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Airdate: CIA: The Norfolk Island Murder

The tiny community of Norfolk Island knew one another by name and didn't even bother locking their doors. In 2002 that all changed.

norfolkThis recent murder has to be one of the more fascinating crime cases around. It reads like something out of an Agatha Christie novel.

The 2002 death of Norfolk Island resident, Janelle Patton, was the first death on the idyllic island in over one hundred years. Paradise was rocked by her brutal killing in a community of just 2,771 residents. Such was the tranquility of Norfolk Island that residents knew each other by first name and didn’t even bother to lock their front doors.

Hosted by Steve Liebmann, this episode of Crime Investigation Australia features detailed re-enactments and interviews with key figures, including the head of the police investigation, local Norfolk Island residents as well as intimate interviews with Janelle Patton’s mother and father.

29-year-old Patton had been stabbed to death in a frenzied attack that had left more than 60 wounds from her head to her feet. She had multiple bruises and broken bones and it was clear she had bravely fought back against a sustained attack.

What followed were years of difficult investigations plagued by numerous false leads based mainly on gossip and innuendo.

By the time the coroner’s inquiry opened two years later no less than 16 persons of interest had been investigated by the man in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Bob Peters.

The naming of the 16 caused a furore of resentment and distress among the islanders.

Eventually a 28-year-old chef named Glenn McNeill who had left the island a few months after the murder to return to his native New Zealand was arrested. But forensic investigators said Janelle’s injuries did not match McNeill’s story.

He was later convicted and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

The crime was also touted as the subject of a potential telemovie.

This episode premieres Thursday, April 30, at 7:30pm AEST on Crime & Investigation.

5 Responses

  1. Hi David –

    The footage of the wounds was incredibly graphic and I wonder if it was a “re-enactment”? Or were the photographs the real thing? If they were, presumably CIA had obtained parental consent to screen them? I can’t imagine they could show them without such a thing, no?

    Very curious.

    Thanks.
    CAW

  2. This show was a complete joke. I have never made a complaint about a program in my life. If I was the father of that poor woman on tonights show, I would have been disgusted by that seedy ass re-enactment of the crime on norfolk island.

    I bet you all think of your selves as hard-hitting journo’s what a disgrace.

    1. There weren’t any journos working on the show. It was television producers, who clearly had the participation of Janelle Patton’s father. But of course you’re entitled to be unimpressed with their re-enactments.

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