Half a million dollars on table to solve 30-year-old cold case murder
Updated . First published at
Police investigating the murder of a woman in her Queensland home 30 years ago have offered a $500,000 reward for information.
Dianne Mary Angwin, 50, was living with her friend Edith “Edie” Lay in Bowen and was believed to be having an affair with a local married man when she was stabbed to death on Tuesday, December 2, 1997.
Dianne Mary Angwin was murdered in her unit in 1997. Queensland Police
Lay has since died, and police are re-interviewing witnesses and testing evidence from the scene in their efforts to finally solve the almost three-decade cold case.
Detective Senior Sergeant Tara Kentwell said Angwin and Lay were seen at the Bowen Bowls Club on the Monday evening.
Angwin went back to their unit on Leichhardt Street about 6.30pm and Lay followed about an hour later.
Lay told police she was woken at 12.30pm by a man armed with a knife.
Angwin appeared in the doorway to see if her roommate was OK, before she turned and fled, and was chased by the man.
The 29-year-old mother was fatally stabbed in her Bowen home nearly three decades ago, with detectives now eyeing a major breakthrough in the investigation. 9News
Lay said she found Angwin standing by the couch, bleeding.
The man was nowhere to be seen.
Lay rushed her friend to hospital but she couldn’t be revived. Her right carotid artery had been severed.
Kentwell said there was no forced entry to the unit and no property was stolen.
While Lay told police she did not know the identity of the man, she later told friends she, in fact, did know the man but did not tell police because she feared for her safety.
Lay died in 2002.
Kentwell said the man was spoken to by police at the time but no enforcement action was taken.
She said police will now approach the man again in their current review of the case.
Kentwell said police believe Angwin was involved in an affair with a married man, who had been seen at the unit, and that this was widely known in the Bowen community.
It’s believed at the time of her murder, Angwin had been encouraging the man to leave his wife so they could continue their relationship openly.
Kentwell urged people who were aware of the affair at the time, as well as members of the man’s family, to contact police.
Detectives are also conducting new testing of evidence including items of Angwin’s clothing and will reinterview witnesses across Far North Queensland in the coming days.
Kentwell said police submitted a report to the coroner’s office in 2000, which determined in 2003 that an inquest at that time was unnecessary.
Angwin’s granddaughter Hayriye Yaman said growing up without her grandmother was “incredibly devastating and very difficult”.
“We’ve never had the chance to meet her, make memories with her, or experience the love and guidance that every grandchild deserves,” Yaman said.
“Not knowing what happened to her has left our family with years of unanswered questions and heartbreak.”
Angwin had moved to Bowen from Victoria in 1995 when her marriage ended and she began a relationship.
The new relationship ended shortly after the move, and Angwin lived in a number of place before she moved into the Leichhardt Street unit with Lay, whose husband had recently died, about three months before her death.
Anyone with information should contact Policelink or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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