Robyn Lindholm

Last updated

Robyn Jane Lindholm, [1] born in Melbourne on 8 March 1973, [2] is a former stripper, and suspected serial killer. She has been convicted of murdering two former boyfriends, and is a person of interest in the case of Shari Davison, an exotic dancer who disappeared in 1995. [3] She will be eligible for parole in 2049, at the age of 76. [4]

Contents

Early life

Lindholm attended Kilvington Grammar School and Monash University. As a teenager she was an accomplished ice skater, winning the Victorian Championship for ice-skating in 1986, [2] however an injury ended her career. [5]

Shari Davison

On February 18, 1995, Davison failed to show up for work. Three days later she was reported missing. She was 27 years old at the time of her disappearance. In 2020, the police confirmed they suspected Davison was murdered, and a reward of $1 million is offered for information regarding her disappearance. [6]

Davison worked for the same stripper agency as Lindholm. She also lived with an associate of George Templeton. [7]

Wayne Amey

Lindholm met Wayne Amey, a father of five, in 2003 and started living with him in 2005. They both owned a rural property. [8] Their relationship ended in 2010. In April 2012 she unlawfully gained access to his apartment, and consequently received a 12 months community corrections order. On 11 December 2013, Amey and Lindholm were due to appear in court regarding a property dispute. However neither appellant appeared. [1] Wayne Amey's son reported him missing when his father failed to show up to work at his gym. She asked a number of men to carry out the killing. [9] Amey was killed by Lindholm's boyfriend, Torsten Trabert and Tarbert's friend John Ryan. All three defendants regularly used methamphetamine. [1] On December 10, 2013, [1] Ryan and Trabert, broke into Amey's apartment using Lindholm's card, and Amey was assaulted with a baseball bat. [10] He was then placed in the boot of a borrowed car (which they later destroyed via arson) and driven to a remote location, where he was murdered. Amey's corpse was found a week after his death. The exact cause of death was unclear, however multiple injuries, stab wounds, and lacerations were inflicted on his ribs, neck and head. [1] All three defendants were arrested within days of the murder.

Lindholm pleaded guilty to murder. [11] However Trabert and Ryan pleaded not guilty and blamed each other. They were subsequently convicted. Lindholm was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 21 years, Trabert 28 years with a non-parole period of 23 years, and Ryan 31 years, with a non-parole period of 26 years [12] (Lindholm received leniency for pleading guilty and Trabert for providing the police with key information). [9]

George Templeton

Lindholm was in a seven-year relationship with George Templeton, until his disappearance in 2005. On 2 May 2005, the anniversary of his father's death, he consumed a large amount of Metaxa his father's favourite Brandy. He also smoked cannabis. [2] This was the last time he was seen alive. Lindholm then accompanied her friend Matilda Burke to the latter's house. After receiving a phone call on her second mobile phone, she returned home to discover Templeton had disappeared. Lindholm at this time had secretly entered a relationship with Wayne Amey (although she later lied to the police and claimed the relationships did not overlap). It conjectured that Lindholm orchestrated this to give herself an alibi, so that her accomplice, Wayne Amey, could kill Templeton and dispose of his body. Lindholm later informed a boyfriend (who testified at her trial) that Templeton had gang-raped her and imprisoned her in a cupboard. Other witnesses gave similar account. Although there is some evidence of domestic violence by Templeton, Lindholm's counsel conceded this did not occur around the time of his death. [13] Two weeks after Templeton's disappearance, she moved in with Amey and subsequently sold Templeton's cars and boat. [14] Templeton's body has never been found, however bloodstains were found at his apartment. She reportedly told witnesses that his body had been disposed of in Port Phillip. Following her first murder conviction, the police renewed their investigation into Templeton's disappearance. The police discovered Lindholm had confessed to various people that her former partner had been murdered. Matilda Burke subsequently testified that Lindholm told her Amey had paid a friend to help him murder Templeton. [14]

Lindholm was convicted of murdering Templeton in 2019. [15] She was sentenced to 28 years in prison, half of which is served concurrently with her original sentence, and half must be served in addition to her original sentence, meaning her maximum sentence is 39 years, with a non-parole period of 30 years. [16]

Appeals

In 2016, Lindholm, Ryan and Trabert, appealed against their sentences for the murder of Mr. Amey arguing manifest excess. Ryan and Trabert also appealed on the grounds that they had received differing sentences. These appeals were dismissed by the Supreme Court of Victoria. [12]

In 2022 Lindholm applied to the Court of Appeal to appeal against her convictions. Her application was unsuccessful. [10]

Media coverage

Lindholm has been featured in an episode of Homicide with Ron Iddles. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Laci Peterson</span> 2002 murder of an American woman in California

Laci Denise Peterson was an American woman murdered by her husband, Scott Lee Peterson, while eight months pregnant with their first child. She disappeared in 2002, from the couple's home in Modesto, California, after which Scott reported her missing. The next year, her remains and those of her unborn son, whom the couple had planned to name Conner, were discovered on the shores of San Francisco Bay; subsequently, Scott was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. In 2004, Scott was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Laci and the second-degree murder of Conner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Reena Virk</span> 1997 murder of a teenager in Canada

Reena Virk was a 14-year-old Canadian girl who was beaten and killed by a group of teenagers in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Her status as a victim of bullying prior to her murder attracted substantial media scrutiny in Canada. Six teenagers were tried and convicted for their participation in her death. The Globe and Mail commented at the time that her case was "elevated into a national tragedy". A pair of Canadian sociologists have described the case as a watershed moment for a "moral panic" over girl violence by the Canadian public in the late 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Sarah Payne</span> 2000 abduction and murder of a child in West Sussex, England

Sarah Evelyn Isobel Payne was the victim of a high-profile abduction and murder in West Sussex, England in July 2000.

The Bega schoolgirl murders refer to the abduction, rape and murder of two Australian schoolgirls; 14-year-old Lauren Margaret Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Emma Collins of Bega, New South Wales, Australia on 6 October 1997. They were abducted by Leslie Camilleri and Lindsay Beckett, both from the New South Wales town of Yass. The men subjected the girls to repeated rapes and sexual assaults on five or more separate occasions, while driving them to remote locations throughout rural New South Wales and Victoria. Over a twelve-hour period, the girls had been driven several hundred kilometres from Bega to Fiddler's Green Creek in Victoria, where they were stabbed to death by Beckett under the order of Camilleri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Dupas</span> Australian serial killer and rapist

Peter Norris Dupas is an Australian convicted serial killer, currently serving three life sentences without parole for murder and primarily for being a serious habitual offender. He has a very significant criminal history involving serious sexual and violent offences, with his violent criminal history spanning more than three decades, and with every release from prison has been known to commit further crimes against women with increasing levels of violence. His criminal signature is to remove the breasts of his female victims.

Francesco Mangione is an Italian-born Australian, convicted of the 2002 murder of his 26-year-old cousin, Denis Giunta, in his Williamstown home.

Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815 (1988), was the first case since the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in the United States in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a minor on grounds of "cruel and unusual punishment." The holding in Thompson was expanded on by Roper v. Simmons (2005), where the Supreme Court extended the "evolving standards" rationale to those under 18 years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Mokbel</span> Australian criminal (born 1965)

Antonios Sajih Mokbel is an Australian criminal who has been convicted of a number of offences, most prominently commercial drug trafficking. He has spent most of his life in Melbourne, Australia. Operation Purana alleged that he is the mastermind behind the Melbourne amphetamine trade. He has been linked to Carl Williams, and charged but not convicted of two murders in the Melbourne gangland war. He disappeared from Melbourne while on trial in March 2006, and was arrested by Greek police in Athens on 5 June 2007. Since being brought back to Australia he has remained incarcerated.

Peter James Knight is an Australian criminal who murdered a security guard in a Melbourne abortion clinic. Following his arrest and criminal trial, Knight is serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 23 years. As of 2022, the incident remains the only killing by an anti-abortion activist in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Danielle Jones</span> English murder case where no body was found

The murder of Danielle Jones was an English child murder case involving a 15-year-old schoolgirl who disappeared from East Tilbury, Essex, England. There was a large and exhaustive search to find Jones' body and it was considered one of the biggest cases Essex Police had to deal with at the time. Despite the police's best efforts, her body was never found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom</span> 2007 carjacking, rape, and murder of a couple in Knoxville, Tennessee

Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They were kidnapped on the evening of January 6, 2007, when Christian's vehicle was carjacked. The couple were taken to a rental house. Both of them were raped, tortured, and murdered. Four males and one female were arrested, charged, and convicted in the case. In 2007, a grand jury indicted Letalvis Darnell Cobbins, Lemaricus Devall Davidson, George Geovonni Thomas, and Vanessa Lynn Coleman on counts of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder. Also in 2007, Eric DeWayne Boyd was indicted by a federal grand jury of being an accessory to a carjacking, resulting in serious bodily injury to another person and misprision of a felony. In 2018, Boyd was indicted on state-level charges of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder.

Ellis Wayne Felker was an American convicted and executed in 1996 in Georgia for the 1981 murder of Evelyn Joy Ludlam, a young woman who was working as a waitress while she attended college.

Martin Leach, is a convicted rapist and double murderer in Australia, and has been described as one of, if not the Northern Territory's worst, killer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Phillips (murderer)</span> American murderer

Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips is an American man who was convicted of murder as a child. In November 1998, when he was 14 years old, Phillips killed Madelyn Rae Clifton, his 8-year-old friend and neighbor. The following year, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Phillips stated that he killed Clifton to stop her from crying after she was accidentally struck with a baseball while they were playing, and that he feared punishment from his abusive father. Although elements of Phillips's story are disputed, officials who were involved in his prosecution have subsequently expressed contrition over the severity of his sentence. In 2017, Phillips was re-sentenced to life in prison on appeal, but he has been eligible for re-sentencing as of 2023.

Life imprisonment is the most severe criminal sentence available to the courts in Australia. Most cases attracting the sentence are murder. It is also imposed, albeit rarely, for sexual assault, manufacturing and trafficking commercial quantities of illicit drugs, and offences against the justice system and government security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Urban Höglin and Heidi Paakkonen</span> 1989 New Zealand murder case

Swedish tourists Sven Urban Höglin, aged 23, and his fiancée Heidi Birgitta Paakkonen, aged 21, disappeared while tramping on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand in 1989. Police, residents, and military personnel conducted the largest land-based search undertaken in New Zealand, attempting to find the couple. In December 1990, David Wayne Tamihere was convicted of murdering Höglin and Paakkonen, and sentenced to life imprisonment based largely on the testimony of three prison inmates.

Keli Lane, an Australian former water polo player and teacher, was convicted of the 1996 murder of her newborn baby, Tegan, and of three counts of making a false declaration. On 18 April 2011, Lane's lawyers lodged an appeal against her conviction at the same time as a Sydney taxi driver alleged he saw Lane dispose of the child. Her final application for appeal was rejected by the High Court of Australia in August 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart</span> 2006 murder in Pocatello, US

On September 22, 2006, CassieJo Stoddart, an American high school student, was murdered by her classmates Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik in her aunt and uncle's house in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. Stoddart's body was discovered two days later, when her relatives returned home from their trip.

Gillian Meagher was a 29-year-old Irish woman living in Australia who was raped and murdered while walking home from a pub in Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, in the early hours of 22 September 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Maria Penttilä</span> Finnish serial killer (born 1965)

Michael Maria Penttilä is a Finnish serial killer. According to Finnish crime magazine Alibi, he is the only Finn that fits FBI's description of a serial killer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ryan, Lindholm and Trabert v The Queen [2016] VSCA 255". AustLII. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "R v Lindholm [2019] VSC 720". BarNet Jade. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  3. ↑ Russell, Mark; Elder, John (2016-03-26). "Jailed stripper Robyn Lindholm a suspected serial killer". The Age. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  4. ↑ "Is Robyn Lindholm Australia's Deadliest Woman?". Now To Love. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  5. ↑ "True Crime: Robyn Lindholm". The Australian Women's Weekly. 30 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "$1 million reward for dancer Shari Davison missing since 1995". News.com.au. 4 June 2019.
  7. ↑ Cook, Henrietta (26 March 2016). "Lady Macbeth in Lycra". The Age.
  8. ↑ "True Crime: The Black Widow Murderess". The Australian Women's Weekly. 30 January 2020. pp. 60–63. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Is Robyn Lindholm Australia's deadliest woman?". Now To Love. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  10. 1 2 "Robyn Lindholm: Double killer fails in appeal bid". ABC News. 20 July 2022.
  11. ↑ "Robyn Lindholm: George Templeton, Wayne Amey murderer has appeal dismissed in Victorian Supreme Court". News.com.au. 20 July 2022.
  12. 1 2 "Judgment Handed Down in Ryan, Lindholm and Trabert v The Queen". Supreme Court of Victoria. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  13. ↑ (Supreme Court of Victoria2017).
  14. 1 2 "Robyn Lindholm v The Queen [2022] VSCA 141". BarNet Jade. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  15. ↑ "Family begs ex-stripper for body location". 9News. 25 May 2022.
  16. ↑ AAP (20 July 2022). "Victorian Black Widow Robyn Lindholm Fails to Overturn Murder Conviction". 9News. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  17. ↑ "Homicide with Ron Iddles". Apple TV. 15 August 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.