What happened to Lynette Dawson? Everything about the murder case

Just two days after Lynette Dawson's mysterious disappearance, her husband and his teenage lover moved into their home in Bayview, Sydney.

Despite the highly suspicious move, Christopher Dawson, a teacher and former rugby player, insisted for years that his wife had simply turned away from the family – until the popular podcast Teacher's favorite brought the case back into the spotlight in 2018, more than three decades after Lynette's disappearance.

That same year, Christopher was arrested for his wife's murder and was found guilty four years later, giving Lynette's family the justice they deserved.

“This verdict is for Lyn. Today her name is cleared – she loved her family and would never have left them voluntarily. Instead, her trust was abused by a man she loved,” said her brother Greg Simms. The Guardian.

Here you can find out everything you need to know about the sensational case and the long road to justice:

When did Lynette Dawson disappear?

Lynette Dawson – mother of two children and nurse at a local daycare – was just 33 years old when she mysteriously disappeared on January 8, 1982.

Two days later, her husband Christopher, a former professional rugby player with the Newtown Jets, moved his former student and the children's babysitter, a 16-year-old girl known in court only as “JC,” into the house where the couple had lived together, according to the news.com.au.

For years, Christopher insisted that his wife had simply left her old life behind, even suggesting that she had run away to join a cult. He also claimed to have been in sporadic contact with her by phone, although Lynette suspiciously never made contact with other family members.

Who did Christopher Dawson have an affair with?

Christopher had fallen in love with one of his young students during his time as a PE teacher at Cromer High School. The married father even went so far as to manipulate the class schedule in JC's penultimate year of school so that she would be in his class, according to the news outlet. Soon, JC, who came from broken homes, became the family's regular babysitter and had a secret affair with Christopher.

JC later testified in court that she confronted Lynette during her last conversation with her and told her, “You took liberties with my husband.”

“I didn’t know what to say,” JC said.

In Lynette's absence, the teenager quickly took on the role of stepmother and helped raise the children. Two years later, she and Christopher married using one of Lynette's rings, the outlet said. They had a daughter together but divorced in 1990.

“I didn't want a relationship with him. I wanted to leave … because I was still a child,” she once said in court.

What role did The Teacher's favorite Play podcast?

With no sign of Lynette, the case was eventually closed. Investigators conducted two judicial inquiries in 2001 and 2003, both of which concluded that charges should be brought against a known person, but prosecutors declined to pursue the case due to a lack of evidence, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

To this day, Lynette's body has not been found and authorities at the time had no solid evidence that she met a dark end.

The case came back into public awareness in May 2018 when journalist Hedley Thomas started the podcast The teacher's favorite, offer new evidence and interviews. From 2022 The Guardian The podcast has reportedly been downloaded 60 million times worldwide.

Was Christopher Dawson convicted of the murder of his wife Lynette?

Christopher was arrested and charged with murder in 2018 and was convicted four years later in a trial decided by Justice Ian Harrison of the Supreme Court of the State of New South Wales.

“None of these circumstances alone can establish Mr Dawson's guilt,” Harrison said in announcing his decision. The Guardian. “But considering their combined strength, I have no doubt. The only reasonable conclusion [is that] Lynette Dawson died on or about January 8, 1982, as a result of a knowing or voluntary act by Christopher Dawson.”

He concluded that Christopher had killed his wife “for the selfish and cynical reason of removing the annoying obstacle she represented” after becoming obsessed with his teenage lover. The Sydney Morning Herald was reported at the time.

Harrison called Christopher's claims that he had spoken to his wife after her disappearance, including a phone call on January 9, 1982, saying she needed some time alone, nothing more than “lies.”

He added that it was “simply absurd” to assume that Lynette had only stayed in touch with the person “who was the reason for her departure” instead of contacting her own family members.

How do Lynette and Christopher Dawson’s children feel today?

When Lynette Dawson disappeared, she left behind two young daughters. Christopher told the girls that their mother had simply decided to abandon the family, but now, more than 40 years later, the couple's eldest daughter, Shanelle, must accept an even crueler reality.

“It was years and years of processing and trying to come to terms with it, and I actually still didn't want to believe it for a long time,” said Shanelle, who was just 4 years old when her mother disappeared, to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation“Especially because I stayed in my father’s life for many years after that.”

She reported that there were always “warning signs” throughout her childhood, such as her father's insistence on never talking about her mother, the lack of photos of her in the house, and a “misogynistic” comment he made about her mother.

“He said, 'It's a shame your mother let herself go. She had such a pretty face,'” Shanelle recalled.

While Shanelle admitted that her father still means a lot to her, she also believes he did something “terrible” and mourns the loss of her mother.

“The fact that he did it is still [causing] for me just so much grief and heartache,” she told the outlet.

Where is Christopher Dawson today?

Today, Christopher is behind bars, serving a maximum prison sentence of 24 years, according to The Australian Associated PressHe will not be eligible for parole until August 2041.

However, he could be forced to serve the entire sentence because the country's laws prevent convicted murderers from being released unless they reveal the whereabouts of their victims.

Christopher is currently appealing the verdict.