Betrayed

The Death of Linda Roberts

Brisbane woman Linda Jane Roberts was ‘the perfect daughter’, according to her close-knit family.

The flame-haired receptionist had a job she loved, a secure and committed relationship and a bright future.

Linda, 27, lived with her boyfriend Chris Peiro in the south-side suburb of Mansfield. The couple had been seeing each other for a year and were happy and in love.

So when Linda seemed to vanish into the night on Saturday, 18 August 2001, her family and boyfriend knew there was something very wrong. People like Linda did not go missing by choice.

Linda was reported missing by Chris Peiro when he returned home from a hunting trip with his father and could not contact her. Along with Linda’s father Elwyn, Chris found his girlfriend’s silver Nissan Pulsar car outside a Video Ezy store in Wishart, not far from her home, on Monday, 20 August. Her handbag and mobile phone were in the car but her keys and purse were missing.

Some friends last saw Linda late on the Saturday night she vanished. She had a pre-arranged date to meet the couple Sven Huebner and Amy Maher at a house they were minding in Holland Park, less than 10 minutes away from the place she shared with her boyfriend. According to Huebner and Maher, the trio had dinner and watched a video (Dragonheart) and Huebner told detectives (and anyone who wanted to know) that his friend had left after 11 p.m., intending to return the video on her way home.

‘She was fine, like she always was, and nothing happened that could have pointed towards what’s happened,’ Huebner was quoted saying in the Sunday Mail.

Linda’s family and police both feared she had met with foul play. A month after her disappearance, Upper Gravatt Detective Senior Sergeant Geoff Sheldon said it ‘could have been a single marauding predator, it could have been someone lying in wait for an opportunity or even someone she knew’.

Linda’s parents Elwyn and Noelene certainly expected the worst news but were desperate to find their girl. ‘Someone has taken her,’ Mr Roberts told the Sunday Mail a week after she had vanished.

Chris Peiro and some of Linda’s other friends did letterbox drops across south-side Brisbane suburbs in the hope someone would have vital information to help police.

In the week after her disappearance, Chris still clung to the slim chance that Linda would be found alive, although he believed she had been abducted.

‘She may have only stopped [her car] for someone in need, she wouldn’t have stopped for a stranger,’ he said.

The days and weeks dragged on for the family and detectives worked furiously to piece together the fate of the tall, beautiful woman who loved horse riding and the outdoors. The faint hope her loved ones held onto had been replaced by agony and desperation to find Linda’s body.

Police divers did several searches of a reservoir near the Wishart Shopping Centre. On 30 August, her watch had been found in an area of Tingalpa Reservoir but police had not revealed the find to the public until 15 October 2001 – two months after her disappearance. The police wanted people to report any suspicious activity they may have seen at the reservoir around the time Ms Roberts disappeared.

‘The discovery of the watch has given us some hope for at least closure,’ Chris said.

On Saturday, 17 November, a bushwalker discovered a body on a track in Mackenzie, in Brisbane’s south, a few kilometres from where Linda’s watch was found. Dental records confirmed the body was Linda Roberts. State Emergency Service teams and the Roberts’ family and friends had spent hours searching that area of bushland and to add to his grief, Mr Roberts wondered how he hadn’t found his girl sooner. ‘We went to that area earlier in the piece,’ Mr Roberts told the Courier-Mail. ‘I don’t know how we missed her.’

One week later, family and friends farewelled Linda Roberts in a private memorial. Her parents also visited the site where her body was found, laying flowers down at the spot and sharing precious, private last words with their daughter. Her employer DHL Couriers planted a tree at the Eagle Farm branch where Linda had worked as a receptionist. Her ashes were scattered in the yard of her family home and a favourite spot where she loved to go horse riding.

The cause of death could not be determined by post- mortem, adding to the mystery of Linda’s fate. While traces of blood on her car were matched to Linda, police could find no obvious signs of a violent struggle to back up a theory that she had been abducted.

Linda Roberts’ disappearance had brought back memories in Queensland of Sharron Phillips, who vanished from Ipswich in 1986. Ms Phillips, a Brisbane shop assistant, was last seen on the Ipswich motorway at Wacol, where she’d stopped when her car ran out of petrol. She went missing minutes after phoning her boyfriend from a public telephone to pick her up. Police believe someone she knew murdered her.

Despite exhaustive interviews and searches, the 20-year-old’s body has never been found. There was some speculation that evil duo Valmae Beck and her husband Barrie Watts were responsible for Ms Phillips’s murder. Beck, who died in 2008, was jailed for life, along with Watts for the abduction, torture, rape and murder of Queensland schoolgirl Sian Kingi, 12, in 1987. However, police said it was unlikely they killed Ms Phillips because they were living in Western Australia at the time.

A $250 000 reward was offered for information on Ms Phillips’ fate, as well as indemnity against prosecution for any accomplice.

Police said there were some similarities between the disappearances of Ms Phillips and Ms Roberts but they did not think the cases were linked.

The police investigation into Linda Roberts’ murder led back to the last place Linda had been on the night she vanished.

Sven Huebner, 32, and his girlfriend Amy Louise Maher, 21, had been very helpful and supportive to Linda’s family. They had assisted police with information, helped search in bushland and wept along with friends at the memorial service.

On 7 January 2002, the couple were arrested and charged with the murder of Ms Roberts.

Linda’s boyfriend, Chris, knew Huebner well and told a newspaper he simply could not believe his friend could have had anything to do with her death.

A young woman, Melissa Gazsik, was watching the news about the couple’s arrest. Melissa was formerly a very close friend of the couple. When she saw the news report she was compelled to phone police and give them a shocking story – Huebner and Maher had tortured her over a year before Linda Roberts had met her fate.

Melissa, a science-law student, had befriended the couple while they were studying at the Queensland University of Technology. She described Huebner, a highly intelligent double-degree science and business student, and Maher, who also studied business, as ‘her closest friends’ at that time. They had supported her through a difficult breakup with her boyfriend, which had left her feeling depressed. Melissa became part of a group of pals at university who delighted in discussing their sexual exploits, with Maher and Huebner eager participants. (Maher told friends of a ‘pulley system’ in the bedroom she shared with Huebner.) Melissa said she went along with the group so she could feel accepted, even giving Maher a chocolate penis for her 18th birthday.

The revelations that were forthcoming were nothing short of salacious and strange. The couple was obsessed with sex – with each other and in groups.

Huebner and Maher were an awkward-looking, almost nerdy pair but made sure their sex life was adventurous, often taking part in group sex and bondage parties with their friends.

But what followed next for Melissa Gazsik was nothing short of terrifying and gave detectives an insight into what likely happened to Linda Roberts.

Ms Gazsik’s evidence at a November 2002 committal hearing for the pair was compelling enough for them to stand trial for extra charges of torture, assault and depravation of liberty. Ms Gazsik told the stunned court that she had gone to bushland with Maher and Huebner on the pretext of the couple having ‘a surprise’ for her. Melissa thought this would relate to something to cheer her up over the breakup of her relationship. However, while she was hugging Maher, Huebner grabbed Melissa. She thought Huebner was joking at first but when he wouldn’t let go, Melissa told the court she scratched his face before she was pushed to the ground. She said she was choked to unconsciousness by Huebner but recalled being straddled by the pair and bound and gagged. Expecting to be killed, Melissa said she heard Huebner say to Maher, ‘Why won’t she die?’ before he placed a noose around her neck. Tightening the noose for a moment, the pair suddenly abandoned their murderous pursuit and Melissa broke down in tears.

Huebner and Maher, who moments before had tried to kill their friend, suddenly started apologising to Melissa and promised they would never harm her again. Then Huebner suggested the terrified woman have three-way sex with him and Maher. Declining the invitation, Melissa travelled with the couple to Huebner’s parents’ house so she could shower, and watched television with them before they drove her back to her Ipswich home.

Bizarrely, Ms Gazsik told the committal hearing that even though she felt betrayed by her friends, she believed that they had cared about her.

‘In their own way, they did it out of love,’ Ms Gazsik told the court.

In one of the strangest revelations in the case, the court heard that Huebner bought a teddy bear and card to give to Melissa after the session that threatened to end her life. The card read: ‘We love you and are always there for you.’

At a later appeal hearing for Huebner, Justice John Jerrard commented, ‘She was tortured, strangled and propositioned for a threesome – in return she gets a teddy bear and a card?’ His bemusement was in response to Huebner’s counsel claiming the gift proved his client had been trying to help Ms Gazsik.

Forensic tests of the house at Holland Park revealed traces of Linda Roberts’ blood on a rug, a curtain and other areas of the floor of the computer room.

In a police interview video that was shown at the committal mention hearing at Brisbane Magistrate’s Court, Huebner claimed he had been ‘play wrestling’ with Linda and she had knocked her head and it started to bleed. Huebner re-enacted events for police, saying the pair had toppled over and ‘I heard the bang and she hit something’. In a separate videotaped interview, Maher said Huebner started tickling their guest and Linda tickled him back before they both moved their wrestling to the floor.

The case just kept getting stranger. There were several more witnesses who told of the couple’s obsession with sex and bondage. In one particularly graphic witness account, friend Holly Williamson said she’d had sexual contact with Huebner and Maher on several occasions, including at a 2000 housewarming for Maher. At that party, Ms Williamson said while Huebner had performed oral sex on her, Maher stood by doing some ‘weird’ kind of martial arts.

‘[Maher was] doing this thing with her eyes closed. Sven said he was starting to teach her a bit about martial arts,’ Ms Williamson told the hearing.

She also said the couple enjoyed taking naked photos of themselves, which she had seen, but she had refused to join in with them.

‘There is no way anyone is taking photos of me because you don’t know where they could end up,’ she said.

There was mention several times of a ‘stalking game’ that Huebner liked to play where unsuspecting people were followed. Huebner had purchased a pair of night vision goggles, with the intention of using them in his stalking fantasy games and told police that Linda had gone out with the couple to test the goggles.

Scott Toovey, an ex-boyfriend of Linda’s who had remained close friends with her, said he had last seen her on the day she disappeared. According to Mr Toovey, who was aware Linda was going to spend time with Huebner and Maher, she said, ‘I hope we don’t do this stalking thing tonight.’

Mr Toovey told the court that Linda had known Huebner for 13 years, and she described their relationship as a ‘great friendship’ but, to his knowledge, the friends had never had sex.

Huebner and Maher both pleaded not guilty to the charges and their trial began in August 2003. Three days in, Maher changed her story that she had been in Linda Roberts’s car when Huebner dumped it at the shopping centre around the time the Crown alleged that Linda had been killed. Four days into proceedings, Huebner pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Linda Roberts. His plea change came after four days of evidence, including testimony from Ms Gazsik, who retold the terrifying bush attach she had endured at the hands of the couple. The Crown rejected Huebner’s plea and carried on with the murder case.

Huebner now said it was a bondage demonstration that went horribly wrong and caused Linda’s death. He told the court at his trial that Linda had visited the house so he could show her some techniques. After the ‘play wrestle’, which had resulted in Linda hurting her head, Huebner said he showed his guest various ties and knots. Then he placed a rope around her neck and while Linda knelt on the floor, he attached the other end to a curtain rail. He said he left Linda in that kneeling position while he went to get some drinks. On his return, Huebner said he found Linda slumped forward with her weight on the rope. Huebner said he tried to revive Linda but to no avail. Huebner said he realised that she was dead and so he took her to the bathroom, removed her clothes and washed the body. He also cut Linda’s leg; the reason for this has never been adequately explained.

The jury had been spared much of the more lurid witness accounts that were heard at the committal hearing eight months prior. It had been decided by the judge that some of this information would unfairly prejudice the men and women who were to decide the fates of Huebner and Maher. An email exchange between Linda and Huebner gave some scant insight into his sex fantasies.

His emails to Linda revealed his fascination with the stalking game and that he had tried to entice her to join in.

In the months before her death, the pair had swapped emails. One dated 14 June 2001 from Huebner said: ‘Are you interested in stalking someone?’ In another email he said there was a ‘thing’ they should talk about in person: ‘You know that some things start out as fun and can bite you on the bum big time and I prefer to keep in control [of] who knows until it is over … just in case someone gets pooey … more exciting if it’s a secret.’

On 9 August, Linda responded to Huebner and made mention of their arranged meeting. ‘In my diary I have Saturday, 18 August booked in the afternoon for you to do that stuff. I didn’t know anything about a movie or is that a code for something? So please explain.’

There was no clue as to what the ‘secret’ was and the last email Huebner sent to Linda was on the Friday before she died. It was about arrangements for their dinner. ‘You should bring your bottle of Kahlua for tomorrow night so we can get tipsy and get in the mood to be silly together … Amy and I will polish off the bourbon we’ve got.’

On 23 August 2003, Huebner and Maher were convicted of Linda’s murder and sentenced to jail for life.

Chief Justice Paul De Jersey, in Brisbane’s Supreme Court, said the crime was an example of unmitigated evil. Justice De Jersey said the jury had seen through Huebner’s ‘tissue of self-serving lies’ and that his was a case of substantial intellect gone wrong. Justice De Jersey was no less critical of Maher, saying she had willingly been dominated by Huebner and helped him plan the meeting with Ms Roberts with the knowledge that murder was the likely outcome.

After the verdicts, Maher could be heard sobbing hysterically as she was led from the courtroom. Her father, Mick Maher passed Huebner as he left the court and said, ‘You’re a dog and I hope you rot in hell.’

For Mr and Mrs Roberts, the pain of their daughter’s cruel death was made worse by the fact that Huebner and Maher had helped them search bushland in the week after her disappearance. All the while, they had known she was dead and where her body could be found. And the only explanation of what had happened on the night Linda died came solely from the sex-obsessed duo.

The pair launched an appeal against their sentences on the grounds that the jury should not have heard the evidence from Ms Gazsik about her attack. Their lawyers argued that the attacks on Ms Gazsik and Ms Roberts’s death were not linked.

The pair’s convictions for murder were set aside in 2004 by the Queensland Court of Appeal. Maher was given bail and ordered to face a new trial for manslaughter and Huebner faced resentencing on a charge of manslaughter.

Maher, who had been on bail and living with her parents, did not have to face the manslaughter charge over Linda’s death. Instead, she was sentenced to 18 months’ jail for being an accessory after the fact in the manslaughter of Ms Roberts. She pleaded guilty to the charges relating to the attack on Ms Gazsik, including assault, deprivation of liberty and torture, and received three years and six months’ jail. Both sentences were suspended because of time already served and Maher walked free into the arms of her supportive parents.

Huebner was resentenced to 12 years for manslaughter and four years for the attack on Ms Gazsik. He appealed the sentence in late 2006 with his lawyer arguing it should be reduced because he had no intent to harm Linda Roberts.

In rejecting the appeal, Justice Cate Holmes, on behalf of two other judges, said, ‘Both sets of offending were … driven by the applicant’s [Huebner’s] enjoyment of inflicting pain and fear through bondage, both with an unwilling victim made to suffer for his amusement.’

Now far away from the possessive and dominating clutches of her former boyfriend, Maher wants nothing to do with Huebner. In a 2006 interview with the Courier-Mail after her sentences were suspended, Maher said she kept quiet about what happened to Linda Roberts because of a misguided loyalty to Huebner. She added that Huebner was the one who pushed her to help in the search for Linda and to maintain the charade that they knew nothing of her fate.

‘I hate him and I don’t want to be reminded of him,’ Maher said of Huebner.

Rebuilding her life and staying close to her family, Maher didn’t want people to think she was ‘cold and heartless’.

A community group that wants to raise awareness of personal safety has used Linda Roberts’s death as a case study. The group called Community Supporting Police has presented ‘Friendship betrayal – the death of Linda Roberts’ as part of its ‘behind the crime’ initiative that lets the public into the world of police investigations.

On its Facebook page, the group stated: ‘Presenters [detectives involved in the case] for this evening unravelled the web of deceit and lies behind Linda’s murder, to discover that, sometimes all is not what it seems with friendships.’

Linda Roberts was a much-loved woman who was betrayed by her close friends. Her story serves as a warning that people who we think are friends could be dangerous to know.