck fear into the parents of
Rosebud and terrified localchildren.
(04:32):
It seemed quite obvious thatSherry's disappearance was being
considered an abduction.
Investigators would set up aninformation caravan at the scene
where Sherry's bicycle wasfound, while parents of students
at Rosebud Primary School wereoffered counseling for
themselves and their children.
On the third day of the searchfor Sherry, 20 detectives from
the major crime squad and theNepean District formed an
(04:54):
unofficial task force toinvestigate her disappearance.
Joan Kramer, the premier, saidthat the apparent abduction
showed that the communityattitude towards children needed
to change.
She stated I was able to sendmy children to the corner of the
street to pick up bread or milk, and we just can't tolerate a
society where that is notpossible.
It doesn't matter whatpenalties you have or what
(05:16):
police protection.
Unless you can change people'sattitudes to what is sacred
about kids and life, then we'renot going to change.
Carrie once again made a publicplea asking people with holiday
homes in the MorningtonPeninsula area to please search
their homes.
She said that Sherry's twoyounger sisters were desperately
missing their sister and wantednothing more than her to return
(05:37):
home.
She said how long can you holda little girl, wherever she may
be?
You can't hold her forever.
Just let her go, she said.
With her statement, she alsoreleased a photograph of Sherry
in which she was wearing thesame purple tracksuit she was
wearing when she vanished.
Finally, the first lead in thecase came on the 6th of January,
when a young boy informedinvestigators that he had seen
(05:59):
Sherry being forced into a smallblue car by a man.
He said that Sherry tried tofight the man off, but to no
avail.
The car then sped down ParkmoreAvenue and turned left into
Nepean Highway towards Rosebud.
They announced that the boy wasalone when he allegedly saw the
kidnapping and was the onlywitness to come forward thus far
.
However, they said that otherlocals had reported seeing a
(06:22):
suspicious blue car in the area.
The car was believed to be aJapanese-style sedan, royal or
Navy blue in color.
They said that the boy hadgiven a description of the
abductor, but they wouldn't bepublicly releasing it due to the
fact that children tend to havea different perspective on
height, weight and age, and theydidn't want to give out any
information that could beincorrect and hamper the
(06:43):
investigation.
This new lead only concretedthe theory that Sherry had been
abducted.
Investigators next turned theirattention on local sex offenders
.
They started to work through alist of more than 50 known
pedophiles and sex offendersliving on the Mornington
Peninsula.
They speculated that theabductor of Sherry could
potentially be on that list.
The following month, a witnesscame forward with what
(07:06):
investigators referred to astheir biggest breakthrough in
the disappearance to date.
A woman had contactedinvestigators and informed them
that she had seen Sherry and herabductor in a small blue car
traveling west along the NepeanHighway just minutes after
Sherry was abducted.
She said that she had beenstanding on the footpath near
Chinaman's Creek, which was nearthe scene of the abduction,
(07:27):
when she spotted the car drivingpast.
She described how she spottedShiri sitting on the front
passenger seat wearing a pinkbicycle helmet.
She also said that she wascrying.
She described the driver as aman aged between 25 and 40 years
old and clean-shaven.
Following her revelation,investigators announced that
they would be resuming theirsearch for Sherry and would be
(07:49):
releasing a photo fit of thesuspect.
Many people were leftquestioning why it took the
woman so long to come forwardwith this information.
Detective Lori Rapps, who wasthe head of the task force
investigating the case, saidthat the woman only noticed the
significance of what she hadseen after reading an updated
story in the Sunday Herald Sun,which had corrected a mistake
(08:09):
they had published, saying thatSherry's helmet had been found
at the crime scene.
Old son had seriously hamperedthe investigation, stating the
witness we spoke to yesterdayoriginally read that the helmet
had been found at the scene buthad seen the girl in the car
wearing the helmet and thoughtthat it must have been unrelated
(08:30):
.
It would be revealed that thiswoman's witness testimony
corroborated witness testimonyof the little boy who had
informed investigators that hehad seen Sherry being dragged
into a small blue car.
Investigators would subsequentlyrelease a sketch of the car
that was used in the abduction.
They were unable to determinewhat make and model of car it
was.
They were able to ascertain itsshape and size.
(08:52):
They said it was similar to aToyota Corolla hatchback, a
Barina, a Charade or a Nova, butthey weren't sure which.
They also drew up a long listof people living in the area who
owned small blue cars similarto the one described by the two
witnesses.
People who owned similar carswere urged to make themselves
known to investigators and tocome in for an interview so that
(09:13):
they could be eliminated.
By September, the tips and leadsin the case had essentially
dwindled to nothing.
The task force was still activeand in the beginning of the
month they renewed their appealto the public for information in
the case.
They announced that theybelieved that the abduction was
a random, opportunistic crime asopposed to a targeted one.
A $1,100,000 reward was offeredby the state government, while
(09:37):
Crimestoppers offered a$1,100,000 reward.
Towards the end of the month,there was a crushing update in
the case when it was announcedthat a decomposed body was
discovered by two horse ridersin a drain at Red Hill in
Victoria, around five miles fromwhere Sherry disappeared.
The body was clothed in only at-shirt and a singlet.
Investigators stated that thebody had obviously been
(09:59):
disturbed by animals and couldhave been there for several
months.
They additionally said thatthere was a public assumption
that the body was that of Sherry, but they could not make a
positive identification until anautopsy was performed.
They did, however, state thatclothing found at the crime
scene resembled clothing thatSherry had been wearing on the
day of her disappearance.
Early next month.
(10:20):
The body had still not beenidentified.
On the day of her disappearanceEarly next month, the body had
still not been identified.
The body was in such anadvanced state of decomposition
that it made identificationextremely difficult.
Forensic scientists decided touse a controversial method of
genetic profiling, known as thepolymerase chain reaction,
wherein Deanna was tested frommuscle tissue taken from the
body.
The genetic profile would thenbe compared with blood taken
(10:42):
from Carrie, sherry's mother, aswell as from Shane Beasley, who
was potentially Sherry's father.
Sadly, shane died from a drugoverdose while in police custody
the year beforehand and doubtswere raised that he was actually
her father.
The year before Sherry vanished, two men filed paternity suits
claiming they were her father.
The DNA method they were usingwas going to be the first time
(11:05):
in Victoria that such a methodwas used.
While the body still hadn't beenpositively identified, it was
widely accepted that the bodywas that of Sherry.
From the size of the body, itwas evident that it was a child.
Moreover, clothing found at thescene matched clothing Sherry
was wearing when she vanished.
Just the day after thediscovery, investigators
(11:25):
announced that they were movingcloser to an arrest of a suspect
.
Sergeant Jeff Alway describedthe case as one of the most
callous crimes ever seen in thisstate and said that, in
addition to identifying the body, the medical examiner was also
trying to determine her cause ofdeath and whether she had been
sexually assaulted.
Sherry's family accepted thatthe body was likely Sherry
(11:46):
almost as soon as she was found.
Carrie stated that she believedsomebody must know something,
stating it's not going to bringSherry back, but he's got to
suffer.
On top of that heartache,carrie had just given birth to a
baby girl.
Meanwhile, the crime scene wasbeing extensively investigated
and searched.
Sherry's helmet was stillmissing and more than 30
(12:07):
officers conducted a search ofthe area around where her body
was found, looking in and aroundthe foliage for any kind of
clues which could lead to herkiller.
The foot search was unfruitfulin finding any more evidence, so
the following day it wasannounced that Mounted Police
would be combing the bushland.
The area was surrounded bythick scrub which was
inaccessible on foot.
(12:28):
In mid-October, investigatorsfinally confirmed that the body
had been identified as Sherry.
Due to advanced decomposition,a cause of death could not be
determined.
Just days later, sherry waslaid to rest, mourners packed
into Our Lady of Fatima CatholicChurch in Rosebud to pay their
final respects to thesix-year-old girl.
Afterwards she was buried inthe Mornington Cemetery.
(12:51):
Eventually the tips began todwindle and by February of 1992,
the task force set up toinvestigate Sherry's murder was
scaled down.
As the weeks turned to months,it looked less and less likely
that there would be a resolutionto the case.
Sherry's family tried to carryon as best as they could, but
there was a child-sized hole inall of their hearts.
Sherry married her long-termboyfriend, stephen Ludlow, in a
(13:15):
quiet garden ceremony.
They moved away from Rosebudbecause the memories of what had
happened to Sherry were far tooraw.
What had happened to Cheriewere far too raw.
There was no update in the caseor the investigation until the
end of May 1993 when it wasannounced that a man was
expected to be charged withCherie's murder.
While the task force had beenscaled down, the murder case was
still being investigated.
(13:35):
Just the following day,56-year-old Robert Arthur Selby
Lowe was charged with Cherie'smurder, two counts of kidnapping
and one count of falseimprisonment.
Robert was a married father oftwo, a former salesman and a
church elder.
He appeared before the chiefmagistrate, mrs Sally Brown,
where his defense attorney PeterWard said that his client would
(13:56):
be vigorously defending each ofthe charges.
He also said that he wasworried for his client's safety
in custody and asked if he couldbe placed in protective custody
as soon as possible.
Prosecutor Mick Berkleyinformed defense ward that
special arrangements had alreadybeen made, to which Carrie, who
was in the courtroom, stood upand objected.
She stated he should be allowedto be with the other prisoners.
(14:18):
He killed my child.
In November of that year acommittal hearing was held to
determine whether Robert wouldstand trial.
During the hearing the littleboy who had witnessed the
abduction testified.
He said he was riding hisbicycle when he saw Sherry who
was his classmate at the store.
He said Sherry had just comeout of the store when a man in a
(14:38):
car pulled up and told her tostop.
He said that Sherry didn't wantto get into the car, so the man
took her off her bicycle andput her in his car.
He said he rode home and saidto his stepfather Cherie's got
kidnapped.
His testimony was followed bytestimony from Danielle
French-Marx, who said that shewas playing on the sidewalk
beside the Nepean Highway whenshe saw a girl in a blue car
(15:00):
wearing a pink helmet.
She said that she looked likeshe was kneeling with her face
close to the glass.
She testified her face wasscrewed up and she seemed to
scream something at me.
The girl's mother, sue Marks,said that her daughter pointed
the girl out and when she lookedtowards the girl she said she
looked terrified and appeared tobe trying to get her attention.
Sue said I will never forgetthe look on the child's face.
(15:24):
It was either fear, panic oranger.
I remember her face was whiteand she was definitely trying to
attract our attention.
Sultan Dogan, who was drivingon the highway, would testify
next.
She said she saw a visiblydistressed little girl wearing a
bike helmet inside a blue car.
She said she thought it wasstrange that the man who was
(15:45):
driving the car was staringstraight ahead, just ignoring
the little girl's distress.
When she got home she told herfiancé, who told her that
Sherry's helmet had been foundat the scene where her bicycle
was found, so she assumed thatthe little girl in the car must
not have been Sherry.
Also testifying during thecommittal hearing was Lorraine
Lowe, robert's estranged wife.
She said that on the night ofSherry's abduction he washed his
(16:08):
own clothes for the first timein their 19 years of marriage
and vacuumed his car.
The day afterwards, when shewas first questioned about
Robert's whereabouts, she hadsaid he was at home with her.
However, she later realizedthat he had dropped one of their
two sons off at tennis,attended a breakfast prayer
meeting and then was absent forthe majority of the day.
She said that he was obsessedwith the abduction of Carmine
(16:30):
Chan as well as the LindyChamberlain case.
He had kept newspaper clippingson the 1993 abduction of
Carmine and would bring it upalmost weekly.
She further told the courtroomhow Robert always talked
negatively about the police andaccused them of always going
after good church-going people.
When Robert was brought in forquestioning, lorraine said that
(16:51):
he was crying and kept tellingher that he was sorry, she
stated On the 18th of November.
The committal hearing wasadjourned until the 16th of
December.
Melbourne magistrate WendyWilmoth would bound Robert over
(17:12):
for trial on one charge ofmurder, two counts of kidnapping
and one count of assault withfalse imprisonment.
Robert pleaded not guilty toall of the charges.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Flatman saidthat there was overwhelming
circumstantial evidence againstRobert and that one of the
horrors of the crime was that itwas likely to have been
committed by somebody whoenjoyed the mystery and
(17:32):
notoriety that was attached toit.
He said he believed that Robertwas fascinated and obsessed
with child abduction cases.
He revealed that, whenquestioned, robert had
repeatedly lied to police,giving different versions of
events as to what happened andwhere he was when Sherry
vanished.
He had claimed he didn't knowthe area or the store where
Sherry had been.
However, robert was awell-known face in the store.
(17:55):
He also revealed that Robert'sholiday home was located close
to where Sherry had vanished andRobert had visited it alone the
day before she disappeared.
The trial was scheduled forOctober 1994.
During opening statements,Prosecutor Paul Coughlin said
that Robert told investigators acomplicated series of lies.
He said that Robert initiallytold investigators he was not in
(18:17):
the Rosebud area when Sherryvanished but later conceded he
was in the area at the time.
He said that Robert then gavemore complicated lies wherein he
provided a version of eventswhich he hoped would be
consistent with his involvementin a potential abduction or even
manslaughter, but not murder,he stated.
That is how the matter develops.
First of all, I wasn't there.
(18:39):
But if I was there, I wasn'tthere at the relevant time.
And if I was there at therelevant time and I did it.
It wasn't murder.
Prosecutor Coughlin alsorevealed that in May of 1993,
robert was secretlytape-recorded when he told a
Pentridge prisoner that he hadhidden Sherry's body in a drain.
This prisoner was Peter Reed,who had been with Robert under
(18:59):
the pretext of helping with hisdefense, which did not assert
total innocence.
The defense was that Robert hadabducted Sherry, which did not
assert total innocence.
The defense was that Robert hadabducted Sherry but had not
murdered her.
The tape recording was playedout during trial and Robert can
be heard saying how Sherry'slips turned blue and he could
find no pulse after she had acoughing fit in his car.
He said that he panicked whenhe pulled up on the side of the
(19:20):
road, said a prayer and then putSherry's body in the drain.
Robert can be heard saying thathe carried Sherry very gently
and tried to see if she wouldfit in the drain, but it was
tight.
In another version, robert hadclaimed to pick Sherry up after
seeing her argue with a youngboy and he had apparently told
this version to apsychotherapist that he was
seeing A recording of theinterview between Robert and
(19:42):
investigators.
He claimed that he was at homeon the 29th of June 1991, when
he heard about Sherry goingmissing on the 6pm news.
When asked if he could rememberwhat was on the television, he
replied no, I don't.
No, no, I don't.
I was just sort of shocked whenshown a photograph of Sherry.
Robert denies that he has everseen her before and denies that
(20:05):
he ever had a child in his blueToyota.
He said that he wasn't aware ofanybody that had borrowed his
car.
Detective Senior ConstableAndrew Gusk testified that he
had strange feelings aboutRobert from the first
conversation he had with him.
He said that during a telephoneconversation he had asked
Robert where he was the daySherry vanished and he
immediately replied I was athome with my wife and two kids.
(20:28):
This struck the detective asodd, stating it was always a
slow process to get people tojog their memory as to where
they were two or three weeks ago.
Forensic pathologist Dr StephenCordner would testify next.
He stated that he had neverseen a case in which a person
died solely from stress orfright.
He said that he would expect tofind that if somebody died from
(20:51):
stress or fright they wouldhave had some kind of
abnormality that predisposed afatal outcome, for example
epilepsy, asthma or a heartcondition.
When asked by defense attorneyBoris Kacer if it was possible
for Sherry to have died from aheart attack as the result of
stress, he said it was not apossibility worth considering
unless Sherry had some kind ofunderlying disease.
(21:12):
According to Carey, sherry hadbeen a healthy young girl with
no issues or conditions.
Robert's estranged wife,lorraine, testified once again.
She told the jury that whenpolice came to their door to
take Robert away he had tears inhis eyes as he apologized to
their two sons.
She said that he was visiblyupset, but when he returned
mid-afternoon he appeared to bequite pleased with himself.
(21:35):
She also revealed that when shespoke with investigators she
had given them a list of placesin the General Rosebud area
where she and Robert hadcollected pine cones in January
of that year.
One of the places she pointedout was where Sherry's body was
found.
Once again she reiterated thatRobert wasn't home on the day
Sherry vanished.
When asked by ProsecutorCoghlan if she had found out
(21:57):
where Robert was, she replied no, he wasn't prepared to discuss
it very much.
During trial, secretlytape-recorded sessions between
Robert and his psychotherapist,margaret Hobbs, were played out
for the jury.
They revealed that Robert hadconsidered pleading guilty to
manslaughter to save hismarriage to Lorraine.
As it turned out, robert hadbeen on investigators' radar
(22:19):
very early on in the case andthese sessions were recorded
secretly by investigators inNovember of 1991.
They revealed that Lorraine hadsaid to Robert that she wanted
him to tell the truth.
In a session from April of 1992, robert gave the doctor an
account in which he asked Sherryif she wanted a ride and helped
put her seatbelt on.
Once she got inside his car, hesaid she became worried and
(22:42):
started coughing and splutteringand he panicked when she fell
silent.
He realized she wasn'tbreathing and then hid her body
in the drain before driving backhome.
In that same recording he saidthat he had said a prayer as he
stuffed Sherry's body into thedrain, saying Forgive me, lord,
for the terrible things I havedone and I'll speak to you later
about it, lord, or something,perhaps not.
(23:04):
Dr Hobbs would later say thatit was almost like he was
attempting to give Sherry aChristian burial.
The most distressing testimonyduring the trial came from Peter
Reed, who was incarcerated withRobert.
He told the jury how Robert hadtold him that he had abducted
Sherry and that she choked whilehe was forcing her to do what
he described as dirty acts.
(23:24):
According to Peter, robert saidhe also said that Robert had
made a statement about cleaningblood from the passenger's seat
on his car and when asked wherethe blood had come from, robert
said that Sherry had vomited itup when she was choking.
Robert had also allegedly toldPeter that he had first noticed
(23:46):
Sherry the weekend before herabduction when he had gone to a
Rosebud holiday unit to delivera refrigerator.
He had seen her again on Mondayand followed her home to see
where she lived Apparently.
Robert also told Peter thatSherry had begged to go home,
pleading take me home to mummy,I want my mummy.
Following all of the evidence,the jury were sent away to
(24:08):
deliberate.
It took them just four and ahalf hours to return with a
verdict.
They found Robert Lowe guiltyof the abduction and murder of
Sherry Beasley.
As the verdict was read out,carrie shouted suffer, lowe.
Sherry got her revenge thistime.
Rot in hell.
Others in attendance clappedand cheered Outside of court.
She said that she had beenthrough hell and back and that
(24:30):
while they were pleased with theverdict, it didn't bring Sherry
back, adding that Robert hadshown no remorse for what he had
done.
Stephen said.
Let's hope that Mr Lowe justthinks about it every day of his
life for what he's done to mydaughter.
I wish I had a chance to giveher a kiss goodbye as she walked
out that door.
The following week, robert wasback in court to be sentenced
(24:52):
for the crime.
Justice Philip Cummins foughtback tears as he sentenced
Robert to life in prison withoutthe possibility of parole.
He could have given him aminimum term on the life
sentence, but refused, statingwhat you did was every child's
fear and every parent'snightmare.
He said he believed that Robertwas sexually motivated and was
fueled by his interest in childabductions.
(25:13):
Over the forthcoming years,robert appealed his convictions
several times, claiming that hewas innocent.
There would be rumors that hewas involved in the murders of
Denise McGregor and KylieMayberry, but in 2001, his DNA
was collected and he was ruledout of both murders.
That about wraps it up for thiscase.
It blows my mind.
(25:33):
Someone can be so evil.
If you enjoy what we do, pleaselike and subscribe.
Take care of yourself.
See you soon.
It was a warm afternoon in Rosebud, an outer
suburb of Melbourne, victoria,on the 29th of June 1991.
This afternoon, six-year-oldSherry Beasley was sent to the
nearby store by her mother topick up some groceries.
She hopped on her bicycle andmade it safely to the store and
purchased the groceries.
However, sherry never made ithome.
(00:20):
Welcome to another episode ofHuman Wreckage True Crime
Podcast.
My name is Thomas.
I will be taking you throughthis heartbreaking case of
Sherry Beasley and the monsterthat took her life.
Let's get into it.
(00:56):
Cherie was a grade one pupil atRosebud Primary School and lived
on South Road.
According to her mother, carrieGreenhill, she was a very
talkative and lively little girl.
She said that she was herfirstborn and was very special
to her.
While Sherry was exceptionallyfriendly, she still knew of
stranger danger and would neverspeak to somebody that she
didn't know.
In fact, carrie had always toldSherry if a stranger approached
(01:20):
her to run to the nearest housefor help.
That afternoon, carrie handedSherry money to pick up some
milk, a bottle of lemonade, meatpies and some cigarettes.
She also handed her 50 cents tobuy herself some sweets.
As she left the home thatafternoon, sherry called out to
her mother I'll be back in acouple of minutes.
Mom, I love you.
Unbeknownst to Carrie, this wasthe last time she would ever
(01:44):
speak to her daughter.
Around an hour after Sherry leftthe store with the groceries,
the alarm was raised.
A local resident discoveredCherie's abandoned bicycle and
groceries in the middle ofParkmore Avenue, a dirt road
located just off the NepeanHighway, around a few feet away
from the store.
The man who found the bicycleplaced it against a nearby tree
(02:04):
and moments later, another localwoman spotted the bicycle.
This woman knew Sherry and herfamily and recognized it
immediately as Sherry's bicycle.
The woman contacted Sherry'smother, carrie Greenhill, who in
turn called police to reporther daughter missing.
Investigators would launch anextensive and exhaustive air and
ground search for Sherry,mobilizing all available
(02:26):
resources, including snifferdogs, state emergency services
and country fire crews.
They stopped motorists on theNepean Highway and near the
crime scene and handed themphotographs of Sherry and asked
them if they had seen her.
In addition, over 100volunteers assisted in the
search for Sherry.
They trudged through thesurrounding woodland and combed
the shoreline.
(02:46):
However, the search turned upno evidence.
It was as if Sherry hadvanished into thin air.
Investigators wasted no time inannouncing that they were
extremely concerned for Sherry'ssafety.
The following day Sherry'smother, carrie, made a tearful
plea on national television forher safe return.
She said If someone has got her, bring her home.
(03:07):
She has been through enoughtrauma.
She lost her little brotherlast year.
Please bring her home.
We love her too much.
Don't hurt her, she's only six.
Carrie also revealed that aroundtwo months earlier somebody had
attempted to abduct Sherry.
She said that Sherry had beentaken to school by a taxi one
morning and on her way home aman approached her as she biked
(03:28):
home alone.
Carrie said that following theterrifying ordeal, sherry hadn't
been allowed to bike home alonefor a while.
Meanwhile, investigatorscontinued to hand out missing
child flyers with Sherry's faceemblazoned on the front.
The flyers described Sherry.
They also displayed a mannequinwearing clothing matching those
worn by Sherry at the time shevanished, hoping that it would
(03:49):
rejog a potential witness'smemory.
She had been wearing a purpletracksuit and black shoes.
They would look into whetherSherry's disappearance was
related to the abductions ofthree schoolgirls in Melbourne
over the past three years.
Those three victims wereCarmine Chan, nicola Lenas and
Sharon Wills.
A police source stated IfSherry has been snatched and
(04:10):
that appears to be the mostlikely scenario, then we are
dealing with someone who preyson very young children and
someone who is prepared tostrike in broad daylight.
They said that the modusoperandi between Sherry's
potential abduction and theabduction of the three other
girls varied substantially.
The disappearance of Sherrystruck fear into the parents of
Rosebud and terrified localchildren.
(04:32):
It seemed quite obvious thatSherry's disappearance was being
considered an abduction.
Investigators would set up aninformation caravan at the scene
where Sherry's bicycle wasfound, while parents of students
at Rosebud Primary School wereoffered counseling for
themselves and their children.
On the third day of the searchfor Sherry, 20 detectives from
the major crime squad and theNepean District formed an
(04:54):
unofficial task force toinvestigate her disappearance.
Joan Kramer, the premier, saidthat the apparent abduction
showed that the communityattitude towards children needed
to change.
She stated I was able to sendmy children to the corner of the
street to pick up bread or milk, and we just can't tolerate a
society where that is notpossible.
It doesn't matter whatpenalties you have or what
(05:16):
police protection.
Unless you can change people'sattitudes to what is sacred
about kids and life, then we'renot going to change.
Carrie once again made a publicplea asking people with holiday
homes in the MorningtonPeninsula area to please search
their homes.
She said that Sherry's twoyounger sisters were desperately
missing their sister and wantednothing more than her to return
(05:37):
home.
She said how long can you holda little girl, wherever she may
be?
You can't hold her forever.
Just let her go, she said.
With her statement, she alsoreleased a photograph of Sherry
in which she was wearing thesame purple tracksuit she was
wearing when she vanished.
Finally, the first lead in thecase came on the 6th of January,
when a young boy informedinvestigators that he had seen
(05:59):
Sherry being forced into a smallblue car by a man.
He said that Sherry tried tofight the man off, but to no
avail.
The car then sped down ParkmoreAvenue and turned left into
Nepean Highway towards Rosebud.
They announced that the boy wasalone when he allegedly saw the
kidnapping and was the onlywitness to come forward thus far
.
However, they said that otherlocals had reported seeing a
(06:22):
suspicious blue car in the area.
The car was believed to be aJapanese-style sedan, royal or
Navy blue in color.
They said that the boy hadgiven a description of the
abductor, but they wouldn't bepublicly releasing it due to the
fact that children tend to havea different perspective on
height, weight and age, and theydidn't want to give out any
information that could beincorrect and hamper the
(06:43):
investigation.
This new lead only concretedthe theory that Sherry had been
abducted.
Investigators next turned theirattention on local sex offenders
.
They started to work through alist of more than 50 known
pedophiles and sex offendersliving on the Mornington
Peninsula.
They speculated that theabductor of Sherry could
potentially be on that list.
The following month, a witnesscame forward with what
(07:06):
investigators referred to astheir biggest breakthrough in
the disappearance to date.
A woman had contactedinvestigators and informed them
that she had seen Sherry and herabductor in a small blue car
traveling west along the NepeanHighway just minutes after
Sherry was abducted.
She said that she had beenstanding on the footpath near
Chinaman's Creek, which was nearthe scene of the abduction,
(07:27):
when she spotted the car drivingpast.
She described how she spottedShiri sitting on the front
passenger seat wearing a pinkbicycle helmet.
She also said that she wascrying.
She described the driver as aman aged between 25 and 40 years
old and clean-shaven.
Following her revelation,investigators announced that
they would be resuming theirsearch for Sherry and would be
(07:49):
releasing a photo fit of thesuspect.
Many people were leftquestioning why it took the
woman so long to come forwardwith this information.
Detective Lori Rapps, who wasthe head of the task force
investigating the case, saidthat the woman only noticed the
significance of what she hadseen after reading an updated
story in the Sunday Herald Sun,which had corrected a mistake
(08:09):
they had published, saying thatSherry's helmet had been found
at the crime scene.
Old son had seriously hamperedthe investigation, stating the
witness we spoke to yesterdayoriginally read that the helmet
had been found at the scene buthad seen the girl in the car
wearing the helmet and thoughtthat it must have been unrelated
(08:30):
.
It would be revealed that thiswoman's witness testimony
corroborated witness testimonyof the little boy who had
informed investigators that hehad seen Sherry being dragged
into a small blue car.
Investigators would subsequentlyrelease a sketch of the car
that was used in the abduction.
They were unable to determinewhat make and model of car it
was.
They were able to ascertain itsshape and size.
(08:52):
They said it was similar to aToyota Corolla hatchback, a
Barina, a Charade or a Nova, butthey weren't sure which.
They also drew up a long listof people living in the area who
owned small blue cars similarto the one described by the two
witnesses.
People who owned similar carswere urged to make themselves
known to investigators and tocome in for an interview so that
(09:13):
they could be eliminated.
By September, the tips and leadsin the case had essentially
dwindled to nothing.
The task force was still activeand in the beginning of the
month they renewed their appealto the public for information in
the case.
They announced that theybelieved that the abduction was
a random, opportunistic crime asopposed to a targeted one.
A $1,100,000 reward was offeredby the state government, while
(09:37):
Crimestoppers offered a$1,100,000 reward.
Towards the end of the month,there was a crushing update in
the case when it was announcedthat a decomposed body was
discovered by two horse ridersin a drain at Red Hill in
Victoria, around five miles fromwhere Sherry disappeared.
The body was clothed in only at-shirt and a singlet.
Investigators stated that thebody had obviously been
(09:59):
disturbed by animals and couldhave been there for several
months.
They additionally said thatthere was a public assumption
that the body was that of Sherry, but they could not make a
positive identification until anautopsy was performed.
They did, however, state thatclothing found at the crime
scene resembled clothing thatSherry had been wearing on the
day of her disappearance.
Early next month.
(10:20):
The body had still not beenidentified.
On the day of her disappearanceEarly next month, the body had
still not been identified.
The body was in such anadvanced state of decomposition
that it made identificationextremely difficult.
Forensic scientists decided touse a controversial method of
genetic profiling, known as thepolymerase chain reaction,
wherein Deanna was tested frommuscle tissue taken from the
body.
The genetic profile would thenbe compared with blood taken
(10:42):
from Carrie, sherry's mother, aswell as from Shane Beasley, who
was potentially Sherry's father.
Sadly, shane died from a drugoverdose while in police custody
the year beforehand and doubtswere raised that he was actually
her father.
The year before Sherry vanished, two men filed paternity suits
claiming they were her father.
The DNA method they were usingwas going to be the first time
(11:05):
in Victoria that such a methodwas used.
While the body still hadn't beenpositively identified, it was
widely accepted that the bodywas that of Sherry.
From the size of the body, itwas evident that it was a child.
Moreover, clothing found at thescene matched clothing Sherry
was wearing when she vanished.
Just the day after thediscovery, investigators
(11:25):
announced that they were movingcloser to an arrest of a suspect
.
Sergeant Jeff Alway describedthe case as one of the most
callous crimes ever seen in thisstate and said that, in
addition to identifying the body, the medical examiner was also
trying to determine her cause ofdeath and whether she had been
sexually assaulted.
Sherry's family accepted thatthe body was likely Sherry
(11:46):
almost as soon as she was found.
Carrie stated that she believedsomebody must know something,
stating it's not going to bringSherry back, but he's got to
suffer.
On top of that heartache,carrie had just given birth to a
baby girl.
Meanwhile, the crime scene wasbeing extensively investigated
and searched.
Sherry's helmet was stillmissing and more than 30
(12:07):
officers conducted a search ofthe area around where her body
was found, looking in and aroundthe foliage for any kind of
clues which could lead to herkiller.
The foot search was unfruitfulin finding any more evidence, so
the following day it wasannounced that Mounted Police
would be combing the bushland.
The area was surrounded bythick scrub which was
inaccessible on foot.
(12:28):
In mid-October, investigatorsfinally confirmed that the body
had been identified as Sherry.
Due to advanced decomposition,a cause of death could not be
determined.
Just days later, sherry waslaid to rest, mourners packed
into Our Lady of Fatima CatholicChurch in Rosebud to pay their
final respects to thesix-year-old girl.
Afterwards she was buried inthe Mornington Cemetery.
(12:51):
Eventually the tips began todwindle and by February of 1992,
the task force set up toinvestigate Sherry's murder was
scaled down.
As the weeks turned to months,it looked less and less likely
that there would be a resolutionto the case.
Sherry's family tried to carryon as best as they could, but
there was a child-sized hole inall of their hearts.
Sherry married her long-termboyfriend, stephen Ludlow, in a
(13:15):
quiet garden ceremony.
They moved away from Rosebudbecause the memories of what had
happened to Sherry were far tooraw.
What had happened to Cheriewere far too raw.
There was no update in the caseor the investigation until the
end of May 1993 when it wasannounced that a man was
expected to be charged withCherie's murder.
While the task force had beenscaled down, the murder case was
still being investigated.
(13:35):
Just the following day,56-year-old Robert Arthur Selby
Lowe was charged with Cherie'smurder, two counts of kidnapping
and one count of falseimprisonment.
Robert was a married father oftwo, a former salesman and a
church elder.
He appeared before the chiefmagistrate, mrs Sally Brown,
where his defense attorney PeterWard said that his client would
(13:56):
be vigorously defending each ofthe charges.
He also said that he wasworried for his client's safety
in custody and asked if he couldbe placed in protective custody
as soon as possible.
Prosecutor Mick Berkleyinformed defense ward that
special arrangements had alreadybeen made, to which Carrie, who
was in the courtroom, stood upand objected.
She stated he should be allowedto be with the other prisoners.
(14:18):
He killed my child.
In November of that year acommittal hearing was held to
determine whether Robert wouldstand trial.
During the hearing the littleboy who had witnessed the
abduction testified.
He said he was riding hisbicycle when he saw Sherry who
was his classmate at the store.
He said Sherry had just comeout of the store when a man in a
(14:38):
car pulled up and told her tostop.
He said that Sherry didn't wantto get into the car, so the man
took her off her bicycle andput her in his car.
He said he rode home and saidto his stepfather Cherie's got
kidnapped.
His testimony was followed bytestimony from Danielle
French-Marx, who said that shewas playing on the sidewalk
beside the Nepean Highway whenshe saw a girl in a blue car
(15:00):
wearing a pink helmet.
She said that she looked likeshe was kneeling with her face
close to the glass.
She testified her face wasscrewed up and she seemed to
scream something at me.
The girl's mother, sue Marks,said that her daughter pointed
the girl out and when she lookedtowards the girl she said she
looked terrified and appeared tobe trying to get her attention.
Sue said I will never forgetthe look on the child's face.
(15:24):
It was either fear, panic oranger.
I remember her face was whiteand she was definitely trying to
attract our attention.
Sultan Dogan, who was drivingon the highway, would testify
next.
She said she saw a visiblydistressed little girl wearing a
bike helmet inside a blue car.
She said she thought it wasstrange that the man who was
(15:45):
driving the car was staringstraight ahead, just ignoring
the little girl's distress.
When she got home she told herfiancé, who told her that
Sherry's helmet had been foundat the scene where her bicycle
was found, so she assumed thatthe little girl in the car must
not have been Sherry.
Also testifying during thecommittal hearing was Lorraine
Lowe, robert's estranged wife.
She said that on the night ofSherry's abduction he washed his
(16:08):
own clothes for the first timein their 19 years of marriage
and vacuumed his car.
The day afterwards, when shewas first questioned about
Robert's whereabouts, she hadsaid he was at home with her.
However, she later realizedthat he had dropped one of their
two sons off at tennis,attended a breakfast prayer
meeting and then was absent forthe majority of the day.
She said that he was obsessedwith the abduction of Carmine
(16:30):
Chan as well as the LindyChamberlain case.
He had kept newspaper clippingson the 1993 abduction of
Carmine and would bring it upalmost weekly.
She further told the courtroomhow Robert always talked
negatively about the police andaccused them of always going
after good church-going people.
When Robert was brought in forquestioning, lorraine said that
(16:51):
he was crying and kept tellingher that he was sorry, she
stated On the 18th of November.
The committal hearing wasadjourned until the 16th of
December.
Melbourne magistrate WendyWilmoth would bound Robert over
(17:12):
for trial on one charge ofmurder, two counts of kidnapping
and one count of assault withfalse imprisonment.
Robert pleaded not guilty toall of the charges.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Flatman saidthat there was overwhelming
circumstantial evidence againstRobert and that one of the
horrors of the crime was that itwas likely to have been
committed by somebody whoenjoyed the mystery and
(17:32):
notoriety that was attached toit.
He said he believed that Robertwas fascinated and obsessed
with child abduction cases.
He revealed that, whenquestioned, robert had
repeatedly lied to police,giving different versions of
events as to what happened andwhere he was when Sherry
vanished.
He had claimed he didn't knowthe area or the store where
Sherry had been.
However, robert was awell-known face in the store.
(17:55):
He also revealed that Robert'sholiday home was located close
to where Sherry had vanished andRobert had visited it alone the
day before she disappeared.
The trial was scheduled forOctober 1994.
During opening statements,Prosecutor Paul Coughlin said
that Robert told investigators acomplicated series of lies.
He said that Robert initiallytold investigators he was not in
(18:17):
the Rosebud area when Sherryvanished but later conceded he
was in the area at the time.
He said that Robert then gavemore complicated lies wherein he
provided a version of eventswhich he hoped would be
consistent with his involvementin a potential abduction or even
manslaughter, but not murder,he stated.
That is how the matter develops.
First of all, I wasn't there.
(18:39):
But if I was there, I wasn'tthere at the relevant time.
And if I was there at therelevant time and I did it.
It wasn't murder.
Prosecutor Coughlin alsorevealed that in May of 1993,
robert was secretlytape-recorded when he told a
Pentridge prisoner that he hadhidden Sherry's body in a drain.
This prisoner was Peter Reed,who had been with Robert under
(18:59):
the pretext of helping with hisdefense, which did not assert
total innocence.
The defense was that Robert hadabducted Sherry, which did not
assert total innocence.
The defense was that Robert hadabducted Sherry but had not
murdered her.
The tape recording was playedout during trial and Robert can
be heard saying how Sherry'slips turned blue and he could
find no pulse after she had acoughing fit in his car.
He said that he panicked whenhe pulled up on the side of the
(19:20):
road, said a prayer and then putSherry's body in the drain.
Robert can be heard saying thathe carried Sherry very gently
and tried to see if she wouldfit in the drain, but it was
tight.
In another version, robert hadclaimed to pick Sherry up after
seeing her argue with a youngboy and he had apparently told
this version to apsychotherapist that he was
seeing A recording of theinterview between Robert and
(19:42):
investigators.
He claimed that he was at homeon the 29th of June 1991, when
he heard about Sherry goingmissing on the 6pm news.
When asked if he could rememberwhat was on the television, he
replied no, I don't.
No, no, I don't.
I was just sort of shocked whenshown a photograph of Sherry.
Robert denies that he has everseen her before and denies that
(20:05):
he ever had a child in his blueToyota.
He said that he wasn't aware ofanybody that had borrowed his
car.
Detective Senior ConstableAndrew Gusk testified that he
had strange feelings aboutRobert from the first
conversation he had with him.
He said that during a telephoneconversation he had asked
Robert where he was the daySherry vanished and he
immediately replied I was athome with my wife and two kids.
(20:28):
This struck the detective asodd, stating it was always a
slow process to get people tojog their memory as to where
they were two or three weeks ago.
Forensic pathologist Dr StephenCordner would testify next.
He stated that he had neverseen a case in which a person
died solely from stress orfright.
He said that he would expect tofind that if somebody died from
(20:51):
stress or fright they wouldhave had some kind of
abnormality that predisposed afatal outcome, for example
epilepsy, asthma or a heartcondition.
When asked by defense attorneyBoris Kacer if it was possible
for Sherry to have died from aheart attack as the result of
stress, he said it was not apossibility worth considering
unless Sherry had some kind ofunderlying disease.
(21:12):
According to Carey, sherry hadbeen a healthy young girl with
no issues or conditions.
Robert's estranged wife,lorraine, testified once again.
She told the jury that whenpolice came to their door to
take Robert away he had tears inhis eyes as he apologized to
their two sons.
She said that he was visiblyupset, but when he returned
mid-afternoon he appeared to bequite pleased with himself.
(21:35):
She also revealed that when shespoke with investigators she
had given them a list of placesin the General Rosebud area
where she and Robert hadcollected pine cones in January
of that year.
One of the places she pointedout was where Sherry's body was
found.
Once again she reiterated thatRobert wasn't home on the day
Sherry vanished.
When asked by ProsecutorCoghlan if she had found out
(21:57):
where Robert was, she replied no, he wasn't prepared to discuss
it very much.
During trial, secretlytape-recorded sessions between
Robert and his psychotherapist,margaret Hobbs, were played out
for the jury.
They revealed that Robert hadconsidered pleading guilty to
manslaughter to save hismarriage to Lorraine.
As it turned out, robert hadbeen on investigators' radar
(22:19):
very early on in the case andthese sessions were recorded
secretly by investigators inNovember of 1991.
They revealed that Lorraine hadsaid to Robert that she wanted
him to tell the truth.
In a session from April of 1992, robert gave the doctor an
account in which he asked Sherryif she wanted a ride and helped
put her seatbelt on.
Once she got inside his car, hesaid she became worried and
(22:42):
started coughing and splutteringand he panicked when she fell
silent.
He realized she wasn'tbreathing and then hid her body
in the drain before driving backhome.
In that same recording he saidthat he had said a prayer as he
stuffed Sherry's body into thedrain, saying Forgive me, lord,
for the terrible things I havedone and I'll speak to you later
about it, lord, or something,perhaps not.
(23:04):
Dr Hobbs would later say thatit was almost like he was
attempting to give Sherry aChristian burial.
The most distressing testimonyduring the trial came from Peter
Reed, who was incarcerated withRobert.
He told the jury how Robert hadtold him that he had abducted
Sherry and that she choked whilehe was forcing her to do what
he described as dirty acts.
(23:24):
According to Peter, robert saidhe also said that Robert had
made a statement about cleaningblood from the passenger's seat
on his car and when asked wherethe blood had come from, robert
said that Sherry had vomited itup when she was choking.
Robert had also allegedly toldPeter that he had first noticed
(23:46):
Sherry the weekend before herabduction when he had gone to a
Rosebud holiday unit to delivera refrigerator.
He had seen her again on Mondayand followed her home to see
where she lived Apparently.
Robert also told Peter thatSherry had begged to go home,
pleading take me home to mummy,I want my mummy.
Following all of the evidence,the jury were sent away to
(24:08):
deliberate.
It took them just four and ahalf hours to return with a
verdict.
They found Robert Lowe guiltyof the abduction and murder of
Sherry Beasley.
As the verdict was read out,carrie shouted suffer, lowe.
Sherry got her revenge thistime.
Rot in hell.
Others in attendance clappedand cheered Outside of court.
She said that she had beenthrough hell and back and that
(24:30):
while they were pleased with theverdict, it didn't bring Sherry
back, adding that Robert hadshown no remorse for what he had
done.
Stephen said.
Let's hope that Mr Lowe justthinks about it every day of his
life for what he's done to mydaughter.
I wish I had a chance to giveher a kiss goodbye as she walked
out that door.
The following week, robert wasback in court to be sentenced
(24:52):
for the crime.
Justice Philip Cummins foughtback tears as he sentenced
Robert to life in prison withoutthe possibility of parole.
He could have given him aminimum term on the life
sentence, but refused, statingwhat you did was every child's
fear and every parent'snightmare.
He said he believed that Robertwas sexually motivated and was
fueled by his interest in childabductions.
(25:13):
Over the forthcoming years,robert appealed his convictions
several times, claiming that hewas innocent.
There would be rumors that hewas involved in the murders of
Denise McGregor and KylieMayberry, but in 2001, his DNA
was collected and he was ruledout of both murders.
That about wraps it up for thiscase.
It blows my mind.
(25:33):
Someone can be so evil.
If you enjoy what we do, pleaselike and subscribe.
Take care of yourself.
See you soon.
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