Mother's heartbreak after accused killer dies before verdict | A Current Affair

the mystery that's torn two families apart is liesel smith alive and in hiding or has she been murdered the prime suspect her boyfriend but after a long-running investigation there's one final twist in this tragic case that's left everyone with more questions than answers every time he opened his mouth he was lying we're saying that she has been murdered the last person she was seen alive with is you she's still alive i just want my heart go one more time and i'll never have that i'll never have that the new south wales central coast was home to liesel smith and her mum but for almost 10 years sandy has searched hoped and wondered about her daughter i've thought about selling this house this house has so many memories of her but i couldn't sell it because what if she came back one day and knocked on the door and i wasn't here [Music] i remember her face her little laugh her smiles growing up liesel was described as kind with a heart of gold she loved horses that was the first first little pony that i ever got for it but liesel's love of horses led her to her accused killer james church or jim as everybody knew him a horse farrier who lived a few doors up from liesel she also wanted to learn how to you know break horses in and train them and things so that's how they originally met the pair was in a relationship but jim never wanted to admit it he kept her a secret whereas she told everybody and part of that was because he had an ongoing relationship with one woman who he told was the love of his life that woman was belinda lee's who stuck by jim until his stories i love you unravelled babe 23 year old liesl went missing on the 19th of august 2012. jim church has always denied he killed her her body has never been found and despite police charging jim with murder no weapon was located and how liesl died is unknown three weeks after liesel vanished jim was interviewed by police how long has you actually had contact with if you can say yes at that point that was just the first of many lies and police were closing in they discovered liesl's abandoned car at the train station i just i couldn't work it out and i thought well where's she gone like who's she gone with and um [Music] did you ever imagine at all during this time that she had could have been murdered no who would do that to her did she tell you why she wanted you to pick her up from to give her a role yeah yeah but did she say why she needed a lift no she's just been a pain in the ass this is the last vision of liesl captured at tuggerah train station on the new south wales central coast jim's ute and liesel's car pull up jim gets out and talks to liesel through her car window she then drives off and parks in the railway station car park before she walks back to jim's ute 80 meters away they drive off and jim tells detectives he gave liesel a lift to wyong a 10 minute trip after he drops liesel off he says he goes home spends a couple of hours with his parents and heads over to belinda's house i really can't remember what she said but she wanted me to pick her up this was no longer a missing person's case it was a homicide investigation police see jim's ute on traffic cameras at sandy hollow in the hunter valley 187 kilometers north of the train station car park yeah your car was recorded at the camera 2 hours and 22 minutes after you collected lucille from tugboat railway station so pretty much spot on even like i said i've been to places two times but jim's ute is snapped again that day they've recorded your vehicle cge48u traveling southbound on the golden highway how do you explain this i can't can i i'm sure you've got the right number plate because i'm sure i've got the right number plate by now police know jim wasn't with his girlfriend belinda at 6 26 p.m linda's tried to contact your phone yeah at 7 19 p.m glenda's also tried to contact your phone yeah at 7 20 p.m a minute later belinda tries contacting your landlord and then at 02 pm on the 90th of august belinda contacts your landline again well if you were with belinda why would she be trying to contact your mobile phone and your landlord the reason being is because you took liesel smith up into the hunter valley and you murdered her certainly i've never met anyone i'm not a murderer 1 15 am the next day phone records show his mobile is switched back on [Music] is this an unusual time for you to be not if i'm up on the knife in the middle of the night detectives also question why two days before liesl disappeared jim's ute is recorded driving the same route north on the 17th of august 2012 he traveled up into the hunter region turned into the mary war region right it's where this is when you select it and prepare to cite the murder and dispose of a body no i haven't murdered anyone i don't murder people he tells detectives it must be a mistake the day that lucille smith goes missing the day we say she's being murdered that's another mistake well i do find it a bit strange that it was two days in a row but yeah we find it strange too jim that was two days in a row on august 17 jim leaves liesel a voicemail left a message that you've organised a place everything's going to be all right the place is ready to go the heat is on police suggest motives why jim murdered liesel this is the girl who who whenever away in an attempt to poison your relationship with belinda yep this is a girl who was telling people that she was pregnant to you yeah but jim defends liesel she's a kid but she's not she was actually nice lucille smith was infatuated with you yeah i believe that because in your your new relationship with belinda lewis lucille felt rejected and scorned detectives keep pushing so he decided the only way to eliminate this threat was to murder lucille no anyway what you don't know is that lucille was never pregnant it makes no difference to me we believe he murdered liesel oh right we believe that her remains are located in the hunter and we want to know where she is i haven't murdered anyone i don't know where she is i certainly don't own a gun i've never murdered anyone i want to say you shot her you asked me before did i own a gun yeah but we're not saying you shot her okay just trying to explain to you in the three months leading up to liesel going missing phone records show they contacted each other 1804 times but there's not a single text or phone call between them after august 19. the only reason you don't make the call to her is because you know she's dead no i don't get anybody trouble do i yeah oh yeah looking for her police say after jim murdered liesl he took her mobile phone and sent text messages to her family and friends trying to make them believe she was still alive jim doesn't know his phone is being tapped and you can hear the desperation in his voice they've told me that you can support my story of being with you when i was at your place i've told you they've told me all this they're charging me for murder there's five cop cards at my place apparently i'm hurt searching the house all right i'm going to go to jail for sure no your right sweetheart of course you won't i don't know jim's mates jumped to his defense hiring a private investigator to try and clear his name i said as soon as you see her or spot her you hog tie her call the police and hog tyre so she can't get away police interviewed jim again and his story has changed again during those four previous interviews did you tell any lies to the police yes i have jim's first confession i was in a sexual relationship with lisa smith i did lie to you about that because i was hiding this from not only yourselves but my girlfriend he appears nervous bear with me i'm really trying to do the right thing here guys i'm upset and i am trying to okay i want everything out i've got nothing more to hide jim comes up with an alibi about why he was driving in the hunter valley on august 19. he tells detectives his girlfriend reminded him he visited friends oh yes you bought the coleslaw and the chicken on the friday i remember you bought a bottle of wine on the sunday while police build their case there's still a mum waiting and wondering i know she's dead and i don't want to think about how she met her demise because that just that just kills me just to know that her body was out there in the cold and it was just nothing she was just treated like nothing it's 12 months now since liesel disappeared a new twist and a new story from jim there was two gunshots it wasn't just one it's not my imagination there was definitely two gunshots he tells police about two men who've shot him in the middle of the night after questioning him about liesel where's he going where's he going where's he going six years on and the case has gone cold officers need a smoking gun to prove jim was lying they searched several properties on the central coast and hunter owned by church seizing several items then this highway patrol video is found it shows jim church's ute traveling north at 2 14 p.m this fleeting image finally proving jim couldn't have dropped liesl at wyong and that he drove her on that long trip north detectives now charged jim church with murder i was really hoping that he would um let us know but he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't tell the truth jim faced a three-month trial after pleading not guilty 68 days of evidence sandy there every day did you ever lock eyes with him in the call absolutely absolutely and i would stare him down and he would just look at me for a couple of seconds and then turn away he he couldn't look me in the face with a verdict just 24 hours away a final twist nobody saw coming jim church took his life james church either died an innocent man or a gutless killer a cruel act almost 10 years of police work and three months of grueling evidence from prosecutors coming to no conclusion you must be disappointed with that outcome and for a mum no answers what do you think about him taking his life this coward just a coward if you're innocent i would fight every single day to prove that i was innocent it is um unfortunate for the interests of justice for there to be in effect no answer judge paul conlon who's prosecuted and ruled on cases for more than 30 years explains why a verdict can't be handed down where a person dies prior to verdict well then the rendering of any verdict where no punishment can follow is regarded as unnecessary and the trial will have to abate that is it will have to end then and there the judge believes the law should be more considerate of victims families in those circumstances where you have that completion of the trial process maybe it's time for the introduction of some legislation in certain circumstances to say that verdicts can be delivered where the trial process has completed in a case full of surprises another shock outside court storm smith liesl's dad declares his daughter is alive i think she took off and i do believe and i said that in the courtroom that she's still alive and i'm hoping it goes to the coroner even jim's mate who hired the private investigator insists jim died an innocent man so the poor bugger just had to go through all of this stroll on his own because he couldn't even stay with anybody he couldn't talk to anybody he couldn't see anybody and now he's suicided you think he's innocent yeah yeah i do that's my personal opinion i've known him for a long time what do you think about all the evidence that was brought against him oh i can't really comment on that do you think this is a huge miscarriage of justice yes i do it's a great mystery isn't it it's it is it would make one hell of a hollywood movie i'd say what about okay get upset think about it what about just not knowing where your little girl is that's the hardest thing he's committed suicide his family will have a funeral and they will bury him or cremate him or do whatever that they choose to do they will always be able to go there and say sorry son or you know happy birthday or whatever i don't have that i don't have that so the investigation is very much still ongoing our priority is to bring liesel home detective superintendent chad gillies from the new south wales police our investigators have lived and breathed this they have not given up and they will continue to strive to finally so no matter how long it takes do you think somebody out there knows where liesl is i do believe people would know something and now is the time there's been no better time to come forward now and assist investigators to locate liesel for now a mystery that's torn apart two families well i don't know where my daughter is and that's that's the worst if you or someone you know needs help there is support available contact lifeline the number is on your screen now 13114 that's one three double one one four

Channel: A Current Affair

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Id: kkdqNk1nP8c

Length: 17min 44sec (1064 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 20 2022