Back From The
Dead
A Killer's 'Victim' Reappears
(Page 1 of 6)June 24, 2006
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Natasha Ryan was presumed dead (CBS)
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“I don’t think you’d really want to meet him in a dark
alley, to be honest. First thing he said to me was, ‘I’m
no child molester.’”
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Detective Darren Lees
(CBS) This story originally aired on Sept. 24, 2005.
It’s never happened before on 48 Hours Mystery, and
maybe not ever in history. One of a serial killer’s
presumed victims showed up at her alleged killer's
trial. Correspondent Bill Lagattuta reports from
Rockhampton, Australia.
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Imagine the nightmare. Five women and girls were
missing. Keyra Steinhardt, age 9; Natasha Ryan, 14;
Sylvia Benedetti, 19, Beverly Leggo, 37, and Julie
Turner, 39, vanished one after another from this
picturesque small city in Queensland.
Around town, many people stopped going out. They
wouldn’t drive at night, not even to a movie theater.
Rockhampton was in a state of fear.
Early on, the police got a lucky break and brought in a
suspect who had a long and violent history. “He had the
hallmarks of a serial killer,” says Dave Hickey, who led
the homicide task force on the case. “Lenny Fraser is a
psychopath,” declares Prosecutor Paul Rutledge. “He is a
very dangerous man.”
Nonetheless, it was a difficult case for the police, who
had found little evidence and had not even found all of
the bodies. To get a conviction, they needed a
confession.
So, to catch a criminal, they turned to a criminal.
Allan Quinn brags that he is Australia’s greatest con
man. And he was about to embark on the biggest con of
his career.
For Quinn, it was “a chance for me to turn my life
around to compensate for the terrible life I led.” He
was determined to find out what had happened to the
missing people of Rockhampton.
But before the case was all over, a murder victim would
rise from the grave and walk right into court.
Back From The
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A Killer's 'Victim' Reappears
(Page 2 of 6)June 24, 2006
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Natasha Ryan was presumed dead (CBS)
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Kookaburra And Crocodiles
From its unspoiled beaches to its desolate outback,
Australia is a continent filled with great beauty. But
if you're not careful there’s great danger, too. There
are the furry, friendly animals we all know about. But
there are also sharks that can take your head off,
rivers filled with crocodiles, deadly spiders and
vicious snakes. As the Australians say, "if you're not
prepared, there're no ‘beg your pardons!’"
It’s true: There are more creatures that can kill you in
Australia than anywhere else on earth. People who live
Down Under have learned to live with them.
But there is one dangerous animal that they have never
come to terms with: the human predator.
It all began with the disappearance of a 9-year-old girl
named Keyra Steinhardt. The little girl was snatched in
broad daylight, as she was walking home from school
along a main road.
The news shocked the residents of Rockhampton. This is a
small town near the Great Barrier Reef, known as the
region’s beef capital. “We don’t wake up to the sounds
of sirens and cars and things,” says Mark, a local
barber. “We wake up to the sound of kookaburra and
kangaroos grazing on the front lawn.”
The whole town joined an around-the-clock search for
Keyra, from cops in cruisers to cowboys on horseback to
Cub Scouts on foot.
The night Keyra vanished, police picked up their
suspect, who had been spotted in her neighborhood. He
was a local oddball with a history of violence.
Everyone seemed to know about Leonard John Fraser, the
man with the icy stare. He was a meat cutter at the
local slaughterhouse, and he had done time in prison for
assault. “I don’t think you’d really want to meet him in
a dark alley, to be honest,” says Detective Darren Lees.
“First thing he said to me was, ‘I’m no child
molester.’”
But Fraser refused to confess.
While searchers probed the banks of the
crocodile-infested Fitzroy River looking for Keyra, Lees
searched Fraser’s car for clues. He found blood in and
around the side of the vehicle that was later positively
identified as Keyra’s blood.
In jail and under police pressure, Fraser finally
cracked and led detectives to Keyra’s body.
As Prosecutor Paul Rutledge reconstructs the crime,
Lenny Fraser attacked Keyra as she was walking home from
school, knocking her to the ground. Investigators
believe he raped the victim at the scene. At some point,
she was murdered with a cut to the throat. The murderer
put the body in the boot of his car and dumped it in a
bush area outside the town. The body would remain there
for about two weeks.
When Keyra’s body finally was found and her family
arranged for her funeral, hundreds came to say goodbye
to the little girl, including many who had helped search
for her. By that point, says her mother, Theresa, “Keyra
was everyone’s daughter.”
Then, the police made another gruesome discovery. More
blood -- different blood – was found in Fraser’s car.
The discovery put the authorities and all of Rockhampton
into a panic.
Had other people disappeared since Lenny Fraser hit
town? The answer was yes, four of them. Sylvia
Benedetti, age 19, was missing, as was Beverly Leggo,
37, and Julie Turner, 39. Most ominously, another young
schoolgirl, a 14-year-old, was unaccounted for.
Her name was Natasha Ryan. Natasha Ryan was lovingly
nicknamed "Grasshopper," says her father, Robert Ryan,
because "when she was little she’d -- instead of crawl
-- she’d hop here or hop over to there, or something
like that."
Natasha was last seen alive outside a Rockhampton movie
theatre. The disappearance of the free-spirited teenager
was soon national news, and all of Australia became
obsessed with her fate. As news reports soon made clear,
police feared that the teenager was another victim of a
serial killer.
But if Lenny Fraser had murdered Natasha and the other
missing women, he wasn’t admitting it, according to Dave
Hickey, who led the homicide task force on the case.
There was no crime scene, no body and no tangible
evidence. Every lead had been exhausted.
Their frustration convinced authorities to go along with
a wild scheme put together by a man you’d never suspect
of wanting to help the police: Allan Quinn,
self-described as “Australia’s greatest con man.”
Back
From The Dead
A Killer's 'Victim' Reappears
(Page 3 of 6)June 24, 2006
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Natasha Ryan was presumed dead (CBS)
The Con Man And The Killer |
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“I’ve conned lawyers,
judges, doctors,” brags Allan Quinn, who was interviewed
aboard a boat. “I lived the good life. The quicker I got
the money, the quicker I spent it.” He adds that he
liked Dom Perignon – for breakfast. Among Quinn’s
dubious accomplishments as a lifetime criminal are
multiple appearances on Australia’s Most Wanted
television series, once for ripping off retirees.
To police, he also claimed that only he could crack the
Rockhampton case wide open. With four people missing and
all other avenues exhausted, the police agreed to let
him try.
At the time of the Rockhampton murder investigation,
Quinn was in jail -- caught for a con when a bank
customer recognized him. In prison, he ran into Leonard
Fraser, then accused of little Keyra's murder.
Frazier was eventually convicted of killing Keyra. But
he had never confessed to the murders of Natasha Ryan or
the three other women.
And that made Quinn furious. “In a flash, I thought,
‘it’s my job, he’s speaking to me,’” Quinn recalls.
“I’ll befriend this guy and I’ll get the information.”
In an old prison yard, Quinn and Fraser would walk and
talk every day during their exercise period. Quinn’s
plan was to work Frazier as a good con man works any
"mark," gain his confidence and trust slowly over time,
and then get him to give Quinn what he wanted.
In this case, he wanted information. He wanted to know
what Fraser did with the bodies of his victims.
“Fraser was so excited when he talked about serial
killers,” Quinn recalls, “I said to him, I said, ‘look,
Lenny, if you want to be a serial killer, you can’t be a
serial killer unless anybody knows what you done.’ I
said, ‘you’ll have to give up the bodies of your
victims; you’ll have to tell them the story.’”
He learned that Fraser wanted to be transferred from
prison to a psychiatric ward. Quinn promptly convinced
him that telling all would get him the transfer.
Eventually, police set Quinn up with secret recording
gear. Fraser kept talking, eventually describing his
crimes in grisly detail. Over the course of two years,
at great risk to himself, Quinn even got authorities to
put the accused serial killer in the same cell with him.
Over time, the stories got more detailed and more
grisly. But police needed more than stories. They needed
bodies.
That leads us to another twist in the story. Quinn, the
con man, agreed to stay in prison beyond his release
date in order to help build the case. “I’ve hurt a lot
of people in my life,” Quinn explains. “I’ve got to do
something good, so that is why I set in after Fraser.”
It would take Quinn nearly nine more months of volunteer
time in prison to crack the case. “I used every trick in
the book,” recalls Quinn, “and all of a sudden it came
out…”
Incredible as it seems, Quinn conned Fraser into
admitting everything, then lined up the governor’s
personal jet to fly him and Fraser to the crime scenes,
and Fraser still didn’t realize he was being conned. He
willingly stepped onto the plane.
They wound up in the thick jungle-like landscape just
outside of Rockhampton. You’d be hard pressed to find
anything in there, but Fraser seemed to know the way. He
lost his sullen manner and became happy and excited as
he led Detective Dave Hickey, with Quinn not far behind,
deeper into the bush.
Fraser led them to an isolated tropical setting, where
skeletal remains were found. Remains later identified as
those of Julie Turner were found in one spot. Beverly
Leggo’s remains were found in another. The body of the
third woman, Sylvia Benedetti, turned up near the beach.
Nothing was found of Natasha Ryan. But Fraser gave Quinn
several maps to Natasha’s body.
Try as they might, the police could not find Natasha’s
grave. But with Quinn’s help they were able to make
their case.
Back From The Dead
A Killer's 'Victim' Reappears
(Page 4 of 6)June 24, 2006
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Natasha Ryan was presumed dead (CBS)
A Shock In The Court
Three years after she disappeared, her parents held a
memorial service for Natasha Ryan.
"I decided that I wanted it to be on Natasha’s
birthday,” says her father, Robert Ryan. “It was my way
as the dad to say good bye…”
So, with Lenny Fraser finally confessing to Natasha’s
murder, her family and friends gathered to remember her.
It had taken Quinn a year to con Lenny Fraser into
revealing where he buried Natasha. He drew a map that
led police to an eerie stretch of road between
Rockhampton and the coast, to a burial site behind an
empty house. He described how he killed Natasha under a
mango tree, and then buried her on the property using a
mechanical trench digger.
Police searched the property with cadaver dogs and via
foot searches. They never found Natasha’s grave.
Still, Prosecutor Paul Rutledge felt there was powerful
evidence to convict Fraser for all of the murders,
including Natasha Ryan’s.
At the trial, Natasha’s father Robert Ryan led the
victims’ families.
“I just sat in that courtroom and made sure I sat in
that same seat,” Ryan recalls. “I was in that courtroom
every morning. When they handcuffed Leonard Fraser, the
moment he walked in the door, he had me -- he was
looking at me…”
And then it happened, the extraordinary event that would
have all Australians shaking their heads in disbelief.
The trial was in its 12th day. Witnesses were preparing
to testify as to how and why Lenny Frazer would have
murdered Natasha Ryan. The court was in its daily recess
for lunch when Prosecutor Rutledge got a phone call. As
soon as the call ended, he went looking for Robert Ryan.
Paul Rutledge’s words to me were, ‘We found Natasha.’
And I just slumped down,” recalls Ryan. “And then Paul
says to me, ‘she’s alive.’”
Rutledge told her father that Natasha was being taken to
the police station, and that he would need to speak to
her by telephone to identify her.
“I said to the voice on the other end of the phone, ‘if
you’re my daughter, what would your dad call you?’ Ryan
said. He remembers her reply: “Dad, it’s me,
Grasshopper, and I love you and I’m sorry.”
At that point, Robert Ryan dropped the phone, and he now
recalls the rest of the day as pretty much a blur.
Confused? So was everyone in the court, as moments
later, Paul Rutledge made the announcement: “I told the
court: ‘I’m pleased to inform the court that Leonard
John Fraser is not guilty of the murder of Natasha.
Natasha Ryan is alive.’”
Natasha was alive and well, and she’d been living right
under their noses the whole time.
Back From The Dead
A Killer's 'Victim' Reappears
(Page 5 of 6)June 24, 2006
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Natasha Ryan was presumed dead (CBS)
Australia Is Abuzz
Enter Natasha Ryan, the only murder victim we know of
who has ever come back to life.
According to Australian crime reporter Paula Doneman, an
anonymous letter arrived at the Rockhampton police
station suggesting that if someone called a certain
phone number they would find Natasha Ryan alive and
well.
When they were reunited, Robert Ryan had a million
questions, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask them. “I
just said, “I love you and we’ll try to sort through
this,” he recalls.
Natasha’s mother Jenny Ryan had a different reaction. “I
hated her,” she says. “I could have grabbed her and just
shook the hell out of her. But when I seen her…You
forget all that. And she looked at me, and she just said
to me, ‘I’m sorry,’ and she had tears rolling down her
eyes…”
When Natasha Ryan emerged from hiding, it turned out
she'd been hiding less that a mile from her mother’s
house. She even came down to the beach, but only at
night so no one would see her. Natasha had run off with
Scott Black, a local deliveryman about 20 years old who
had earlier dated her older sister.
Natasha and Scott spent much of the time in a house with
tightly drawn curtains. She hid inside a closet anytime
someone came to the door.
All of Australia was desperate to hear Natasha’s story.
But she chose to speak only with reporters who would pay
her. We wouldn’t, but the Australian version of 60
Minutes did. For $100,000, Natasha revealed how she had
spent her days (cooking, sewing, watching television)
and showed the famous closet where she had crouched
until, one day, the police opened the closet door.
When asked why she did it, Natasha’s answer was less
than convincing: “I just felt angry at everybody and
everything. I didn’t want to be at school, I didn’t want
to be at home, I didn’t want to be there in that life,”
she says.
Natasha’s parents say they were both close to their
daughter, although they had been divorced for several
years. At the time she vanished, Natasha was living with
her mom.
After she ran away, Natasha was afraid to go home. “I
thought that I would be sent to prison,” she says. “I
thought that I would be sent away.” She insisted that
she had run away entirely of her own free will and,
despite her age, had not been overly influenced by her
adult boyfriend.
Among those who are not sympathetic is Theresa
Steinhardt, mother of nine-year-old murder victim Keyra.
“Natasha Ryan needs a slap across the face!” she says,
adding, “How dare she put her family through that?”
Natasha does not disagree. “I do not want to go to jail.
But I do deserve it,” she told the media. “I do deserve
to be severely punished for what I’ve done.”
And speaking of punishment, why would Leonard Fraser
confess to a murder he didn’t commit?
Fraser may have been playing with the authorities,
giving bits and pieces of false information along with a
few factual nuggets. Certainly, the confessed serial
killer enjoyed the notoriety.
Quinn, who now perhaps knows the killer better than
anyone, agrees: “I believe it’s that serial killer
thing,” he says, adding, “He wants to be known as a
serial killer.”
Natasha’s reappearance came as a relief to everyone, but
her deception threw the Fraser murder case into
disarray. If Fraser had lied about killing Natasha,
could he be lying about his role in the other killings?
And, could he get off on a technicality? The whole case
seemed about to come apart.
Back From The Dead
A Killer's 'Victim' Reappears
Epilogue
(Page 6 of 6)June 24, 2006
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Natasha Ryan was presumed dead (CBS)
Now alive and well, and under subpoena, Natasha Ryan
marched into a courtroom to testify that she was not in
fact murdered by Leonard Fraser. This created a
challenge for the prosecutor.
"It was an intriguing situation. … I’ve been known to
say that I am the only prosecutor who has cross-examined
the deceased," Rutledge says.
In effect, Natasha Ryan testified on Fraser’s behalf.
The defense wanted the jury to ignore Fraser’s
confessions -- the best evidence the prosecution had in
the case. Their approach, says Rutledge, was, "'Well, if
he falsely admitted to killing the girl Natasha Ryan,
how could you possibly rely on anything he said?’”
Rutledge countered that there was powerful evidence
revealed on tape by Fraser that only the killer could
know.
In the end, Natasha’s testimony didn’t matter. Leonard
Fraser was convicted and sentenced to prison for all the
murders of which he was accused – except, of course,
Natasha’s.
Justice for Leonard Fraser, who is serving indefinite
prison sentences for the murders of Keyra Steinhardt,
Beverly Leggo, Sylvia Benedetti and Julie Turner.
But what about Natasha Ryan? Australians are a forgiving
lot, but her amazing return from the dead was tough to
take.
"I think the whole town was the same … we were angry,"
one resident says. "We were happy she was alive, but we
were angry because of what had gone on for so long."
The search itself cost more than half a million dollars,
and that’s not including the hundreds of volunteers.
At home, Ryan’s mother, Jenny, is facing her own tough
choices about Natasha.
"At the moment, I don’t trust her, she’s got to regain
that trust," Jenny Ryan says. "As for forgiving her,
probably could forgive but never forget."
To this day, Natasha Ryan has never publicly apologized.
Her boyfriend, Scott Black, was convicted of lying to
police and is serving a one-year sentence. And now
authorities have decided it’s time for Natasha to answer
for her deeds.
The police have charged Natasha, along with Black, with
causing a false investigation. Their long-awaited trial
has just begun.
Although they won’t face jail time with this charge, if
convicted, Natasha and Black will each face fines of
$5,600, and police could seek up to $120,000 from the
couple to cover some of the costs of the lengthy search.
And what about Australia’s greatest con man, Allan
Quinn, who helped crack the Leonard Fraser case? It has
been three years since the trial, and Quinn seems to be
making out just fine.
“It goes straight to my heart,” he said recently. “I’ve
done something really good for once in my life; turned
my life around from being a bad boy to being a good
boy.”
These days, he’s got a pretty girlfriend. He gets to the
track once in a while. He’s writing a book about his
greatest con. And, he’s trying to get the authorities to
pay him for his crime-solving efforts.
So far no luck, but even some of the hard-boiled
detectives who would in the past have arrested him now
consider him a friend. Says Hickey: “He’s a likable
rogue, and I’ll go and share a beer with him any day.”
Of course, with a con man, there’s always that question
of trust. And trust is the central issue over at Natasha
Ryan’s place too. “At the moment, I don’t trust her,”
says her mother. “She’s got to regain that trust. As for
forgiving her, probably could forgive, but never
forget.”
As for Natasha’s Father, Robert Ryan, once so relieved
and hopeful, he has a new heartache. Tragically, he has
lost contact with his daughter … again.
"I have not spoken to Natasha or seen Natasha for nearly
a year," Robert Ryan says. "She’s had a baby … the only
way I knew she had a baby was the media told me. I don’t
know the baby’s name."
The baby’s name is Corey, a 2-year-old boy. The father
is Scott Black, the man she hid with for five years.
"I’ll never know why she did it. And that’s something
that every day of my life I say 'why?'" Robert Ryan
says. "The day that Natasha will tell me is when she’s
probably leaning over my grave or they’re putting my
coffin in – if she attends my funeral – and then she’ll
probably say why."
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