The date was Saturday, April 16, 1994. Anthea Bradshaw was a radiant new bride and had just tied the knot with her high school sweetheart, Jeff Hall.
The two were united in wedded bliss.Â
Just 96 days later Anthea was stabbed, strangled and left lifeless in a pool of blood, half a world away from home, in Brunei, South East Asia.
Thirty years on, her murder remains a mystery and her family is still heartbroken, left without any answers.
Ben Avery, a reporter with 9News, has tirelessly followed the case of Anthea’s murder for more than a decade
For Avery, this series wasn’t just sparked by a puzzling case which came across the news desk, but has become a mission in seeking justice for a family who’ve never known what really happened to their beloved daughter and sister.
Although the Bradshaw’s have tried to move forward, grief has gripped them in every moment. For Anthea’s mother, Ros, the pain is unimaginable and it appears time doesn’t heal all wounds.
It’s an existence. Someone has to suffer for murdering her. You can’t do this in life and just get away with that,” said Ros.
In the eyes of those who loved the young Adelaide primary school teacher, Anthea was a bright, considerate woman who was in the prime of her life. Following her husband who’d just received a dream job opportunity, Anthea was ready to take a leap of faith to Brunei, and leave her family behind.Â
The day before she was set to return home to Australia, Anthea was ruthlessly murdered..
Expecting the imminent arrival of their darling daughter, the late Martin Bradshaw said one phone call turned their lives upside down.
“I was up in the bedroom. It’s etched in my mind⦠I heard the phone go, I heard Ros answer the phone⦠she was screaming. By the time I got down in the kitchen, Ros was in the corner on the floor in the foetal position just rocking back and forth. I was perfectly calm and lucid⦠Until I looked down, and I had urinated in my trousers.”
Her body was discovered by her husband, Jeff, on the floor of their third storey apartment in a gated community. Who would want her murdered? And why?Â
As the years have passed since her death, local police in Brunei, South Australian and Australian Federal Police have interviewed suspects, examined forensics and explored the alibis of those known to Anthea but to no avail.
You can find Just Married: The Anthea Bradshaw Mystery in your favourite podcast app now, simply search ‘Just Married’ and press the follow button. Episode Two is live now, with episodes weekly throughout July, August and September.
