Murders of Margaret and Seana Tapp


The murders of Margaret Tapp and Seana Tapp, sometimes simply referred to as the Tapp murders, are unsolved crimes that occurred on 7 August 1984 when an unknown assailant or assailants broke into the home of the Tapp family in Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, beating, then strangling to death a 35-year-old nurse named Margaret Tapp before murdering her nine-year-old daughter, Seana. Both victims were strangled with a section of rope. The victims' bodies were found the following day.
Seana's body was found upon her bed; she had been raped prior to her murder.
Several suspects have been eliminated via DNA analysis, although complications pertaining to the contamination of samples retrieved from the murder scene have cast doubts upon the earlier elimination of some suspects from the police inquiry.
The murders have been described as one of the most notorious unsolved murder cases in Australian history.

History

The double murder of Margaret Christine Tapp and Seana Lee Tapp has been described as one of the most notorious unsolved cases in Australian history.
Margaret Tapp and Seana Tapp are buried in Ferntree Gully Cemetery.
Several suspects have been subsequently cleared by DNA testing. In 2008, a prosecution collapsed when it was revealed that evidence had been contaminated. In 2015, investigators reopened the case in a cold case review. In 2017, an 1 million reward was offered for information that could lead to a conviction.
Other leads include a Dunlop Volley footprint and a red utility vehicle seen parked nearby which was never traced.

Cited works and further reading