Australian Chris Dawson found guilty of wife's murder in 1982

After a months-long trial in New South Wales, Australia, 74-year-old Chris Dawson was found guilty today of his wife’s murder. Dawson had been charged in 2018, but the prevalence of only circumstantial evidence and the fact that Lynette Dawson’s body was never found impeded investigation.

Lynette disappeared in early January, 1982, at 33 years old. The Washington Post reports that she left behind her 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters and did not bring any of her belongings. Though Chris Dawson has maintained that Lynette abandoned the family, potentially in relation with a religious group, suspicions pointed in another direction. After decades, the release of a 2018 podcast, “Teacher’s Pet,” brought new attention to the case and ultimately contributed to his conviction.

“Teacher’s Pet,” released by investigative journalist Hedley Thomas, reviewed collected evidence and sought new testimony for the case. CNN states that the suspected motive hinged on Chris’s desire for his 16-year-old student ‘JC,’ also the family’s babysitter, whom he’d allegedly been having sex with. Supported by testimony from JC, Justice Ian Harrison conceded that Dawson had likely killed Lynette in order to remove the obstacle between himself and JC.

Concerns that “Teacher’s Pet” would influence the hearing’s results led the podcast to be made unavailable in Australia in 2019, states The Washington Post.

Dawson will be sentenced at a later date.