Case File 06: Hillside
The Kerry Whelan and Dorothy Davis murders, New South Wales, 1995 and 1997.
Case File 06: the real file
18+ content. This page is for readers of Outback Case Files. It describes a real murder case, factually and without gore. If you have come here from a puzzle, finish your accusation first: this page gives the game away.
Campfire Quests acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands on which these stories took place. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this page may contain the names, images and stories of people who have died.
The Kerry Whelan and Dorothy Davis murders, New South Wales, 1995 and 1997 (Bruce Burrell)
In the book this case appears as “Hillside”. The names of people and most places were changed to make the puzzle work. Below is what really happened.
Dorothy Davis, 74, disappeared from Lurline Bay, Sydney, on 30 May 1995. Kerry Whelan, 39, disappeared from a Parramatta hotel car park on 6 May 1997. Neither body has been found. Both women knew Bruce Allan Burrell, who owned the rural property "Hillydale" at Bungonia near Goulburn.
Burrell was convicted of murdering Kerry Whelan in 2006 and Dorothy Davis in 2007, on wholly circumstantial evidence, in two of Australia's best-known "no body" prosecutions. He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 16 years, and a further 28 years. His appeals were dismissed and the High Court refused special leave. He died in custody on 4 August 2016, aged 63.
How the real detectives cracked it
In the real case, Kerry Whelan disappeared from a Parramatta hotel car park on 6 May 1997 after a witness saw her get into a Pajero driven by Bruce Burrell, a family friend and former marketing manager at her husband's company. A ransom letter demanding US$1 million arrived the next day. Burrell's 486-hectare property "Hillydale" at Bungonia, near Goulburn, was searched for weeks without result. Investigators then reopened the 1995 disappearance of Dorothy Davis, a 74-year-old widow who had lent Burrell's household a large sum and left home to visit him.
Charged in 1999, dropped, then recharged after a coronial inquest in 2002, Burrell faced a hung jury in 2005 and was convicted of Kerry Whelan's murder in 2006 (life plus 16 years for kidnapping) and of Dorothy Davis's murder in 2007 (28 years). His appeals failed. He died in custody on 4 August 2016 without revealing where either woman lies.
Read more
These are public sources we used. They open in a new tab and may carry more detail than this page.
A word about respect
These were real people, and the victims had families, many of whom are still here. We have kept to the public record and left out the gore on purpose. If you share this page, please share it the way you would want your own family talked about.
Banner photo: Bungonia Gorge, by Life Adventures (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.