Inside the investigation: Why Gerard Baden-Clay murdered his wife Allison | 60 Minutes Australia

he tried to portray himself as mr. middle-class a successful small businessman proud father and loving and devoted husband but the real Jared Bain clay was the complete opposite he was an incompetent real estate agent intolerant of his three young daughters and a womanizer who wasn't even faithful to his long-term mistress but why Jared been clay thought all his problems could be fixed by killing his beautiful wife Alison only he knows so far he's not saying but after being convicted of murder this past week he now has a lifetime in prison to think about it [Music] let's be upfront from the start Tony McHugh is not the first person to fall in love and have a relationship and affair if you prefer with a married man and she won't be the last but leaving her own partner and children to be involved with Jared Baden clay for four years is the worst mistake she's ever made for evermore shall be known as the other woman and inexorably linked to the murder of Alison Baden clay it is fair to describe you as a mistress isn't that's how yes yes it is but I believed that I wasn't I wasn't that person for Jared what did you believe you were I believed that I was in a loving caring relationship that did have a future even though he was a married man yes even though he was a married man how much did you love him or how much do you love him I loved him very much do you still love him I don't like to use that word unconditional anymore but I did love him unconditionally you know was very forgiving too forgiving [Music] Tony McHugh believed her love affair with jared baden clay was going to have a happy ending how wrong she was now having been the key prosecution witness at Baden clays murder trial and having had every intimate detail of her personal life exposed in court she wants to explain her side of this terrible story to the rest of the country I am still in disbelief to a degree why do you think he murdered her I'll never understand how how it could have happened I don't believe that he murdered her for me why I say he didn't he did not kill her to be with me was that I loved him already he didn't need to he already had me so if he wasn't killing for love what was he killing for he killed for himself to everyone the Baden clays are a happy family from brisbin's middle-class western suburbs Jared and Alison met and fell in love at work married in 1997 and had three beautiful daughters life seemed harmonious and normal scouting is a global organization which has its core fundamental in doing unto others as you'd have done unto you and leaving the world a better place than you found it Jared's claim to fame was as a great-grandson of Lord baden-powell the founder of the scouting movement and as this promotional video from a few years ago shows he clearly enjoyed the prestige that attracted that's one of my favorite Scout laws is the Scout is courageous to have courage in the face of adversity to make those decisions that need to be made and that ability to move on with with life and know that you have that self-confidence to know that everything's going to be all right away from the honorable scouts he was a real estate agent where again Jared Baden clays self-confidence and desire to be the center of attention was constantly on display Alison meanwhile got on with being a wife mother and loyal friend as Helen Wilson and Nicole Morrison know all too well what sort of a money with Alison she was a gorgeous beautiful caring mum absolutely relieved to be a mother she adored her girls yeah what about her sense of fun did she have a sense of fun oh yeah yeah she was a both she had the best laugh because and I'm really grateful I when I really stopped to think about her I can still hear her laugh and I'm really grateful for that and she laughed so freely and she laughed often and she laughed at herself all the time can you believe she's gone no no it's some of course we believe it because it's real but yeah yeah for sure you know um we don't want to believe him yeah [Music] in 2008 jared baden clay met Tony McHugh she was a client of his and soon after an employee at his real estate office how did the affair start I admired him as a person I really I believed in his integrity and I guess there was an attraction did you attempt to fight it considering that he was married yeah yeah I think I was attracted to him probably before I don't know maybe before it dawned on him so yes I had [Music] at the time Tony's 17-year relationship with the father of her children was crumbling Jared provided support and told her similar things about his own marriage to Alison and that's what he was telling me that he was in a marriage that wasn't a loving marriage that he was only there for the children for the girls what did you think your future was with Jared Baden clay I just thought it would be a normal future I thought it would be two people that loved each other did you think that you'd get married one day he had told me that he would marry me one day and you wanted that you want it to be mrs. Baden clay I did [Music] what did you think of Jared and Alison's marriage Alison did love him and obviously we would support anything else chose to do yeah we felt that she was too good for him back in there really early days and she was but she was in love love is blind hmm yeah why didn't you like Jared what was it about him we never liked him from the outset because he was never authentic he was never genuine and he was always superior he always thought he was superior [Music] unlike the courageous Scout he pretended to be jared was a coward when it came to his relationships with women for three to four years he'd been telling Tony he was going to leave Alison to be with her but he never did then in October 2011 Alison found out about the affair and in an instant Tony was dumped and fired he basically just said to me I need to see you she knows and I knew what my fate would be so your fate was end of affair and end of job yes but barely two months later jared was back in touch and up to his old tricks we met at a coffee shop he said opposite me held my hand came into that meeting without his wedding ring on and he said to me I need you to know that I love you and that I am going to be leaving my wife coming up despite the lives Alison remains loyal did Alison she was always going to fix it and the phone call the jury never heard he said I'm looking for someone to come home that's next on 60 minutes in 1997 Jared Baden clay married beauty queen Alison Dicky and for a while life was perfect they started a family and had three precious daughters but Jared also started to stray only he knows how many affairs he had but in 2008 Jared mesh and fell in love with Tony McHugh then barely a year later a bizarre incident which police now believe was an ominous warning that Alison's life was in great danger [Music] Melissa Romano is mighty thankful she never met Jared Baden clay in person but back in 2009 they had multiple phone conversations about a real estate deal on the Gold Coast however it's what happened after their business finished that frightens Melissa he built rapport very quickly and on one of the instances he said you know maybe you should come and work for me I said that I was very loyal to who I was working with and he said and his words were well if you're not interested in doing that then I've got another job for you to do and I said oh and what is that and he said well I'm I'm looking for someone to kill my wife when you heard those words what did you do how did you react I think I kind of held my breath I was waiting for the part that would make it make sense but it didn't make sense so he was very serious and then I said oh why would you want to kill your wife and he didn't proceed anymore on it he changed the subject with hindsight it's easy to say Melissa should have reported that phone conversation to police but in reality even if she had there was very little they could do and of course only Jared Baden clay could predict what would happen three years later in April 2012 by then they weren't enough hours in the day for Jared to keep up with his own convoluted double life his real estate business was floundering and he owed a million dollars much of it to friends and while he claimed a newfound commitment to his wife he was far from devoted which distressed Alison's friends Helen and Nicole I didn't like the way he treated her and he was emotionally very very cruel what would he do well he had told her that he didn't love her I don't know how you actually really recover from that every day there was cruel things being said about what a horrible dinner you've cooked how lazy you know she is to not have clean the house or it's just degrading or for comments did she do Dallas I never consider leaving Jared no that was never an option for al never an option she was always going to fix it and it was always going to get better but what Allison didn't know was Jared had renewed his affair with Toni McHugh just two months after promising Allison it was over for good that affair had been going for a number of years Superintendent Mark Ainsworth headed the investigation into Alison's murder there was also much evidence of Jared's affair with Chinese the promises that he'd made them QED that he was going to be with her after the 1st of July an email back from Jared on a matter of days before Allison's disappearance telling McHugh that he loved her on three occasions and that one email with the final sentence leave it to me Nia what did that mean he in our view was at the stage of separating from Allison in starting a new life with Tony McKee clearly the 19th of April 2012 is the most significant date in this tragedy the events that led to Alison's death that night most likely started with an innocuous phone call Tony was driving home when she and Jared had one of their regular phone chats but it quickly became heated when Jared revealed Tony and Alison would come face-to-face at a real estate conference the next day up until this point he hadn't bothered to tell either of them that total disregard made a furious Tony questioned their relationship but Jared once again swore his love for her and repeated his promise to leave Alison this would be the last day Alison was seen alive so on the 19th then what were you asking him about the future of your relationship what were you seeking to know and what did he tell you he was telling me that that he most certainly didn't love his wife and that he still intended to leave his wife but I on that night I said I just I'm not convinced I don't know what you are doing to to ensure that we have a relationship so did you give him an ultimatum of any sort I said to him you have to talk to me about how things are going to change and he said things are changing do you feel that the pressure you're putting on Jared to leave his wife to follow through on his promise to you could that have pressured him in any way to murder Alison I wouldn't have no no my pressure has nah no I've been patient with the man for years and years and I was probably pressuring myself if anything and questioning my own intentions feeling like you just I just can't be going down this road again [Applause] [Music] Jarrid Baden clays version of events of the night is that after the kids were put to bed Alison started quizzing him about his affair because their marriage counselor had suggested this was a good way to clear the air on the way go to bed you're coming but Jared says after a while he'd had enough and went to sleep [Music] he claims when he worked the next morning Alison was gone at 7:15 a calm Baden clay called triple zero police emergency what's your location oh good morning Brookfield Brookfield is the semi-rural out of Brisbane suburb where they lived my wife isn't home coming up Alison's friends immediately suspected Jared I felt from the start he had done something too well I really do the police move in I knew that they were in shaving scratches that's next on 60 minutes Jared Baden clay is a man he'll spin any yarn to get out of trouble his life is a web of lies and after murdering Alison in cold blood true to form he lied to police but even the master deceiver himself would have a hard time explaining those scratches on his face I don't know where she is after Jared Baden clay made this call on the 20th of April 2012 to report his wife missing the triple 0 operator arranged for police to go to their home and when the first officer saw Jared he immediately called in his superior sergeant Andrew Jackson the officer that arrived at the scene said that the person on the scene had large scratches to his face officer said that Vaden Clay had told him that he'd done it shaving and the officer had said to me that it didn't look like shaving scratches and when you saw those scratches what did you think I knew that they weren't shaving scratches I think most men who shave for 20-plus years know what a shaving scratch looks like and they were definitely fingernail scratches sergeant Jackson was immediately suspicious but it wasn't just the scratches on Jared's face it did look like someone had made an attempt to clean the house up before we had arrived and we did discuss that did that make sense to you if you're worried about your missing wife make sense that the house would be so tired if my wife went missing it's the last thing you'd be thinking of us to clean the house make the bed [Music] Andrew Jackson acted quickly and decisively not only recording his conversation with Baden clay but also declaring the house a crime scene and calling in the help of every available police officer in the area at one stage more than 80 of them to get a search going what was your gut instinct telling you look my gut instinct said there was something wrong we initially thought it was probably domestic violence to what extent we didn't know was he agitated wasn't agitated he was just very difficult to get answers out of from the moment police arrived here at the Baden clay home Jarrod's story just didn't ring true but even as the search intensified for his wife he stuck with it as ridiculous as it was trying to convince everyone he was the unluckiest man alive when it came to explaining away his physical injuries of course there was the shaving accident with the blunt razors which had torn his cheek apart but just the day before this accident-prone man claimed he'd cut his hand changing a light bulb and that he'd been attacked by a caterpillar which had somehow left red scratch marks on his chest as part of this investigation we had the entomologist that gave expert evidence in relation to caterpillars in that particular area but that there were no caterpillars that could do that exactly as Baden clay story was unraveling superintendent mark Ainsworth's team quickly identified more strange behavior before he made the call to police to report his wife missing Baden clay chose to google very specific and suspicious legal definitions you've got a man perceiving to to all and sundry that he was very concerned about realice and was and he's doing a check on the ride to silence does that ring true to anyone would a normal person do that in those circumstances I suggest the answer should be no today we've got the phone call that she was missing we knew something really bad had gone wrong why did you jump to that conclusion immediately that something had happened and what did you think it happened I I felt from the start he had done something to Al I knew I really knew it the fact that he could possibly do it was incomprehensible but definitely straight up we knew he was capable of something like that if you were convinced that Jared had done something to Alison right in those very early days did you ever confront him did you ask him well we didn't want to see that creature the woman you know is there any way she committed suicide absolutely not she was in there Val ever ever going to leave her girl so what was your reaction when you heard Alison was missing no devastated absolutely concerned I didn't dislike Alison I never ever wanted I know I didn't I didn't intentionally go out to hurt Alison or her family I honestly believed it was going to be handled so much just I probably yeah it's not a good idea for us to talk we shouldn't talk for a while and we should lay low on the day Alison was reported missing Jared told his mistress he was being investigated by police but it was their phone called the night before that really concerned Tony who feared it had led to Jared and Alison arguing was there anything you can think of that triggered it no because I don't want to be made feel guilty for this at that moment did you think that Jared might be involved in some way no no so what did you think might have happened to her that she she had run off you know and there wasn't any part of you that was pleased about that that maybe this might mean your own life with Jaron no absolutely not oh absolutely not my first response was did you argue he said no I felt terrible I felt that there could have been a repercussion do you still feel that I I guess I do what if we hadn't have had that conversation coming up the desperate search to find Allison it kept ringing and then I heard her voice for the first time inside the forensic investigation had found the statement with trips down to the floor of the vehicle and the police questioned Tony do you think Tony Joaquin had anything to do with Alison's murder that's next on 60 minutes the disappearance of Allison Baden clay touched all of Australia and for 11 excruciating days we all hoped she'd be found alive of course we now know her husband Jared murdered her sometime during the evening of the 19th of April 2012 and then dumped her body on the bank of Kola Creek southwest of Brisbane despite mounting evidence he was responsible Jared pretended to be a grieving husband but police weren't fooled by his crocodile tears their investigation was focusing on just one man we really trusted that the police are doing everything they can to find my wife and we just hope that she'll come home soon the police were doing everything they could to find Alison but Jared Baden clay wasn't he didn't help in the search at all I mean it must have looked at this Pteranodon great job this one it's not gonna be easy yeah absolutely which made inspector Mark Sharkey Lange and his team extremely suspicious and angry how would you describe that behavior bizarre I I cannot believe that somebody who loves their wife so much and wants her safe return wasn't here we could well do with more coppers like Sharky Lang a 32-year veteran whose dedication meant he organized one of the most thorough searches for a missing person in Queensland's history she was well-loved in this community and just galvanized a community to come together to search for her I've never experienced that before and I honestly I don't think I'll ever experience it again the search area was large that terrain difficult police were also looking for Allison's phone in the hope it was with her it was Sharky's job to call us but he only ever got her message bank it kept ringing and then I heard her voice for the first time and it was just Alison saying who she was and she couldn't take the call and she would get back to us to hear the voice of this woman I'd imagine you know she would feel so close you're hearing her voice and yet you can't find her I mean that what's that feeling like messed up while the search teams were looking for Allison the scientific teams were looking for clues at the Baden clay home acting inspector you and Taylor was the forensics coordinator so I'm looking at here the main bedroom area and as we pan around you see the walking rope he collected a mountain of photographic and scientific samples his team didn't find any blood on the razor blade Jarrod claimed had cut up his face but crucially they found it elsewhere during those first initial days I was contacted by one of our scientific major crime unit officers who advised that he had found a stain in the Captiva he described the stain to me as contact smear with drips down to the floor of the vehicle testing of Alison's car led to the first breakthrough in the forensic part of the investigation police found traces of blood and a strand of hair here in the back and soon confirmed they were Alison's now they just had to find her as the day's stretched on did you believe you was searching for a person or did you think you're searching for a body no I always felt that I was searching for Alison alive while Sharkey was continuing to search for Alison Jared was continuing to call Toni McHugh the police are gonna want to speak to you they know all that wasn't the affair but taking measures not to be discovered by using a payphone I think there's something may have happened to Alison that she may have met with foul play I did receive a phone call during police interview where I was asked can you talk and I said well no not really see you got a phone call from him while you're being interviewed by police correct what did he want to know he wanted to know whether I'd told police whether we were currently seeing each other I said well yes I have yes I have told them because that's the truth because of course he's now saying that you guys were talking but in his mind there was no relationship well I knew in his mind there was definitely a relationship but what he'd obviously conveyed to police was that he'd had an affair and wasn't at the moment everything was fine in the marriage at that time and was that the truth no do you think Tony McHugh had anything to do with Alison's murder no I don't and what do you think of Jared Baden clay almost suggesting on the stand that perhaps she might've jared has suggested a lot of way out theories on the stand all those theories and stories he's put there for one particular reason and that's to protect himself [Music] at the time the biggest protection Jared relied on was the lack of a body but on the 30th of April 2012 on the 11th day of her disappearance the search was over Alison's badly decomposed body was found by a canoeist at Colo Creek about 13 kilometers from her home [Music] it was the worst day for Sharkey who had to tell Alison's mum and dad Priscilla and Jeff Nikki it was the hardest call sorry that's okay that's okay it was the hardest call I ever made my life and ever will I think there's someone with your experience why why was that so difficult she was the girl next door she was everybody's daughter sister mother [Music] hundreds of cars crossed the bridge at Colo Creek every day but underneath it's a lonely and sad final resting spot [Music] and of course this is in the dark of a nosh in the middle of the night he brings her body here that's right even in daylight it's a difficult walk but mark Ainsworth thinks Baden clay chose this place to dump Allison in the hope she would be washed away when the tide rose in the creek again he got it wrong [Music] on that day that her body was found you were asked if Jared Layden clay was a suspect and he said you couldn't comment was he a suspect then he was he was a person we were looking at from day one [Music] the discovery of Allison's body gave investigators more vital clues including most importantly Jarrod's reaction to the terrible news even before she was formally identified through dental records he was making calls to claim his wife's life insurance policies from my own investigations he owed in the vicinity of a million dollars the life-insurance policy that Allison Haddad again was in the vicinity of a million dollars so taking the policy and claiming the money for the policy would certainly arise most of his debts that he had attracted over appeared so on but how did he think he'd get away with it I think that's the arrogance of the men of the person he lived a life of deception and it was all about Jared Jared can dispute it as much as he likes but police believes the scratch marks Alison left on Jared tell the real story that she fought for her life as he most likely smothered her how terrifying do you think those last moments were for Alison I can only imagine it would have been extremely terrifying you only got a look at the scratches on the side of his face do you ever let your mind think about the events of that night I mean what actually happened between them no yeah how did things become so explosive that yeah Allyson's lost your life what images do you have through your mind a woman that's struggling fighting the fact that Allison had left him physically marked like that meant what to you you're fighting for a life yep and I'm sort of it sounds weird but I'm really proud of her because she fought to the end that is not her I mean she is so gentle and soft and you know just so beautiful but for her she was literally fighting for her life and I would sit there during the trial and I would sort of feel so grateful to her that she had done that and I would look at him in the trial thinking you know he would be hating that it was like you know she did what she had to do yeah coming up and cracking the case the material was examined under a microscope how crucial was that in my view that put the icing on the cake and the night of the murder who was looking after the children I believe that there was a level of premeditation that was planned my view was use and life after murder do you believe that he did kill Alison next on 60 minutes after Alison Baden clays body was found everyone expected a speedy conclusion to the case and an imminent arrest everything pointed at her husband Jared Baden clay being the murderer but as strong as the case was it remained circumstantial so police ignored mounting public expectation to deliberately and methodically carry out their investigation they also had some great luck in the form of a world expert botanist who just happen to live in the Brisbane area [Music] dr. Gordon dimer runs the Queensland herbarium in Brisbane what he can't tell you about plants isn't worth knowing the material was examined under a microscope of course and then identified at comparing it with known samples here in the collection when police found Alison's body they also found leaves knotted in her hair they sent them to dr. guma to work out what they were and where they came from he established there were six different types of plans he could only find two of the species at Colo Creek but all six in the Baden play backyard to find the six species at Allison's home how important is that in determining where she died the the fact that we've got six species in her hair and those expenses are at her house is sniffing it no doubt and the fact is where her body was found we only have two of those six this particular node shows the rear patio area and this is where the leaf matter was found putting the pieces together police believe after he killed her maiden clay dragged Alison across the back patio before lifting her into the car dr. Gama was able to largely match or the botanical material from Alison's here with the botanical matter which was in this leaf litter in this area here how crucial was that to cracking the case in terms of where Alison was murdered in my view that put the icing on the cake and the work that Gordon Gama did in getting that evidence was sensational after a two-month investigation on the 13th of June 2012 police arrested 41 year old Jared Robert baden-powell Dwight Allison do you have any doubt that you've got the right man no doubt whatsoever and as a supervisor and manager I couldn't have been blessed with a better team and the commitment of all those people was second to none and the result that we've achieved has been outstanding if you look at his behavior leading up to Allison's disappearance what does that tell you about how premeditated her murder was I believe that there was a level of premeditation so it was planned my view is yes the baton play told the court he couldn't have murdered and then dumped his wife's body because he would never leave his three daughters alone in the house in the middle of the night his conviction now raises the question who was looking after the girls while Jared was at Kolo Creek Wharf was it all just another lie I formed the clear view that Jared Biden cly as a person I wouldn't trust to take my dog for a walk [Music] at the trial Alison's diaries were used as evidence and revealed she suffered plenty of heartache but despite Jared's affair with Tony it's obvious she continued to love him and was desperate for him to love her when you look at those diary notes and you read the despair she felt do you feel a responsibility for how sad she was and lonely she was yes truly yes I accept that that I I was part of but what I also know is that if it wouldn't if it wasn't me it would have been someone else he would have had affairs with other other women the court was told Jared did have affairs with other women even cheating on his mistress the Baden play claimed he had no reason to leave his marriage because all the affairs even the much longer four-year relationship with Tony were meaningless what was it like for you to give evidence in court it was very hard and it was hard having to sit opposite him and have him staring at me constantly very coldly yeah without without feeling during his trial Baden clay did the unexpected finally taking to the stand to tell his side of the story and it was implausible his main defense seemed to be trust me I'm a liar almost everything I said before was a fabrication but now I'm telling the truth like the police in those early days the jury just didn't buy it how much contempt you have for this man I think he's probably one of the lowest forms of life you could ever meet he's got a lot dean to do his children for as they grow up do you believe that he did kill Alison I do I believe that he did kill Alison you do you think he's innocent no no I don't do you believe that there's any link between your love affair and the death of Alison and that's that's that's the question isn't it it's hard to accept for me I don't believe so the point that I want to make is that my affair is with Jared is one aspect what this has done to my life really should be seen to be as insignificant compared to Alison who's lost her life what do you think should happen to him now I want this man to never ever ever into my life ever again uh you know I there is a part of me that is genuinely fearful then I have been involved with a man that is not who he says he is and that worries me that terrifies me for the rest of his life Jared Baden clay will live with the consequences of the death of his wife Alison the woman he murdered but far more tragically so will their three young daughters who've now lost both their mother and their father this is the last photo we had with her in Alison's friends Helen and Nicole will do all they can to share with her daughters their memory of a vital and loving woman how will you remember Alison to her daughter's she was remarkable and her daughters they got over such a small amount of time but they were lucky they had her for the time that they had will they ever be able to doubt that their mum loved them never no no no no she was extraordinary they must miss her like crazy yeah of course they've lost their mum but they've lost their dad as well yeah and it's not a normal there's nothing normal about this and it's I don't understand it as an adult and I don't know how they would understand it you know I feel guilty so many times because my grief as a friend is enormous and I feel guilty because my grief is a drop in the ocean compared to theirs yeah you can't I can't process it it's a how can they know [Music] hello I'm Tara Brown thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our Channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 3,492,729

Rating: 4.494204 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Ellen Fanning, Ray Martin, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Peter Harvey, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, Gerard Baden-Clay, Allison Baden-Clay, domestic violence, murder, crime, investigation, police, detective

Id: 1FmKYkdjy70

Length: 48min 43sec (2923 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 19 2019