Murder of Chrissie Venn

Chrissie Clare Venn[2] (25 July 1907 – 26 February 1921) was a 13-year-old Australian girl whose murder outside the village of North Motton near Ulverstone, Tasmania, remains unsolved.

Chrissie Venn
Born
Chrissie Clare Venn

(1907-07-25)25 July 1907
Died26 February 1921 (aged 13)[1]
North Motton near Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Known forMurder victim
Parents
  • George Arthur Venn (father)
  • Eva May Venn (mother)

The murder

Venn was the daughter of George Arthur and Eva May (née Chilcott) Venn.

Most sources state – and it is generally accepted – that at approximately 5 p.m. on 20 February 1921, Venn left the family home on Allison Road to run some errands in the village of North Motton – a distance of approximately three miles – and never returned home. A search was mounted but it was not until the morning of March 1 that her mutilated body was found in a hollow tree stump located close to the road where she would have travelled as she walked to North Motton.[3]

Another source gives differing details: The murder purportedly occurred on 26 February 1921.[4] The body was not mutilated and Venn had either been suffocated or strangled. George William King was tried for the crime in a trial that commenced 2 August 1921. The trial had been moved from the North West Coast of Tasmania to Hobart, the first change of venue ever requested and approved for a trial in Tasmania. George William King was defended by Albert Ogilvie, who went on to become Premier of Tasmania. King was acquitted of the murder.[5]

George William King

King had been a member of the search party. He became a suspect in Venn's murder due to marks on his hands that he ascribed to an accident during the search for Venn.[3] King, a 35-year-old former miner and policeman, was arrested on 8 March and charged with her murder.[6] King's trial started in Hobart during June and on 11 August he was acquitted.[7]

Burial and ghost

Venn was interred at the North Motton Methodist Cemetery.[8][9] Her ghost is claimed to haunt the area of her murder.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Murder of Chrissie Venn". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 April 1921. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  2. Eva May Chilcott profile - Mundia (Private profile)
  3. Shakespeare, N (2010) In Tasmania: Adventures at the End of the World, Random House, p. 273
  4. "Murder of Chrissie Venn". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 April 1921. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  5. Smith, Noel, Smith, Lucy. (2000). Chrissie Venn: Suffer Little Children. Tasmania: Nemesis Publications. ISBN 0957813902.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Burnie Advocate, 23 March 192
  7. The Adelaide Advertiser 12 August 1921
  8. "Central Coast Council - - Tasmania". Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  9. The Advocate, 4 March 1921
  10. Shakespeare, N (2010) In Tasmania: Adventures at the End of the World, Random House, p. 279

Bibliography
  • Smith, Noel, Smith, Lucy. (2000). Chrissie Venn: Suffer Little Children. Tasmania: Nemesis Publications. ISBN 0957813902.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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