Editor Lyndon Keane says the only way for the myriad questions that remain about the 2012 disappearance of Bruce Schuler to be answered is for the State Government to green light a long-overdue coronial inquest and provide closure to the gold prospector’s family, and the family of those convicted of his murder. Photo: Australian Missing Persons Register.
I’m not usually one to throw my signature on a petition, but I couldn’t provide my details quick enough when I saw the ePetition calling for a coronial inquest into the 2012 disappearance of gold prospector Bruce Schuler on a remote station in the southern part of Cape York.
For those unfamiliar with the case, the 48-year-old was last seen on the vast Palmerville Station on 9 July 2012 while prospecting with three others – Daniel Bidner, Tremain Anderson and Kevin Groth.
Despite his body never being found and no physical evidence linking them to the crime, station leaseholders Stephen Struber and Dianne Wilson-Struber were in 2015 tried and convicted of Mr Schuler’s murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
No body and no forensic evidence linking the pair to the disappearance of the popular prospector, you say? How is it conceivable then that Mr Struber and Ms Wilson-Struber have spent almost a decade imprisoned for murder?
That is the million-dollar question, and the exact reason the State Government needs to take the petition, launched by Sharon Ferguson, one of Ms Wilson-Struber’s sisters, seriously and green light a coronial inquest into Mr Schuler’s disappearance.
Don’t read the trial transcripts and 2016 coroner’s non-inquest findings into the whole mess and expect answers. If you’re like many who have deep dived into the case, you’ll come away with more questions than you went in with. A lot more.
In her 2016 report, Northern Coroner Nerida Wilson found Mr Schuler “is likely to have died from shotgun wounds inflicted by Stephen Struber and/or Dianne Rose Wilson-Struber”, “likely” on the 134,000-hectare Palmerville Station, “likely” on the 9 July 2012. Amongst the legion of “likely”, she casually admits “[Mr Schuler’s] body has not been found” and that “[t]he precise circumstances of his death are unknown”.
With so many unknowns in play, how is it possible the Supreme Court jury managed to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt – the standard of proof in criminal proceedings – the couple had murdered Mr Schuler?
Certainly, there are elements of the case which do not bode well for Mr Struber and Ms Wilson-Struber, namely, what happened to the missing firearms meant to be on Palmerville Station, and why the latter anonymously called police from a public telephone three days after the prospector’s disappearance and told them they should be looking “12-15 kilometres east” of their current search location. The anonymous call, and the missing .357 magnum revolver and .22 calibre rifle defy rational explanation, and the couple has never proffered an answer to either conundrum.
Speaking of guns, remember that the non-inquest finding was that Mr Schuler was “likely” killed with a shotgun, despite the absence of a body on which ballistic testing could have been carried out to determine whether the fatal shot came from a shotgun, rimfire or centrefire weapon.
If a coronial inquest is held and new evidence not available to the jury at the trial proves beyond reasonable doubt the couple murdered Mr Schuler, I have no qualms in stating unequivocally they should spend the rest of their natural lives rotting in prison.
I did reach out to Mr Schuler’s wife, Fiona Splitt, to gauge her views on the petition and ask what would provide her and the Schuler family closure, however, instead of hearing back from her, I received a call from the lead detective on the murder case, despite the file having now been closed for 3,561 days.
Will the much-needed coronial inquest be called? One can remain hopeful, but the reality is it has the potential to leave the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Queensland Police Service with egg on their faces if some hard questions are asked and answered almost 10 years after the case was wrapped up with a neat little bow.
The Schuler family deserves closure. They deserve to bring prospector home and lay him to rest. It is feasible a coronial inquest could help achieve this heartbreaking goal.
Everyone loves a mystery. It’s why true crime podcasts like Graeme Crowley’s Where is Bruce Schuler are so popular. But questions cannot remain when a family continues to grieve the loss of a husband, father and friend, or if there is even the slightest chance two people set to spend the rest of their lives behind bars could be there because of a system that failed them.
An aerial view of the part of Palmerville Station believed to be the spot leaseholders Stephen Struber and Dianne Wilson-Struber murdered gold prospector Bruce Schuler in July 2012. Photo: Supplied.
