Casefile Extra: Nicky Fleming

*** Content warnings: Crime against a child *** In 1998, the Easter holiday in Victoria, Australia, got off to a tragic beginning when 12-year-old Nicky Fleming was killed in a car accident while travelling to a family camping trip. But what initially looked like a single vehicle tragedy turned out to be a crime. And whoever had hit the Fleming family’s car had fled the scene… Casefile Extra features bonus episodes exploring compelling cases, stories and topics beyond our regular weekly releases. --- Narration – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Research & writing – Vikki Petraitis Production & music – Mike Migas http://mikemigas.com/ Music - Andrew D. B. Joslyn Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casefile-true-crime/id998568017?ign-itscg=30200S&ign-itsct=casefile_podcastsSpotify Premium https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/9gSwcv7USsbPatreon https://www.patreon.com/casefileFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-7-nicky-flemin https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-7-nicky-fleming/g https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archive-7-nicky-fleming/ Nicky Fleming case was originally released as a premium episode in October 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From journalist Olivia LaVoix, the creator of the hidden investigative series The Bakersfield Three, comes the new Case File Presents series, Ada. In 2011, the body of a woman was discovered in a California vineyard. For more than a decade, she was known only as Jane Doe. Then detectives finally discovered her name. But identifying her was only the beginning. Listen to Ada wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:34Speaker 01

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• 1:04Speaker 02

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's goo.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 1:40Speaker 00

  Today's episode was originally a premium-only release, meaning it was only available for our paying subscribers. Given that we never intended to keep premium episodes behind a permanent paywall, these remaining episodes are now being released to all listeners as part of our Case File Archives series to mark our 10-year anniversary.

• 2:01Speaker 00

  If you're interested in supporting the show, you can still find our subscriber channels on Patreon, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. However, please note that moving forward, we will no longer be producing premium-only episodes. Paid subscribers will continue to receive new Casefile episodes one week early and ad-free, as well as episodes of Behind the Files, where the Casefile team answers your questions and discusses the recent cases we have covered. As always, I'd like to offer a huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has listened and supported the show over the years, especially our Patreon and premium subscribers. We appreciate each and every one of you.

• 2:59Speaker 00

  Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website.

• 3:23Speaker 00

  On the night of Thursday, April 8, 1998, Luke Nolan and his partner Angela were driving along the Hume Highway, one of Australia's major interstate roadways. The Hume stretches for 840 kilometres between the capital cities of Melbourne and Sydney, with the dozens of exits and interchanges dotted throughout.

• 3:46Speaker 00

  Luke and Angela were heading to the New South Wales border city of Aurrifey for the Easter break. As they travelled north on a quiet and remote stretch of the highway between the Victorian towns of Eurowa and Benalla, the couple encountered something that made them markedly uneasy.

• 4:06Speaker 00

  A large red freight truck with a white semi-trailer was weaving in a snake-like way across the northbound road's double lanes. Luke and Angela suspected the truck's driver was either drowsy or on something. Wanting to get a safe distance away, Luke moved into the right lane to overtake the truck. Just as he drew near, the truck veered over into his lane. Luke hit the brakes and pulled back. When the truck was back in the left lane, Luke tried once more to overtake, but it swerved again.

• 4:44Speaker 00

  It took Luke three more attempts before he was finally able to overtake the dangerous truck, and it gradually became a distant speck in his rear-view mirror.

• 5:19Speaker 00

  A short time later, at 12:15 a.m. on Friday, April 9, Victoria Police's Major Collision Investigation Unit were alerted to an incident on the Hume Highway near Violet Town, the halfway point between Eurowa and Benala.

• 5:36Speaker 00

  The request for the Major Collision Squad's presence highlighted the seriousness of the matter, as they were only ever summoned to vehicular incidents that resulted in life-threatening injury.

• 5:48Speaker 00

  The team immediately left their office in Melbourne and headed up the Hume Highway, where the densely populated cityscape soon gave way to long stretches of agricultural fields, rolling hillsides, and thickets of trees.

• 6:04Speaker 00

  The highway consisted of four lanes, two in each direction, with a large grassy median strip between them. Even with their lights on and sirens blaring, it took the Major Collision Team two hours to reach the remote location where the incident had occurred.

• 6:23Speaker 00

  They could easily tell when they were drawing close to the site, as an uncharacteristically long traffic jam had formed despite the early hour. The Hume was particularly busy that night, as travellers drove to or from regional Victoria for the Easter break.

• 6:41Speaker 00

  Police further ahead were directing cars to turn off the highway at an exit before Violet Town, but the detour was slow-moving. The Major Collision Team veered onto the gravel that bordered the road and slowly drove past the bumper-to-bumper traffic, until they spotted the incident site artificially lit up in the distance. They parked well clear of the debris and walked the rest of the way.

• 7:11Speaker 00

  By now, it was 3am and icy cold. The surrounding countryside was still blanketed in pitch-black darkness. As the Major Collision Team approached the scene, they realised the incident involved a Mazda Bravo four-wheel-drive that had been towing a caravan. The two vehicles had separated and rolled in different directions. The caravan had come to rest upright on the median strip in the middle of the highway. A rectangular section had been torn cleanly from the back right-hand panel, leaving a gaping hole that exposed a tartan mattress within.

• 7:53Speaker 00

  The Mazda had landed upside-down on the other side of the highway. Several items had tumbled out of the vehicle as it rolled, including a colouring book, pencils, children's slippers, various toys, and empty fast-food cups. Protruding from a shattered window was a small pair of blood-streaked feet. They belonged to a young boy who was lying face-down on the roof inside, clearly deceased. One of his hands still grasped an Easter rag wrapped in gold foil that he had been holding at the time of the collision.

• 8:33Speaker 00

  The child was identified as twelve-year-old Nicky Fleming. He had sustained severe head injuries, as well as fractured ribs and a broken leg and collarbone. Nicky had been travelling with his father, who was behind the wheel, as well as his brother and sister. They had been rushed to hospital by the time the major collision team had arrived. Their injuries varied in severity, though all miraculously survived. Ian Fleming, Nicky's forty-five-year-old father, had a broken arm, a lacerated forehead, and a deep cut across his nose. His oldest, thirteen-year-old son, suffered a fractured skull.

• 9:18Speaker 00

  Ian's eight-year-old daughter was being treated for minor cuts and grazes.

• 9:25Speaker 00

  While recovering in hospital, Ian Fleming was able to recall the lead-up to the collision. He had left his home on the seaside Mornington Peninsula Shire, south-east of Melbourne, at 5:30pm on Thursday, April 9.

• 9:42Speaker 00

  He and his children were going on their annual Easter camping trip in the north-eastern Victorian town of Bright, more than four hours away. The children's mother had decided she wanted to do other things that weekend, so it was just Ian and their kids.

• 10:00Speaker 00

  After packing the caravan, Ian drove north until he reached the Hume Highway. Shortly before 11pm, Ian noticed his petrol tank was running low. Bright was still over an hour and a half away, so Ian had to stop somewhere to refuel. He saw a sign up ahead for Violet Town and safely reduced his speed to take the turn-off. Just before the exit, Ian was startled by a loud bang.

• 10:32Speaker 00

  Ian's body immediately jolted forward with such intensity that it left him feeling dazed. Within seconds, his car veered out of control. Ian's mind raced as he tried to understand what had happened. He thought he must have blown a tyre or the car was malfunctioning in some other way.

• 10:54Speaker 00

  He desperately tried to regain control, but the car seemed to have a will of its own. It mounted the median strip and flipped before rolling over and over for what seemed like forever. When the car eventually came to a stop on its roof, Ian could hear his daughter whimpering, and he called out, asking if she was alright. Ian removed his seatbelt and fell to the roof. His daughter did the same, as did his older son.

• 11:28Speaker 00

  Twelve-year-old Nicky didn't move.

• 11:32Speaker 00

  Ian managed to escape the wreck. Broken glass coated the road. The roof inside the car was stained with blood. Ian dragged his children out, one by one.

• 11:48Speaker 00

  The two older children were hurt but conscious. Nicky wasn't responding to his father at all. He had died on impact. Ian had no idea what had happened.

• 12:08Speaker 00

  When first responders arrived, they initially thought the incident was a single-vehicle collision, as there were no other impacted vehicles or victims in the vicinity. It wasn't until they spoke with witnesses an hour after the crash that they learned a large red freight truck with a white semi-trailer was responsible. It had been sighted driving erratically along the hume, drifting between lanes and almost hitting other motorists in the lead-up to the crash. There was no clear explanation for the truck's reckless driving. It had been a clear night with perfect conditions.

• 12:48Speaker 00

  The incident occurred on a straight stretch of road in the middle of empty fields. Ian Fleming hadn't noticed the truck at all as it carelessly barreled up behind him.

• 13:01Speaker 00

  What happened next was described as every highway user's worst nightmare. The wayward truck clipped the rear of the Flemings caravan, which caused the Mazda in front to go wildly astray.

• 13:17Speaker 00

  There was little Ian Fleming could do to prevent what happened next. The caravan was hit on its right-hand side, causing it to veer violently to the left. This made the Mazda jackknife to the right toward the median strip.

• 13:35Speaker 00

  The caravan was wrenched free and slid across the road on its side before somehow riding itself and coming to rest on the median strip. It had a few minor dents and scratches, and the rear right panel had been cleanly torn off by an eye bolt on the front of the truck. Otherwise, the caravan was in remarkably good condition.

• 14:00Speaker 00

  The same couldn't be said for the Mazda. The truck driver had swerved to the right to avoid the caravan as it swung violently. This caused the truck to collide with the driver's side of the Flemings Mazda and hit it again when the car rotated. The car was sent into a high-velocity roll that left a perfect impression of its side in the bitumen.

• 14:26Speaker 00

  It rolled three times before its crushed wreckage finally came to rest 105 metres down the road.

• 14:36Speaker 00

  A collision squad reconstruction expert calculated that the truck, which was carrying upwards of 40 tonnes, had been exceeding the speed limit at 106 kilometres per hour before the driver slammed the brakes 10 to 20 metres behind the caravan.

• 14:53Speaker 00

  It was too little, too late.

• 14:57Speaker 00

  The Mazda had slowed down to eighty-eight kilometres per hour in preparation for taking the exit to Violet Town. The truck driver had failed to react sooner, causing the fatal and devastating crash. It was speculated that the driver had been tailgating the Mazda, following too closely and not leaving a safe distance between them.

• 15:22Speaker 00

  Ian Fleming's field of vision was obscured by the caravan, so he wasn't aware of the danger right behind him.

• 15:31Speaker 00

  The truck disappeared in a cloud of dust immediately after the collision. No one caught a glimpse of the driver, and none of the witnesses followed in pursuit, as they had pulled over and assumed the truck would do the same. This categorised the incident as a hit-and-run, a criminal offence. Police established a roadblock further north, where the Hume Highway crossed over into New South Wales, hoping to intercept the fleeing truck there. But, it didn't appear.

• 16:07Speaker 00

  The morning sun revealed the full scope of the crime scene. Investigators likened it to a bomb site. An aerial view of the crash showed debris strewn four hundred metres up the highway. Black skid marks left by the missing truck showed how it had swerved around the debris and onto the gravel along the shoulder of the road, before regaining control and fleeing the scene. Double-tracked tyre tracks arched across both northbound lanes of the highway and continued on to the median strip. This meant the truck travelled for some metres on the grass after the collision, perhaps

• 16:49Speaker 00

  giving the driver enough time to slow down and veer left to take the Violet Town exit.

• 16:56Speaker 00

  If not, they must have continued straight up the highway and taken another exit further ahead.

• 17:04Speaker 00

  By the time the Major Collision Investigation Unit were beginning their search for the truck, it already had a near four-hour head start.

• 17:14Speaker 00

  There were multiple routes it could have taken in every direction. By daybreak, it might have already been many hundreds of kilometres away.

• 17:29Speaker 00

  The section of road where the fatal crash occurred remained blocked over the busy Easter weekend. With such a large-scale crime scene on a busy interstate highway, part of the challenge was sorting out which pieces of debris belonged to it and which didn't. All up, it took investigators more than 12 hours to collect evidence and to document the crime scene, double the time it usually takes.

• 17:58Speaker 00

  All sorts of unrelated vehicle components were found amongst the wreckage, until a major collision team member stumbled upon an accident investigator's version of a jackpot: some small pieces of amber glass from a broken indicator light.

• 18:14Speaker 00

  Most significantly, one of the pieces had a serial number on it.

• 18:20Speaker 00

  Investigators contacted the makers of the glass, a company called Heller Australia, and provided the serial number. Heller's records revealed they had fitted that same kind of light to various boats and cars, as well as many trucks over the years, though they couldn't pinpoint which exact vehicle the glass from the crime scene had originated from. Looking closely at the back right-hand panel torn from the caravan, investigators noticed a rectangular indentation imprinted on the aluminium.

• 18:55Speaker 00

  It looked like an inverted V, or perhaps the top of an A. Investigators thought it might be the impression of a number plate. At this early juncture, the police had few details to go on. All they knew was that they were looking for a red freight truck with a white semi-trailer, a broken amber indicator light, and possibly a licence plate that featured the letter V or A.

• 19:24Speaker 00

  Ian Fleming appealed to the hit-run driver from his hospital bed. He was in shock over losing Nicky, whom he described as a beautiful child and much-loved son and brother, with a wide range of interests including softball, drama and a jazz ballet.

• 19:43Speaker 00

  When Ian first learnt that the person responsible for Nicky's death had fled the scene, he was furious.

• 19:51Speaker 00

  Since then, he'd come to understand that the driver likely panicked and made a spur-of-the-moment decision to leave. Ian remained hopeful they would do the right thing. He begged the unknown driver: "I'd like him now to think about what he's done and honour himself, and step forward, please."

• 20:20Speaker 00

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• 21:03Speaker 00

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• 21:59Speaker 01

  With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One Bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about, in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com/Bank. Capital One, N.A., Member FDIC.

• 22:30Speaker 02

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the Headline Hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 23:06Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content.

• 23:24Speaker 00

  Investigators were aware that it wasn't unusual for hit-run offenders to give themselves up in the days following crashes. Sometimes, they needed to come to grips with what had happened, or sober up from stimulants they had taken. Hit-run offenders almost always told someone what they'd done. If not, the damage to their vehicle raised questions and they'd be dobbed in. The police knew in this circumstance that there was no way the truck driver hadn't realised the damage they'd caused, as a spokesperson stated. "It is obvious to us the driver knew he had been in a very serious collision, and he showed considerable skill to get back on the road.

• 24:10Speaker 00

  A twelve-year-old boy deserves more than to be left by the side of the Hume Highway for dead."

• 24:18Speaker 00

  Truckers shared news of Nicky Fleming's death over their vehicle's CB radios, calling the person responsible "a mongrel". They urged him to come forward and stop giving them all a bad rap.

• 24:33Speaker 00

  Rival truck drivers accused each other of being responsible. Crime stoppers also received a deluge of tip-offs from individuals with personal vendettas against particular truckies, from former partners to neighbours who were sick of seeing rigs parked in their street. Investigators followed up each lead and interviewed many drivers, ruling them out one by one. As time wore on, it became clear that Ian Fleming's impassioned plea had fallen on deaf ears. With no one coming forward to claim responsibility, detectives were facing the worst-case scenario.

• 25:14Speaker 00

  The driver seemingly hadn't told a soul, and the damage to their truck had either gone unnoticed or was discreetly repaired before it raised any questions. Investigators suspected they were looking for an owner-driver rather than a company driver, as the collision damage would be easier to hide if the truckie wasn't answerable to anyone.

• 25:39Speaker 00

  Back at their Melbourne office, the Major Collision Investigation Unit got back to work. Not being trucking experts, they were about to take a steep learning curve. If the truck driver was heading north along the Hume Highway just before Easter, he had to be going home because most truck depots would be closed over the long weekend. It was unlikely he would sit outside a closed depot and wait four days for them to open again.

• 26:10Speaker 00

  Inquiries at the State Motor Registration Board revealed that there were 160,000 trucks registered on Australian roads. Finding the one responsible was going to be a massive undertaking.

• 26:28Speaker 00

  In the meantime, forensic analysts examined the evidence from the crime scene. The truck had left smears of red paint on the Mazda and caravan. Under a microscope, the paint was shown to have an iron-based undercoat with an epoxy primer and a top coat. The top coat was made from an organic red pigment.

• 26:51Speaker 00

  Most people see a red car or truck but can't differentiate between different shades and colour bases. This was purplish-red. Paint samples were requested from companies that had red branded trucks, including Australia Post and Mack Trucks, as well as from the paint manufacturers themselves. None matched the paint from the collision.

• 27:17Speaker 00

  A gear tree on the New South Wales border photographed all trucks that crossed from Victoria. Thirty kilometres further up the road, the trucks were photographed again and their speed was calculated from the time between the photos. Infringement notices were issued to truckies who were found to be speeding. Fifty black and white photos of trucks were taken in the period between 10.30pm on April 9 and 6am on April 10. None of the vehicles featured damage consistent with the collision.

• 27:54Speaker 00

  When the Mazda Bravo and the caravan were forensically examined, photographs of the damage were sent to the Major Collision Investigation Unit. They arranged to get a blown-up picture of the caravan’s rear right-hand panel, where the truck had made initial contact.

• 28:12Speaker 00

  Upon studying the images closely, investigators deduced the letter “V” or “A” impressions were the wrong size to be lettering from a licence plate.

• 28:23Speaker 00

  The shapes had to have been made by something on the front of the truck’s bulbar. They could now see there was a rectangular shape with the inverted “V”, as well as some circles and a rectangular tear. Trucks had all sorts of signage on their fronts. Investigators knew if they could identify what imagery caused the strange impression, they might be able to identify the truck.

• 28:51Speaker 00

  However, by the eighth week of the investigation, the case had stalled. After a massive interstate search, all possible leads had reached dead ends. By now, Nicky Fleming had been laid to rest in a moving service attended by 350 family members and friends. Despite the outpouring of love and grief, the culprit continued to show no remorse by refusing to come forward.

• 29:22Speaker 00

  No one was more invested in finding the person responsible than Senior Constable Caston Schultz of the Major Collision Investigation Unit. The case preoccupied his mind at all times, and he agonised over the evidence, trying to uncover something they had missed.

• 29:40Speaker 00

  He even bought every trucking magazine he could find in the hopes they featured an image of the truck they were desperately looking for. Having a son of his own only amplified Constable Schultz’s drive to find Nicky Fleming’s killer.

• 29:56Speaker 00

  Constable Schultz worked the case full-time. After one shift, he drove to a local industrial estate where several trucking yards were located. He drove by each site before coming across a red truck parked up the road.

• 30:14Speaker 00

  What caught his eye were two small canvas covers on the left and right-hand sides of the bull bar under the headlights. The insignia on the covers was a big white W with a red star in the middle. It was the logo for Western Star, an international truck manufacturer.

• 30:35Speaker 00

  Schultz had examined pictures of the Fleming's caravan panel thousands of times, and all of a sudden, it clicked. The inverted V was in fact the centre of a W. The truck at the centre of the collision was a Western Star.

• 30:55Speaker 00

  Heller Australia, the company that fitted the truck's amber glass indicator light, had a contract with Western Star. Finally, the case was moving forward. Constable Schultz got out of his car to take a closer look at the red truck. It showed no sign of damage or repair consistent with the Violet Town collision. The truck's driver was nevertheless tracked down and ruled out.

• 31:23Speaker 00

  Constable Schultz had found the right type of truck, just not the one he was looking for.

• 31:31Speaker 00

  The major collision team could now further narrow down their search by finding out which Western Star trucks were fitted with the model of Heller light fragments found at the crime scene. Records indicated that 1,732 trucks built since 1993 had the Heller amber light.

• 31:55Speaker 00

  As it turned out, the measurements of the indentations left by the truck's bullbar weren't standard. The vertical sections were 75mm wide, while most of the vertical uprights on bullbars were between 90 and 100mm wide. There were only a few manufacturers who made 75mm uprights. One of them was King Bars in Queensland. Western Star trucks were manufactured in Queensland, so it stood to reason that King Bars might be their supplier of choice.

• 32:32Speaker 00

  According to King Bars' manager, only one bullbar fit the measurements of the suspect truck: A 4964F heavy-duty road train bar. A wooden mock-up made to the King Bars' specifications was placed against the Flemings caravan panel. It fit like a glove.

• 32:53Speaker 00

  Same with the Mazda panel. The King Bars' manager sent his receipt books to Melbourne. His records revealed that 679 Western Star trucks had the heavy-duty road train bullbar. Of these, 206 were fitted with the bullbar and the Western Star canvas covers. For an investigation that had begun with 160,000 possible trucks, police were now down to 206.

• 33:27Speaker 00

  Each of these trucks had to be located and checked. This proved difficult as the trucks travelled the entire country. A four-page questionnaire was distributed to police and was to be filled out each time a Western Star truck was pulled over, listing make, model, colour, and most importantly, any damage to its exterior.

• 33:52Speaker 00

  This meant the hit-run driver would have every traffic cop looking for him.

• 33:58Speaker 00

  The plan also compelled every innocent truck driver to be on the lookout for the culprit, in order to take the heat off them.

• 34:08Speaker 00

  Forensic Officer Ted Kennedy Rippon had been assisting detectives with the case, but in mid-September, he temporarily stepped away to go on personal leave. During his break, Ted and his family holidayed with his in-laws in the northern Victorian town of Echuca. At around lunchtime on Saturday, September 12, Ted and his father-in-law went for a drive and pulled into a service station to get some petrol.

• 34:37Speaker 00

  When Ted exited the car, he noticed a red truck parked on the other side of the station. As his father-in-law filled the tank, Ted walked over to the truck for a better look.

• 34:51Speaker 00

  With no sign of the truck's driver, Ted approached cautiously from the side.

• 34:57Speaker 00

  The vehicle's big silver logo caught his eye. It read "Western Star". "Right sort of truck", Ted thought. After examining paint samples for months, he also knew it was exactly the right purplish-red colour.

• 35:17Speaker 00

  Ted looked at the bull bar to see if there was any signs of damage. It was then that he spotted a crack in the bottom rung on the right-hand side, consistent with the Violet Town collision. He also saw a damaged indicator light that someone had tried to repair.

• 35:36Speaker 00

  The truck had Western Star canvas covers on the front, and the eye bolt was in the correct position to have made the tear in the caravan panel.

• 35:47Speaker 00

  With growing excitement, Ted realised his stroke of luck. He walked around the truck to see if there was any damage to the paintwork, and found a scrape the size of a Tencent coin close to the hella light.

• 36:02Speaker 00

  Everything was consistent with Violet Town. As Ted leaned in to inspect the scraped paintwork, the truck driver stepped down from the truck's cabin. Ted hadn't noticed him there, and nearly jumped out of his skin.

• 36:27Speaker 00

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• 36:35Speaker 00

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• 37:56Speaker 02

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's goo.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 38:32Speaker 00

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• 38:49Speaker 00

  When Ted Kennedy Rippon came face to face with the truck driver who could be the man they'd been hunting for six months, the first thing he thought to say was: "How big's your engine?" Playing it cool, Ted pretended he was a trucking enthusiast. The truck driver's initial suspicion relaxed as the two men started talking trucks. "Do you own it?" Ted asked. The driver replied nonchalantly with a laugh: "Nah, the bank owns it."

• 39:24Speaker 00

  This meant he was an owner-driver, just the type investigators suspected was responsible for the hit-and-run.

• 39:33Speaker 00

  Ted returned to his father-in-law and wrote down the truck's details. He then contacted the Major Collision Investigation Unit and provided a detailed description of the truck. What Ted didn't know was that an officer in Victoria had pulled over the same truck three days earlier and filled out the questionnaire provided by case investigators. The driver's name was Brett Kilmore. He was from Queensland and was a 30-year-old father of two. Two hits on Kilmore's truck in five days pushed it to the top of the investigation.

• 40:13Speaker 00

  Investigators worked to determine if they could place Brett Kilmore on the Hume Highway on the night of Thursday, April 8, 1998. They checked Kilmore's mobile phone records and discovered that his device had been travelling north along the Hume Highway that very night.

• 40:33Speaker 00

  At 10:09 PM, he placed a call near the town of Nagambi. Violet Town was a further 60 kilometres away. Travel timings aligned for him to have been involved in the collision.

• 40:49Speaker 00

  Kilmore's Mobile had no further activity until 1:49 the following morning, almost two hours after the crash. Call Towers pinpointed his location around the regional city of Shepperton, less than an hour's drive north-west of Violet Town, indicating that Kilmore exited the Hume shortly after Violet Town and continued along the Newell Highway.

• 41:15Speaker 00

  This was not a typical route truck drivers used when travelling north, and explained why Kilmore went unnoticed after the crash. This data also showed that Kilmore had stopped his truck for quite some time in the middle of the night before continuing on.

• 41:34Speaker 00

  It turned out Brett Kilmore was the focus of three other investigations pertaining to car collisions that took place after Violet Town.

• 41:44Speaker 00

  Two occurred in South Australia and another was in New South Wales. In fact, at the time investigators were honing in on Kilmore, his red Western Star truck was in for repairs. If damage on the truck was being repaired, then possible evidence from the Violet Town collision could be lost. It was imperative that the truck be impounded and forensically examined without delay.

• 42:17Speaker 00

  Members of the Major Collision Investigation Unit travelled to Queensland and immediately swooped on Brett Kilmore's truck. Inside, investigators found a strange device wired to the engine and hidden in a compartment in the sleeper cabin. Known as a whizzer, this was used to override speed limiters on trucks.

• 42:40Speaker 00

  Prior to the Violet Town crash, the offending truck was travelling at 106 kilometres per hour. Western Star trucks were speed limited to 100 kilometres per hour. That meant the suspect used a device to override the speed limiter, and here it was.

• 43:01Speaker 00

  There were three huge round fuel tanks on the right-hand side of Kilmore's truck under the driver's door. One of the fuel tanks had a huge dent in it, but had been turned around so the dent faced inwards and couldn't be seen. This was definite evidence of Violet Town. The cracked bull bar was also consistent with the crime scene. Furthermore, a tiny patch of canvas found embedded into a screw from the caravan's rear right panel was a perfect match for the hole in the Western Star road train cover. On Tuesday, October 7, 1998, almost six months to the day since the Violet Town collision,

• 43:46Speaker 00

  a tall, lanky man walked into a Nala Police Station in Queensland. It was Brett Kilmore. He explained that a New South Wales police officer had asked him to report to the station in regards to a collision he'd been involved in. Victoria's major collision team was waiting at the back of the station. Kilmore's arrival had been a trap they'd arranged with their interstate colleagues. After being informed that Kilmore was present, they ushered him into an interview room. Kilmore didn't appear nervous until the officers introduced themselves.

• 44:30Speaker 00

  "We're from the Victoria Police, and we would like to ask you some questions about a collision at Violet Town on April 9 this year." Kilmore was immediately rattled and replied: "What Victorian collision? I thought I was here about a New South Wales collision." Then Kilmore began to shake. After a moment of anxious silence, he asked: "Should I ring a solicitor?"

• 45:05Speaker 00

  Investigators told Kilmore that it was up to him, but cautioned that anything he said would be used as evidence. Kilmore stared at the floor before announcing: "I've been waiting for you blokes to come around for six months." With that, the floodgates opened.

• 45:27Speaker 00

  Kilmore denied driving erratically that night, but admitted to taking NoDo's, caffeine tablets that can restore mental alertness and wakefulness in moments of fatigue. Despite knowing that driving while fatigued was dangerous, Kilmore blamed the pressures placed on truck drivers, especially owner-operators. He said he often drove for excessive hours to make ends meet, as he had once been sacked for running late.

• 45:58Speaker 00

  Kilmore said that he hadn't seen the Fleming's caravan until it was too late to avoid it. He tried to blame bright lights on a vehicle behind his truck for distracting him, but this didn't add up. Investigators had interviewed multiple witnesses, and none reported seeing a car with bright lights or high beams behind the truck.

• 46:22Speaker 00

  Kilmore admitted that he had collided with the Fleming's caravan and car. He then veered off the Violet Town exit before stopping up the road. From there, he could see cars on the Hume Highway screeching to a halt in the aftermath of the collision. Kilmore claimed to have seen other cars navigate around the crash and keep driving, which led him to believe it mustn't have been that serious.

• 46:51Speaker 00

  A mix of fear and panic propelled him to drive on and to not go back.

• 46:58Speaker 00

  A week later, Kilmore paid a repairer in Queensland $100 to fix his damaged bullbar. Checking Kilmore's mobile phone records for the week after Violet Town, investigators rang every number with the Queensland prefix 07. Eventually, they located the repairman.

• 47:20Speaker 00

  The major collision detective introduced himself over the phone and said: "I'm making inquiries about a hit run in Victoria where a young child was killed. I believe you may have repaired a truck that was involved in the collision."

• 47:37Speaker 00

  There was a pause at the other end of the phone before the man replied: "You're not going to tell me that the bloke who came in here killed that kid at Violet Town?"

• 47:49Speaker 00

  "I had a feeling about that bloke. I even told my mate in the factory next door that it might be him."

• 47:57Speaker 00

  The repairer's voice shook as he spoke. It was clear he was upset that he hadn't trusted his instincts and contacted authorities earlier on.

• 48:11Speaker 00

  There was nothing that could be done to prove or disprove whether Kilmore had taken any illegal substances in the lead-up to the collision. Investigators suspected Kilmore had deliberately collided with the other vehicles in the six months after the event. This would give him a legitimate reason for claiming repairs to his truck while concealing the damage that occurred outside Violet Town.

• 48:38Speaker 00

  Brett Kilmore faced 10 charges, including culpable driving, failing to stop at an accident, failing to render assistance, and a string of other offences relating to the injuries to the Fleming family.

• 48:53Speaker 00

  He made no formal plea and faced trial in March 2000, nearly two years after the devastating collision.

• 49:02Speaker 00

  Kilmore maintained that it was a horrific accident and not gross negligence. After two days of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts. Brett Kilmore was impassive as the judge read out his sentence of five years in prison with a three-year minimum sentence. Nicky's mother was angry that the three-year suspension of Kilmore's driver's licence would coincide with his prison sentence, instead of being instituted following his release.

• 49:38Speaker 00

  Relatives and friends met to celebrate what would have been Nicky Fleming's 14th birthday the same week Brett Kilmore was found guilty. In a victim impact statement, Nicky's brother told the court that he had lost his brother and his best friend in the collision. Nicky's mother said both of her surviving children were traumatised by what had happened. Outside the court, she told reporters of her pain. "Every day I don't have my son. Every day I have that loss."

• 50:16Speaker 00

  When asked about Brett Kilmore, she simply said, "I hope that every day he's in jail, he thinks about driving carefully when he comes out."

• 50:28Speaker 00

  Following the closing of the case, Ted Kennedy Rippon, who had stumbled upon Brett Kilmore's truck, received commendations from the Chief Commissioner of Police. For a long time thereafter, he was known as Truck Stop Ted.

• 50:45Speaker 00

  Senior Constable Caston Schultz of Victoria Police's Major Collision Investigation Unit spoke out about why he and his team were so dogged in their pursuit of the Violet Town offender. He said, "It's an affront that somebody could just not come forward. It goes against honour and standing up for yourself and taking responsibility for what you did. You have to be held accountable."

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• 52:12Speaker 02

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