Stacey Robyn Thorne

A pregnant woman's brutal murder in a small mining town leads to a shocking miscarriage of justice, leaving the real killer at large and a family's desperate plea for answers echoing for over a decade.

Stacey Robyn Thorne, a 35-year-old Noongar woman, was found brutally murdered on the front lawn of her home in the small mining town of Boddington, Western Australia, on the evening of December 9, 2007. She was 22 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. The small, tight-knit community was rocked by the horrific crime, and the subsequent investigation would expose a dark underbelly of injustice and alleged police corruption.

The initial investigation quickly focused on Scott Austic, Stacey's on-again, off-again partner and the father of her unborn child. Despite his proclamations of innocence, Austic was arrested and charged with Stacey's murder. The prosecution's case was built on a foundation of circumstantial evidence, including a blood-stained knife, a cigarette packet, and a Jim Beam can, all allegedly found at or near the crime scene and linking Austic to the murder. In 2009, Scott Austic was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

For over a decade, Austic maintained his innocence, and his family fought tirelessly to clear his name. Their efforts finally paid off in 2020 when the Western Australian Court of Appeal quashed his conviction and ordered a retrial. The court found that there was "credible, cogent and plausible evidence" that crucial evidence had been planted by police. During the retrial, the defense presented compelling evidence of evidence tampering, including testimony from a renowned forensic pathologist who stated that the alleged murder weapon could not have inflicted the fatal wounds. After just over two hours of deliberation, the jury found Scott Austic not guilty, and he was finally freed after spending 12 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. The acquittal of Scott Austic has left the murder of Stacey Thorne unsolved, and her family is still desperately seeking justice and answers.