Release date: Tue 12 February 2008 - ABC
Investigators have released a graphically manipulated age enhanced image of Elmer Kyle Crawford, a man they believe is responsible for the 1970 murder of his pregnant wife and three children.
The image is part of a $100,000 reward announced today for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murders of 35-year-old Therese Crawford and her three children 13-year-old Kathryn, 8-year-old James and 6-year-old Karen.
A coronial inquest in 1971 found that Elmer Kyle Crawford was responsible for the deaths of his wife and children whose bodies were found on 2 July, 1970, in the family car which had been pushed over a cliff face at Loch Ard Gorge in Port Campbell.
A search of the Cardinal Road home in Glenroy indicated Therese and the children were murdered in their home before being their bodies were taken to Port Campbell.
Each appeared to have died as a result of electrocution and or blunt force trauma to the head. Therese was three months pregnant when she died.
Elmer Crawford was not in the car when it was pushed over the cliff and was sighted at the family home in the afternoon on the day the bodies were discovered.
Despite extensive searches, police have never been able to locate him.
However, in 1994, a former associate of Elmer Crawford’s was holidaying in Perth and is believed to have spoken to him. Elmer appeared not to recognise the associate and claimed to be on holidays from New Zealand.
At the time the associate compiled a face image of the man she saw in Perth. Investigators have now graphically manipulated and aged a photograph of Elmer Crawford to give an indication of what he may look like today.
If he is still alive Elmer Crawford would be 78-years-old.
Detective Sergeant Peter Harrington from the Victoria Police Homicide Squad said he believed the reward and the aged image could hold the key to finally identifying Crawford’s whereabouts.
“There have been a number of sightings of Elmer over the years, which leads us to believe that he is still alive and living interstate to avoid detection.
“It is likely that he has changed his appearance in order to disguise his identity. He previously worked as an unqualified electrician and even though would now be of retirement age, it is possible he still does a bit of this type of work on the side,” he said.
Police believe the reward would provide an incentive to encourage anybody who may know of Crawford’s whereabouts to come forward.
“This was a particularly horrific incident which effectively erased an entire family,” Det Sgt Harrington said.
“Therese, Kathryn, James and Karen deserve some answers and we believe somebody out there has information that will bring those people responsible to justice.”
Anybody with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A chance for police to solve one of Victoria's oldest cold cases has collapsed after DNA evidence ruled out a major lead.
Victoria Police has determined that the unidentified body of an elderly man in Texas is not missing mass murderer Elmer Crawford, who has been a fugitive from the state for nearly 40 years.
Detectives had used DNA from a Crawford blood relative to compare with DNA from an unknown man who died of a heart attack in Texas five years ago.
The man had been found with fraudulent ID in four different names.
While facial recognition experts concluded this year that the mystery man could be Crawford, a DNA test has now completely ruled out that possibility, a police spokesman told AAP on Friday.
The result means a $100,000 reward still stands for anyone who can help catch Crawford, who is wanted for the brutal murder of his pregnant wife and three children in southwest Victoria.
He would be 81 years old if he is still alive.
Crawford has been on the run since July 1970, shortly after the discovery of the bodies of his wife Theresa and their children, Kathryn, 13, James, eight, and Karen, six, in the family car in Loch Ard Gorge near Port Campbell.
A 1971 inquest found Crawford had bashed and electrocuted his family in their northern Melbourne home, then tried to push his car with the four bodies inside over the cliff by using a makeshift bridge he made out of rocks.
There have been various unconfirmed sightings across Australia over the past four decades and police have been open to the possibility that Crawford had fled overseas.
The body of the Texas man now remains a John Doe with police agencies around the world trying to match him to their own cold cases.
