The 1981 brutal murder of Deborah Smykalla in Brisbane, Australia, remains unsolved despite a major police investigation spanning over four decades. Deborah's body was found in her home with signs of strangulation and a botched attempt to blow up the house. Her sister, Elke Hall, hopes the case can still be solved.
In the dead of night on September 6, 1981, a dreaded knock came at Horst and Wally Smykalla's door."I'm sorry," he began, distraught.Their middle daughter, Deborah, had been brutally murdered just hours earlier on Father's Day, at her home in Capalaba on Brisbane 's bayside.Her head had been shoved inside an open gas oven, which was turned on.
Behind her, two small fires were smouldering in the kitchen and in the lounge room, where a heater was overturned on the carpet. Police believe this was a botched attempt to blow up the house and make it look like suicide. The oven's safety switch foiled the plan. According to media reports after her death, "many other young people" stayed at the home "for anything from a couple of days to a month".She had been working at her father's hardware store in the CBD and sold excess stock at the Mount Gravatt Flea Markets every week. She did not set up her usual stall on Father's Day."Deborah could be naughty," her mother said at the time.
"This, and the fact that no one hearing her dogs make a noise … leads us to think the killer might have known her."
Murder Unsolved Case Brisbane Australia 1981
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