Case File 029-092: The Jennings Murder Scene

Incident Overview

On the evening of 2 August 2018, Tasmania Police responded to a reported break-in at 2 Wallcrest Road, Berriedale — a residential property registered to Luke Nathaniel Smith and Jamie Nigel Greyson. The property was already of investigative interest: Smith was identified as a person of interest across multiple missing persons investigations being conducted by Detectives Karl Jenkins and Sarah Lahey of Southern Division's Criminal Investigation Branch.

Officers attending the break-in discovered far more than a forced entry. Inside the residence, they found the decomposed remains of a male later identified as Cody Brian Jennings, a South Australian man who had been missing since 1997. They also found a wounded male, later identified as Benny Salter, whose presence at the property was never satisfactorily explained. In the backyard, officers shot and killed a large predatory animal of indeterminate species.

The case was designated Case File 029-092 and assigned to Detective Inspector Sienna Blackwood, with forensic collection led by Senior Constable Lachlan Gillespie. The investigation was complicated by the arson destruction of the property on 3 August, the subsequent death of a key suspect, and forensic connections to other active investigations. The case was officially closed on 25 October 2018.

The Victim

Cody Brian Jennings was born on 15 August 1968 in Gawler, South Australia, the son of Brian and Patricia Jennings. He was raised on the family farm in a close-knit agricultural community where he was known for academic promise, natural curiosity, and a gift for leadership among his peers. He excelled at school, winning a local science fair prize for a project on renewable energy, and was widely regarded as destined for a future well beyond Gawler's horizons.

In March 1997, at the age of twenty-eight, Cody Jennings vanished. He left behind a letter to his family imploring them not to search for him, stating he was embarking on a journey he needed to take alone. The letter's tone carried an unsettling finality that his family found impossible to reconcile with the young man they knew. No formal investigation was launched. No further communication was received. Cody Jennings became a name that faded from public attention but never from his family's memory.

Cody Jennings' movements between his 1997 departure from Gawler and his death in 2018 remain largely undocumented. How he came to be in Luke Smith's Berriedale residence — what relationship if any existed between the two men, and what circumstances brought a man missing from South Australia for over twenty years to a house in suburban Hobart — are questions the investigation could only partially answer.

The Break-In

The events of the evening began with two women forcing entry to the Berriedale property. Jenny Triffett and Sharon Pafistis — the wives of Nial Triffett and Adrian Pafistis, both missing persons whose cases were connected to Luke Smith — had independently identified the Berriedale address as Smith's residence. Their purpose, it was presumed, was to search the property for information about their missing husbands.

Jenny and Sharon entered through the front door. What they encountered inside — the stench of decomposition, the scene of violence — caused both women to flee the property in distress.

Their entry and departure were observed by Kate Gibbons, who was parked outside the residence in her vehicle. Gibbons' presence at the property was connected to a separate personal matter: she was attempting to locate the residence of Jamie Greyson, the father of her son Joel. Gibbons was unaware that Greyson was himself a missing person, or that the house she was watching was at the centre of multiple police investigations.

Gibbons called 000 to report the break-in. She was advised by the operator to remain in her vehicle. The events that followed — Gibbons' entry into the house and the circumstances of her death — are documented in a separate case file and are not reproduced here.

The Scene

Constables Matilda Ferguson and Jasper Hawkins were the first officers to attend. They arrived at approximately 17:19 to find the front door forced open. Upon entering, they were immediately confronted by an overwhelming biological odour that suggested death on a scale inconsistent with the timeframes later established.

The scene inside was one of disorder and violence. Blood was smeared across walls and floors in multiple rooms. A shattered window in a rear room, with glass fragments on both the interior and exterior, indicated a breach at some prior point — though whether this constituted the original forced entry, a separate incident, or an attempted escape could not be determined from the physical evidence alone.

In a downstairs room, officers discovered the remains of Cody Jennings. The body had sustained catastrophic damage. The torso was severely torn, with injuries that forensic pathologists would later attribute to a combination of violent trauma and extensive animal predation. The condition of the remains was initially assessed as consistent with prolonged decomposition, but subsequent analysis indicated that the actual period since death was considerably shorter — likely no more than forty-eight to seventy-two hours. The extreme degradation was attributed to repeated physical displacement of the body within the property and sustained feeding by the animal discovered at the scene. Evidence suggested the body had been stored in a confined space beneath an internal staircase, from which it had been dislodged on multiple occasions.

The discrepancy between the apparent and actual timeframe of death complicated forensic analysis significantly. Standard decomposition markers were rendered unreliable by the combination of trauma, displacement, and predation. The forensic team noted that without the animal factor, the condition of the remains would have supported a time-of-death estimate measured in weeks or months rather than days.

In another area of the property, officers found Benny Salter, a male in his thirties, wounded and barely conscious. Salter had sustained injuries consistent with an animal attack. He was incoherent and unable to provide a statement at the scene.

[SECTION REDACTED — Salter's presence at the property and the circumstances of his injuries were the subject of a separate internal review. The findings of that review are not included in this file.]

In the backyard, officers confronted and fatally shot a large animal. The creature was dark-furred, of substantial size, and displayed predatory behaviour when cornered. Evidence recovered from the animal's teeth and claws was consistent with the injuries sustained by both Cody Jennings' remains and Benny Salter. The animal was classified in the incident report as an exotic animal of indeterminate species. No licensed exotic animal keeper in Tasmania claimed ownership. No zoo, wildlife park, or private collection reported a missing animal matching its description.

[SECTION REDACTED — The veterinary and zoological assessment of the animal remains has been classified under a separate reference. The assessment did not result in a definitive species identification.]

Forensic Evidence

Senior Constable Lachlan Gillespie led the forensic examination of the property. Despite the scene's complexity, the collection was thorough and yielded significant results — though many raised more questions than they resolved.

Blood samples were recovered from multiple locations within the house. Analysis identified the following:

Blood matching Cody Jennings was found concentrated in the room where his body lay, consistent with the location of death or the location where the body had been placed after death.

Trace blood matching Beatrix Cramer was identified on the kitchen floor tiles. Beatrix Cramer was the sister of Gladys Cramer and had no previously documented connection to Luke Smith's residence. Her presence at the property — or at minimum, the presence of her blood — was unexplained.

Blood matching Detective Sarah Lahey was identified on Cody Jennings' clothing and at the scene. The discovery that a serving detective's blood was present on a murder victim and within the crime scene was profoundly significant. The circumstances under which Lahey's blood came to be at the location were never established through direct testimony.

Blood matching an unknown male was recovered from a separate area. This was subsequently identified as belonging to Winston Davey. Investigating officers initially assessed Davey as a known associate of Luke Smith, though the precise nature of this association and Davey's role at the property were never confirmed through independent evidence.

Multiple sets of fingerprints were recovered, including those of Gladys Cramer, Beatrix Cramer, and several unidentified individuals. The number of people whose biological traces were present at the property significantly exceeded the number of people the investigation could account for.

The Arson

On the night of 3 August 2018 — less than twenty-four hours after the discovery of Cody Jennings' body — the Berriedale property was destroyed by fire.

Detective Inspector Blackwood was called to the scene as firefighters battled to contain the blaze. The fire was fierce and thorough, reducing much of the structure to charred remnants. Fire investigator Remy Sullivan of Tasmania Fire Service presented preliminary findings on 7 August confirming the fire was arson. The accelerant pattern and ignition points indicated deliberate and methodical destruction.

The timing was unambiguous. The house had yielded a body, blood evidence connecting multiple persons of interest, and forensic material that could have supported charges across several investigations. Within hours, it was gone. The arson was never attributed to a specific individual. No charges were laid in connection with the fire.

The Investigation

Detective Inspector Sienna Blackwood led the investigation with characteristic precision, but the case resisted resolution at every turn. The evidence pointed in multiple directions simultaneously, and the people who might have clarified the connections kept dying or disappearing.

The first critical development came on 7 August, when forensic analysis confirmed that Detective Sarah Lahey's blood was present on Cody Jennings' clothing and at the crime scene. The discovery that a serving detective — the partner of the recently disappeared Karl Jenkins — had a forensic connection to a murder victim was profoundly destabilising. Lahey was placed under covert surveillance by Detective Sergeant Alexander Stout, who was simultaneously leading the investigation into her partner's disappearance.

The surveillance yielded immediate and damning results. Footage captured Lahey removing Cody Jennings' body from the Royal Hobart Hospital morgue. The images showed her wheeling the remains out of the facility with what investigators described as grim determination. Her motivation for stealing the body was never established. The body was not recovered.

Surveillance also identified contact between Lahey and Gladys Cramer, culminating in an arranged meeting at Myrtle Forest on 8 August. Stout organised a covert operation at the meeting point. The operation ended in violence. Sarah Lahey was fatally wounded during the encounter with Gladys Cramer. The circumstances of Lahey's death are documented under Case 2018-08-02/14387 and related files.

Gladys Cramer was arrested following Lahey's death. Under questioning on 8 August, her interview revealed a deeply personal connection to Cody Jennings that the investigation had not anticipated. Gladys described Cody as someone profoundly important to her — "more than a friend, like family" — and spoke of a bond forged through shared secrets. She acknowledged her fingerprints at the Berriedale scene and confirmed she had been present at the house on previous occasions. She characterised Sarah Lahey's involvement in terms that were hostile and absolute.

On 9 August, Gladys was interviewed again by Detective Sergeant Stout, this time specifically regarding the disappearance of Karl Jenkins. No connection between Gladys and Karl's disappearance could be established. Gladys remained in custody for Sarah Lahey's murder but provided no information relevant to the Jenkins case.

Sarah Lahey's death eliminated the investigation's most significant lead. Whatever Lahey knew about the Berriedale property — about the blood evidence, about Cody Jennings, about her own connection to the scene — she took to Myrtle Forest.

Terry Croft's Testimony

Terry Croft, a neighbour of the Berriedale property, provided testimony that added context to the activity at Luke Smith's residence in the weeks and months preceding the discovery. Croft described a pattern of unusual behaviour: small trucks arriving at irregular hours, crates and boxes being delivered whose contents were never apparent, and tense gatherings of individuals whose identities he could not confirm.

Croft reported witnessing heated arguments outside the property involving Luke Smith, Cody Jennings, and the Cramer sisters. He described an atmosphere of escalating tension and fear. His account of Sarah Lahey's presence at the property on the night of Cody's death was particularly significant: "She wasn't there by accident. She knew what was happening. She was involved, deeply."

Croft's testimony corroborated the forensic evidence placing multiple individuals at the property over an extended period and suggested that the events of 2 August were the culmination of a longer pattern of activity rather than an isolated incident.

Case Closure

On 25 October 2018, Inspector Declan Jameson officially closed Case File 029-092. The stated conclusion identified Detective Sarah Lahey as the prime suspect in the murder of Cody Jennings. Her death was cited as the reason no prosecution could be pursued. The case was closed without charges.

The closure was accepted within the formal structures of the institution. Whether it was accepted with conviction is a separate question.

Sarah Lahey's blood was at the scene. Sarah Lahey stole the body. Sarah Lahey was connected to Gladys Cramer, who was connected to Cody Jennings. Sarah Lahey was dead, and dead suspects cannot defend themselves, cannot explain, cannot complicate a narrative that has achieved the one thing investigations require above all else: an ending.

But the ending did not account for the blood of Beatrix Cramer on the kitchen tiles. It did not explain the shattered window or the wounded man whose presence was redacted from the record. It did not identify the exotic animal shot in the backyard or explain how a creature of that nature came to be in a suburban Hobart garden. It did not clarify the relationship between Cody Jennings and Luke Smith, or how a man missing from South Australia for twenty-one years came to die in a house in Berriedale. It did not recover Cody's body, which Sarah Lahey removed from the morgue for reasons the investigation never determined.

The case was closed. The questions were not.

Connection to Related Investigations

Case File 029-092 intersected with multiple concurrent investigations in ways that compounded its complexity.

The Berriedale property was Luke Smith's registered residence. Smith was the central person of interest in Operation Vanished, the coordinated framework addressing the disappearance of multiple individuals across greater Hobart. Every Operation Vanished case passed through Smith's orbit, and his residence was the physical location most consistently connected to his activities.

Detective Sarah Lahey, named as the prime suspect in the Jennings murder, was simultaneously a key witness in the disappearance of her partner Detective Karl Jenkins (Case 2018-08-02/14387). Her blood at the Jennings scene prompted her placement under surveillance, which led to the Myrtle Forest operation, which led to her death. The investigation into Karl's disappearance lost its most important witness because the Jennings investigation made her a suspect.

Gladys Cramer, arrested for Sarah Lahey's murder, was the sister of Beatrix Cramer — the woman whose fingerprints and silver hair were found at Karl Jenkins' residence and who was captured on security footage removing Karl's police dog from a secure kennel. Gladys's vehicle had been abandoned at Myrtle Forest during the 30 July pursuit involving the Pafistis case.

Jenny Triffett and Sharon Pafistis, who broke into the Berriedale property, were the wives of Operation Vanished missing persons. Kate Gibbons, who died at the scene, was the mother of Joel Gibbons — the son of Jamie Greyson, himself an Operation Vanished missing person.

Every thread led back to the same knot. Every investigation touched every other investigation. And at the centre of the knot sat Luke Smith's house, which burned to the ground before anyone could untangle it.

Current Status

Case File 029-092 is officially closed. Sarah Lahey was named as the prime suspect. No prosecution was possible.

Cody Jennings' remains have not been recovered since their removal from the morgue. His family in Gawler were informed of the discovery and subsequent developments. Detective Sergeant Stout and Detective Inspector Blackwood visited the Jennings family farm in September 2018 to gather background information about Cody's 1997 disappearance. The visit produced biographical context but no explanation for how Cody came to be in Tasmania or in Luke Smith's house.

The Berriedale property was destroyed by arson and has not been rebuilt. The site remains vacant.

Gladys Cramer was charged with Sarah Lahey's murder and released on bail. She subsequently breached the terms of her bail and has not been located. No trial has been conducted. Beatrix Cramer was never located. Luke Smith was never located. Winston Davey's connection to the property was never independently verified. Benny Salter's presence was never publicly explained.The animal shot in the backyard was never identified to species.

Cody Brian Jennings was fifty years old at the time his remains were discovered. He had been missing for twenty-one years. He left Gawler in 1997 with a letter asking his family not to look for him, and he was found in a house in Berriedale belonging to a man the police couldn't catch, in a room that smelled of things no house should contain, surrounded by the blood of people who had no business being there and the fingerprints of people nobody could find.

The case is closed. The house is ash. The body is gone. The questions remain.