The Discovery of the Bodies

The Fuller's Bridge area Image supplied by David Bartho

South of the bridge, in 1963, the area was wooded, and on the east side a narrow dirt track ran alongside the river, from the bridge to the golf course. The road running across the bridge was called Delhi Road on the west side. The road continued towards Chatswood on the east side, but was now Millwood Avenue. Just to the east of the bridge was an intersection, with Lady Game Drive stretching north from Millwood Avenue along the east side of the river, and passing over the smaller Blue Gum Creek. Bordered by Millwood Avenue, Lady Game Drive, Blue Gum Creek and the Lane Cove River there was a cleared parking area. Opposite this parking area, on the other side of Millwood Avenue, was the entrance to the dirt track.

Dennis Wheway had gone ahead along the dirt track to the golf course. Mike McCormick was now following this route. As he passed along the track, at around 7:45am, he noticed a man lying face down, just off the track. He assumed that the man was a drunk, for the previous day had been New Year's Eve.

An hour later the pair returned along the track. The man lay exactly where he had, he was very still, and his face had a blueish colour. There was a small trickle of blood from his right nostril, and he didn't look like a drunk. "I think he's dead," said Wheway.

There was a kiosk on the north-west side of the bridge, and they told the Manager, Geoffrey Keith Little, what they'd seen. Mr Little returned with them to the body. He knew at once that the man was dead. He returned to the kiosk and phoned the police.

Sergeant Arthur 'Andy' Andrews, from Chatswood Police Station, took the call at 9:10am³. He immediately left the station and drove himself to Fuller's Bridge, becoming the first police officer on the scene. He made the boys show him where they'd found the body, some 70 metres down the track from Millwood Avenue.

McCormick, Wheway and Mr Little had all assumed that the body was fully dressed, for it appeared at a casual glance to be so. On seeing the body for the second time, however, McCormick saw a piece of carpet sticking out from under the body's jacket. That prompted him to look closer, and he realised that the clothes that the body seemed to be dressed in were in fact on top of the body.

Neither McCormick, Wheway or Mr Little had touched the body. Sergeant Andrews was the first to do so. He observed that the body was lying on its stomach with the legs fully extended, and the arms were spreadeagled and bent. The clothing covering the body was a suit, very neatly placed on top of the body, to the extent that the sleeves of the jacket were bent to follow the bends in the arms, and the trouser seams ran down each side of the legs.

Police cars at track entrance Image supplied by David Bartho

Sergeant Andrews removed the jacket and trousers and placed them beside the body. A piece of old carpet covered the body from the neck to the buttocks. Beneath the carpet the body was dressed in a white shirt and a tie, shoes and socks. The underpants were missing, and apart from the footwear, the body was naked from the waist down. The shoes were partly covered with mud.

Sergeant Andrews lifted the body and turned it over, searching for signs of violence. There were none, but rigor mortis was well advanced. He returned the body to its original position, then searched the suit jacket and trousers. Papers in a wallet found in a jacket pocket indicated that the body was that of Dr Gilbert Stanley Bogle, of Turramurra.

Sergeant Andrews replaced the suit over the body, in the same way as he had found it, but a little less neatly. He then examined the scene, noting vomit and excreta on and below the river bank. There was also a small amount of vomit about 30 centimetres from Dr Bogle's head. Having examined the area, Sergeant Andrews returned to his vehicle and radioed Detective Sergeant Henry Parsons to the scene

Detective Sergeant Parsons arrived at 10:30am. Senior Constable Frederick Wright of the motorcycle section had heard the radio call, and had arrived slightly before Detective Sergeant Parsons. The state of undermanning of the police may be judged by the fact that the Daily Mirror⁴ car had arrived before the next big discovery occurred.

Detective Sergeant Parsons left the scene at around 10:50am. Constable Wright and Constable Jackson, also on the scene, were instructed to scour the area for anything relevant. At 10:55am Constable Wright made the next discovery.

Police investigate the crime scene Image supplied by David Bartho

"Hey! There's another one down here, Sarge," he yelled. He was standing at a natural hollow 13.5 metres further down the track from Dr Bogle's body, and closer to the river. The hollow was approximately 60 centimetres wide and 1.5 metres long, and almost parallel to the riverbank. Covering the hollow were 3 mouldy, flattened pieces of cardboard beer carton. In the gap between two of these pieces of carton a portion of a leg was visible.

Constable Wright stood by the cartons without disturbing them, and waited as Sergeant Andrews hastened over. Andrews lifted a piece of carton and saw the head and shoulders of a woman. He removed the other two pieces of carton.

The body of the woman lay full-length on its back. The left arm extended alongside the body, while the right arm lay across the stomach, as though the woman were asleep. The woman's floral dress was open and off the shoulders, and the bottom of the dress was bunched up above the waist, leaving the body naked from the waist down. The brassiere had been tugged down, exposing the breasts. The other underwear was missing, however a pair of men's underpants lay between the ankles. Footwear was also absent, and the bare feet and knees were slightly stained with mud. Across the nose was a slight abrasion, which had been bleeding.

Andrews took hold of the left wrist, but there was no pulse. Further examination showed that the body was still slightly warm, and rigor mortis was just beginning to set in. The body was that of Mrs Margaret Olive Chandler.

Mrs Chandler's white underpants were found on the river bed, below the high water mark. The underwear was wet. With the underwear were Mrs Chandler's brown shoes, and Dr Bogle's trouser belt.

Also discovered, hidden in the grass beside Dr Bogle's body, were 3 two-shilling coins. They could easily have fallen there out of Dr Bogle's trouser pocket if the trousers had been held by the cuffs.

The vomit and excreta at the scene -- normal human excreta, and not diarrhoea -- caused a nauseating stench, exacerbated by the heat of the day. Apart from the fact that Mrs Chandler and Dr Bogle were dead, the evidence of the scene made only two things clear: That they had become victims of some kind of poisoning, and that Dr Bogle could not have possibly arranged his own clothing in the manner in which it was found.