AC/DC's Queer Manager Murdered in 1993 - New Blockbuster Evidence Revealed

The Australian judge overseeing an inquiry examining the 30-year-old unsolved murder of former AC/DC manager Crispin Dye slammed New South Wales Police yesterday after the revelation of explosive evidence in the case. The inquest, which was opened last November, is examining the 88 unsolved deaths of gay men in Sydney and NSW between 1979 and 2000.

Dye’s unconscious body was found on a street in the Darlinghurst neighborhood of Sydney around 4:30 a.m. on December 23, 1993, suffering from severe head trauma. He was taken to a nearby hospital and died two days later.

On Tuesday, it was revealed investigators waited until this year and only upon request to send Dye’s bloodstained clothing for forensic analysis. In February, NSW Police admitted it had only recently discovered two pieces of paper in Dye’s pockets which contained a handwritten name and phone number and a bloodstain until recently, according to Australian media. Three separate police probes and a coronial inquest previously examined Dye’s case.

The inquest also heard bombshell evidence that DNA from an unknown male found on Dye’s blue jean pants matched the profile of DNA found at another crime scene. Counsel Assisting Peter Gray SC on Tuesday said they had only learned of this new information the previous afternoon and that the “information was not provided to the inquiry by NSW police.”

The revelations came as NSW Police delivered an additional 261 pages of documents in the case to the inquest.

The commissioner of the inquest, Supreme Court Justice John Sacker slammed the police’s recordkeeping shortly before adjourning the inquest to examine the new evidence.

“The recordkeeping of police is, on one view, somewhat questionable,” Sacker said, according to the Daily Mail. “At the moment, it’s bordering on shambolic.”

A resident of Cairns, Dye had been in town to visit his mother and celebrate with friends the release of his debut solo album when he was murdered. Dye released the album, entitled A Heart Like Mine, under the name Chris Kemp. Dye was the former manager of the popular Australian rock group AC/DC.

In 1994, police were able to identify a person of interest, but never revealed the identity of that person and never made an arrest in the case.

Strike Force Parrabell, which was established in 2015 to investigate the 88 unsolved killings, moved Dye’s case to the category of “insufficient information to establish a bias crime” in part because it could not definitively establish Dye’s sexual identity.

“Some of Mr. Dye’s friends thought he was gay or bisexual but whether that was in fact so seems to be unclear,” Gray SC told the inquiry last November. “The scene of the attack was close to Oxford Street’s LGBTIQ bars and nightclubs, and one suggestion in the evidence gathered by police was that he may have been attacked by three men, and thus that a gang may have been involved. However, the area around Oxford Street was at the time also considered by police to be a hotspot for street robberies generally.”

NSW Police issued a statement on Tuesday saying it fully supports the inquest but refused to comment on its handling of evidence in the case.

“As the inquiry is ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment. At an appropriate time, the NSW Police Force will make submissions to the inquiry,” NSW Police said in the statement. “The NSW Police Force reiterates their full support of the Inquiry and has dedicated significant resources to the task.”