Bernie Williams, Gisborne, Australia, 1984.
Dec 10, 2021 6:45:54 GMT
politicidal, forca84, and 1 more like this
Post by hi224 on Dec 10, 2021 6:45:54 GMT
Bernie Williams was executed with two shots from a pistol to the head on March 3, 1984, near Gisborne, Victoria, Australia. He had been walked 20 metres off Hobbs Road, in Bullengarook, into a scrubby patch of bush with his hands tied behind his back. Reports indicated there was evidence he knew what was coming, but I haven’t found a report as to what that evidence is. His body showed no other injuries and so police believe he was killed by a professional hitman. His body was found hunched over by a trail bike rider, five days after he disappeared.
Williams was the doting father of a three-year-old daughter. He was married to the girl's mother, but they were separated and remained on good terms.
It may be that Bernie had a premonition something was going to happen to him, telling his mother several weeks before he disappeared that he was “in big trouble”. Asking if she could help he told his mother: "No … it's something I have to do for myself."
Bernie was a champion footballer and well-known around his home town of Melton. Melton at the time was a small country town and football was one of the hubs of social life. The other thing that Bernie had a reputation for was having affairs with various women, some of whom were the wives and girlfriends of other men.
This meant that police had several suspects when Williams' body was discovered murdered in the bush.
Four days after his disappearance, a phone call to a police station north of Melbourne was received claiming to be Williams and that he was on a “binge” and camped just outside Adelaide, South Australia . He would be back in two weeks. A junior constable initially took the call, hearing the initial STD beeps indicating the call had come from interstate. He then handed the phone to Officer B. Officer B claimed to investigators that it was Bernie Williams on the call as he knew him well. However at the time of the call Bernie Williams was already dead, the state of his body suggesting he had died within hours of going missing.
Based on this sexual jealousy theory, detectives theorised that "The way he died is consistent with somebody having paid a hit man to do the job," Homicide Squad Detective Sergeant Bob Snell told the media in 1985. "An irate husband would probably want to make sure he suffered before being killed. Mr Williams had not been touched. His only injuries were caused by the two shots."
In June, 1985, a coroner delivered an open finding, saying there appeared to be no motive for killing Williams. Police found Mr Williams had no known enemies or involvement in drugs.
Now, cold-case police are looking again at sexual jealousy as a possible motive. There are several suspects, but one of whom is the now retired Officer B. It is suspected Williams was having an affair with Officer B’s wife and may have even been discovered in the family home.
Williams was a man who made no secret of his sexual exploits, according to evidence given to police by an apprentice plumber who worked with him.
"He would brag to me of his sexual habits with other women and he would tell me the next day what he had done with the girl, and sometimes who it was," the apprentice said. "Some days he would go off leaving me on the work site and he [came] back an hour or so later and tell me he'd just screwed some girl”. "During the time I knew him he told me of dozens of girls he had sex with, after a while I used to get sick of it and didn't listen to him."
Bernie Williams drove a dark blue Ford LTD, and several locals gave evidence about seeing him in a carpark the night before he was reported missing. The carpark was about halfway between his house and his parent's house, where he had just finished his last meal.
One witness told police about a man he saw talking to Williams in the car park, and how it was unusual the man had greeted Williams as Bernard, not Bernie. "I know Bernie Williams by sight and I have seen him round town," he said. "I am familiar with his car, the LTD. I knew it was Bernie's car as soon as I saw it."
There is not much more information online about the murder of Bernie Williams and it doesn’t rate much mention when cold cases are raised in Victoria.
https://www.theage.com.au./national/victoria/ladies-man-cold-case-murder-gets-warmer-with-excop-a-suspect-20170324-gv5v52.html
Williams was the doting father of a three-year-old daughter. He was married to the girl's mother, but they were separated and remained on good terms.
It may be that Bernie had a premonition something was going to happen to him, telling his mother several weeks before he disappeared that he was “in big trouble”. Asking if she could help he told his mother: "No … it's something I have to do for myself."
Bernie was a champion footballer and well-known around his home town of Melton. Melton at the time was a small country town and football was one of the hubs of social life. The other thing that Bernie had a reputation for was having affairs with various women, some of whom were the wives and girlfriends of other men.
This meant that police had several suspects when Williams' body was discovered murdered in the bush.
Four days after his disappearance, a phone call to a police station north of Melbourne was received claiming to be Williams and that he was on a “binge” and camped just outside Adelaide, South Australia . He would be back in two weeks. A junior constable initially took the call, hearing the initial STD beeps indicating the call had come from interstate. He then handed the phone to Officer B. Officer B claimed to investigators that it was Bernie Williams on the call as he knew him well. However at the time of the call Bernie Williams was already dead, the state of his body suggesting he had died within hours of going missing.
Based on this sexual jealousy theory, detectives theorised that "The way he died is consistent with somebody having paid a hit man to do the job," Homicide Squad Detective Sergeant Bob Snell told the media in 1985. "An irate husband would probably want to make sure he suffered before being killed. Mr Williams had not been touched. His only injuries were caused by the two shots."
In June, 1985, a coroner delivered an open finding, saying there appeared to be no motive for killing Williams. Police found Mr Williams had no known enemies or involvement in drugs.
Now, cold-case police are looking again at sexual jealousy as a possible motive. There are several suspects, but one of whom is the now retired Officer B. It is suspected Williams was having an affair with Officer B’s wife and may have even been discovered in the family home.
Williams was a man who made no secret of his sexual exploits, according to evidence given to police by an apprentice plumber who worked with him.
"He would brag to me of his sexual habits with other women and he would tell me the next day what he had done with the girl, and sometimes who it was," the apprentice said. "Some days he would go off leaving me on the work site and he [came] back an hour or so later and tell me he'd just screwed some girl”. "During the time I knew him he told me of dozens of girls he had sex with, after a while I used to get sick of it and didn't listen to him."
Bernie Williams drove a dark blue Ford LTD, and several locals gave evidence about seeing him in a carpark the night before he was reported missing. The carpark was about halfway between his house and his parent's house, where he had just finished his last meal.
One witness told police about a man he saw talking to Williams in the car park, and how it was unusual the man had greeted Williams as Bernard, not Bernie. "I know Bernie Williams by sight and I have seen him round town," he said. "I am familiar with his car, the LTD. I knew it was Bernie's car as soon as I saw it."
There is not much more information online about the murder of Bernie Williams and it doesn’t rate much mention when cold cases are raised in Victoria.
https://www.theage.com.au./national/victoria/ladies-man-cold-case-murder-gets-warmer-with-excop-a-suspect-20170324-gv5v52.html
