The daughter of convicted killer Chris Dawson has exposed the horrific falsehood made to her and her sister after their mother Lynette vanished: that she went because she ‘didn’t love them.’
Shanelle Dawson stated that her ‘evil’ father cleverly indoctrinated his two young daughters into believing that their mother had left them and their Bayview house on Sydney’s northern beaches in 1982 to join a religious cult.
Shanelle revealed disturbing memories of her father carrying a’shovel’ and her mother’s body’slumped’ over in a car before he dug a grave near the family swimming pool on Sunday’s 60 Minutes.
The former rugby league player denied any role in the disappearance of his first wife for forty years, saying to the police and Lyn’s distraught family that she had departed of her own volition.
Shanelle and her younger sister were ‘gaslighted’ as children into believing their mother did not love them enough to stay, despite the assertions of her close circle that she would never have abandoned her daughters.
After being arrested in December 2018, Dawson was found guilty of murdering the 33-year-old in a protracted judge-only trial at the NSW Supreme Court in August.
After her disappearance in January 1982, Lynette Dawson (seen above with Shanelle) was never seen again.
Shanelle had assumed her father had murdered her mother for years prior to the trial, but she described his conviction as a “shock.”
She stated, “I heard them say, “Chris Dawson, I find you guilty,” and I was stunned.”
I truly could not comprehend it. This father I adore did commit the crime, which is now acknowledged by our legal system.’
Living in the United States for nine years provided Shanelle with ‘space’ from her family and opened her eyes to their ‘abusive’ and ‘toxic’ relationships.
I could tell that he was constantly manipulating and gaslighting us. When I returned to my family, our connection changed significantly,’ she explained.
My father exemplifies the concept of’survival of the fittest’ and ‘f*** everyone else to obtain what you want’
“I feel hate and rage towards him for being that way, but I also feel sympathy and grief for his condition.”
Shanelle Dawson (pictured) believes her mother was buried beside the pool that night before Dawson relocated her remains the next day, when he was alone, to another location.
Chris Dawson was convicted of killing his first wife, Lyn. Her remains have never been located.
Shanelle was about to begin elementary school when her mother vanished without a trace.
Dozens of Shanelle’s classmates, coworkers, and neighbors reported that Lyn adored her daughters and would never have abandoned them.
She was raised to believe she was abandoned.
Shanelle, who now has an eight-year-old daughter of her own, expressed profound regret and wrath at her father for’selfishly’ removing her mother from her life and denying her a loving family.
She stated that Dawson shattered her heart ‘into smithereens’ after he murdered her mother and then attempted to persuade her and her sister that Lyn had left voluntarily.
Shanelle’s final text message exchange with her father occurred on Father’s Day in 2018, barely three months before he was detained at his Queensland residence.
In the text, she pleaded with her father to accept responsibility for the agony he caused the family by denying his two children their mother’s affection.
Shanelle and her younger sister were led to believe that their mother did not love them enough to allow them to remain, despite Lyn’s inner group insisting otherwise (pictured is the Dawson family)
In his ‘breathtaking’ remark, Dawson implied that Shanelle was lonely and despondent because she was a single mother with a child.
He reminded his daughter that everyone had to deal with their ‘bad choices’ in life, and that Shanelle did not need to remind him of his.
This is how he accepts responsibility, by shifting it to others. I was stunned and furious that there was no trace of an apology,’ she claimed.
Except for the fact that my father had murdered my mother, I was actually quite content with my existence.
Shanelle later told 60 Minutes, in a stunning revelation, that she remembered seeing her father with a shovel and her mother lying in the front seat of a car on the night she is believed to have died in 1982.
In an unusual move, investigators subjected her to hypnosis in order to unearth forgotten memories.
Shanelle believes her father moved her mother’s remains the next day when he was alone after burying her near the pool (pictured is Chris and Lynette Dawson at their wedding)
She told reporter Tom Steinfort that she witnessed her father shining his car’s headlights on a location near the home pool while she was in the backseat.
Shanelle believes that Dawson buried her mother near the pool that night, then moved her body the next day when he was alone.
It was actually quite profound. She stated, “I believe I saw my sister and myself in the rear of a car with my mother slumped in the front.”
“I believe I saw him digging there that night, and then the next day, when dad didn’t have us children with him, he relocated her elsewhere.”
Shanelle responded affirmatively to Steinfort’s inquiry as to whether or not she feels that what she seen under hypnosis were authentic recollections.
Shanelle reported that, while under hypnosis, she witnessed her father aiming headlights towards an area near the pool (shown).
Shanelle expressed skepticism that her father would ever divulge the truth about the night he murdered her mother because he “believes his own lies.”
She stated that she would not find resolution until she received these details.
It will not happen anytime soon. For me, the truth is what provides peace,’ she stated.
Shanelle stated that if she could speak to her mother, she would apologize, tell her she loved her, and thank her for the first four and a half years of ‘nurturing’
She felt upset as she expressed that she wanted she could watch Lyn spend time with her granddaughter and stated that people take a loving family for granted.
She said, “I’ve always wished I had one of those.”
I hope that everyone who hears this would respect their mothers a bit more, tell them what they love about them, and thank them for everything they do.
Justice Ian Harrison concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Lynette Dawson (seen above with her husband Chris Dawson on their wedding day) did not leave her Bayview house voluntarily.
Shanelle’s disclosure comes after it was revealed at Dawson’s Supreme Court trial that police received’many’ anonymous phone calls from people claiming Lyn’s body was buried beneath the pool at the Bayview residence.
Former investigator Damian Loone testified at the trial that authorities explored this idea since the pool was paved shortly after Lyn’s disappearance.
When asked under cross-examination how he came up with this theory, Detective Loone responded that it occurred during an interview with JC, the babysitter who had replaced Lyn as Chis Dawson’s partner and then his wife.
Before Lyn’s disappearance, the court heard that JC swam topless and naked in the pool while residing at the Dawson residence on Gillwinga Drive in Sydney’s northern beaches and babysitting the couple’s two young girls.
Chris Dawson (shown) filed the documentation indicating his willingness to appeal the murder conviction.
In January 1981, Lyn, shown with her husband Chris and one of their daughters, vanished without a trace.
‘She was going to swim in the pool, and when she went to get out and put her hands on the pool to get out, it was dirt, and it was later paved,’ he explained.
In 2000, authorities did an extensive excavation near the Bayview residence’s swimming pool and discovered slashed pink cardigan shreds.
However, forensic research was unable to establish a connection between the substance and Lyn.
Dawson filed an appeal against his conviction for the murder of his first wife last week and remains in Sydney’s Silverwater Jail awaiting punishment.
The former Newtown Jets rugby league player has always maintained his innocence about Lyn’s abduction.
Chris Dawson cleverly convinced his two young daughters that their mother, Lyn (pictured), had cruelly abandoned them to join a religious cult.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS FOLLOWING LYN DAWSON’S DISAPPEARANCE:
Lynette ‘Lyn’ Dawson, 33, vanishes from her Bayview home on Sydney’s northern beaches in January 1982, leaving behind two small daughters. Within days, the family’s babysitter, a schoolgirl named only as JC, moved into the home.
Chris Dawson, a teacher and former rugby league player for the Newtown Jets, reports his wife missing six weeks after he claims she disappeared in February.
2001: An inquest suggests that a “known person” be prosecuted with the murder of Mrs. Dawson, but the Director of Public Prosecutions later states that the evidence was not examined because no witnesses were called.
2003: A second inquest calls witnesses and suggests that a known individual be charged with murder, submitting the case to the DPP. Again, no charges are laid.
2010: The NSW Police offer a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
The reward is doubled to $200,000 in 2014.
2015 – Strikeforce Scriven is established, and the entire Bayview block owned by the Dawsons is mapped.
April 2018 – Detectives from Scriven seek the DPP to review their evidence dossier.
The Teacher’s Pet podcast about Mrs. Dawson’s disappearance is released in May by an Australian newspaper. It is ultimately downloaded 60 million times globally.
July – New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says that police “lost the ball” in their probe of the 1980s.
September – The backyard of the Bayview home the couple shared at the time of Mrs. Dawson’s disappearance is excavated, but no remains or items of interest are discovered.
Chris Dawson gets detained on the Gold Coast on December 5, and he spends the night in a watchhouse.
Dressed in a polo shirt, shorts, and thongs, the then-70-year-old is extradited to Sydney, where he is charged with the murder of his first wife and appears in court via video link on December 6. His attorney, Greg Walsh, states that he “vigorously defends his innocence.”
Dawson is released on bail to return to his home in Queensland on December 17.
The 8th of August, 2019 – Magistrate Michael Allen warns that some coverage of the case could effect the fairness of the trial, stating, “One would have to live in a cave or be quite foolish to dismiss the possibility for unfairness to a person who receives this amount of media scrutiny.”
The 11-13 of February 2020, Magistrate Jacqueline Trad hears evidence before to committing Dawson to stand trial for murder.
3 April – Dawson formally pleads not guilty to murder, and his attorneys file a motion to halt the proceedings permanently.
25 September – Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Fullerton grants Dawson a nine-month stay of execution to allow ‘unrestrained and clamorous’ public criticism regarding his wife’s abduction to subside prior to his trial.
The Court of Criminal Appeal denies a permanent stay of proceedings on June 11, 2021.
April 8, 2022 – The Supreme Court upholds the decisions of lower courts not to halt proceedings permanently.
Following Dawson’s request, Supreme Court Justice Robert Beech-Jones directs the trial to proceed before a single judge on May 2.
9 May – 11 July – The trial is presided over by Justice Ian Harrison. Prosecutors allege that Dawson was aggressive and abusive towards his wife and murdered her in order to have an unrestricted connection with JC. Several witnesses claimed to have seen Mrs. Dawson alive and well after January 1982, as evidenced by Dawson’s attorneys.
Dawson is convicted guilty of murder on August 30.
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Australian Associated Press is the source.