Face to Face With a Double Murderer: The $1 Million Ransom | 60 Minutes Australia

In May 1997, Sydney woman Kerry Whelan disappeared from a car park.It was to be the start of one of Australia's most bizarre and terrible crimes.The day after she went missing, her husband received a ransom note demanding a million US dollars for her return.Not surprisingly, the story was headline news as police desperately tried to find Kerry.They had no luck, but it was quite quickly revealed there was a person of interest, an acquaintance of the Whelan family, Bruce Burrell.It also emerged Burrell was a person of interest in the disappearance, two years earlier, of another Sydney woman, Dottie Davis.

Three months into the Whelan investigation, in August 1997, a very bold, others would say stupid, Bruce Burrell agreed to an interview with 60 Minutes reporter Richard Carlton.

Would you concede that you are the chief suspect in the disappearance, believed kidnapping, of Kerry Whelan?

I believe I can only use the words of the leader of the task force and say that I am considered to be a person of interest.

You believe that they believe that you did it?

I would suggest by all accounts of the information that's been leaked from the police to the media, it certainly points in that direction, but it is unfairly pointed.

It's now over three months since Kerry Whelan left this car park in Sydney's western suburbs and disappeared without trace.The security camera recorded the time as 9 .38 on the morning of Tuesday the 6th of May.Kerry Whelan was a mother of three and the wife of a successful businessman.26 hours after she went missing her husband received a ransom note demanding 1 million dollars for her return.

Kerry if you can hear what I'm saying I want you to know that we all love you we will do anything to get you back but most of all don't give up.

Just five days after Mrs Whelan's disappearance, police had Bruce Burrell's property at Bungonia, near Goulburn, under surveillance.And ten days later, they arrived in force.There was no doubt what they were looking for.

When I was asked the question, I said to the police officer, what do you mean, have I been doing any digging?And he said, exactly that, sir.He said, have you been doing any digging around the farm lately?And I said, We haven't had rain here for months.And if you can dig any deeper than six inches around here with all the equipment you've got, you're doing pretty well.So the answer is no, I've been doing no digging.

In the late 80s, Burrell was an advertising manager at Crown Forklifts.There, his boss was Kerry Whelan's husband.Notwithstanding their friendship, Burrell was retrenched in 1990.But the parting was amicable, and he continued to do some freelance work for Crown until 1992.Five years then passed without any contact between Burrell and the Whelans.And then, out of the blue, early last April, Burrell phoned Whelan at work.

Burrell recalls it as a friendly conversation.Bernie Whelan recalls it as being businesslike.In all events, Burrell called Whelan at work again a week later, but this time he wasn't there.Then, later that very same day,Burrell arrived here, unannounced, at the Whelan family estate at Currajong in the Lower Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.Mr Whelan wasn't here either, but his wife was.

And this was just three weeks before Mrs Whelan went missing.Did you feel uncomfortable being in the house with a married woman and her husband wasn't there?

No.I mean, the son was there, the lady who looked after the horses was around as well, so no, there's no reason to feel uncomfortable about it.

Mr Burrow, were you having an affair with her?No, I was not.I've had that put to me before, and it's just ridiculous.Let me put it to you that you schemed to see her in her husband's absence.Untrue.Do the circumstances allow that interpretation?

I don't believe so, at all.When was your previous such meeting with her?On a one -on -one basis?Yes.

Never.I'd never been with Kerry alone before.

After that occasion on the 16th of April, what further contact did you have with her before the 6th of May, the day that she disappeared?

None.

This is a critical question, because if it can be shown that you're lying there, then your whole case collapses, doesn't it?

Certainly does.

So if a scintilla of evidence can be turned up that shows that there was contact, and of course it doesn't have to be face to face, then would you acknowledge that you're a liar?

I wouldn't acknowledge I was a liar, but I can assure you between the date I spoke with Mrs Whelan in April and the date she apparently disappeared, I had absolutely no contact whatsoever with her.of any description by telephone, personally, letter, nothing.

When Bernie Whelan was interviewed by Ray Martin 11 weeks after his wife's disappearance, it was clear his friendship with Bruce Burrell had come to an end.

Do you know who kidnapped or who abducted your wife?I believe I do, yes.Is that frustrating?Did your wife know that person?I don't think I should answer that question.The search is concentrated on Bruce Burrell's property, just outside of Goulburn.

Do you know why?I'm not prepared to comment on any matters regarding Mr Burrell.When was the last time you spoke to him?I can't answer that question.Mr Burrell says that police searches and hunts around his property have made his life a living hell.Can you understand that?

I can understand what a living hell is, right?Yes, I'm living through one right now.

Have you spoken to Bernie Wheelan since his wife's disappearance?No, I have not.What do you think his view is?

I can't say I know what his view is. I think, unfortunately, with the circumstances of everything that has occurred, his opinion of me at this point in time is not terribly high.

When the police searched Burrell's property, they found two cars they suspected stolen.One of the cars bore the number plates of a third vehicle.The cars were seized, as was a typewriter, a rifle suspected stolen, and a prohibited crossbow.Burrell has been committed to stand trial on six charges resulting from this search.Have you ridden in these three vehicles knowing that they were dangerous?vehicles?

Never.

Have you ridden in these three vehicles now knowing that they were stolen vehicles?Now I believe that two of them were, yes.How did you come to be riding in vehicles that were stolen?

Unfortunately, that is an area that is in contention that will be debated in court when the time comes.

You see why this is critically important?I mean, if you can tell lies about stolen vehicles, then...What do you say about the 5th and 6th of May?

Again, all I can say to you is that the matters are totally unrelated.So if you're talking to me about the Wheeling case, I haven't got a problem in the world with that.But the matters that are before the court, as I've indicated to you, are exactly that, they are sub judice.And I am, under my solicitor's instructions, not to canvas those issues.

Even though it damages your position in the public eye?

I don't think my position in the public eye can be damaged much further than it already has been.

In just the last few days Burrell has come up with a verifiable account of where he was on the morning of Kerry Whelan's disappearance.He says he was alone on his farm and suffering a bad back.And on that morning, at about 8 .30, he took a two -way radio call from a neighbour.

I remember opening the door of the bathroom and looking up and seeing the clock, and it was about 8 .25.So I got out of the bathroom, and I was actually, with my back problem, slowly moving across this area right here, actually, to go out and turn the radio on.And as I got to here, the radio called.The two -way?The two -way called, and it was Kevin.

Kevin Cooper is Bruce Burrell's next -door neighbour.Kevin says he did call Bruce on the two -way sometime that morning, and this is crucial corroborating evidence for Burrell.

I can't say exactly when I contacted Bruce.I contacted him on the UHF radio, which I've got in the truck, so presumably I would have either contacted him around say 8 or 9 o 'clock when I was driving down to work, or I would have contacted him later after the foresters had had a look at the property down there, then Phillip's property, which was probably about lunchtime.I would have contacted him one of those times to say we're coming onto your property.

Kevin Cooper keeps an appointment diary, and it has an entry for the 6th of May.Bruce Burrell, Rabbit Ears.Now Rabbit Ears is the name given to the paddock on Burrell's property that was to be reforested.Just because your neighbour Has your name written in his diary on the 6th of May?That doesn't mean you were here.No, it doesn't.

Why is it important to establish where you were on the morning of May the 6th?

I mean, it's obviously, it's become patently obvious since why I was asked the question, but at the time I couldn't give an answer.I'd had no means of actually saying I was here that day and having something to back it up but my word.

There is an earlier chapter to this story and it concerns this woman.Dottie Davis, also an acquaintance of Bruce Burrow.Mrs. Davis was a wealthy widow and she went missing two years ago.

Dottie Davis was a very good friend of my wife's parents.My wife thought a great deal about her.of Dottie.Dottie thought a great deal of my wife.

And we basically got along very well.Mrs Davis's late husband had been a successful manufacturer.She lived alone, but gave every impression of enjoying her later years.By all accounts, she was generous, but careful with her money.Mrs Davis lived here at Maroubra, one of Sydney's southern beaches.Her home is not a hundred metres from the house where Mr Burrell was then living.

Now, Burrell has an extraordinary story about how Mrs Davis, 12 months before she went missing, secretly gave him a cheque for $100 ,000 and asked him to conceal it in a special bank account that he'd specifically opened for that purpose.

It was all terribly bizarre.She'd indicated to me that she wanted it kept very quiet.To me, she was a wealthy, eccentric family friend who wanted to problem resolved, she asked me to help her, and I did.

So seven to ten days later she asked you for 90 ,000 of the 100 back?Correct.In cash?Yes.And so you drove with her out to the building society?

No, she met me, we drove down, she followed me down to the car park opposite the bank in Maroubra.I went across to the bank, I'd made arrangements the day prior with the bank manager.I withdrew the money.and met her in the car park, and she said, Bruce, thank you so much for your help.I greatly appreciate it.Please remember I don't want the kids to know anything about it.

I said, Dottie, what are you going to do with this?

With this being the $90 ,000 cash that you're handing over in the car park to a 74 -year -old woman?Correct.Documents exist supporting Burrell's claim that he drew the $90 ,000 out in cash.But whether he gave the cash to Mrs Davis, he doesn't know.this car park or Mrs Davis is missing and has been for two years, her family, they give a very different version of events.Now I would like to put a different interpretation on what happened with that money.

That first up, you asked her for a loan, true or false?False.You asked her for a loan for a substantial amount, not $100 ,000, considerably more than that?False.that she gave you a cheque for half a million dollars?She did, correct.

She did give you a cheque for half a million?Yes, she did.Well, where did that come from?The same account that she eventually drew the hundred on.So the 74 -year -old lady gives you half a million, you put it in the account, and in fact, I mean, the cheque bounces, doesn't it?

I rang my bank, said, look, that cheque will not be honoured because there are insufficient funds in the account, and that was when Dotty said, well, that's OK, can we do it with a lesser amount?And I said, sure, not a problem.

Let's take it slowly at this point.I mean, how come a 74 -year -old lady is giving you unsecured half a million dollars to put into your special account?

As I said, it was bizarre.Absolutely bizarre.

But you weren't telling me it was bizarre.You were telling me it was bizarre when it was $100 ,000.I know the whole lot.The entire thing was bizarre.But you weren't going to tell me about the half million, were you?

Well, no, you hadn't asked me about it.You specifically asked me at the beginning of $100 ,000.

Bizarre.Absolutely bizarre.I mean, there ought to be a better word than bizarre to explain this circumstance.

If there is, I'm not sure which it is, what it is.

Did you tell the police about this?

Yes.

You volunteered it to the police?We did.Who's we?Well, I did, particularly.I put it to you, Mr Burrow, you didn't volunteer it to the police at all.I did.

But the police learnt about this from Mrs Davis's daughter, and then they...

Well, that's impossible, because Mrs Davis's daughter wasn't aware of it until I told her about it on the night of our interview with the police.Marie knew nothing about it until that time.

I put it to you that Marie told the police about it, then the police questioned you about it, And then you fessed up?No, that's not true.At the time Mrs Davis went missing, Burrell was not a person of interest to the police.He'd simply helped them with their investigation.And then just eight weeks ago, well after the search of his Bungonia property on the Whelan matter, the police remembered that he had helped with the Dottie Davis investigation.So they then headed round here to his old Maroubra home and began digging under the floor, but they found nothing.

Would you acknowledge that you're a suspect in the matter of her disappearance?

No.I believe with what's happened with the Whelan case that it's now been brought into the mill, but I don't accept that I should be a suspect in that case at all.

But if they're digging up the backyard and under the house of your former property in Sydney, then, I mean, you're a suspect, aren't you?

To suggest that because they've gone back there that I am a suspect on that basis is, to me, not believable.

Two wealthy women missing in strange circumstances, both known to Bruce Burrell.

Is he a victim of circumstance?

Just an unfortunate circumstance that you were an acquaintance of two women who have disappeared and never been found again.

Absolutely.Freakish, without doubt.But, yes, I knew both women.Apart from that, there's nothing more to it.Freakish?From my perspective, incredibly unfortunate, especially with what's happened in the last three months.

Yes, but a billion to one chance, Mr Burrow.Well, you're the one quoting the odds, not me.

Would you concede that it doesn't look good?

Oh, I don't know if it looks...It doesn't look good, without doubt.But, because I've known them, doesn't mean I've had an involvement.

Now, I accept that wholeheartedly.It doesn't establish a thing, except it's unusual.

I grant that.

Unusual to the point of disbelief?

No, not at all.

Over the past few years, Burrell has had no visible means of support, though following his recent divorce, a property settlement has left him with some assets.He says he's surviving now only with the help of his family.Inexplicably, the police have requested and obtained hair and saliva samples from his family, but have not asked Burrell himself.Tell me what happened last Thursday night.Could this story get more bizarre?At nine o 'clock one night, just over a week ago, two men Burrell says claimed to be police appeared in the shadows at his front door.

He says they said they had a deal.They said, we have something we'd like you to consider.

And I said, and what's that?And they basically came around and said that if I were to considernot talking to 60 Minutes, they specifically nominated the program, there was a possibility that the charges that I'm currently facing could be dropped.

But you see, that story is not plausible because the police self -interest is not served by stopping you talking to us.

I can't answer that.I don't know why it happened.I believe they were New South Wales policemen.I can't answer as to why it's been done.

Did it happen?

It definitely happened.

The police have made a massive investment in money and manpower investigating Bruce Burroughs.Presumably, they don't believe they're wasting their time.Where is the evidence?And where are the two women?Have they got a skerrick against you?

The only way I can answer that is to say that, as my solicitor has indicated to me, if they had something, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you now.

But as circumstances stand now, someone has got away with this.

That is a major frustration from my point of view because whilst all the effort has been concentrated upon me, whoever has been responsible for this crime is out there laughing.I can assure you I'm not laughing.

Back in 1997, few people were in doubt that Bruce Burrell was involved in the murders of both women.But it took some time for justice to be achieved.In 2006, he was finally tried and convicted of murdering Kerry Whelan, even though her body was never found.Two years later, again with no body ever being found,Burrell was convicted of murdering Dottie Davis.Burrell died in prison in 2016.

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