Graeme Thorne Kidnapping - Investigation

Investigation

Examination of the body showed that the boy had died from either asphyxiation or a head injury or a combination of the two. He had been alive when hit on the head. Examination also established that he had been murdered within 24 hours of the kidnapping and that his body had been dumped soon afterwards.

There were other pieces of evidence. Some weeks before the kidnapping, a foreign man had called at the Thornes' residence and asked them to confirm their telephone number. Also, on the morning of the kidnapping some witnesses had seen an iridescent blue 1955 Ford Customline double-parked at the corner of Francis and Wellington streets, near where Graeme was usually picked up. Investigations soon established that there were 4000 cars matching this general description.

Forensic examination of the blue tartan rug found with the body showed two plant types, Chamaecyparis pisifara and Cupressus glabra, that were not present at the vacant lot where the body was found. In addition, soil scrapings from the body showed tiny fragments of pink mortar. Forensic experts deduced that the body had been lying under a brick building at some stage.

Police searched for a house with pink mortar and with the two plant types growing in the yard. Although cypress plants could be found growing in many people's yards, only one of the plant types was common, making the combination of the two plants together very rare. Following a tip-off from a postman, a pink house was identified with a blue Ford outside and the two plant species in the garden. The house was in Moore Street in the suburb of Clontarf.

Police visited the house on 3 October and learned that it had been rented by a Hungarian immigrant named Stephen Bradley, born István Baranyay in 1926 in Budapest. However Bradley had left Australia on 26 September, sailing for London with his family aboard the SS Himalaya.

Bradley had owned an iridescent blue 1955 Ford Customline, which he had sold. Detectives found the car waiting to be sold at a nearby car lot and forensically linked it with Graeme Thorne's body. They amassed a body of evidence which conclusively established that Bradley was the kidnapper.