00:00:05
Speaker 1: A Poche Production. Welcome to Real Crime with Adam Shand. I'm your host, Adam Shand. And this is my Friday feature from the desk. In August 1981, 22-year-old Deborah Joy Fay was found dead in a Melbourne motel room. The official explanation was a heroin overdose, self-administered. The coroner found that on the evidence seduced, it was not possible to conclude whether whether Debbie's death was accidental or otherwise. But reading between the lines, there was a presumption of suicide. No suspicious circumstances. Just another sad casualty of the heroin epidemic sweeping the nation. For more than 40 years, that appears to have been the end of the story. But I've been looking closely at the circumstances surrounding Debbie's death with her daughter Des.
00:01:01
Speaker 2: Cockroach infested. and from what I can gather from historical pictures, it actually wasn't that. It was actually a little bit more upmarket than the red brick sticky carpets and vibrating bed that I'd imagined for a number of years.
00:01:15
Speaker 1: You can find the full episode in the show notes where I talk to Des. And the closer we look, the more questions emerge. Because there are things about that motel room that simply don't sit comfortably with the story of a woman who went into a room alone, prepared heroin... injected herself and died. Start with the heroin itself. There were multiple syringes at the scene. There were four foils of heroin. But there's another detail that just jumps off the pages of the coroner's file. Where was the heat source? Heroin at the time generally had to be prepared for injection. Yet among the items documented at the scene, there appears to have been no obvious source of heat with which Debbie could have prepared the drug. There was a blackened spoon, suggesting it was used in the process, but no lighter, candle or any other heat source. So how was the heroin prepared? Was something simply overlooked or removed? Or had somebody else prepared it? I'm trying to contact the cop who attended the scene through Facebook, but he's yet to respond. Then there's the telegram Debbie allegedly sent on the day of her death. A strange message, supposedly from Debbie, which seems almost tailor-made to create a narrative around what happened next. That Debbie was walking away from her life and couldn't cope. Maybe that's exactly what it was. But more than four decades later, surely we're entitled to ask, who actually sent it? We know who received it. Alistair Farquhar McRae, known as Sandy. McRae wasn't some peripheral figure who happened to know Debbie. We've established that he was her boyfriend. He subsequently identified Debbie's body and described himself as her fiancé.
00:03:14
Speaker 2: I didn't expect to find what I found. So the first file that I received was the body card and it actually had a deposition of a witness statement from Sandy McRae.
00:03:28
Speaker 1: McRae would later be convicted of four murders. a cold and heartless killer who took lives for profit and convenience. He may be one of Australia's most prolific murderers, but few would know his name. Former senior Victoria police officer Noel Ashby believes McRae may also have had knowledge or involvement in other suspicious heroin deaths involving women around Melbourne during that era. That doesn't establish that McRae killed Debbie Fay, but it raises a question that that I don't believe can simply be ignored. Was Debbie's death really a self-administered overdose, or was the scene designed to look like one? Think about what was apparently left behind. The heroin, multiple syringes, the circumstances surrounding that strange telegram, and yet apparently no obvious means of heating and preparing the heroin. Were these simply the chaotic remnants of drug use? Or with somebody creating a picture, investigators would immediately recognise a young woman, heroin, a syringe, an overdose. And if the scene was staged, who had the opportunity to do it? Who was with Debbie in the hours before she died? Who supplied the heroin? Who knew which motel she was staying in? Who saw her enter the room? And crucially, who saw anybody else enter or leave? These questions matter because Debbie wasn't simply a statistic from Melbourne's heroin epidemic. She was a young woman. She was a mother. And her daughter has spent most of her life wondering what actually happened to her mother. So today from the desk is an appeal for information. I'm looking for anyone who knew Debbie Fay in 1981. Anyone who knew Sandy McRae. Anyone who knew them as a couple. anyone who worked around Melbourne's brothels, massage parlours, hotels or drug scene during that period. Perhaps Debbie spoke to you about McRae. Perhaps you knew whether she was frightened of him, planning to leave him or having problems with him. Perhaps you know who supplied her drugs. Perhaps you've heard something about Debbie's death over the years that you dismissed as gossip. And I'm particularly interested in people who remember other women dying from apparent heroin overdoses in similar circumstances. Because former Assistant Commissioner Noel Ashby has raised questions about a number of deaths from that period. Were they unrelated tragedies during Melbourne's heroin epidemic? Or is there a pattern that nobody recognised at the time? We don't know. And that's precisely why I'm asking. I'm not accusing Sandy McRae of killing Debbie Fay. Not yet, anyway. I'm asking whether the original conclusion about Debbie's death deserves to be looked at again. Especially as McRae is seeking parole in South Australia, having served his sentence for murder. And because four decades later, the evidence raises a disturbing possibility. What if investigators in 1981 weren't looking at the aftermath of an overdose? What if they were looking at a scene somebody wanted them to believe was an overdose? If you know anything... Even something you think is insignificant, contact me confidentially through Real Crime with Adam Shand, either on Facebook or my personal email, adamshandwriter at gmail.com. All communications will be treated with strict confidence. Don't assume somebody else has already told us. Don't assume that after 45 years it doesn't matter. One person listening to this podcast has already changed what we know about Debbie's story. Now she is literally speaking from the grave to her daughter and me. There may be somebody else listening who knows what happened inside that motel room. It's time to speak up. I'm Adam Shand. This is From the Desk. If you want to report a crime, please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening to this episode and supporting this story. Independent storytelling that shapes the world is what Podshape really cares about. Right now, there's thousands of people listening to this show and our other true crimes, and they're completely engaged. More than 10 million Australians listen to podcasts each week. If you've ever thought about advertising your business in a podcast, there's a link to reach out in the show notes or head to podshape.com to book a free call.
Speaker 1: A Poche Production. Welcome to Real Crime with Adam Shand. I'm your host, Adam Shand. And this is my Friday feature from the desk. In August 1981, 22-year-old Deborah Joy Fay was found dead in a Melbourne motel room. The official explanation was a heroin overdose, self-administered. The coroner found that on the evidence seduced, it was not possible to conclude whether whether Debbie's death was accidental or otherwise. But reading between the lines, there was a presumption of suicide. No suspicious circumstances. Just another sad casualty of the heroin epidemic sweeping the nation. For more than 40 years, that appears to have been the end of the story. But I've been looking closely at the circumstances surrounding Debbie's death with her daughter Des.
00:01:01
Speaker 2: Cockroach infested. and from what I can gather from historical pictures, it actually wasn't that. It was actually a little bit more upmarket than the red brick sticky carpets and vibrating bed that I'd imagined for a number of years.
00:01:15
Speaker 1: You can find the full episode in the show notes where I talk to Des. And the closer we look, the more questions emerge. Because there are things about that motel room that simply don't sit comfortably with the story of a woman who went into a room alone, prepared heroin... injected herself and died. Start with the heroin itself. There were multiple syringes at the scene. There were four foils of heroin. But there's another detail that just jumps off the pages of the coroner's file. Where was the heat source? Heroin at the time generally had to be prepared for injection. Yet among the items documented at the scene, there appears to have been no obvious source of heat with which Debbie could have prepared the drug. There was a blackened spoon, suggesting it was used in the process, but no lighter, candle or any other heat source. So how was the heroin prepared? Was something simply overlooked or removed? Or had somebody else prepared it? I'm trying to contact the cop who attended the scene through Facebook, but he's yet to respond. Then there's the telegram Debbie allegedly sent on the day of her death. A strange message, supposedly from Debbie, which seems almost tailor-made to create a narrative around what happened next. That Debbie was walking away from her life and couldn't cope. Maybe that's exactly what it was. But more than four decades later, surely we're entitled to ask, who actually sent it? We know who received it. Alistair Farquhar McRae, known as Sandy. McRae wasn't some peripheral figure who happened to know Debbie. We've established that he was her boyfriend. He subsequently identified Debbie's body and described himself as her fiancé.
00:03:14
Speaker 2: I didn't expect to find what I found. So the first file that I received was the body card and it actually had a deposition of a witness statement from Sandy McRae.
00:03:28
Speaker 1: McRae would later be convicted of four murders. a cold and heartless killer who took lives for profit and convenience. He may be one of Australia's most prolific murderers, but few would know his name. Former senior Victoria police officer Noel Ashby believes McRae may also have had knowledge or involvement in other suspicious heroin deaths involving women around Melbourne during that era. That doesn't establish that McRae killed Debbie Fay, but it raises a question that that I don't believe can simply be ignored. Was Debbie's death really a self-administered overdose, or was the scene designed to look like one? Think about what was apparently left behind. The heroin, multiple syringes, the circumstances surrounding that strange telegram, and yet apparently no obvious means of heating and preparing the heroin. Were these simply the chaotic remnants of drug use? Or with somebody creating a picture, investigators would immediately recognise a young woman, heroin, a syringe, an overdose. And if the scene was staged, who had the opportunity to do it? Who was with Debbie in the hours before she died? Who supplied the heroin? Who knew which motel she was staying in? Who saw her enter the room? And crucially, who saw anybody else enter or leave? These questions matter because Debbie wasn't simply a statistic from Melbourne's heroin epidemic. She was a young woman. She was a mother. And her daughter has spent most of her life wondering what actually happened to her mother. So today from the desk is an appeal for information. I'm looking for anyone who knew Debbie Fay in 1981. Anyone who knew Sandy McRae. Anyone who knew them as a couple. anyone who worked around Melbourne's brothels, massage parlours, hotels or drug scene during that period. Perhaps Debbie spoke to you about McRae. Perhaps you knew whether she was frightened of him, planning to leave him or having problems with him. Perhaps you know who supplied her drugs. Perhaps you've heard something about Debbie's death over the years that you dismissed as gossip. And I'm particularly interested in people who remember other women dying from apparent heroin overdoses in similar circumstances. Because former Assistant Commissioner Noel Ashby has raised questions about a number of deaths from that period. Were they unrelated tragedies during Melbourne's heroin epidemic? Or is there a pattern that nobody recognised at the time? We don't know. And that's precisely why I'm asking. I'm not accusing Sandy McRae of killing Debbie Fay. Not yet, anyway. I'm asking whether the original conclusion about Debbie's death deserves to be looked at again. Especially as McRae is seeking parole in South Australia, having served his sentence for murder. And because four decades later, the evidence raises a disturbing possibility. What if investigators in 1981 weren't looking at the aftermath of an overdose? What if they were looking at a scene somebody wanted them to believe was an overdose? If you know anything... Even something you think is insignificant, contact me confidentially through Real Crime with Adam Shand, either on Facebook or my personal email, adamshandwriter at gmail.com. All communications will be treated with strict confidence. Don't assume somebody else has already told us. Don't assume that after 45 years it doesn't matter. One person listening to this podcast has already changed what we know about Debbie's story. Now she is literally speaking from the grave to her daughter and me. There may be somebody else listening who knows what happened inside that motel room. It's time to speak up. I'm Adam Shand. This is From the Desk. If you want to report a crime, please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening to this episode and supporting this story. Independent storytelling that shapes the world is what Podshape really cares about. Right now, there's thousands of people listening to this show and our other true crimes, and they're completely engaged. More than 10 million Australians listen to podcasts each week. If you've ever thought about advertising your business in a podcast, there's a link to reach out in the show notes or head to podshape.com to book a free call.
