Coroner rules pregnant woman was killed in 2009, refers her lover to DPP

Thirteen years after Krystal Lee Fraser vanished in northern Victoria a coroner has ruled that she was killed, with the possible father of her unborn child connected to the disappearance.

No remains have been found, but Coroner Katherine Lorenz ruled on Thursday that Peter “PJ” Jenkinson, the last known person to have contact with Fraser, was probably “involved in what happened” to the 23-year-old in June 2009.

Peter Jenkinson leaves the inquest into the disappearance of Krystal Fraser at the Coroner’s Court in July.Credit:AAP

Lorenz’s findings will be referred to the director of public prosecutions.

At an inquest in July, Jenkinson refused to give evidence, noting a risk of self-incrimination, and was excused from doing so by the coroner.

The inquest heard Fraser had told her mother that Jenkinson, along with a number of other men, may have been the father of her unborn son. She had been due to give birth around the time she went missing.

Jenkinson earlier told police he had been in a sexual relationship with Fraser but maintained he had no involvement in her disappearance or suspected death.

Krystal Fraser was last seen in Pyramid Hill 2009.

On the last day Fraser was seen alive, she travelled from Bendigo Hospital, where she had been staying ahead of the birth of her son, to her hometown of Pyramid Hill to reportedly attend a birthday party.

Witnesses reported seeing her board a train to her home, more than an hour north, where she met an unidentified man. She then visited an associate alone before vanishing.

On June 22, staff from Bendigo Hospital contacted police because she had not returned as planned. No evidence of a birthday party was ever found.

On Thursday, the coroner revealed phone records obtained as part of her investigation showed frequent calls from Jenkinson’s mobile and landlines to Fraser ceased in May 2009 at the same time mystery calls from a phone box in Leitchville began.

Posters went up around town after Krystal Fraser went missing in 2009.Credit:Bendigo Advertiser

Records also showed the last phone call Fraser received before she vanished was from that very same phone box at about 11.59pm on June 20. No calls from that phone box were ever made to Fraser’s phone again.

Phone tower records last pinged Fraser’s mobile phone in the Leitchville area, between Kerang and Echuca, about 2.49am on June 21, 2009.

“The evidence strongly indicates that she died very soon after she received the telephone call from the Leitchville phone box,” Lorenz said.

“I find that Mr Jenkinson, as the caller, was involved in what happened to Krystal after she was taken to the Leitchville area and he has been untruthful to police about it.

“I direct the Principal Registrar to notify the Director of Public Prosecutions that I believe an indictable offence may have been committed in connection with Krystal’s death.”

Jenkinson has long denied any involvement in Fraser’s death and also rejected suggestions he was the person who had made calls to the expectant mother from the public phone box.

But Lorenz agreed with police that Jenkinson was the person responsible for making calls to Fraser from the Leitchville phone box, instead of his personal phones, in an attempt to conceal his contact with her from others.

In the lead up to her disappearance, Fraser had been living alone in a rental property in Pyramid Hill after moving out of home at 19.

Line search for Krystal Fraser east of Pyramid Hill.Credit:Bendigo Advertiser

Fraser experienced developmental issues as a child and began having epileptic seizures and impaired vision from about the age of eight. Her parents reported her having issues with her short-term memory but an exceptional long-term memory.

Fraser was also known to be extremely friendly with people, including those she did not know, and would hold conversations with strangers from a young age, often missing social cues and overstaying her welcome.

Her parents, Karen and Neil Fraser, long held fears she could be taken advantage of by others due to her naivety.

In handing down her findings on Thursday, Lorenz noted that extensive speculation in the Pyramid Hill area in the years following Fraser’s disappearance had impacted the police investigation. She found that rumours including that the expectant mother was moving drugs for associates were false.

She said a belief that Fraser was staying with friends in the immediate period after Bendigo Hospital reported her missing on June 23, 2009, had also delayed investigations into her possible death.

In 2019 a $1 million reward for information was unveiled by police. No one has been charged.

“Krystal’s disappearance just days before she was to give birth to her baby son has deeply affected her community. For Krystal’s family, the grief about her death has been long overshadowed by the questions and uncertainty about her disappearance,” the coroner said.

“I acknowledge the pain and distress that this uncertainty has caused and will likely continue to cause in the absence of resolution.”

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