Murder memory

By Casey Neill
NEIGHBOURS are being asked to cast their minds back 24 years to help solve a double murder.
Police are appealing for past and present residents of Kelvin Drive in Ferntree Gully to try to recall the day in August 1984 when Margaret Tapp, 35, and her nine-year-old daughter, Seana, were found dead.
The appeal comes after a forensic laboratory bungle last week forced police to drop charges against the man accused of murdering the pair.
DNA evidence had linked Fulham Correctional Centre prisoner Russell Gesah to the crime.
But last Wednesday police announced the two murder charges against Gesah had been withdrawn because of doubts over the reliability of the DNA test results.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the investigation would remain open and urged anyone with information to come forward.
“We’re hoping that recent publicity has jogged people’s memory,” she said.
“It was a very disturbing crime and one that we really need information from the public to solve.”
According to a Victoria Police statement, its forensic services centre identified a possible evidence contamination in a laboratory review of the case.
In 1999, clothing from the Tapp case was examined on the same day in the same area of the laboratory as items from another case found to contain Gesah’s DNA.
Cleaning procedures at the time were not as stringent as those today.
Given that the Tapp evidence may have been contaminated, police decided recent DNA test results were not strong enough to support the charges.
Ms Tapp and Seana were found dead in their Kelvin Drive home on Wednesday 8 August 1984.
According to newspaper reports from the week following the murders, an autopsy revealed the pair had been strangled with a thin piece of rope or cord on Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.
Seana had also been sexually assaulted.
There was no sign of forced entry to the home, a struggle or theft.
Police appealed to the public for help in the investigation and made door-to-door inquiries in the area, hoping someone may have seen the killer leaving the home.
New information recently prompted re-testing of DNA found on Seana’s clothing.
The sample was compared to the tens of thousands of profiles in the national DNA database and matched that of Gesah.
Homicide Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Jeff Maher said Gesah had not previously been a suspect and there was no evidence he knew the victims.
Det Sen Sgt Maher described the arrest as the start of providing some closure for the Tapp family.
According to police procedure, additional checks are required when two seemingly unrelated cases are matched through DNA.
Following the Tapp murder blunder, procedures have been changed to ensure these checks are completed before information is released from the laboratory.
Reviews are now being completed to determine whether similar contamination issues have gone undetected.
Anyone with information on the case should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.