Kerryn Tate was last seen alive in Mount Lawley at 11 am on Saturday, Dec. 29, 1979, after spending time with friends in Cottesloe and Swanbourne the night prior. The following morning, on Sunday, Dec. 30, 1979, her body was located in the Canning Dam catchment area approximately 800-meters south of Brookton Highway.
An unknown male DNA profile, believed to be the offender, was recovered from the crime scene. That profile was recently handed over to the investigative genetic genealogy team and uploaded to a public genealogy database, with a number of genetic relatives subsequently identified.
A family tree of over 10,000 people was then compiled, leading cold case investigations detectives to conduct further inquiries. As a result of those inquiries, investigators have linked Terence John Fisher to the DNA profile recovered from the scene 45-years-ago.
Fisher, who died in 2000, has now been named as a suspect in the unsolved murder of Tate. Detectives believe if Fisher were alive today, he may have been able to assist police with investigations into the 1986 death of Barbara Anne Western and the 1991 death of Kerry Suzanne Turner.
Investigators are now seeking public assistance as they continue to pursue this line of inquiry.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Paul Coombes said the breakthrough sends a very clear message: the Western Australia Police Force never gives up.
Republished courtesy of Gov't of Western Australia