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Chris Dawson is the main figure in one of Australia's most infamous murder cases. Serving 24 years in prison, he was convicted in 2022 for the murder of his wife, Lynette Dawson, whom he murdered in 1982. Despite having consistently maintained that he is innocent, a judge declared him guilty during a non-jury trial.
His case is part of an episode in World's Most Notorious Killers on Oxygen that airs the long investigation and legal battles that led to his conviction. The episode is set to air on December 23, 2024.
Dawson is serving his time at Long Bay Correctional Centre. He will not be released on parole until 2041, when he will be 93 years old.
The life and disappearance of Lynette Dawson
Lynette Dawson was a wife and a mother of two daughters, living in Bayview in New South Wales. Lynette married Chris Dawson in 1970.
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On the surface, they seemed to be living a stable life. Chris Dawson was once a rugby league player and had come out to become a physical education teacher in high school.
However, the life of Lynette took a tragic turn with her disappearance mysteriously on January 1982. Chris claimed that Lynette left voluntarily after expressing a desire to spend time away. He reported receiving several calls from her in the days following her disappearance, saying she needed time alone.
Despite these assertions, Lynette’s family found her sudden departure uncharacteristic.
She left behind her belongings, including her children, which raised immediate suspicions. Two coronial inquests held in the year 2001 and the other in 2003 confirmed that Lynette was indeed murdered.
Further probe into the case revived following the 2018 podcast The Teacher's Pet resulted in significant public media interest in the case, which led to the arresting and convicting of Chris Dawson.
Conviction and jail time of Chris Dawson
Chris Dawson faced trial in 2022 for murder charges after several decades of trial and investigation. The court decided to conduct the trial without a jury because there were apprehensions that wide coverage in the media might result in bias.
The case argued that Chris murdered Lynette because he wanted to stay with Joanne Curtis, an ex-student he was dating.
Some of the key evidence was Chris's behavior before and after Lynette's disappearance. He had moved Joanne into his home as a babysitter months before Lynette vanished and later married her.
The court ruled that Chris had invented the story of Lynette leaving voluntarily, and therefore, he murdered her to avoid the complications of a divorce.
Chris Dawson was convicted of murder in August 2022 and was sentenced to 24 years in prison with a non-parole period of 18 years.
The absence of physical evidence, such as Lynette's body, did not deter the court from convicting him based on the massive circumstantial evidence.
Chris Dawson's status and appeals
Chris Dawson is currently serving his term at the Long Bay Correctional Centre, New South Wales.
The defense filed an appeal against conviction in June 2024 in the conviction, and there were claims of a miscarriage of justice by the case because of its lack of sufficient physical evidence.
In return, the court did not agree to it, allowing the former verdict with a jail sentence. Dawson will spend at least until 2041 behind bars, meaning he cannot be paroled until he is 93 years old.
His conviction marked a major milestone in a case that had haunted Lynette's family for over 40 years.
As Chris Dawson serves his time, Lynette's body remains undiscovered, and questions continue to linger for her family. For more details about the case, watch World's Most Notorious Killers on December 23 on Oxygen.
The program aims to delve deeper into the evidence, legal proceedings, and the profound impact of the crime on all those involved.
