Casefile Revisited: Pamela Lawrence

**SPEAKER_1** (0:13)
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As it neared 6pm on the evening of Monday May 23 1994, Peter Lawrence was starting to worry. Peter lived in Mosman Park, an affluent suburb 11km outside of Perth in Western Australia, and that afternoon a violent storm had hit the city. Gale force winds raged while thunder and lightning clashed and heavy rain pummeled down. It was the type of storm that knocked down power poles and blacked out traffic lights. Worryingly, Peter's wife, 45-year-old Pamela Lawrence, still hadn't arrived home from work, nor had she called to say she was running late. Pamela owned an upscale jewellery store called Flora Metallica, which was located on Glide Street, a few minutes drive from the couple's home. It wasn't a typical jewellery store, but instead offered a variety of quirky giftware and original items handmade by Pamela in her small shed turned workshop at the rear of the property. She specialised in dipping everyday objects into decorative metals such as gold, silver or copper to create unique items that were cherished by her customers. Flora Metallica was part of a small cluster of shops near the Mosman Park train station. Some other shops around the area had recently been broken into, and while Flora Metallica hadn't been targeted, a brick had been thrown through the front window, putting Pamela on edge. Given the recent criminal activity, she had instructed her staff that if anyone tried to rob them while they were working, to just hand over whatever they wanted. Money and material objects weren't worth getting hurt over.
When Peter still hadn't heard from Pamela by 6.15pm, he called Flora Metallica to see what time she thought she'd get home. But there was no answer. His concern increasing, Peter decided to brave the storm to go down to the store and check on her.
At 6.39pm, a call came through to Australia's Emergency Services Helpline, 000, requesting an ambulance to the Flora Metallica Jewelry Store in Mosman Park. When the paramedics arrived, they found Pamela Lawrence lying on the ground in the kitchen area near the back door, unconscious and covered in blood. She had sustained severe head wounds which were bleeding profusely, and although she was still alive, she was barely breathing. Her husband, Peter, was kneeling by her side, trying desperately to stop the bleeding by holding a piece of material against her scalp. Pamela was loaded onto a stretcher and rushed to hospital. A visibly shaken Peter Lawrence told the police that he'd arrived at Flora Metallica to find the front door was locked, but the shop hadn't been closed up for the night. The lights were still on and an A-frame sign and a pop plant, which Pamela typically brought inside overnight, was still out the front. Peter had unlocked the front door using his own key and taken the items inside, at which point he'd heard a strange noise coming from the rear of the shop. That's when he'd found Pamela in a pool of blood, clinging to life.
After surveying the scene, Peter pointed out that no money appeared to have been stolen from the cash register, nor had any jewellery or inventory been taken. However, Pamela's purse, which she typically carried a couple of hundred dollars cash in, was missing from her handbag. Despite all the efforts of the paramedics, Pamela Lawrence didn't survive her injuries, and at 7.15 she was pronounced deceased upon arrival at the hospital. Peter was allowed to return home to break the tragic news to his two grown daughters. They were soon joined by distraught loved ones as they collectively struggled to come to terms with what had happened.
The major crime squad was called in with the investigation led by Detective Sergeant Malcolm Sherville. A cursory search for the murder weapon turned up nothing, and before long a blackout hit the area, putting the store into complete darkness. Unable to properly assess the crime scene, the decision was made to lock and guard the store overnight, with a thorough forensic examination scheduled to take place the next day. Given how heavy it was raining, investigators reasoned that any footprints in the ground outside of the store would already be long gone.
Meanwhile, an autopsy revealed that Pamela Lawrence had died as a result of severe head wounds caused by an unknown blunt object. All up, she had sustained 12 blows. There were no defensive injuries, indicating she'd been caught off guard. A trail of blood leading from Flora Metallica's service counter suggested she'd been hit there first before being dragged to the space towards the back of the shop, where she was struck again.