This week marks a tragic milestone for the families of Raymond and Jennie Kehlet. On March 19, 2015, they set off on a camping trip to the tiny town of Sandstone, about 700 kilometres north-east of Perth, and vanished, sparking one of Australia’s biggest crime mysteries.
Just two weeks later on April 8, Ray’s shirtless body was discovered down an abandoned gold mineshaft near their campsite. Jennie, 49, has never been found. In 2021, a coroner determined Ray, 47, had been murdered after his body had signs of blunt force trauma and bloodied boots. Jennie was also determined to have died around the same time.
“Ray and Jennie were such a devoted, fun-loving couple,” Ray’s younger brother David, 51, tells New Idea.
“They had so much to live for: they loved dancing, AC/DC, and of course, most of all, their kids.”
Father-of-two Ray, and Jennie, a mum of three, were travelling with their friend, Graham Milne, who’d offered to show them how to prospect for gold. They’d told their loved ones they would be out of mobile range for 10 days but would get in touch after that. They never did.
In late March, the alarm was raised when the couple’s dog, Ella, was found half-starved, 30 kilometres from their campsite. Milne, who was the last person to see them alive, has always maintained his innocence.
It took WA Police several months before they called in the homicide detectives, instead treating the couple’s disappearance as a missing persons case. When New Idea recently visited David and his wife Sally inside their Perth home, they said they always sensed foul play was involved.
“How could two bright, people just disappear? Ray grew up in the bush. We knew from the outset something terrible had happened, that they hadn’t just got lost,” David says.
“After the inquest ended, when the coroner determined Ray had been murdered, we’d expected the Director of Public Prosecutions to charge someone, and we were devastated when this didn’t happen. “There’s a killer out there who’s got away with murder.”
Sally, 53, adds: “Jennie and Ray had five kids between them, who loved and needed them. Grandkids have come along now, who will never know their grandparents.”
The failures of WA Police – including their delay in cordoning off the campsite to comb for clues and its treatment of forensic evidence – have repeatedly been referenced by both Ray and Jennie’s families.
For David and Sally, they are desperate for answers. Each year, they travel to the Sandstone region in search of new clues. They were heartened when, two years ago, an ex-soldier, Rick, contacted them offering to search the large area, peppered with old mines, on the off-chance he might find something.
“He went down the shaft where Ray’s body was found – and found his missing shirt!” David says, shaking his head.
“How could the police have not found that years ago?”
Rick also found other items he had handed to the police. We’re still waiting to hear if this will help their inquiries.
Sally adds: “We get contacted by people from across the globe. They’re all wondering, like us, when Jennie will be found and when this crime will be solved.”
While plenty of tears have flowed over the past decade, David is determined to honour the 10-year anniversary.
“On March 19, we’ll be toasting Ray and Jennie with a good drop of wine and playing some of their favourite songs,” he says, with a smile.
The WA Government is offering $2 million to anyone for information leading to a conviction.
