True Crime Collection

Tynong North & Frankston Murders

The first known victim, Allison Rooke, 59, disappeared on 30th May 1980, after experiencing trouble with her car. She had told neighbours she was taking a bus to Frankston Shopping Centre to go grocery shopping and see a realtor. The buses travelled along the Frankston-Dandenong Road, which was where Allison was waiting when she disappeared. On 5th July, 5 weeks later, a man walking his dogs found Allison's naked body in a shallow grave, partially hidden by scrubland, on McCelland Drive in Frankston, and a $50,000 reward was soon posted by the police. 

On 9th October 1981, Frankston North resident Joy Summers, 55, heading out for her weekly shopping trip, was waiting for a bus on Frankston-Dandenong Road around 1:20pm when she also vanished. It was the same stretch of road where Allison had been waiting when she disappeared. Joy's naked corpse was found in scrub by a man collecting firewood near the intersection of McCelland Drive and Skye Road, Frankston, 6 weeks later on 22nd November. 

The skeletal remains of Bertha Miller, 75, Catherine Headland, 14, and Ann-Marie Sargent, 18, were found on 6th December 1980 in a sand quarry by men dumping lamb offal on a secluded bush track leading from Brew Road, Tynong North. Bertha was fully clothes, but the younger victims were both naked. Bertha, a regular churchgoer, had disappeared on 10th August 1980 on her way to church, while heading to a tram stop in Glen Iris. Catherine, an immigrant who had moved to Australia from England in 1966, lived in Berwick when she disappeared on 28th August while walking to a bus stop for the 11:20am bus to her part time job at Coles in the Fountain Gate shopping complex. Ann-Marie, unemployed, lived in Cranbourne, when she disappeared on 6th October after travelling from her mother's house to a nearby CES office in Dandenong to claim a benefits cheque. 

On 3rd February 1983, more human remains were found in Tynong North scrubland, by a man who had stopped to repair a tyre, and a search of the area revealed concealed bones from a badly decomposed and stripped body. The bones were of Narumol Stephenson, 34, a Thai mother of 2 who had married an Australian farmer in Thailand in 1978. Arriving in Australia in August 1979, they lived in Deans Marsh, and on a visit to Melbourne, she disappeared in Brunswick from their car around dawn on 30th November 1980 after a fight.

Initially, the 2 investigations were treated separately, although the cases were later linked based on case and MO similarities. Similarities were also drawn to the recent Truro murders in South Australia. According to police at the time, all of the victims were on foot, with most of them planning to use public transport at the time they disappeared. A few may have tried to hitchhike. Given the lack of eyewitnesses to anything suspicious, authorities assumed that the victims probably knew or trusted their abductor. Causes of death could not be identified, and most bodies were stripped of possessions. Around 2,000 interviews were held regarding the case, and later investigators speculated the possibility of 2 or 3 separate offenders. 

The prime suspect in the case, Harold Janman, who "often offered women lifts on the Frankston-Dandenong Road", continued to maintain his innocence. Harold died aged 88 in August 2020. No one has been charged regarding the murders, which remain unsolved. In October 2017, the police announced 6 separate $1 million rewards (up from the original $50,000) for any information that resulted in an arrest in any of the cases.

Timeline:

30th May 1980 - Allison Rooke disappears

5th July 1980 - Allison's body is found

10th August 1980 - Bertha Miller disappears

28th August 1980 - Catherine Headland disappears

6th October 1980 - Ann-Marie Sargent disappears

30th November 1980 - Narumol Stephenson disappears

6th December 1980 - Bertha's, Catherine's, and Ann-Marie's bodies are found

9th October 1981 - Joy Summers disappears

22nd November 1981 - Joy's body is found

3rd December 1981 - Harold Janman has his first interview

3rd February 1983 - Narumol's body is found