Case 348: Toyah Cordingley

*** Content warnings: Violence against women, femicide *** When 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley went missing while walking her dog, her loved ones quickly launched a search at Wangetti Beach near Cairns, where she was last seen. In the early morning hours of October 22 2018, Toyah’s father Troy Cordingley made a devastating discovery: his daughter had been murdered and buried in the sand, at a place where she’d always felt safe. The search for Toyah’s killer gripped Far North Queensland, but the answers to the crime lay much further away… --- Narration – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Research & writing – Erin Munro Production & music – Mike Migas http://mikemigas.com/ 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/case-348-toyah-cordingley Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  At around 1:45 PM on Sunday, October 21, 2018, Marco Hydenreich drove from his home in Warree, Cairns, to the coastal resort town of Port Douglas. Marco, who was in his late twenties, had grown up in Port Douglas and had made plans to catch up with his best friend there. The roughly hour-long drive is a famously scenic one that showcases some of the striking natural beauty Far North Queensland is known for. It twists along the winding Kaptenkulka Way with stunning coastal views of the Coral Sea on the right and lush rainforest to the left. The route is dotted with pretty beaches such as Palm Cove and Dallas Beach that are favoured

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  by tourists and locals alike.

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  About two-thirds of the way into his journey, Marco Hydenreich spotted a familiar vehicle as he passed Wonggeti Beach, a four-kilometre-long stretch of coastline tucked behind a dense thicket of trees and forest. Parked in the beach's southern car park was a pale-blue 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer that belonged to Marco's 24-year-old girlfriend, Toyah Cordingly. Marco knew Toyah had been planning to walk her dog Indy at Wonggeti Beach that afternoon as she'd left their shared home just 15 minutes before he had.

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  Marco and Toyah were both dog lovers, having met while volunteering at an animal shelter in 2016. They lived together in Cairns and had three dogs between them.

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  Marco stopped at a petrol station and picked up a six-pack of beer in a Port Douglas bottle shop before collecting his longtime friend, Joel Cuman. The two drove about 13 kilometres south to the Mowbray Valley. The slightly inland area was known for its rainforest hikes and waterfalls. Marco, Joel, and Marco's two pet dogs, Jersey and Bentley, set off on a hike to Spring Creek Falls, a secluded yet popular local swimming spot. In the late afternoon, as they made their way to the bottom of the falls, Marco heard a sudden yelp. Looking around, he realised his dog Jersey, a red healer, had vanished.

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  It appeared that she had caught sight of a scrub turkey or some other animal and disappeared into the rainforest in pursuit of it.

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  Marco called for the dog, but she didn't return.

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  Marco and Joel began looking for Jersey without any luck. Daylight began to fade, and it soon grew dark, but the two didn't want to stop searching. At around 7:00 PM, they visited two different friends' homes to borrow some torches before heading back out to the falls in search of the missing dog.

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  Extremely distraught by his dog's disappearance, Marco tried calling his girlfriend, Toyah, at 7:04 PM to let her know. But Toyah didn't answer her phone. In fact, the phone didn't even ring, it just went straight to voicemail. Marco tried calling her nine more times, with all of his calls going unanswered.

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  At around 9:00 PM, Marco and Joel gave up the search for Jersey and returned to the Port Douglas home of their friend, Toby Petrak, who'd lent them one of the torches. They sat around and drank a beer, with Marco visibly unsettled. As well as being concerned over Jersey's disappearance, he was upset and frustrated about not hearing from Toyah.

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  A little while later, Marco got back in his car to drive home to Cairns. As Marco drove by Wonggeti Beach's southern car park for the second time that day, he noticed something alarming. Parked in the same spot as it had been roughly seven hours earlier was the Mitsubishi Lancer that belonged to Toyah.

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  Marco Hydenreich pulled over to take a closer look. There were a few other vehicles also parked nearby, including a camper van and three four-wheel drives. Marco approached Toyah's car. Its doors were unlocked. Toyah wasn't inside, and nor was her dog Indy. Marco ran down to the beach and raced along the sand, screaming Toyah's name as he went. The wide expanse of white sand was framed by the Coral Sea to one side and dense marshy scrubland to the other. Mountains covered in rainforests loomed in the background.

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  After searching for about a kilometre north of the car park, Marco called his friend Toby, whose home he'd just left, and told him what he'd found. Toby told Marco to call the police. Marco called 000 to report his girlfriend missing, while Toby, his brother Mac, and their friend Joel Cuman hurried to Wonggeti Beach to help Marco look for Toyah. The four young men searched the car park and the beach in the dark for about 45 minutes, until police arrived at the scene and advised them to go home. The police had canvassed the parking area and taken a look around, but there was little that could be done until the sun rose.

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  By this point, Toyah's family had also been advised that her car was found at Wonggeti Beach with no sign of Toyah. After Marco returned to the empty Warree home he and Toyah shared, her father, Troy Cordingly, pulled up on his motorcycle. He spoke briefly to Marco to find out more about the situation before making his way to Wonggeti Beach to look for his daughter.

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  Toyah’s mother Vanessa Gardner, who was separated from Troy, was woken in the early morning hours by her 18-year-old son Jack, who told her his sister was missing. The two of them hurried to Wonggeti Beach as well, arriving at around 3am. Toyah’s three family members called out for their daughter and sister in vain, but could do little until first light. They sat anxiously on a picnic bench, waiting for the sun to come up. By 5:30am, there was enough light to search again. Troy headed south along the beach while Vanessa went north. Both called loudly for Toyah, but were met with total silence.

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  Vanessa made her way to some small sand dunes, where she knew Toyah had previously buried a pet cat. Vanessa knew Toyah sometimes went to Wonggeti Beach to visit her beloved pet. As Vanessa walked along the sand, searching for her daughter, she turned to look into some nearby shrubs. Peering into the bushes, she noticed Toyah’s dog, Indy, tied to a tree. Indy, a Tibetan Mastiff Husky cross, was standing silently. She didn’t so much as bark upon seeing Vanessa. Half expecting to see her daughter curled up asleep on the ground next to her beloved dog, Vanessa rushed over.

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  Maybe Toyah had just needed some space and time to herself, away from it all. But upon reaching Indy, Vanessa realised something far more sinister had happened. Toyah was nowhere to be found, and Indy had been left in a way that Toyah wouldn’t dream of. Her leash had been tied so tightly to a tree that the dog was incapable of sitting down, and was knotted so firmly in a double granny knot, that Vanessa couldn’t free her. Heart sinking, Vanessa knew something terrible must have happened to her daughter. She called for Troy’s help, and he rushed over, managing to untie Indy.

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  Although the dog seemed happy to see people she knew, she remained strangely quiet. Holding the end of Indy’s leash, Vanessa let the dog lead the way, hoping she might take them to Toyah. But Indy only led them deeper into the scrub. Toyah’s brother Jack marked the spot where Indy had been tied up, then continued looking for his sister alongside his mother. When Vanessa’s phone battery began to run out, Jack drove her home to charge it. They were met there by police officers and state emergency service volunteer searchers. Jack returned to Wonggeti Beach with a uniformed officer

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  to show them where Indy had been located. The beach was now swarming with police officers and volunteer searchers, and a rescue helicopter flew overhead, looking for Toyah from the skies. Meanwhile, Toyah’s boyfriend Marco had driven back to the beach as well to keep searching for his partner. He joined Troy accordingly in traipsing up and down the beach, calling Toyah’s name. At one point, Troy asked Marco outright if he’d had anything to do with Toyah’s disappearance. “Don’t fuck around. Yes or no?” Troy asked. “I’m upset, and I have to ask.”

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  “No, this isn’t my fault,” Marco replied. At one point, the two men noticed a hat half-buried in the sand by the water’s edge. It was emblazoned with the words “Tasmanian Wilderness”, and they instantly recognised it as belonging to Toyah. At this point, Marco agreed to go back to the police station to answer some questions. He took Indy with him, and she was placed in some dog squad pens while Marco spoke to detectives. Meanwhile, Troy kept scouring the beach more than a kilometre from where Toyah’s car was parked, and in a particularly secluded stretch of sand.

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  Cairns has a tropical savanna climate, characterised by warm to hot temperatures, and although it was still early in the morning, it was beginning to heat up. Seeking some respite from the sun, Troy accordingly decided to rest under a tree for a little bit, before continuing his search. As he paused in the shade, about 30 metres away from where Indy had been found, he noticed an unusual formation of sand nearby, on the edge of the scrub. It looked unnatural and out of place, slightly raised above the surrounding sand. Kneeling down, Troy scooped some of it away. After scooping away about three handfuls of sand,

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  his hand knocked against something. Just visible where he’d brushed at the mound, was a human foot. Reeling back in horror, Troy cried out “Oh God”, and called for help. Police officer Dale Japson heard Troy’s cries, and rushed over. Upon seeing Toyah lying in the shallow makeshift grave, Officer Japson touched her body and discovered that the young woman was dead. He waved his hands at the rescue helicopter above, letting them know that Toyah had been found. Troy accordingly collapsed and had to be carried away from the area.

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  Police officers photographed and documented the crime scene. Pictures were taken of the mound before Toyah was removed from it. Three logs and some bark laying near the base of the gravesite, and a stick had been partially pushed into the mound of sand that covered Toyah. Visible at the base of the mound was a set of toes pointing towards the water. A crime scene was established, and forensic investigators carefully and slowly excavated Toyah’s body, seething the sand that had been used to conceal her in case it contained any evidence. Toyah was wearing a white bikini with a floral pattern. The top was heavily stained with blood.

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  Her throat had been slashed four times, and she’d been stabbed 26 times. Most of the wounds were to her left torso, with some penetrating her heart, lungs and kidney. Toyah’s fingers, hands and left forearm bore defensive wounds from her fighting back against her killer, and several light brown strands of hair were found in one of her hands. It had been a particularly brutal, violent and vicious attack, most likely inflicted with a knife. It hadn’t necessarily been a particularly large weapon, and Toyah’s wounds didn’t indicate that the knife was serrated.

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  An examination of Toyah’s body indicated that she hadn’t been sexually assaulted. The only other items in the vicinity were an orange glow stick, which wasn’t confirmed to be related to the crime, and a selfie stick owned by Toyah. None of Toyah’s other belongings, such as her phone, clothes or a beach towel, were recovered from the scene. A number of bloodstains were identified in locations surrounding the burial site, including a large patch of blood about eight metres away. There were no marks to indicate that Toyah’s body had been dragged across the sand. A more extensive search of the beach led to police finding two knives,

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  though neither had any blood on them, or was a positive match for the murder weapon. News of Troy’s heartbreaking discovery spread quickly. Toyah’s brother Jack learnt that his sister had been found while he was down at the beach. He ran back up to the car park, where his mother Vanessa had returned after charging her phone, shaking his head and saying “She’s gone”. Vanessa later told 60 Minutes Australia that time kind of stopped in that moment, and she was overcome with absolute horror. “It was unbelievable. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to. I couldn’t think anything.”

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  As the police investigation began, officers looked into what Toya Cordingle had been doing the previous day of Sunday, October 21. It had been an ordinary Sunday for the 24-year-old. She spent the morning at her home in the suburb of Warree that she shared with Marco Heidenreich. The couple did some gardening together and potted around the house before Toya left in the late morning to drive about 7 kilometres to the city centre of Cairns. There, she went grocery shopping at a popular Cairns institution called Rusty’s Markets. CCTV cameras captured her there at around midday clutching a large striped shopping bag to her chest with both hands.

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  Her long dyed blonde hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she wore shorts and a light-coloured crocheted singlet top over the top of her white floral bikini. Toyah shopped there for about half an hour.

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  After Toyah had finished shopping, she went back home and told Marco she planned to take her dog Indy for a walk. She left with Indy at about 1:30pm, driving roughly 45 minutes north to Wonggeti Beach, which was ideal for dog walking. While it lay beside a busy highway and there was a scenic lookout spot near the northern car park where tourists often stopped to take photos. Wonggeti Beach itself was quieter and more secluded than some of the region’s more famous beaches. Toyah could let Indy run around there off-leash.

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  Although Toyah's phone was missing, its records confirmed that she had arrived at Wonggeti Beach at around 2:15pm that day. She parked in the southern car park and took Indy down to the sand. At some point during her walk, Toyah had encountered her killer. While Wonggeti Beach was quiet, it wasn’t isolated and the murder had likely taken place in broad daylight. With experts estimating she was killed between 3:30 and 6:30pm. It was most likely towards the earlier end of that timeframe because Toyah's phone was recorded pinging off various cell towers from 4:51pm on.

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  Suggesting her killer left Wonggeti Beach with the device. Her killer had also buried her in a spot that was somewhat exposed, making the killing even more brazen.

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  There was nothing to suggest that Toyah had difficulties with anyone in her life. She was spoken about by friends and family as a warm, loving person who went out of her way to be kind to others. She was generous, affectionate and cared deeply about the wellbeing of her family and friends. Toyah worked at a combined pharmacy and health food store and was well-liked by both colleagues and customers. On her Facebook page, she frequently shared posts about issues that were significant to her. Such as the importance of kindness and the crisis of male violence against women. Toyah was also a fierce environmentalist and animal advocate who had rescued injured birds, possums and even a baby python.

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  Just three days before her murder, Toyah posted a meme to her Facebook page that read. “I may seem like a nice person, but if you mess with my dogs, I will break out a level of crazy that will make your nightmares seem like a happy place.” Toyah captioned the post with the words “believe it”.

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  In her spare time, she volunteered at Paws and Claws Animal Shelter in Port Douglas, which was where she’d met her partner Marco.

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  When news broke that Toyah had been found, Marco was at the police station speaking to detectives. At around 9am, Marco was told that his girlfriend had been murdered. He grew upset that he wasn’t told earlier and that others had found out what happened to Toyah before he did. He also expressed concern about how he was going to pay his rent without Toyah. “How does it work with the government? Do I get any help from them?”, he asked. “It’s fucked, she does so much for me.” Marco also told a detective that his stepfather was a retired Cairns police sergeant named Andrew Lurs.

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  Detective Sergeant Andrew Worth expressed familiarity with Lurs, referring to him by his nickname of Lursy. Though he would later say he didn’t know him well.

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  Detectives discovered that although Marco had been upset the previous evening about being unable to reach Toyah all afternoon. She had actually sent him a text message at 3:17pm. Marco said he hadn’t seen the message until he realised Toyah's car was still parked at the Wonggeti Beach car park and he began looking for her in the darkness. He couldn’t explain why he hadn’t noticed the unread text while trying to call Toyah a total of 17 times earlier that night.

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  As the victim’s boyfriend, Marco became the natural first person of interest for investigators. He was released that morning, but in the days that followed, his phone and car were seized for forensic examination. Marco cooperated with these procedures and allowed his mouth to be swabbed for DNA. In a follow-up visit to his home, police photographed Marco’s body. They noticed a small cut on his foot that he said he’d obtained while searching for his missing dog Jersey at Spring Creek Falls. Police offered to help look for Jersey, who was later found by backpackers two days after she disappeared. Healthy, but with damaged paw pads.

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  The shirt Marco had been wearing was tested for blood and returned a positive result from three small stains on the inside back. There was also a small, fingernail-sized mark on the front part of the shirt’s neck. But nothing was recovered from his vehicle. Ultimately, Marco was cleared due to having an alibi. His friend Joel Cuman, who Marco had been walking with that day, had taken a total of eight photographs during the pair’s hike. These were time-stamped between 3:41pm and 5:09pm and placed Marco 19 kilometres from the location where Toyah was murdered. It would have taken him 30 minutes to drive from there to Wonggeti Beach.

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  A police digital forensics analyst subsequently spent hundreds of hours studying the photos. To ensure that their timestamps and geolocation data hadn’t been manipulated or altered.

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  Ruling Marco out as a suspect, investigators turned to the final text message he’d been sent by Toyah, which contained an interesting clue. It read. “I forgot that I’m picking up my friend from the airport tonight. I think it’s around 7 or 8, just so you know.” She signed off with a heart emoji. The friend Toyah had been planning to pick up was someone Marco didn’t know. A young man in his mid-20s named Tyson Franklin.

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  Tyson was a podiatrist who Toyah had only met a few weeks before, in early October, after she went to his office for an appointment. Although Toyah was seeing Tyson as a client, the pair hit it off right away and bonded over their love of the Harry Potter book series. They took a Harry Potter quiz together and exchanged phone numbers, saving each other in their contacts as Gryffindor and Slytherin. Toyah's phone records revealed that she and Tyson had exchanged hundreds of texts over the next few weeks. One day, they went together to a local waterfall while Marco was away in Melbourne. After that trip, some of their text messages took on a more intimate tone.

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  “One big thing about all this is I’ve never met someone and instantly connected,” Toyah wrote. “I have to build that connection over time, but when I met you, I got a feeling straight away.” Tyson texted Toyah a brazen question, asking: “I know what you’re like in person, out and about, chilling, talking, but what do you like in the bedroom?” Toyah admitted to difficulties in her relationship, writing of Marco: “He’s an angry person, not at me, just at the world, which I totally get. But often, when I come home, I’m feeling calm, and then I get those emotions projected onto me.”

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  Toyah told Tyson that she wanted to move out into her own place, though she wasn’t sure if she could manage it financially. While Marco was still away, Tyson spent the night of Sunday, October 14, with Toyah on her couch, exactly one week before she was murdered. Afterwards, Toyah messaged Tyson to say: “Honestly, sorry the timing isn’t right, and we can’t take things further right now, but I still want you in my life.” Marco returned from his interstate trip and seemed to notice a change in Toyah. Three days before her murder, she wrote to Tyson: “He said that I seemed different, and asked if I was still happy, because he was

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  scared of losing me and me finding someone else. I was just trying to be myself, but he could tell something was off about me.” When Tyson went out of town soon after this, Toyah had agreed to pick him up from Cairns Airport on the evening of Sunday, October 21, but she’d never made it there. Her phone records revealed that Tyson had tried calling Toyah several times after landing. CCTV from the airport confirmed that Tyson had disembarked from his plane and walked out of Cairns Airport. After Toyah failed to pick him up, he’d gone to the Uber pickup area to arrange a lift home.

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  When police contacted Tyson to interview him about his relationship with Toyah, he was able to provide an Uber receipt for the journey. Tyson confirmed that he’d engaged in a flirtation with Toyah, and said the pair had a chemistry. According to Tyson, Toyah was unhappy in her romantic relationship. Detectives ultimately ruled out Tyson Franklin as a suspect in Toyah's murder, but while examining his electronic devices, they discovered some disturbing information. He had searched several times for news articles about the investigation and prosecution of offenders who had sexually abused children.

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  He’d also searched for child sexual abuse material, or CSAM. During a police interview the following month, Tyson conceded that he had accessed CSAM. He explained that he was attracted to petite females, and that attraction had cascaded, leading to him looking for images of underage girls. He screenshotted pictures that he’d found, then later deleted them to cover his tracks. In total, he had accessed CSAM more than 2,200 times. Some of the material was described as being extremely disturbing, and included acts of

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  sadism towards young boys and even a baby. Tyson also admitted to talking about rape fantasies online and accessing rape and murder porn on a website where people anonymously shared such content. Tyson told investigators he couldn’t control his impulse to seek out this material, and he actively avoided children as a result. A clinical psychologist diagnosed Tyson Franklin with pedophilic disorder. He was ultimately charged and pleaded guilty to one count of accessing CSAM via a carriage service and one count of knowingly possessing child exploitation material.

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  He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but released on a two-year, $1,000 good behaviour bond, with a conviction recorded. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal also disqualified him from applying for registration as a registered health practitioner for a period of four years. With the two men closest to Toyah dismissed as suspects in her murder, detectives needed to cast a broader net. They appealed to the public for help, asking for anyone who had seen or spoken to Toyah on the day of her murder or noticed anything suspicious to come forward. They were particularly keen to track down those who might have noticed her shopping

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  at Rusty’s Markets or at Wonggeti Beach. Women who’d had any disturbing interactions with strange men over the past two years were also encouraged to report them. They had a huge response. Cairns and the surrounding communities had been left utterly shaken and devastated by Toyah's murder. The region wasn’t known for violent crimes. Although it attracted domestic and international tourists alike, locals enjoyed a relaxed lifestyle, a close-knit community, and a slower pace compared to Australia’s big cities. Beaches were a huge part of the local culture, and the idea that a young woman had been

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  brutally murdered at one while doing something as everyday as walking her dog was difficult to comprehend. Women felt their sense of safety shattered, even those who’d previously felt protected because they had big dogs were nervous. Toyah had been killed despite having her large Tibetan Mastiff Husky cross with her. But there was an ugly side to the natural beauty that epitomised Wonggeti Beach. Some people reported to the Cairns Post newspaper that men were known to lurk in the sand dunes there, masturbating. The large size of the beach and its relative seclusion seemed to embolden those engaging in this predatory behaviour.

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  Locals called crime stoppers to share things they’d seen, tip-offs and suspicions, with roughly 1,400 reports being made. Police also took hundreds of witness statements. Amongst those they spoke to were eight people who’d been at Wonggeti Beach on October 21, 2018. These individuals had been at both the southern and northern car parks and reported seeing dozens of people coming and going on the day in question. They were of varying ages and appearances, some had dogs with them and others didn’t. An indigenous woman who parked in the northern car park at around 2pm said she’d seen

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  a man sitting nearby staring at her. Thinking the man was also indigenous, she said hello to him, before realising he was actually of Indian heritage. His intense gaze made her uncomfortable. The woman’s then-partner, who’d seen the man as well, disputed her description of him, saying the man was actually Caucasian. Another couple who’d made a day trip to Wonggeti from Karanda said they saw a slim, bare-haired young woman carrying a beach bag and walking a large unleashed dog. After seeing news reports about Toyah's murder, they recognised her as the woman they’d seen.

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  About 10 minutes after seeing her, they noticed a stocky man who looked to be in his 40s staring at them. He had tanned skin and dark hair. What stood out most about him were the beige trousers he was wearing, which seemed like odd attire for a hot beach. The man stared at the couple for several minutes, and the husband considered approaching him if he didn’t stop. Eventually, the man turned away.

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  A man who stopped in the southern car park for a drink of water saw a young woman wearing a top with holes in it, similar to the crocheted top Toyah had worn earlier that day, being watched by a man with shoulder-length dark hair. Another person said he’d noticed a man with a large, professional-looking camera emerge from St. Bushes sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. A 47-year-old Tyler named Evan contacted Crime Stoppers to say that he’d seen a suspicious person in a high-vis shirt walking out of St. Bushes at Wonggeti Beach earlier that month. But it later emerged that he’d been prompted to call after a troubling conversation with his ex-wife.

• 39:36Speaker 00

  She read an article in the Cairns Post about a public masturbator being photographed at Wonggeti Beach and became concerned that the article might refer to Evan. She knew he was a nudist who visited the beach sometimes and had previously left a note with his number on it on the windscreen of a female nudist. She told the police that Evan experienced deep depressions where he is dangerous and had a real dislike of women. Three days prior to Toyah’s murder, Evan had told his ex in a text message that he needed to go “pigeing” to kill something. “Pigeing” refers to hunting feral pigs, which are a significant pest in Far North Queensland.

• 40:18Speaker 00

  Evan had been known to go “pigeing” at Wonggeti Beach, which had a scrubby area where hunters could find feral pigs. He also had a history of violence. Evan’s ex subsequently warned Evan that he might become a suspect in Toyah’s murder, which prompted him to contact Crime Stoppers. He admitted to sometimes visiting Wonggeti nude, but said he’d never masturbated there or spied on women from the dunes. He’d been going through a difficult period and was seeing a psychologist for depression. He also said he didn’t like people in general, rather than having a particular dislike for women.

• 40:59Speaker 00

  Evan said he hadn’t gone “pigeing” at Wonggeti Beach on Sunday, October 21. He’d been at his mother’s home with his children between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. that day. Investigators tracked Evan’s movements through traffic camera images, which placed him travelling north from Cairns in his red Land Cruiser to a nearby shopping centre at 5:20 p.m. He withdrew money from an ATM, then headed back to Cairns. At no point that day was his vehicle captured travelling towards Wonggeti Beach. Investigators ultimately ruled him out as a suspect.

• 41:41Speaker 00

  Police door-knocked throughout the area and requested DNA swabs from those who lived near the beach. They had managed to obtain some DNA evidence from the crime scene, including from underneath Toyah’s fingernails. They didn’t test the hairs found in Toyah’s hand, as police believed those were hers, but they found an unknown male profile on the stick partially pushed into the burial site, as well as a different male profile on the selfie stick recovered near the scene. They were hoping to find a match to one or all of these. Many locals willingly provided samples, but no matches were found.

• 42:23Speaker 00

  Indy’s leash and collar were also tested. Marko Heidenreich’s DNA was found on Indy’s leash, but as he regularly handled the dog, this was not treated as significant evidence. Others submitted knives for forensic analysis, including a professional fisherman, who handed in over 15. He’d been walking through a creek not too far from Wonggeti and said he carried a large knife on him in case he encountered a saltwater crocodile. He’d recently seen one there that was three metres long. None of the knives handed over were found to be connected to the crime. Detectives hoped that technology might hold the key to solving Toyah’s murder.

• 43:08Speaker 00

  In the age of smartphones, dash cams and CCTV cameras, it seemed likely that Toyah’s killer might have left a digital trace, even if no one had seen him physically. Toyah’s phone hadn’t been recovered, but its records indicated that the killer had fled the scene with it. Between 4:51 p.m. and 5:17 p.m., it pinged off several different cell towers some distance from Wonggeti Beach. First, it was recorded near Buckham Point in Palm Cove, 14 kilometres south of Wonggeti Beach. It continued south, next hitting a tower in Kawara Beach, 8 kilometres from Palm Cove,

• 43:50Speaker 00

  and then a third one in Smithfield, another 5.5 kilometres away. It didn’t hit any further towers after that, suggesting the battery had died. This gave investigators a general route that the killer had likely taken after leaving Wonggeti Beach. And along that route, police identified 32 video cameras that might have captured crucial information. These were a mix of public, business and residential cameras. In early November, detectives received more detailed phone data called “timing advance”, giving them an estimated distance and direction that Toyah’s phone was from the towers when it pinged them.

• 44:35Speaker 00

  The phone appeared to be moving at traffic speed, meaning that the driver who had it in their car was more or less following the speed limit. Using the timing advance information, detectives were able to hone in on a five-minute window just after 5:00 p.m. at a particular intersection in Clifton Beach, just south of Palm Cove, that the killer’s car would have driven through with Toyah’s phone inside. This intersection was a choke point with two traffic cameras that captured footage of every vehicle travelling south. Police identified 219 vehicles of interest that passed through the intersection.

• 45:15Speaker 00

  They narrowed this down to 70 after conducting five timed runs through the choke point. Pictures of these 70 vehicles were made public and their drivers were urged to come forward. Roughly half of them did and were eliminated from the investigation. That left the other half. Police followed up on the mystery vehicles by checking other traffic cameras to see where they went next. Most ended up taking routes that didn’t match the one taken by Toyah’s phone. These two were ruled out of the investigation. The field narrowed until detectives came across car 60, a distinctive blue Alfa Romeo

• 46:00Speaker 00

  156 that matched both the route and the data times of Toyah’s phone. When they did a registration search for that make and model of car in North Queensland, they found only three matches. Two owners were quickly ruled out, but the third caught the detectives’ attention. Car number 60 was a blue Alfa Romeo registered to an address in the town of Innisvale, roughly 87 kilometres south-east of Cairns and a two-hour drive from Wonggeti Beach. The car’s owner was a 34-year-old man named Rajwinder Singh, who resided with his wife, Sukdeep Koh, and their children.

• 46:45Speaker 00

  Born in 1984 in the village of Butakalan in the Punjab region of India, Singh had migrated to Australia with his wife in 2009, not long after the two met in an arranged marriage. The newlywed stayed with Sukdeep’s sister for a time before settling in Innisvale, a rural area of Far North Queensland. They’d worked hard to get by. Sukdeep, who spoke little English, picked bananas, while Singh studied horticulture before switching to nursing. In 2012, he began working as a nurse at Innisvale Hospital and had been employed there ever since. Singh eventually became an Australian citizen and had three children with Sukdeep, two

• 47:30Speaker 00

  girls and a boy. His parents later travelled to Australia as well to live with their son’s family. They were all members of the Sikh faith. Initiated Sikhs are required to carry a ceremonial knife, known as a kurdpan, on their person as a symbolism of spiritual honour and a duty to defend the oppressed. But this was not a practice Rajwinder Singh was known to do. Detectives were able to obtain CCTV footage of Singh’s Alfa Romeo from earlier on October 21, essentially allowing them to piece together Singh’s movements that day. At 10 o'clock that morning, he’d driven his father to the Sikh temple in Innisvale and dropped him off there.

• 48:15Speaker 00

  Rajwinder Singh then drove an hour north to Cairns along the Bruce Highway, arriving at the Cairns Central Shopping Centre in the CBD at around midday. This shopping centre was just one block from Rusty’s Markets, where Toyah Cordingly was captured on CCTV at around the same time, but there was nothing to indicate she had encountered Singh there. Cameras inside the shopping centre showed Rajwinder Singh wandering around somewhat aimlessly. He wore beige-coloured shorts, a pale-blue polo shirt and sandals. The 34-year-old was stocky with a prominent belly, closely cropped dark hair and stubble on his face.

• 48:58Speaker 00

  He sat in the food court for a while, eating a meal. He was also captured at one point leaning over some railing, gazing at those around him, seemingly people watching. Singh left the shopping centre at around 12:40 p.m., his blue Alfa Romeo captured leaving the complex. Traffic cameras captured it driving through the Cairns CBD, then heading north on the Kaptenkukai Way in the direction of Wonggeti Beach just before 1:30 p.m.

• 49:30Speaker 00

  The car then went unsighted for several hours until 5:04pm when it was filmed driving south back towards Cairns. Interestingly, it soon detoured from the most direct and obvious route south. At 5:19pm, two minutes after Toyacordingley’s phone made its final ping to the phone tower in Smithfield, Singh’s car was filmed making a detour to Lake Placid, about six kilometres south. Then it turned around about a minute later. Instead of turning right at a turn-off for Innisfail, the car continued on to the Cairns City Pound, which was near another body of water.

• 50:13Speaker 00

  After that, it continued south via the inland suburbs of Caravonica and Gordonvale, being captured on CCTV cameras there. It was filmed in Gordonvale at around 6pm before going unsighted for almost two hours. At 7:46pm, it arrived in Innisfail. But instead of returning to Singh’s home on Seymour Street, it headed west towards the headland of Flying Fish Point. Almost an hour later, Singh’s car finally went back home. Detectives found this highly suspicious. CCTV footage had Singh seemingly at a loose end on the day Toyacordingley was murdered.

• 50:58Speaker 00

  He’d driven to Cairns and then in the direction of Wonggeti Beach before heading back via an unusual route after the window when Toyacordingley had been killed. Her phone had travelled in conjunction with his movements until abruptly cutting off after he’d detoured to a waterway. As for Rajwinder Singh’s phone, detectives noted something else they found curious. There was a seven-hour gap in its records between 1:16pm and 8:15pm that day, suggesting it had been switched off, turned to flight mode, or had a flat battery. Roughly three weeks into their investigation, detectives now had a person of interest who

• 51:42Speaker 00

  they were very keen to speak to. But there was just one problem: Rajwinder Singh was long gone. According to Singh’s wife, Sukdeep Koh, they had been having marital problems for a while. They’d been sleeping separately for some time, with Singh having his own room while Sukdeep shared with the couple’s baby. She said this was due to their different schedules: Singh did shift work at the hospital while Sukdeep was caring for an infant. But in early 2018, Singh moved out and went to stay with a cousin. This left Sukdeep distraught.

• 52:26Speaker 00

  She visited the cousin’s home and begged her husband to return. He did after about ten days, only to later express the desire for a divorce midway through the year. Sukdeep did not want this. Divorce was frowned upon in their culture, and she felt it would bring shame to both of their families. When Singh’s parents learnt that their son wanted to leave his wife, they discouraged him from filing for a divorce. On Sunday, October 21, 2018, Sukdeep went to bed at around 8:30pm. She didn’t hear her husband come home before falling asleep. The following morning, Singh abruptly told Sukdeep that he was going away and would

• 53:11Speaker 00

  be back tomorrow. As it was school holidays, Sukdeep asked if she and their children could join him. “No,” Singh replied. He left without saying where he was going. That same morning, a man by the name of Rajkaran Singh was shopping at Bunnings, an Australian hardware and garden centre chain, when his phone rang. It was his friend, Rajwinder Singh, no relation. The two men had met at a wedding in India before they both moved to Australia and struck up a friendship. Rajkaran answered the phone, and Singh asked him for a favour: “Could he give him a lift to the airport that day?”

• 53:56Speaker 00

  He had to fly to Sydney to visit his sister. Rajkaran agreed, and Singh arrived at his home in the Cairns suburb of Redlynch later that day. He appeared to be in a rush, asking Rajkaran right away: “I’m late, can you drop me to the airport?” But Rajkaran’s parents were home and insisted that Singh sit down for a cup of tea with them before leaving. Singh drank his tea quickly, appearing highly stressed. Then he and Rajkaran headed to the airport. Singh also asked Rajkaran if he could leave his blue Alfa Romeo at his house while he was gone, which Rajkaran agreed to.

• 54:41Speaker 00

  As they drove, Singh seemed to be scrolling on his phone as though looking for something. Rajkaran couldn’t see the phone’s screen. He asked his friend: “Are you okay? You’re looking very stressed.” Rajkaran knew that Singh’s sister had recently gotten married, and he wondered whether something was wrong with her that required Singh to rush off so quickly. Singh replied that everything was fine, and he would explain the situation when he returned. He sounded so firm that Rajkaran didn’t push the matter further. He dropped Singh at the airport and agreed to collect him when he returned.

• 55:22Speaker 00

  Singh said that date could change, but he expected to be home within four to five days. When Rajkaran returned home, he moved Singh’s Alfa Romeo from the driveway to the street outside the house. He expected to hear from Singh soon, as Rajkaran was applying to be in the Army Reserves and had listed Singh as a referee. But days went by with no word from Singh. Rajkaran reached out to Singh’s wife, Sukdeep, to see what was going on, only to be informed that Sukdeep had reported her husband missing to the police two days after he left.

• 56:02Speaker 00

  He hadn’t said goodbye to his parents or given them any clue as to where he had gone. Nobody had heard from him since his hasty departure. This included his workplace. Rajwinder Singh had been rostered to work an early morning shift on Monday, October 22, as well as other shifts in the days that followed. He never showed up for these, and no one at Innisfail Hospital heard from him until Monday, October 29. That day, he left a strange and disjointed voicemail message on the phone of Lesley Harris, the hospital’s director of nursing and midwifery. Singh told Ms. Harris that he was resigning, stating:

• 56:47Speaker 00

  “Sorry about all of this, but I’m still recovering from all that stressful thing, so there is no way I am coming back to my family or Innisfail or work in the near future.” Singh’s wife and children were dependent on his income, yet he made no financial provisions for them and pocketed his severance pay for himself. Detectives checked travel and immigration records to find out where Singh had gone. As he told his friend, Rajkaran, he had flown to Sydney at 5:05pm on Monday, October 22, and went to see his sister, but he hadn’t stopped there. After spending one night at his sister’s home, he went to Sydney Airport on Tuesday,

• 57:32Speaker 00

  October 23, where he was captured by CCTV cameras and boarded an Air India flight to Delhi at 10:45am. Singh had told his sister he was travelling to India for a few days, but didn’t say why. Indian records confirmed that he had arrived in Delhi, but there was no trace of him after leaving the airport. Tracing the ticket he’d purchased to a travel agent, detectives were able to obtain a recording of the phone conversation between Singh and the agent. He’d called the travel agent at 11am on the morning he left, saying he wanted the earliest flight possible from Cairns to Delhi.

• 58:16Speaker 00

  “I just want a one-way because my grandfather is really sick,” Singh claimed. This was in fact false, and his grandfather was not unwell. None of Singh’s relatives in India had heard from him, and he hadn’t returned to the village he was from.

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• 59:53Speaker 00

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• 1:00:08Speaker 00

  Detective Superintendent Murray Taylor worked for the Australian Federal Police, or AFP, at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi. His role involved liaising and working with Indian law enforcement on matters relating to Australians in the country. In November 2018, Detective Murray was informed that Queensland Police needed to track down the location of an Indian national who had fled Cairns weeks earlier.

• 1:00:37Speaker 00

  Detective Murray reached out to several agencies, from India's National Policing Agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, to officers based in the Punjab region in the north of the country where Singh was from.

• 1:00:51Speaker 00

  None of them had any luck locating Singh.

• 1:00:55Speaker 00

  Unable to arrest or speak to their main person of interest, Queensland detectives got on with their investigation. On Saturday, November 10, they went to Singh's home in search of a potential murder weapon, blooded clothes, traces of Toyah Cordingley's DNA, or other items that could be linked to the crime. Knives were taken and tested, but none were found to have been used in the murder. The police found nothing connected to Toyah or the crime, but they did obtain samples of Singh's DNA to compare to those recovered from the crime scene. The profile found on the stick that was protruding from Toyah's burial site was a

• 1:01:37Speaker 00

  match, being 3.7 billion times more likely to have come from Rajwinder Singh than from any other person. Statistically, this meant that only two or three people in the entire world would have the same profile. Those odds made it a certainty that the DNA on the stick was Singh's. DNA found on some bark recovered from the scene was 42 million times more likely to have come from Singh than any other person. The DNA recovered from Toyah Cordingley's fingernails was a mixed profile that contained multiple contributors. A sample taken from the top of Toyah's left hand featured Toyah's DNA and that of an unknown person.

• 1:02:24Speaker 00

  The unknown DNA was 26 times more likely to belong to Singh than a random member of the population, but this likelihood ratio was so low that it was considered meaningless.

• 1:02:37Speaker 00

  Singh's DNA was not found on Indy's leash or collar.

• 1:02:42Speaker 00

  Police seized Rajwinder Singh's car for forensic testing. It didn't appear to have been recently washed. Both front floor mats were missing from the vehicle by the time it came into the police's possession, and these were never found.

• 1:02:58Speaker 00

  Sand was found scattered throughout its interior, including the driver's area, the rear floor area, and the center console. No blood or DNA belonging to Toyah Cordingley was recovered from the vehicle.

• 1:03:13Speaker 00

  But the Alpha Romeo proved useful in other ways. Investigators used it to perform a reenactment, which they could then compare to the CCTV camera footage from the day Toyah was murdered. They also visited some of the sites it appeared Rajwinder Singh had visited on his circuitous drive home on the day in question. Detectives were particularly interested in the bodies of water Singh had potentially stopped at. Data never recovered Toyah's phone, wallet, or items of clothing, and they wondered if Singh had disposed of these items while travelling home. On Monday, November 19, police divers went to Lake Placid, one of Singh's first stops,

• 1:03:56Speaker 00

  and Moody Creek in nearby Bungalow. Part of the former was searched, but divers weren't able to do as thorough a search as they would have liked due to the size of the lake and the number of saltwater crocodiles that resided there. A sharpshooter armed with a high-powered rifle kept a lookout for crocs from the creek's banks as the latter was searched. Nothing belonging to Toyah was recovered.

• 1:04:26Speaker 00

  While detectives were building a case against Rajwinder Singh, members of the public held a vigil for Toyah and continued to grieve her senseless murder while worrying that her killer was still on the loose. In early December 2018, roughly seven weeks into the investigation, word leaked to the media that police had identified an Indian national as their lead suspect. Rajwinder Singh was not named in these reports, but it was shared that the suspect was no longer in the country. Although police refused to comment on the story and said that the leak had the potential to jeopardize their investigation, this news was another blow to the people of Cairns and its surrounding towns.

• 1:05:11Speaker 00

  The idea that the killer might have escaped to justice for such a brutal crime increased public anger and galvanized the community. Three weeks after Toyah's murder, 200 residents visited Wongi Beach in a statement against the violence that had taken Toyah's life. They carried flowers and linked arms in a human chain along the sand in a symbolic display of strength and community. A smoking ceremony was held, an indigenous cultural practice involving the burning of native plants to cleanse, purify, and protect the community, as roses, lilies, and sunflowers were cast into the water.

• 1:05:51Speaker 00

  Some used small stones to spell out Toyah's name on the sand, then framed it with a variety of flowers. A makeshift memorial also sprung up along the roadside near where Toyah's car had been parked.

• 1:06:06Speaker 00

  But the community didn't just memorialize Toyah, they began to advocate for justice in her name. Knowing that the lead suspect in the case had fled the country, Wayne Trimble wrote an advertisement for the local newspaper that called for a bumper sticker campaign to help seek justice. A local print shop owner saw the ad and decided to lend a hand, printing some bumper stickers that read "Toyah" in black capital letters. This was followed by "The community will never give up" in yellow font, and a final line, "The number for Crime Stoppers," and the words "Tell us what you know, not who you are."

• 1:06:47Speaker 00

  Yellow sunflowers dotted the corners of the stickers. Locals began placing the stickers on their cars, and they became ubiquitous throughout the region. Tourists visiting the area would learn about the case after spotting the Toyah stickers emblazoned across so many vehicles. Eventually, more than 250,000 were printed and shared all over the country. Businesses in far north Queensland also put up billboards and flew banners with similar messages. It was arguably the most publicity an unsolved case had ever received in the region's history, and everyone in the area knew Toyah's name.

• 1:07:28Speaker 00

  The print shop owner told ABC News, "She's in Cairns psyche now, that girl. She will never leave it. No one is going to forget that girl in this town."

• 1:07:43Speaker 00

  While the grassroots bumper sticker campaign in Queensland was adding pressure and publicity to the case, this wasn't being felt in India. A frustrating factor for Australian investigators was the lack of attention the case seemed to be garnering in India. It seemed as though police there weren't overly motivated to search for Singh, and the case attracted little media coverage in his homeland.

• 1:08:08Speaker 00

  Queensland Police liaised with Interpol, the international police organisation, and authorities in India in their quest to locate Rajwinder Singh, with no success. In early December of 2018, Singh's father also travelled to India in an attempt to track down his son. But he found no trace of him, nor could he find anyone who'd seen him. None of Singh's aunts and uncles, who still resided in India, had heard from him, and Singh never made any contact with his wife, children, parents, sister or friends back in Australia. It was as though he had vanished.

• 1:08:47Speaker 00

  Months turned to years with no further updates. Hundreds of police officers spent thousands of hours working the case, but were hamstrung by international law. They needed to abide by the Indian legal process, which moved slowly. In March of 2021, an extradition request for Singh's arrest was issued. Roughly 18 months later, in October of 2022, it was finally signed, allowing Australian investigators to move on Singh. On Thursday, November 3, more than four years after Toyah's murder, Rajwinder Singh was publicly named as the prime suspect.

• 1:09:29Speaker 00

  It was also announced that the Queensland government was offering a $1 million reward for information leading to his whereabouts. It was the largest reward in the state's history. Toyah's parents welcomed the development, with Vanessa Gardner telling the ABC, "She would be looking down, thinking, 'I can't believe they're doing this for me. She deserves every bit of it, and I just hope I get that call very soon to say they found him. If Mr. Singh sees it, I wish he would come forward and turn himself in."

• 1:10:06Speaker 00

  The case's lead investigator, Detective Inspector Sonia Smith, stated: "We only need one person to come forward and tell us where he is. We will take information from anywhere across the world." With the announcement of the reward, Queensland Police set the pieces in motion for an arrest. Five officers who spoke Hindi and Punjabi were set up to receive tip-offs from India via the WhatsApp messaging platform. Several Queensland detectives flew to India to work on the ground with law enforcement officials over there. The reward was highly publicised throughout India via flyers, news articles and social media, in the hopes that someone who knew something would come forward.

• 1:10:53Speaker 00

  Exactly three weeks after the reward was announced, a tip-off came through to the Australian High Commission in the Indian capital of New Delhi. According to the tipster, Rajwinder Singh was hiding out in the city's northern district of Rana Prata Bagh, a popular residential area favoured by families and professionals. With its wide roads and many parks, the neighbourhood had a peaceful atmosphere and a strong community feel. Singh had taken up residence in a Sikh gurdwara there, a temple and community centre where members of the Sikh faith go to worship, eat and mingle. Early the following morning of Friday, November 25,

• 1:11:35Speaker 00

  Detective Superintendent Murray Taylor from the AFP watched as Indian police approached the gurdwara. They found Rajwinder Singh inside and arrested him. His appearance had changed since leaving Australia. His short hair was now long and wrapped in a turban, in accordance with a core tenet of the Sikh faith. He had also grown a long, salt and pepper-coloured beard. Singh was taken into custody to await his extradition hearing.

• 1:12:09Speaker 00

  Singh ultimately decided not to contest his extradition, claiming in Indian news reports that he did not kill the woman, and he wanted to reveal all the details in the Queensland courts. It was unclear why he hadn't come forward years earlier if this was the case, but his decision prevented a drawn-out legal process. It also removed Singh from Sahar Jail, the enormous prison complex in South Asia where he would have been held until the extradition hearing was complete. The $1 million reward was paid out to several people who provided the tip-off as to Singh's whereabouts, though their identities were kept confidential.

• 1:12:50Speaker 00

  In March of 2023, Rajwinder Singh was flown back to Cairns and charged with one count of murder. He was taken to the Cairns watchhouse and placed in a cell alongside another inmate, who identified himself as Jacob. Jacob struck up a conversation with Singh, telling him he'd been in Cairns to visit his mum, but had an issue with his temper and just lost it sometimes. After they'd been chatting for a while, Jacob told Singh he was glad they'd been placed in a cell together, as Singh seemed nice. When he asked what Singh was there for, Singh replied: "They say I killed someone."

• 1:13:33Speaker 00

  He claimed that while he hadn't murdered Toyah accordingly, he had been at Wongiati Beach and had witnessed the crime. "I did not see their faces. They were covered," Singh explained. Although he didn't know who the killers were, he was terrified they might come after him because he'd seen what they did. That was why he'd fled Australia the very next day. But unfortunately, he'd drawn the attention of the police instead, due to his car being linked to the scene. "That's the reason they're thinking. I ran away because I did something, or I killed the person," Singh explained. He never said why he ran away instead of reporting Toyah's murder to the police,

• 1:14:18Speaker 00

  but he told Jacob that he'd been in shock ever since, and he was a gentle person who'd never even raised his voice to someone before. He also shared his spiritual beliefs, stating: "Whatever we are doing in this life, we have to pay for every one of our actions in the next life. And whatever we get now, it is because of some past life."

• 1:14:43Speaker 00

  What Singh didn't realise was that the fellow windmate he was talking to was actually an undercover police officer, and their entire three-hour-long conversation was being covertly recorded.

• 1:14:58Speaker 00

  The same week that Singh returned to Australia, Toyah's beloved dog, Indy, had to be put down after becoming sick with cancer. Farewell-ing Indy was another heartbreaking blow for Toyah's loved ones.

• 1:15:12Speaker 00

  Rajwinder Singh spent almost two years in custody until his trial began at the end of February in 2025. The now 40-year-old Singh pleaded not guilty and opted against giving evidence. Due to the case's notoriety throughout the region, a larger jury pool than usual was drawn. Before being admitted to court to have their numbers drawn, all potential jurors were required to fill out a questionnaire in order to determine whether they could be impartial. They were asked whether they'd ever displayed a Toyah bumper sticker or if they were a member of any social media groups about the case.

• 1:15:52Speaker 00

  Ultimately, eight men and four women were selected and would hear evidence presented from more than 70 witnesses over 12 days. There was forensic evidence relating to the DNA evidence, Toyah Cordingle's phone data and Singh's Alfa Romeo, as well as testimony from those close to both Toyah and Singh.

• 1:16:13Speaker 00

  When Singh's wife, Sukdeep Kaur, testified, she acknowledged that seeing her husband in the courtroom that day was the first time she'd seen him since he fled the country more than six years earlier. Neither she nor any of her children had heard from him since. The recording of the conversation Singh had with the undercover officer in the Cairns watchhouse was also played to the court, and the jury was provided with transcripts.

• 1:16:41Speaker 00

  The defence asked them to consider whether anyone else could be responsible for killing Toyah, including her boyfriend, Marco Heidenreich. They portrayed Singh as a coward, not a killer, claiming he was a man trapped in an unhappy marriage who'd abandoned his family, but was incapable of violence. He was also being bullied at work by a colleague and was already under stress when he witnessed Toyah's murder and handled it badly. He might have driven an indirect and convoluted route home to avoid being pursued by the real perpetrators, then left Australia in fear. After the prosecution and defence presented their closing arguments, the jury left to deliberate.

• 1:17:26Speaker 00

  They did so for two and a half days until they sent a note to the judge, Justice James Henry, at 12:05pm on Tuesday, March 18, informing him they could not reach a unanimous decision. It read: "We asked the jury group, 'Are there any more things to discuss? Is there any more evidence to review? Are there any more questions to present to the judge? All members answered 'No.' We voted again, and we are deadlocked. We cannot see a path to being unanimous. Please advise."

• 1:18:04Speaker 00

  Justice James Henry explained that although judges were usually reluctant to declare a hung jury, he could see that they were at a point where they had discussed the case evidence at length and were still unable to decide. He discharged the group, thanking them for their service, and noting: "No one could accuse you of not trying to resolve the case." It was a bitterly disappointing conclusion for Toyah's family and friends, but Rajwinder Singh was not free to go. Instead, he would be facing another trial.

• 1:18:43Speaker 00

  Singh’s retrial began eight months later, on Monday, November 10, 2025, to be presided over by a new judge, Justice Lincoln Crowley. Once again, Rajwinder Singh was pleading not guilty and would not be giving evidence in his defence. The same stringent process was followed to find objective jurors, with ten men and two women selected, as well as three female reserve jurors. In the months after the first trial, the prosecution had ordered more forensic testing on the DNA samples recovered from the crime scene. Specifically, they had the samples taken from Toyah Cordingley’s fingernails tested again for Y-chromosome DNA.

• 1:19:28Speaker 00

  As it was a mixed-profile sample that contained both male and female DNA, it should have been tested separately for markers on the Y-chromosome, which is present only in males and passed down the paternal line. One test revealed that 26 of the 27 genetic markers matched those of Singh’s Y-chromosome. In a second test, all 27 markers matched.

• 1:19:54Speaker 00

  Addressing the fact that Singh’s DNA wasn’t recovered from Indy’s Lee Shaw collar, Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane suggested that Singh might have forced Toyah to restrain Indy herself or covered his hands with Toyah's clothes while tying the lead, before later disposing of them along with Toyah's phone and other belongings. However, the defence argued that the absence of Singh’s DNA there was notable and criticised the prosecution’s decision not to test the hairs found in Toyah's hand. The jury was also presented with extremely detailed evidence about Toyah Cordingley’s phone pings and how detectives had matched those with the journey made by Rajwinder Singh’s Alfa Romeo.

• 1:20:38Speaker 00

  Singh’s wife, Sukdeep Kaur, gave evidence again about her unhappy marriage and the way her husband had completely disappeared from her and her children’s lives. Vanessa Gardner spoke of how she’d found Toyah's dog tied to a tree and Troy Cordingley shared how he’d found his daughter’s burial site.

• 1:20:59Speaker 00

  Almost a year’s worth of text messages sent between Toyah and her boyfriend Marco were entered into evidence to illustrate how ordinary and devoid of conflict their relationship was. During the trial’s second week, the jury took an excursion to Wongati Beach to see nine key locations related to the crime, including where Toyah was buried and where her dog Indy was tied up. This involved a four-kilometre walk from the southern car park to the northern end of the beach. The trip was intended to give the jurors crucial context around the crime, rather than provide evidence. Once again, Singh’s recorded conversation with an undercover officer was played to the court.

• 1:21:43Speaker 00

  The defence questioned why Rajwinder Singh, who was softly spoken and didn’t have a history of violence, would commit such a brutal murder against a stranger, seemingly out of nowhere. They pointed to his history of steady employment as a nurse and the fact that he was a vegetarian who didn’t drink alcohol as indicators of his good character. His own mother had claimed that Singh wouldn’t even step on an ant for fear of causing harm.

• 1:22:12Speaker 00

  The defence suggested there were other men in the area who made for more likely suspects, like pig hunters armed with large knives and men with drug problems or mental health issues who were said to frequent Wongati Beach. Two weeks into the trial, a juror sent a note to the judge, Justice Lincoln Crowley, sharing concern about some things that the jury’s speaker, also known as the foreperson, had said. According to the other juror, the speaker had expressed a prejudice against the police and remarked that he’d heard all he needs to, despite the fact that the trial was ongoing. He’d also claimed to have a history of violence and had been disrespectful to a fellow juror.

• 1:22:57Speaker 00

  Once this came to light, Singh’s defence team argued that the entire trial should be aborted. Justice Crowley disagreed, ultimately dismissing the speaker and ruling that the trial would conclude without him. It finally wrapped in the first week of December, with both sides presenting their closing arguments. The defence argued that Rajwinder Singh, as a lone offender, made no sense. How would he have overpowered both Toyah and her dog Indy? They believed that there were other, more likely suspects that detectives failed to properly investigate. The Crown pointed to evidence that ruled those other men out via their phone records and CCTV footage,

• 1:23:41Speaker 00

  adding that if it had been one of those people, police would have had a much easier job compared to pursuing Singh in India. Nathan Crane emphasised Singh’s DNA at the scene and Toyah's phone being linked to his car, something that only the killer could have done.

• 1:24:00Speaker 00

  In handing down his instructions to the jury, Justice Lincoln Crowley reminded them that identifying a motive was not necessary for a guilty verdict.

• 1:24:11Speaker 00

  At 3:13pm on Friday, December 5, the jury began their deliberations. By the afternoon of Monday, December 8, they had a verdict. Rajwinder Singh was guilty of murdering Toyah Cordingley. As the verdict was read aloud, gasps and cries broke out across the courtroom and Toyah's father, Troy, said, “Rod in hell, you bastard.” In the dock, Rajwinder Singh sat still and expressionless.

• 1:24:46Speaker 00

  After Singh’s conviction, it emerged that his claim of having witnessed Toyah's murder wasn’t the only story he’d told about that day on Wongati Beach. Following his arrest in India, he’d spun a different tale to the authorities over there. Multiple Indian news outlets reported that Singh had told the Indian police that he had gone to Wongati Beach carrying a kitchen knife and some fruit. While there, he’d encountered Toyah and Indy and got into an altercation with Toyah after Indy started barking at him. Angered by the barking, Singh said he repeatedly stabbed Toyah before burying her body in the sand and tying Indy to a tree.

• 1:25:29Speaker 00

  This provided a possible answer as to how Indy came to be found in the way that she was, as Toyah's loved ones were adamant that she would never have restrained her dog in such a way. Indy had never been known to show aggression towards a person, so it was unknown how she might react towards a stranger in such a scenario. The motive, however, rang hollow to those closest to the case. During sentencing on Tuesday, December 9, Justice Lincoln Crowley offered up his own speculation as to why Singh had killed Toyah.

• 1:26:04Speaker 00

  He suspected that Singh’s people watching at Cairns Central Shopping Centre on the day of the murder prompted him to then head to an isolated area of Wongati Beach to continue watching people in a more nefarious way.

• 1:26:19Speaker 00

  “It is hard to imagine what motivated you to set upon that vulnerable young woman, but given the vicious attack that transpired, it is quite possible that she discovered you there engaged in some type of disgraceful and embarrassing activity at a secluded spot, where your true self could emerge uninhibited and where your deeper, darker urges and desires could reveal themselves. The obvious explanation that comes to mind is that Ms. Cordingley caught you or you approached her while you were engaged in some kind of activity of a sexual or perverted nature and that she challenged you. Given that you took her mobile phone after you killed her, it raises the prospect that she may have recorded you

• 1:27:04Speaker 00

  or sought to call the authorities after catching you doing whatever you were doing.” This was a supposition that investigators and prosecutors agreed with. Toyah's phone was never recovered and its movements in conjunction with Singh’s car up until he reached a body of water suggested he’d deliberately disposed of it. The obvious explanation for why he’d do such a thing was that there was something on Toyah's phone he didn’t want anyone to see. Justice Crowley observed that Singh had never shown any remorse and had fled like a gutless coward, harming his own family and prolonging the pain of Toyah's loved ones.

• 1:27:46Speaker 00

  Then he caused even more suffering by allowing others to fall under suspicion.

• 1:27:53Speaker 00

  “You sought to blame others through your conduct, through your defence of this matter, particularly Toyah's boyfriend, Marco Heidenreich. You cast the net far and wide, seeking to besmirch the character of others, embarrass, point the finger at as many people as possible in an effort to set up further false possibilities as to who might be the killer. The prospects of rehabilitation, I consider, must be poor. Your offending was extremely violent and incomprehensible. You have denied all responsibility.

• 1:28:30Speaker 00

  Murder in Queensland carries a mandatory life sentence, with the judges then setting a minimum non-parole period that perpetrators must complete.

• 1:28:40Speaker 00

  The standard is 20 years, but the aggravating factors in Singh’s case led to Justice Crowley sentencing him to a 25-year minimum. Rajwinder Singh has since lodged an appeal, which is scheduled to be heard in October 2026.

• 1:28:59Speaker 00

  Outside of court, Vanessa Gardner read a statement to the media expressing gratitude for the police, the community and the verdict, as well as overwhelming grief. Those who loved Toyah had been waiting for justice for more than seven years and they'd finally received it.

• 1:29:19Speaker 00

  "Today is a big piece of this journey that needed an ending, and most of all, justice for our Toyah. This event turned our world upside down for years, and we all know a special part of our fun, tight-knit family is now gone forever due to the actions of this individual."

• 1:29:39Speaker 00

  Vanessa noted that her family would never forgive Rajwinder Singh, whom she pointedly refused to name, before adding that Toyah wasn't the only victim of his actions. Singh had also victimized Marco Heidenreich and even his own family, with his wife and children becoming more collateral damage.

• 1:30:00Speaker 00

  Troy Courtingly also spoke outside court, stating: "Today's verdict has delivered a form of justice, but for us, there can never be true justice, as we now live in a world without Toyah, and the world is a poorer place for it. But Toyah will always be alive in our hearts, and in the hearts of a great many others."

• 1:30:22Speaker 00

  Toyah was Troy's only child, and the trauma of losing her and being the one to discover her body left Troy with a number of mental health conditions, including PTSD.

• 1:30:34Speaker 00

  Toyah is remembered as a loving, kind and generous daughter, sister and friend. She was close with both of her parents and appreciative of the upbringing they gave her. In an interview with the ABC, Troy remembered how happy Toyah's childhood was, stating: "I have other images permanently etched in my mind. Toyah used to spend a week with her mother and a week with my partner and I as she grew up. I remember our backyard full of laughing, happy kids. I remember wonderful birthday parties and Christmases. She always said how lucky she was to have two mums and two dads. Toyah grew into a beautiful, caring young woman. We are all so proud of that.

• 1:31:20Speaker 00

  Toyah and I share a love that only a father and daughter can understand. I feel lost and empty inside, but will always have the wonderful memories of those 24 years. She should have had so many more."

• 1:31:36Speaker 00

  In the years following Toyah's murder, multiple memorials to her sprung up throughout the region, a reflection of the incredible mark she left on Far North Queensland. The owners of K9 River Retreat Boarding Kennels in Karanda, where Toyah had worked for a time, sectioned off 50 acres of land as part of a permanent walking track and dubbed it "Toyah's Walk". Designed as a trail that people could enjoy with their dogs, Toyah's Walk features memorials to Toyah and safety features such as CCTV cameras and fencing so walkers feel secure. Paws and Claws Animal Shelter, where Toyah volunteered, remembered her as someone who

• 1:32:17Speaker 00

  could calm the most distressed dog with grace and handle the large and boisterous ones with ease. After receiving a grant from the government, they were able to build a new shelter with a puppy nursery dedicated to Toyah's legacy. Outside is a boulder with a plaque featuring a photograph of Toyah and her name, as well as the inscription. "My sunshine doesn't come from the skies, it comes from the love that's in a dog's eyes." Inside, a wall features a mural depicting Toyah, her dog Indy and her cat Sally against the backdrop of sunflowers, Toyah's favourite flower. A permanent memorial was also built at Wongati Beach by friends of the Courtingly family.

• 1:33:03Speaker 00

  It took the form of a hand-carved concrete boulder and a sculpture featuring Indy and Sally. A plaque behind the sculpture reads: "Toyah, be the change you want the world to be." Toyah's mother, Vanessa Gardner, spent hours at the beach, painstakingly painting the memorial. It was officially opened in front of a large crowd on Saturday, October 19, 2019, almost one year after Toyah's murder. A statement written by Vanessa Gardner was read aloud on her behalf.

• 1:33:39Speaker 00

  "I would like to say thank you to all of you beautiful people who have come here today to pay your respects to our daughter, Toyah. The last year has been like living in hell. Without the continuous love and support in our community and the rest of the world, it would be extremely hard. I would like to explain why I chose the quote for Toyah's plaque. People say, 'Be the change you want to see.' Toyah already saw that, so she chose to be the way she wanted the world to be. So caring and loving to all mankind and creatures, no matter what. A truly beautiful spirit she was." She was.

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