Inside the Law. Vikki Petraitis
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enzymes present in blood, further sub-groups of the four main blood types can be identified. These further sub-groups of the four blood types are known as the PGM (Phosphoglucomutase) types.
Dr Atchison found, by analysing the containers of blood that he had received, that Beth’s blood group was Type O, PGM 1 and Fergus’ was Type O, PGM 2-1. He had no sample of Vivienne’s blood to analyse, but according to hospital records from when Vivienne gave birth to her two sons, her blood group was Type A. Dr Atchison was unaware of her PGM sub-group.
But since the three people in this domestic tragedy had different blood types, it would be easy for Dr Atchison to determine who had bled where.
While the blood trail matched the stories, the analysis did not. Fergus’ blood was found on his shirt and on a tissue in the bathroom. The blood in the spare room was Type A – Vivienne’s type, and blood on the papers in the spare room was Type O, PGM 1 – Beth’s blood type.
Blood examined to be Type A, which could have been Vivienne’s blood, was found on a maroon towel from Beth’s bathroom, the path outside Beth’s house, a cigarette packet and the match box found in the Cameron’s Land Cruiser and a face washer also found in the Land Cruiser.
Dr Atchison also found Type A blood in the scrapings taken from the spare bedroom at the Cameron’s house and from their laundry. If the Type A blood belonged to Vivienne, it meant that she had bled enough to leave a trail through her house.
Dr Atchison made a sketch of the pink nightshirt that Beth had been wearing when she was killed. He coloured in the areas of blood-staining with a red pen, and indicated on his sketch where the knife had gone through the shirt when Beth had been stabbed. The sketch indicated seven cuts in the material of the shirt – six in the front and one in the back.
Dr Atchison later mused: ‘I thought some of the cuts [on the front of the shirt] were unusual. There were two holes [close together], a longer one and then a shorter one, with a small gap in between. I asked the experts. They didn’t really know. They thought it was a fishing knife. You had the double hole which you can start thinking of all sorts of knives... it penetrates making two holes. But other people who are much more experienced than I am said that you can get a hit with a knife and another sort of jab. It really didn’t go anywhere. As far as I recall, I had problems saying that knife found near the body caused that sort of double hole.’
Homicide and local detectives interviewed as many people as they could find who might have information into Beth’s murder and Vivienne’s disappearance. Their enquiries turned up a couple of interesting facts. Beth had a young admirer who sent her flowers and apparently drove past her house a lot. In the days before stalking was a recognised phenomenon, the man was merely a nuisance that Beth had laughed about with friends. She even described his behaviour in a taped conversation she sent to an overseas pal.
‘I’ve got this problem how he keeps mowing my lawns, and I don’t want him to, coz I feel as if I owe him something when he does it. And, he mowed them again on Monday and I get home and yelled at him and he got really pissed off and, so anyway he just took off and comes back Monday night and I thought: oh beauty, I’ve got rid of him now. And he came back Monday night and got mad at me and, fair dinkum, I just feel like telling him where to go now, and then he came to work at the Camerons’ house on Tuesday coz we were lamb marking, and all day I was in a real shit and I kept trying to find other jobs to do and he just comes and takes over my jobs and tells me what to do. Fergus thought I was being really good trying to do all these other things and I was just trying to get away and so I’m just sick of him. I wish they’d do something to stop him coming around. We gave him all these hints not to come around tonight, so if he comes, I think I’ll just knock him out!’
At no time did his antics seem to do anything but annoy Beth. She never indicated that she was scared of him, but he was worth detectives talking to anyway. Although his statement never appeared in any formal briefs of evidence, detectives said that they spoke to him and he had an alibi for the night of Beth’s murder.
It was one thing to look for people who might have had a grudge against Beth, but the solution to the murder and disappearance meant that both crimes were most likely connected. It would be too much of a coincidence to believe that Beth was killed in a random murder, and Vivienne disappeared on the same night in unrelated circumstances.
No, the detectives reasoned, as the story went, it looked very much like Vivienne had fought with Fergus who confirmed the affair. She dropped him off at his sister, Marnie’s house – a fact that Marnie confirmed – and then organised to get the children looked after, and then drove out to kill Beth. She took the Land Cruiser on purpose so that Beth would think Fergus was visiting and open the door to him.
But a couple of things didn’t add up. According to her friends, Beth was very security conscious and was attacked in her bed – that meant that she didn’t open the door to anyone – or if she did, she then ended up back in bed for the attack to occur there. This was hardly something she’d do if Vivienne visited her in the middle of the night to confront her.
And then there was the phone call that Vivienne’s friend Glenda got the morning after the murder. Glenda never wavered from her story – Vivienne sounded absolutely normal and there were voices in the background during their conversation.
And what of Vivienne? Was she the type of woman to give up everything in order to get revenge against a rival? Her friends say she wasn’t. One friend claimed that in the days before she disappeared, Vivienne had spoken to her about leaving Fergus and taking her two sons to Melbourne. Friends also described her dedication to her children. They maintain that she never would have left them.
Vivienne had also said that if it hadn’t been Beth, it would have been someone else. Would a woman direct murderous rage against the ‘other woman’ rather than a husband? If so, it was the only case on record in Victorian criminal history where this had happened.
When the investigation failed to turn up any concrete evidence or witnesses, the Homicide detectives were satisfied that Vivienne murdered Beth then took her own life.
An inquest for Vivienne Cameron was held less than two years after her disappearance. On 21 July 1988, Coroner Mr Maher, the same coroner who had conducted Beth Barnard’s inquest 11 months earlier, made a very specific finding:
I, Mr B J Maher, Coroner, having investigated the death of Vivienne Janice Cameron, find that the identity of the deceased was Vivienne Janice Cameron and that the death occurred on 23 September, 1986 near the bridge which separates Phillip Island from the mainland in the following circumstances. During the night of the 22 and 23 day of September, 1986 Elizabeth Barnard died from knife wounds in her chest and that Vivienne Janice Cameron has not been seen since 1.00am on the 23 day of September, 1986. On the night in question, it is believed that Vivienne Janice Cameron was driving [a] Toyota Land Cruiser… This vehicle was found abandoned near the said bridge on the Phillip Island side of the bridge. Despite an intensive Police search, no trace has been found of the said Vivienne Janice Cameron with whom they wished to speak concerning the death of Elizabeth Barnard. Although her body has not been found, I am satisfied that she is dead and that she leapt from the bridge into the water. And I further find that the deceased contributed to the cause of death.
Interestingly, years later, a close relative of Vivienne Cameron spoke of briefing a Queen’s Counsel to appear at Vivienne’s Inquest to represent her interests. The relative said that the QC and several family members made the long drive from Melbourne and arrived at the Korumburra Court House before the scheduled Inquest time of 10am – only to find that the Inquest was already over. If the relative’s story is accurate, one can only wonder how the Coroner had time to consider the vast amount of evidence and come to such a specific conclusion.
Another puzzle in this mysterious case was the lack of evidence to suggest Vivienne’s guilt. Indeed, one wonders that if she surfaced, alive and well today, whether she would be found guilty of Beth’s murder in a court of law.
Every devoted CSI viewer knows that every contact leaves a trace. The problem with this was that the items with Vivienne’s A-type blood – except for the drops on the path – are all