Pearce Family Murder’s: Part II: The Murders

Pearce Family Murder’s: Part II: The Murders

 On Saturday the 5th of January 1991, Stuart Pearce drove from his home at Jackson street Parafield Gardens to his job at the Wingfield BP petrol station.
 His usual routine was to wake up at about 10pm, have a shower and a meal, then drive his Datsun 240K for about 15 minutes to Wingfield to start his shift at midnight.
 An hour before his waking up, at 9pm, Meredith Pearce had spoken to her sister on the phone and made no indication that anything was wrong, or that she was under threat.

 

Datsun car found abandoned
at Kilkenny Shopping Centre
 believed to belong to murder suspect
missing person Stuart Pearce Jan 1991.

The next morning, on Sunday the 6th of January 1991, Metropolitan Fire Service was called to the Jackson Street house of the Pearce family to find it ablaze. The fire had been reported at 7:17am. Stuart Pearce’s nightshift ended at 6:50am.
Pearce’s distinctive white 240K Datsun coupe was found dumped at a Kilkenny shopping centre. His wife, Meredith’s blood was found in the boot of the car and on a door trim. Police believe that her blood was most likely transferred to the car from Pearce.

 Meredith Pearce was found in her bedroom tied to a chair, she had a towel stuffed in her mouth, and was strangled with an electrical cord. The media reported that Adam and Travis had also been tied to chairs and had been asphyxiated by having plastic bags cover their heads. 2-year-old Kerry was reported to have been smothered to death. Autopsies revealed the family had died before the fire had been lit.

 A Police search of the property during their investigation revealed that Stuart Pearce’s .303 rifle was missing. It also uncovered a bunker, which was being used to conceal a drug crop of 25 marijuana plants.

 Police speculated that Pearce murdered his family before going to work. During their investigations, it was revealed that gas bottles had been set around the house on the night prior to the fire, but these failed to explode. Police suspect that Pearce returned home after his night shift and used other accelerants around the house to set the fire, before fleeing to dump his car.

Stuart Pearce remains the most likely suspect in the murder of his family. Over the years, the only survivor, Matthew, who lost his entire family in one night, has been interviewed by police. He denies having any knowledge of his father’s whereabouts.

 Matthew told The Advertiser newspaper, in 2002 that he believed his father was innocent, and that he thought the murderer had been trying to get information from his mother.
 Matthew, in 2004 was charged and sentenced to gaol for criminal trespass after being found in the ceiling of a toy shop, where he said he had been hiding for four hours, as he believed the murderers of his family would come after him next.

Police are still searching for Stuart Pearce.

Computer generated likeness of what Stuart Pearce may look like now.

A reward of up to $1 million dollars has been offered for information leading to the apprehension and/or conviction of the person, or people, responsible for the suspected murders.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online at https://crimestopperssa.com.au/ - Callers can remain anonymous.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018.

The Haunts of Adelaide: https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

References:

ABC News (2014) SA most wanted Stuart Pearce: Computer generated images released, retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-05/computer-generated-images-of-sas-most-wanted/5722366 

Crime Stoppers South Australia. (2018). PEARCE FAMILY. Retrieved from https://crimestopperssa.com.au/case/pearce-family/

Hunt, N. (2015, February 28). The cold case files – unsolved SA murders reopened. The Advertiser. Retrieved from http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/the-cold-case-files-unsolved-sa-murders-reopened/news-story/05d586cc6f5314bd232554213940e0d9

Hunt, N. (2016, October 1). Police release new details, photos in 1991 Pearce family killings. The Advertiser. Retrieved from http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/police-release-new-details-photos-in-1991-pearce-family-killings/news-story/8718ddfe90cc563037bdcce8bb769d62

SBS News (2016, 2 October), Renewed search for SA murder fugitive, Retrieved from; https://www.sbs.com.au/news/renewed-search-for-sa-murder-fugitive

Seidel, N, (2013), Family killers strike most often in summer holidays, UK study shows News Corp Australia Network, retrieved from https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/family-killers-strike-most-often-in-summer-holidays-uk-study-shows/news-story/4f5d3c4309f417d95c47ba74ab219477

Pearce Family Murder’s: Part II: The Murders

Pearce Family Murder’s: Part II: The Murders

 On Saturday the 5th of January 1991, Stuart Pearce drove from his home at Jackson street Parafield Gardens to his job at the Wingfield BP petrol station.
 His usual routine was to wake up at about 10pm, have a shower and a meal, then drive his Datsun 240K for about 15 minutes to Wingfield to start his shift at midnight.
 An hour before his waking up, at 9pm, Meredith Pearce had spoken to her sister on the phone and made no indication that anything was wrong, or that she was under threat.

 

Datsun car found abandoned
at Kilkenny Shopping Centre
 believed to belong to murder suspect
missing person Stuart Pearce Jan 1991.

The next morning, on Sunday the 6th of January 1991, Metropolitan Fire Service was called to the Jackson Street house of the Pearce family to find it ablaze. The fire had been reported at 7:17am. Stuart Pearce’s nightshift ended at 6:50am.
Pearce’s distinctive white 240K Datsun coupe was found dumped at a Kilkenny shopping centre. His wife, Meredith’s blood was found in the boot of the car and on a door trim. Police believe that her blood was most likely transferred to the car from Pearce.

 Meredith Pearce was found in her bedroom tied to a chair, she had a towel stuffed in her mouth, and was strangled with an electrical cord. The media reported that Adam and Travis had also been tied to chairs and had been asphyxiated by having plastic bags cover their heads. 2-year-old Kerry was reported to have been smothered to death. Autopsies revealed the family had died before the fire had been lit.

 A Police search of the property during their investigation revealed that Stuart Pearce’s .303 rifle was missing. It also uncovered a bunker, which was being used to conceal a drug crop of 25 marijuana plants.

 Police speculated that Pearce murdered his family before going to work. During their investigations, it was revealed that gas bottles had been set around the house on the night prior to the fire, but these failed to explode. Police suspect that Pearce returned home after his night shift and used other accelerants around the house to set the fire, before fleeing to dump his car.

Stuart Pearce remains the most likely suspect in the murder of his family. Over the years, the only survivor, Matthew, who lost his entire family in one night, has been interviewed by police. He denies having any knowledge of his father’s whereabouts.

 Matthew told The Advertiser newspaper, in 2002 that he believed his father was innocent, and that he thought the murderer had been trying to get information from his mother.
 Matthew, in 2004 was charged and sentenced to gaol for criminal trespass after being found in the ceiling of a toy shop, where he said he had been hiding for four hours, as he believed the murderers of his family would come after him next.

Police are still searching for Stuart Pearce.

Computer generated likeness of what Stuart Pearce may look like now.

A reward of up to $1 million dollars has been offered for information leading to the apprehension and/or conviction of the person, or people, responsible for the suspected murders.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online at https://crimestopperssa.com.au/ - Callers can remain anonymous.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018.

The Haunts of Adelaide: https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

References:

ABC News (2014) SA most wanted Stuart Pearce: Computer generated images released, retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-05/computer-generated-images-of-sas-most-wanted/5722366 

Crime Stoppers South Australia. (2018). PEARCE FAMILY. Retrieved from https://crimestopperssa.com.au/case/pearce-family/

Hunt, N. (2015, February 28). The cold case files – unsolved SA murders reopened. The Advertiser. Retrieved from http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/the-cold-case-files-unsolved-sa-murders-reopened/news-story/05d586cc6f5314bd232554213940e0d9

Hunt, N. (2016, October 1). Police release new details, photos in 1991 Pearce family killings. The Advertiser. Retrieved from http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/police-release-new-details-photos-in-1991-pearce-family-killings/news-story/8718ddfe90cc563037bdcce8bb769d62

SBS News (2016, 2 October), Renewed search for SA murder fugitive, Retrieved from; https://www.sbs.com.au/news/renewed-search-for-sa-murder-fugitive

Seidel, N, (2013), Family killers strike most often in summer holidays, UK study shows News Corp Australia Network, retrieved from https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/family-killers-strike-most-often-in-summer-holidays-uk-study-shows/news-story/4f5d3c4309f417d95c47ba74ab219477

Pearce Family Murder’s: Part I: The Hunt for Stuart Pearce.

Pearce Family Murder’s: Part I: The Hunt for Stuart Pearce.

Saturday the 5th of January 1990 was the last time Meredith Pearce talked to her sister on the phone, the next morning she would be dead.

On Sunday morning the 6th of January 1991, the Metropolitan fire service was called to a home on Jackson Street, Parafield Gardens. The home was well ablaze, and after being extinguished, inside was found the body of Meredith Pearce (31) and three of her four children, Adam (11), Travis (9) and Kerry (2), missing from the house fire were Meredith’s husband, Stuart, and another son, Matthew (8).
Matthew, it was later found, had spent the night before sleeping over at a friend’s house. Stuart Pearce, however, could not, and still to this day, be found and remains the prime suspect in the murder of the family.

The Pearce family - circa 1990

Since the murders took place, numerous sightings of Stuart Pearce were reported across the world. Police investigated each one, with all being false identifications, and the suspects involved being able to prove who they really are.
A man fitting Pearce’s description, wearing a beige coloured uniform with the BP logo on it was seen in a Port Augusta shop on the day of the murders being reported.
Other unconfirmed sightings took place at Ceduna and at Madura in Western Australia.
A month after the murders, another unconfirmed sighting of Pearce took place at Portland, Victoria.
In late 1991, Pearce was sighted in Mount Gambier. Police thought he may have been sheltered by friends in the area, but Pearce alluded police capture.

Pearce was reportedly sighted in June 1996, at a Knox shopping centre in Melbourne, but this sighting remains inconclusive with no images of the person offered to police.

Detective Sergeant Sharpe said of the hunt for Stuart Pearce in a 2016 interview: “It would be very difficult for someone to live off the grid for this length of time – we have his fingerprints plus a DNA profile and he’s the subject of an Interpol red notice, but he hasn’t come to our attention.

Pearce is 177cm’s tall and has blue eyes. At the time of the murders, he had two distinctive tattoos. One tattoo was a Maltese Cross with a red and green rose over it on his lower left leg, and on his upper right arm, he had a tattoo of a naked woman with a rose on her back.


Stuart Pearce remains the prime suspect in the murders.

The Pearce family home at Parafield Gardens 

A reward of up to $1 million dollars has been offered for information leading to the apprehension and/or conviction of the person, or people, responsible for the suspected murders.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online at https://crimestopperssa.com.au/ - Callers can remain anonymous.


Next Week: Pearce Family Murder’s: Part II: The Murders


Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018.
(References published in the final post.)

The Haunts of Adelaide: https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

The Ghost in the Striped Bikini: Elizabeth Downs

The Ghost in the Striped Bikini: Elizabeth Downs

 She came up from under the water, a beautiful brunette, wearing a striped bikini. With a cheeky grin and a twinkle in her eye, she reached out her hand suggestively, ‘help me out of here, and I am yours’, her eyes said. He reached for her, but as he did, she vanished…

  Di Klose, a self-described psychic began experiencing a haunting that would travel with her through distance and time. It all began in 1973 when Di moved into a home in Elizabeth Downs with her husband Ken.

 Inexplicable events began to occur. Cold chills pierced the warm summer air. Wet spots of stale smelling water would form on the floor and walls. The water was tested and found to be human urine. Objects began to disappear and reappear in new places. The sound of footsteps walking through the house, when the couple knew no one else was inside, echoed throughout the night and day.

 Guests to the house soon began to make claims of seeing a woman sitting in the living room, wearing a striped bikini. But neither Di nor Ken had seen her anywhere in their home, so played it down as overactive imaginations, that was until two plumbers who had come to find the source of the wet patches also witnessed the bikini wearing woman, and left the house, stating they would never return, and that the Klose’s should never call them again!

 In the next few months, 19 people would witness the young woman in the Klose home. Some would never return to visit. During a party, one man witnessed the bikini-wearing girl inside the living room and asked Di who she was?
 Di responded that there is no-one dressed like that at the party and laughed him off as being drunk. The man went outside, where he witnessed the girl swimming in the pool. He walked over to her as she signalled to him to help her out of the water, but she vanished as he touched her hand.

 A few nights later, Di was woken abruptly by the sense someone was trying to choke her, but no-one was physically present. Di spoke in her mind to the spirit she suspected was trying to make contact and asked it to leave her alone. A loud scream pierced the air not long after, coming from the bedroom of Di’s son, she sprinted into the room, to find no one in there but her son, sound asleep, just like her husband in her bedroom. The loud disturbing sound not rousing either of them from their sleep.

 In the coming weeks, Di and the spirit now known as ‘Celia’, started to make contact with each other and became friends. Di claimed that Celia soon began to work as a kind of ‘spirit guide’, helping with Di’s psychic readings.
 Celia soon offered Di a glimpse of what had happened to her. She explained to Di that she had been living in the house with her boyfriend. The boyfriend had shot her, buried her in the backyard, and laid a slab of concrete over her so she would never be found, he then fled interstate.
 Celia claimed to have been into black magic, and this was the reason she, as spirit, had stayed on in the house.

 There have been claims made in the media that there is a small possibility that Celia could have been a murder victim of Christopher Worrall, one of the Truro murderers, who would have been 19 at the time. He had bragged he had killed girls in SA starting around his 18^th year. 

 Interestingly, Radio 5KA broadcast an episode directly from the house (and no I do not know the address) and had several paranormal events happen, such as pictures flying off the walls during the broadcast. I have been searching for a copy of this recording, so if you know of someone with a copy, please ask them to get in touch with me through the Haunts of Adelaide page on Facebook.

 Below is a video from a 1980s Australian television show where Di Klose was interviewed about the haunting!

Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEyq3b0bH_4

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

An Influx of South Australian UFO Sightings in January 1954

An Influx of South Australian UFO Sightings in January 1954

Port Road, Hindmarsh, January 8th January 1954. Delicatessen owners, the Hornby family, witnessed a flying saucer, fly across the northern sky.
Witness, Mr W.J. Hornby, stated; “Suddenly my son John shouted that he had seen a flying saucer flash from west to east.”
He added; “ We didn't believe him and were discussing it when 10 minutes later the object reappeared, this time flying from east to west.”
The object was described as “crescent-shaped and coloured orange.”[1]

On the same evening, (Jan. 8) at about 9pm, Mr C.C. Vonow of Ormonde Avenue, Colonel Light Gardens reported seeing a glowing parachute shaped object moving very slowly southwards as he and a companion were driving down Waymouth street in the Adelaide.

Three UFO sightings were reported on January 9th. 15 Kilometres from Morgan in the Riverland, Captain W. Booth, piloting a DC3 for Guinea Airways, reported a strange object in the sky. No other aircraft were reported in the immediate vicinity. The object appeared to dart constantly across the pilot's line of flight.
On the same evening, Mr and Mrs Sherek of Seaview Road, Kirkcaldy (now Henley Beach) witnessed a bright “planet-like” object moving from left to right on the horizon from 2:20am, for about 45 minutes. The object moved vertically sideways about 15 degrees above the western horizon.

A banana-shaped UFO with flashing lights down its side was witnessed just before midnight on Thursday the 14th of January 1954. Witness, Mr C.D. Dallow of Strathmore Street, Ferryden Park saw the object flying at “terrific speed” from the Adelaide Hills, near Magill, westward toward, then over St Vincent Gulf.[2]

Mr Darrow was quoted as saying in The News; “I was looking at the sky for any sign of a weather change when I noticed the object. It was visible for seven to eight seconds, then it appeared to dip down, then rise again, before moving along the horizon towards the sea.”[3]

A report was made to the Flying Saucer Investigation Committee, which was one of many UFO investigation groups in 1954. As previously reported on this blog, A UFO was also seen over Gawler in 1954 (read about it here: https://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2014/11/gawler-flying-saucer.html)

On January 12th, two separate witnesses both reported seeing an object streaking across the sky at 10am in the morning, leaving behind it a trail of white smoke over the Burra region.
Two days later, on the 14th of January, Mallala Fire Brigade Officer, Mr C.W. Huxtable witnessed a shiny silver object at 11:25am, moving horizontally across the sky, it suddenly shot upwards at high speed and disappeared from sight!

Also, in January 1954, a UFO was sighted on the 24th of January by three male witnesses. The witnesses reported seeing an unusual object in the north-eastern sky shaped like a diamond, that was shining what appeared to be a searchlight, which was scanning the ground for a few minutes before it eventually faded away.
The men claimed emphatically that the light was not a star or other “heavenly body”, nor could it have been an aircraft due to the terrific speed it was travelling.[4]


Have you witnessed a UFO over South Australia? Let us know on the Haunts of Adelaide Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

[1] 1954 'Suburban Family See Flying Saucer', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1931 - 1954), 9 January, p. 3., viewed 15 Sep 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47568816
[2] 1954 'FLYING SAUCERS IN THE SA AIR', The Mail (Adelaide, SA: 1912 - 1954), 16 January, p. 8., viewed 15 Sep 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58095169
[3] 1954 'Now it's a flying banana?', News (Adelaide, SA: 1923 - 1954), 15 January, p. 26., viewed 15 Sep 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134473724
[4] 1954 'Unusual Object in Sky', Quorn Mercury (SA: 1895 - 1954), 28 January, p. 1. , viewed 15 Sep 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213711009

Can Ghosts Cast Shadows?

Ghosts, thought by some to be the spirits of the dead, are allegedly seen across the world, in almost all cultures. Some witnesses’ report being terrified of apparitions, whilst others have experiences of euphoria, calmness or life-changing spiritual interaction.

Usually, spirits are reported as either looking very solid, and similar to a person known to the observer, or they are various shades of colour (white, grey, green, blue or red), see-through (in various shades of colour), or black, sometimes with the description of a black so dark, even in the night the spirit appears blacker than its surrounds.

One thing not usually reported, most likely as the observer is in fight or flight mode, is if the spirit is casting a shadow. Speculation that is widely held in the paranormal community is that spirits don’t cast shadows, as they are see-through objects, and therefore, a shadow won’t be seen, but is this really true, as many see-through objects cast shadows?

If one were to witness a physical apparition of a spirit, one would believe that the spirit is operating in our physical world, and therefore some basic principles of physics would therefore apply.
On the other hand, if spirits are purely a mental projection or hallucination, that we perceive through our “mind's eye”, then physical world limitations would (and should) not apply.

Therefore, if we take than an apparition appears to us in the physical world, then it must be made of basic building blocks of some kind, chemicals, or the smallest building block, atoms.

So, do Atoms cast a shadow? (Yes, they do!)

An Australian team of scientists from Griffith University in New South Wales, led by Dave Keilpinski, photographed a single ytterbium ion in an electric field. The idea was to see how many atoms together are needed before a shadow is cast. As it turned out, a single atom cast a shadow.[1]

So, let's break this down, a shadow occurs when an object in a beam of light prevents a small portion of that light from continuing in the forward direction. A shadow is formed where less light is hitting the surface behind the object.

There are three ways in which light can be prevented from moving forward;

• Light Absorption: Light stops at an object, it is absorbed and converted to thermal energy (heat), because it does not reflect or refract.[2] 
• Light Reflection: Light hits an object and is reflected off the front surface and is redirected.[3] 
• Light Refraction: Light hits an object and passes through the object, with the light's direction being bent by the object.[4] 

Refraction is the key principle to consider in the case of a ghost casting a shadow. For instance, refraction is light that is bent when the index of refraction differs from one location to the next. The air of itself, cannot refract light as it is a uniform structure, but by changing the temperature of the air, refraction can occur. Air expands when heated, and contracts when cooled. If a warm pocket of air sits next to a colder pocket of air, indices of refraction will occur, causing the shadow of “heat” on a surface that often looks like a wave.

In the case of an alleged apparition, should it not have a light refraction index, and cast a shadow?
To add further to this simplified explanation is that most appearances of alleged apparitions coincide with a “hot or cold” spot. Therefore, if truly in our physical realm, a spirit should always cast a shadow.

At the end of the day, all the above is my own personal speculation on why a ghost night cast a shadow. It cannot be proven one way or another without a ghost present and willing to be tested on. If you think my speculation has merit or not, please feel free to comment on the Haunts of Adelaide Facebook page in the comment section.


Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018

The Haunts of Adelaide: https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

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[1] Boyle, R., For the First Time, A Snapshot of a Single Atom's Shadow, Australian Popular Science, (2012), retrieved from https://www.popsci.com.au/science/for-the-first-time-a-snapshot-of-a-single-atoms-shadow,377984

[2] The Physics Classroom, (1996-2018), Light Absorption, Reflection, and Transmission, Physics Tutorial, The Physics Classroom, retrieved from, https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-2/Light-Absorption,-Reflection,-and-Transmission

[3] Science Learning Hub, (2018), Reflection of Light, New Zealand Government, retrieved from https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/48-reflection-of-light.

[4] Science Learning Hub, (2018), Refraction of Light, New Zealand Government, retrieved from https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/49-refraction-of-light.