Lloyd Clark Fletcher

Phillips had been attending the 21st birthday celebration of a family friend with her family. During the party, a fight broke out between her father and a group of males who had attended the party without invitation and caused trouble by doing so. Taken aback by the violence, Phillips decided to walk home of her own accord.[7] The following morning, Phillip’s mother noticed she had not returned home, and quickly called police with her concerns. Witnesses informed police they had seen her at around midnight in a street nearby her home on the night she disappeared, and her body was found later that day in a drain near the Gateway Arterial Road in Mansfield.[8] Phillips had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.

The initial investigation focused on those who had been evicted from the party by Phillip’s father, however all of these men were eventually eliminated from the investigation once questioned.[7] Fletcher first came to the attention of investigators when they were reviewing recently released sexual offenders living in the area. Due to his background, Fletcher captured the attention of detectives, however they were unable to substantiate his involvement in her murder. Fletcher had consented to a blood sample, which did match the semen found on vaginal swabs taken from Phillips.[7] However, at the time of the murder, DNA technology had not yet arrived and so only a blood-type match was made which did not sufficiently link Fletcher definitively to the murder. The Queensland Government authorised a $50,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of Phillip’s murder on 8 August 1998.[8] Fletcher would be charged with the murder 11 years later when DNA technology was developed, enabling investigators to conclude Fletcher was the contributor to the semen found in Phillips.[3][7][9][10]

The death of Phillips lead to Fletcher being the first recipient of an indefinite life sentence in Queensland.[2] Her death was also the first case in Queensland where DNA technology was used in a criminal conviction.[9]

In 1977, Fletcher pleaded guilty to the rape and attempted murder of a young female in Innisfail. He had seen the woman walking home late at night, accosted her, forcibly raped her and punching her unconscious before trying her bra around the neck and dumping her in the Johnston River. The woman regained consciousness in the water, and Fletcher was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for the rape and 15 for the attempted murder.[11]

In 1989, Fletcher kidnapped and caused serious injuries to a 13 year old girl In Bright, Victoria.[11]

In 1997, Fletcher abducted a 16 year old girl from a train station in Wynnum at knifepoint, punching her unconscious and strangling her. When the woman woke up inside Fletchers car with her wrists now bound, she kicked his car door open and was saved by a group of men passing by.

Fletcher was convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.[11]