Dead Bodies: Matt Murray, #1

By JAMES SELIGMAN

In the early dawn hours of a Sydney morning, five dead male bodies are found in a container in a Qantas hanger, at Kingsford Smith and the victim's faces are so badly burned that police have a hard time figuring out the victim's identity. Only two clues surface: the victims were young Chinese, pieces of paper with symbols around the bodies. PI Matt Murray leaves his beloved dog Zoe and his pet parrot Dwayne at home in Paddington and goes off to investigate the case on commission to the NSW police who ran up against a blank wall. Months passed in fruitless police questioning, in following up leads.

But Inspector Lindley is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case, so he calls in a fall guy Australia's number one PI Matt Murray. After sifting through crime evidence Matt had many questions Why did the body have scattered pieces of white paper with symbols around the body? Why was the container locked from the inside? Why did a bar owner leave for home right after Matt spoke to her? Why did a Triad from Sydney's China town, on the verge of telling Matt something important, was found dismembered in a dump truck? What can a group of young university students possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and "decorated" old ex-detective? Private Eye Matt Murray and his team investigate.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: JAMES SELIGMAN
• Release date: May 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393838012

Book preview

PRELUDE

In the early dawn hours of a Sydney morning, five dead male bodies are found in a container in a Qantas hanger, at Kingsford Smith and the victim's faces are so badly burned that police have a hard time figuring out the victim’s identity. Only two clues surface: the victims were young Chinese, pieces of paper with symbols around the bodies. PI Matt Murray leaves his beloved dog Zoe and his pet parrot Dwayne at home in Paddington and goes off to investigate the case on commission to the NSW police who ran up against a blank wall. Months passed in fruitless police questioning, in following up leads.

But Inspector Lindley is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case, so he calls in a fall guy Australia’s number one PI Matt Murray. After sifting through crime evidence Matt had many questions Why did the body have scattered pieces of white paper with symbols around the body?  Why was the container locked from the inside? Why did a bar owner leave for home right after Matt spoke to her? Why did a Triad from Sydney’s China town, on the verge of telling Matt something important, was found dismembered in a dump truck? What can a group of young university students possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and decorated old ex-detective?   Private Eye Matt Murray and his team investigates.

CHAPTER ONE – THE HANGAR DISCOVERY

The last container was scheduled to arrive at the Qantas terminal around 05.00 hours. The two young handlers left the control room and headed towards the hanger just before dawn. It was cold day the wind coming off Botany Bay.

When one of the young handlers checked out the container that has just arrived for Hong Kong with a torch he stiffened, checked himself, and the yelled to his work mate and began to run. He ran towards the control room and almost stumbled in the door shouting We have dead bodies in a container.

Dead bodies? the controller laughed he thought the guys were taking the Ozzie piss. We have just bloody started you mugs. How could this be, stop scaring me you jokers. I really saw dead charred bodies boss in the container. The handler was visibly shaken.

The three decided to go to the hanger and take a second look. When the controller shone his light into the container, they could see human remains piled up in the centre of the container, they were burned to a crisp and disformed, the smell was intense.

"Call the police immediately. We do not have much time before the next load of containers enter the warehouse. It had just gone 05.15hrs. one of the handlers ran back to the office.

This is a very unpleasant situation, for the first thing in the morning, the controller said the handler. I wonder what happened. The container is locked from the inside and all the bodies are burned and been placed one on top of the other. The faces of the corpse had a grey ghost look about them.

The heads lay on their arms and their legs had been crossed.

IT WAS ALMOST LIKE the bodies have been staged in some sort of freak ceremony of which the controller had no idea, it made the scene quite spooky and both men shivered the deaths of these souls was brutal.

As the sun rose it became lighter in the hanger. By the time the New South Wales police investigators arrived, the lights on the hanger ceilings had switched off from the night. Chief Inspector Lindley was accompanied by six members of the homicide and criminal investigation divisions.

The container involved was left in a corner of the hanger, all the others were removed to give forensics an opportunity to analyse the environment. Criminal investigators went around the hanger and the container. They took pictures and made impressions of the hanger to record the scene. When the area had been cleaned the bodies the bodies in the container were dragged out and placed on stretchers in body bags. Looking at the bodies many of those faces had been brutalised almost like tortured to an unrecognisable state to possibly hide identities. The most common injuries to the face with the eyes they been squeezed so the eyeballs popped out and noses had been crushed, teeth were broken, to the scientists they looked like marks of severe torture.

The autopsy is identified most of the victims being between the ages of 25 and 45 and of Chinese descent. The causes of death range from strangulation to inhaling of toxic fumes. Most were undernourished and had numerous operations and fractures to limbs accompanied with marks of being beaten with a cane. Toxicology report identified chemicals in the body including a knockout drug.

The conclusion being that the victims were administered a drug and then strangled or beaten with great force such as a baseball bat. Most of the team considered death occurred at least 45 days before the container arrived in Sydney.

What was left of clothing exposed cheap items with no markings the type workers wore, but none had any identity and dental records and DNA were the only way to confirm.

It was considered that the murderer had viciously attacked the victims after being drugged concluding the criminal was someone who in person want to kill the victim and murder them to destroy any identity prevent future identification. The investigation team concluded the crime had not been motivated by robbery but was a brutal slaying of people they no longer needed or wanted out the way permanently.

Lindley and his team agreed the first step was to identify the victims. Investigators commenced working with the Qantas staff reviewing records of the container and its paperwork it’s pickup point, the flight and who was on the manifest of dispatch and delivery. They also interviewed the owner of the bar in the Sydney rocks region who had called in after hearing the news reports. According to the bar owner there were two men wearing scruffy cheap clothes talking Chinese and kept referring to bullion or treasure, the bar owner was from Taiwan. The two men had never been in the Rock Steady Bar and arrived late in the evening, she knew this because of night shift change at 20.30 hrs.

Memories with them were vague about the appearance of the two men however everyone agreed that they had long hair with shades of grey and were around 30 years of age one seemed slightly younger and the other.

The only points of agreement, both were Chinese speakers and wore cheap clothes, all the Chinese speaker witnesses confirmed both men were talking excitedly about ‘Jintao’ and boozing. One of them spoke about a missing relative ‘Chen,’ now not seen for a week in Hong Kong, they were involved in organised crime, he said in discussion.

They sat at the end of the bar, close to the other door leading to the restroom. Staff and customers passed by regularly and could hear the two talking to each other quite easily there is no doubt both were excited and nervous.

It was a long shot, but the Police thought there could be a connection as Triads were alive and well in China town dealing in drugs, sex trade, sale of antiquity. 

The media covers the story of the victims in the container which exposed the crime and could lead to victims coming forward and contacting police. However, days past and as such contact of missing persons was recorded by the New South Wales police and the investigation team were finding leads difficult. A meeting of the task force was called by Lindley and he suggested. Just because some Chinese guys were drinking in a bar talking about bullion and treasure doesn’t link them to the hangar incident. The solution lay in the container where was it from, its contents. There was a need to expand the area of investigation and was considered a logical step involving the Hong Kong Police. A request was sent to them and access to their files and local DNA pool.

Ten days past and the identity of the victims were still unknown. The name Chen was quite common in China. Finding somebody with this name would be tedious and very difficult however it was agreed between the two police forces to conduct a search in and around Hong Kong missing persons.

As the victim name was repeated in the pub many times it made sense photos and dental records were sent electronically to Hong Kong Police.

The Hong Kong police took the attitude that the individual called Chen, was a gang member and investigators reviewed all criminal records. They also visited hideouts and dens of known gangs looking for the individual as part of their daily duties.

The responses to the search request started to come into Hong Kong National police agency with a list of persons with the name Chen, there were twenty-seven. However, none of those had relatives claiming a missing person. The lead detective was perplexed and stuck on what to do next.

In Sydney the movement of the two Chinese guys in the bar was under investigation. Day after day the overworked police force continued to trudge from place to place asking questions and trying to piece together the movements of the two men, and to identify who and what if there is a connection between them and the container in the Qantas hanger. When the case was fresh and progress was being made the mood of the police force was up-beat, when cases dragged on with no progress detectives became fatigued.

Senior detective Margaret Lang was battle weary, the 50-year-old detective had seen enough and was responsible for making those enquiries around the airport and Rocks. For the last two weeks she had done nothing but walk the areas and speak to contacts, progress had stalled. She was not alone, in the daily meetings of the detectives also exposed lack of progress which led to her being part of a frustrating team.

IT WAS PAST MIDNIGHT before Margaret reached her home that night in Paddington. Through the frosted door pain, she could see the lights have been turned off. The door was locked from the inside because she hadn’t been expecting so late. She rang the buzzer. Lights in the hallway illuminated, and she could see her husband in the door casting a shadow.

The door slid open to reveal a handsome man in a dressing gown he welcomed her home with a kiss on the cheek.

Margaret entered the corridor and took off her shoes, her feet were killing her.

She went straight to her son’s bedroom who was asleep in bed and her husband requested her not to wake him up. I have not seen him for days this bloody case is a ball buster. She replied. Her husband ushered her into the kitchen and told her to sit down in a chair and said "I will make you an omelette.

So at least you have something to eat I will also make some tea." Margaret was very grateful. In minutes she was asleep, when she awoke, tea and dinner was ready. She drinks for tea with gusto and found the omelette filling she started to relax after a difficult day.

The container case still outstanding? he asked. There was a shake of the head as she drank more tea. Since being involved in the case she came home late every night without results. The newspaper and media are saying that the Hong Kong police are now involved but it seems this this guy Chen is a mystery. Her husband was never one to pry about cases she worked on and they made a point of not trying to talk about work at home it was not the time to argue. She knew the effort that was going into the case. I’m trying to find his Chen guy and also fill in the pieces of the container, the dead soles, I just want to sleep.

In the morning Margaret Lang awoke to the sound of birds singing in the trees as the sunrise burst into life over Sydney harbour it was a magical crisp morning. She put on her tracksuit and shoes and headed down the road to the park where she was made by a collective of various dogs and owners exercising.   Returning home Margaret washed her face and sat at the table. She had slept soundly and had not moved and felt rested, it was late, but she did not care.

The back of the house was bathed in sunshine and the