The Melbourne Society Murders

WEBVTT

00:00:00.017 --> 00:00:06.437
The Melbourne Society murders on the 4th of April 2002 took place in the Melbourne

00:00:06.437 --> 00:00:10.197
suburb of Glen Iris in Victoria, Australia.

00:00:11.597 --> 00:00:17.357
Welcome to Why Is It So? Your last defence for common sense with your co-hosts

00:00:17.357 --> 00:00:19.617
Paul Zammett and Vince Locizzano.

00:00:19.937 --> 00:00:25.177
Welcome to Why Is It So? My name is Paul and today we're going to have a look

00:00:25.177 --> 00:00:32.157
back 22 years to the murder of the two elderly people, Margaret Wales King,

00:00:32.417 --> 00:00:36.577
who was 69 at the time, and her second husband,

00:00:36.917 --> 00:00:39.317
Paul Aloysius King, 75.

00:00:40.537 --> 00:00:45.377
At the age of 24, Margaret met and married her first husband,

00:00:45.497 --> 00:00:51.477
Brian John Wales, and a year later gave birth to her first child, Sally.

00:00:52.477 --> 00:00:57.117
Four more children followed. followed, there was Damien, Emma, Prue and Matthew.

00:00:57.377 --> 00:01:00.857
Matthew being the youngest, being born in 1968.

00:01:01.897 --> 00:01:08.217
Margaret and Brian met Paul King, who they befriended and became very close

00:01:08.217 --> 00:01:11.277
friends, on a holiday at Brampton Islet.

00:01:12.017 --> 00:01:17.497
Paul King lived in Sydney until the 1960s when he moved to Melbourne to take

00:01:17.497 --> 00:01:19.857
up a job with an advertising company.

00:01:20.057 --> 00:01:23.677
He had never married and lived alone in a small flat in Forange.

00:01:24.057 --> 00:01:28.937
Brian was a commercial pilot who was often away from home, and the friendship

00:01:28.937 --> 00:01:31.397
between Paul and Margaret continued.

00:01:31.917 --> 00:01:34.677
Ty, Margaret and Paul became lovers.

00:01:35.617 --> 00:01:41.557
In 1975, Brian and Margaret Wales separated, and a year later, they divorced.

00:01:41.797 --> 00:01:46.697
Not too long afterward, and to the chagrin of the children, Paul King,

00:01:46.917 --> 00:01:52.197
who was five years older than Margaret, moved into the family home with Margaret.

00:01:52.197 --> 00:01:58.537
This move created quite a rift amongst the children, to the extent of when they

00:01:58.537 --> 00:02:03.577
got married in 1995, none of the children were actually invited to the wedding.

00:02:04.177 --> 00:02:08.317
The four older children blamed King for their parents' breakup,

00:02:08.477 --> 00:02:13.717
but Matthew, who was only seven when his parents split, saw him as a father figure.

00:02:13.937 --> 00:02:18.917
This drove a huge wedge between Matthew and his brother and sisters.

00:02:19.757 --> 00:02:24.137
They also felt that he was a spoiled brat, that his mother adored Matthew to

00:02:24.137 --> 00:02:28.377
the point where they used to call him the golden boy.

00:02:28.737 --> 00:02:31.357
But the beautiful child was flawed.

00:02:32.177 --> 00:02:37.337
With an IQ of 83, he struggled at school, told lies at home,

00:02:37.437 --> 00:02:42.997
and grew into an uncontrollable teenager who was prone to violent outbursts.

00:02:43.037 --> 00:02:48.617
His older brother, Damien, is said to have told police Matthew was a prick of

00:02:48.617 --> 00:02:50.617
a kid. We were never close.

00:02:51.559 --> 00:02:56.759
Matthew Wales left Caulfield Grammar for the John Morey School of Hairdressing,

00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:58.639
where he completed his apprenticeship.

00:02:59.059 --> 00:03:05.239
In 1997, he opened a franchise hairdressing salon called Hair House Warehouse

00:03:05.239 --> 00:03:09.159
in a Knox shopping centre, no doubt financed by his mother.

00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:15.539
In the small but loyal client list, he had an attractive girl from Boronia as a client.

00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:20.159
Her name was Maritza Pizarro. She was the youngest of three children,

00:03:20.279 --> 00:03:23.979
who migrated to Australia with her parents from Chile.

00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:27.619
She met Matthew at the Knox Salon in 1998.

00:03:28.959 --> 00:03:33.699
Allegedly, Maritza asked Matthew to come to her house to do her hair.

00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:38.859
When Matthew arrived at her door, apparently, Maritza was wearing a see-through

00:03:38.859 --> 00:03:40.599
negligee and a G-string.

00:03:40.699 --> 00:03:46.239
The hairdo was quickly forgotten, as did all caution, and from that moment on,

00:03:46.279 --> 00:03:51.899
he was besotted with her. The following year, they married, and 12 months later

00:03:51.899 --> 00:03:55.239
they had their first and only child, Dominic.

00:03:55.419 --> 00:04:01.099
Some members of the Wales family felt they had simply swapped one dominant woman for another.

00:04:01.819 --> 00:04:07.799
Matthew used money from the sale of a family house to help set up his new wife

00:04:07.799 --> 00:04:12.839
in a woman's fashion shop called Maritza Imports in High Street, Armidale.

00:04:12.839 --> 00:04:18.759
Margaret and her sister Diana Yeldon controlled a trust that owned the Gold

00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:23.879
Coast unit bequeathed to them by their father, but the real owners were their children.

00:04:24.179 --> 00:04:30.779
In 2001, when Yeldon decided to sell, Margaret wanted her family share invested

00:04:30.779 --> 00:04:34.659
back into a trust fund, but she needed her children's agreement.

00:04:34.799 --> 00:04:40.279
The only person whose support the two sisters thought they could count on was Matthew's.

00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:45.339
His mother gave him the consent documents and demanded his signature.

00:04:45.699 --> 00:04:50.179
His brother and sisters had become financially independent years ago,

00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:52.319
but Matthew still needed her help.

00:04:53.019 --> 00:04:57.059
He sighed, but believed it was the final proof that he would always be treated

00:04:57.059 --> 00:04:58.219
as the runt of the litter.

00:04:58.559 --> 00:05:04.919
A year earlier, Paul King had suffered a stroke, but even though it was very

00:05:04.919 --> 00:05:09.739
severe, Paul actually survived, with diminished speech capacity.

00:05:10.559 --> 00:05:16.639
But after a series of setbacks, ultimately needed 24-hour care. In late March 2002...

00:05:18.278 --> 00:05:22.478
Matthew went to his in-laws home in Kew and took some blood pressure pills that

00:05:22.478 --> 00:05:24.378
had been prescribed from Marissa's mother.

00:05:24.958 --> 00:05:28.318
Matthew had already decided to poison his mother.

00:05:31.858 --> 00:05:36.498
He invited Margaret and Paul for dinner that week, but the arrangement had to

00:05:36.498 --> 00:05:39.598
be cancelled when his baby son became ill.

00:05:39.738 --> 00:05:42.258
This did not faze Matthew at all.

00:05:42.918 --> 00:05:47.958
He knew that time was on his side. So the dinner date was rescheduled for Thursday,

00:05:48.198 --> 00:05:51.638
April the 4th, and Margaret was always punctual.

00:05:51.778 --> 00:05:55.838
The invitation was from between 6.30 and 7pm.

00:05:56.178 --> 00:06:01.638
Margaret being Margaret rang and said they would arrive at 10 to 7.

00:06:02.018 --> 00:06:07.018
Margaret drove her silver Mercedes sedan and drove in the driveway of the rented

00:06:07.018 --> 00:06:09.038
double-storey townhouse in Glen Iris.

00:06:09.038 --> 00:06:16.558
The house has a large concrete-rendered fence, so no one could see Matthew hiding

00:06:16.558 --> 00:06:20.618
a piece of timber in the garden hedge before the guests arrived.

00:06:21.678 --> 00:06:27.338
For Margaret, the invitation to be with family must have been a temporary relief.

00:06:27.758 --> 00:06:34.498
While Maritza played with Dominic, Matthew prepared the first course of homemade vegetable soup.

00:06:34.498 --> 00:06:39.678
In the kitchen, he crushed his mother-in-law's blood pressure tablets and a

00:06:39.678 --> 00:06:43.818
prescription painkiller and mixed it into Paul and Margaret's soup bowls.

00:06:44.678 --> 00:06:49.198
He then served vegetable risotto with a Chilean red and an Australian white wine.

00:06:50.018 --> 00:06:54.538
At approximately 9.30, Maritza went upstairs to change Dominic.

00:06:54.898 --> 00:07:00.158
About 15 minutes later, Paul and Margaret decided to go home.

00:07:00.158 --> 00:07:05.418
So, drowsy and unsteady on their feet, they walked across the courtyard when

00:07:05.418 --> 00:07:11.058
Matthew picked up a piece of wood and hit his mother over the back of the neck with great force.

00:07:11.678 --> 00:07:15.798
Margaret fell face down on the ground, breaking her nose in the fall.

00:07:16.278 --> 00:07:22.578
Matthew then struck the frail poor king across the left arm as Paul raised his arm to protect himself.

00:07:23.258 --> 00:07:27.978
Then he was hit again, this time across the forehead, and he also fell face first.

00:07:28.847 --> 00:07:34.387
When the autopsies came back, they suggested that a couple had been strangled

00:07:34.387 --> 00:07:39.667
as well as bashed and that their injuries were not restricted to blows to the back of the head.

00:07:40.067 --> 00:07:45.447
After changing Dominic, Maritza went downstairs and she found the house was

00:07:45.447 --> 00:07:47.387
deserted and the lights were off.

00:07:47.607 --> 00:07:51.947
She thought her guests had gone home without saying goodbye because they did

00:07:51.947 --> 00:07:53.867
not want to disturb Dominic.

00:07:54.587 --> 00:07:58.507
She then noticed that the front door was open. When she looked outside,

00:07:58.767 --> 00:08:02.987
she found Paul and Margaret lying on the ground. She later told police.

00:08:03.287 --> 00:08:08.287
She asked Matthew what happened, and he said, I hit her. He was crumbling and

00:08:08.287 --> 00:08:10.247
shaking, and he told her to get inside.

00:08:10.507 --> 00:08:13.927
She ran upstairs and was violently sick.

00:08:14.867 --> 00:08:20.167
Matthew thought the woman next door may have seen him through a window that

00:08:20.167 --> 00:08:23.867
overlooked her yard, and she might be ringing the police.

00:08:23.867 --> 00:08:28.507
He waited for a short time, and when there were no lights or sirens,

00:08:28.727 --> 00:08:34.367
he dragged the bodies over to the high fence and covered them with a couple of doona covers.

00:08:34.867 --> 00:08:40.767
After hiding the bodies in the front yard, he then drove Margaret's car all

00:08:40.767 --> 00:08:44.827
the way to Middle Park and abandoned it in a street in Middle Park.

00:08:45.107 --> 00:08:51.267
The next day, Matthew went out and rented a trailer. he paid for the rental

00:08:51.267 --> 00:08:58.787
in cash, but then he paid the security deposit with his credit card. Mistake number one.

00:08:59.627 --> 00:09:05.087
He then drove home and wrapped his mother and his stepfather in the two dunes

00:09:05.087 --> 00:09:09.247
they uncovered him and then hid their bodies in his garage for two days.

00:09:09.627 --> 00:09:15.387
While he was searching for a bush burial site, he purchased a map and petrol

00:09:15.387 --> 00:09:17.567
on his credit card again. He then went to the police station

00:09:17.936 --> 00:09:24.776
Mistake number two. The couple, Margaret and Paul, were initially reported missing

00:09:24.776 --> 00:09:29.676
to the Malvern Police Station by Margaret's daughter on the 8th of April.

00:09:29.796 --> 00:09:35.376
And on the 10th of April, Margaret's Mercedes was found still parked at Middle Park.

00:09:35.716 --> 00:09:39.676
On April 29th, investigators got the break they were looking for.

00:09:39.976 --> 00:09:45.716
Park Rangers discovered a shallow grave in bushland near Marysville in Victoria.

00:09:46.116 --> 00:09:52.636
The two victims were buried one on top of the other, with Paul King laying over Margaret.

00:09:53.116 --> 00:09:58.416
Matthew's erratic behaviour drew the attention of both his family and investigators,

00:09:58.816 --> 00:10:03.496
especially given that he did not initially mention to his family that the couple

00:10:03.496 --> 00:10:06.656
had visited him the night they disappeared.

00:10:07.036 --> 00:10:13.156
When the bodies were located and identified, the police decided to have another chat with Matthew.

00:10:13.156 --> 00:10:19.396
On the 11th of May, approximately five weeks from the day Paul and Margaret

00:10:19.396 --> 00:10:24.536
went missing, Matthew confessed to the police and he was officially charged

00:10:24.536 --> 00:10:26.036
with two counts of murder.

00:10:26.956 --> 00:10:32.656
He told police he buried his mother lower than his stepfather to diminish her dominance.

00:10:33.616 --> 00:10:38.136
The reasoning offered for killing Paul was that he blamed him for his parents'

00:10:38.276 --> 00:10:38.976
separation. operation.

00:10:39.216 --> 00:10:43.596
Only days earlier, Matthew participated at the couple's funeral,

00:10:43.776 --> 00:10:48.756
though seated away from his older siblings, and he was seen later weeping and

00:10:48.756 --> 00:10:49.896
hugging his older brother.

00:10:50.336 --> 00:10:56.756
His wife, Maritza, was charged as an accessory after the fact to both the alleged mergers.

00:10:57.717 --> 00:11:02.117
The charges later to be changed to attempting to pervert the course of justice

00:11:02.117 --> 00:11:04.797
by making his false statement to police.

00:11:05.837 --> 00:11:11.157
At the trial held at the Victoria Supreme Court, Matthew and his wife both plead

00:11:11.157 --> 00:11:14.037
guilty, Matthew to the two charges

00:11:14.037 --> 00:11:18.897
of murder and Maritza to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

00:11:19.537 --> 00:11:24.857
Lawyers for Matthew Wales had presented evidence showing his mother Margaret

00:11:24.857 --> 00:11:30.497
as a manipulating, controlling person of her children through the use of money.

00:11:30.677 --> 00:11:37.877
The presiding judge, Justice Caldery, also mentioned ultimately she was preserving

00:11:37.877 --> 00:11:39.097
her money for her children.

00:11:39.917 --> 00:11:43.057
The family members also made it clear that their upbringing,

00:11:43.257 --> 00:11:45.537
in which they and Matthew participated,

00:11:45.997 --> 00:11:50.477
was a privileged one, involving access to several farms, a beach house,

00:11:50.617 --> 00:11:55.837
a unit in the snow, and the benefit of a number of overseas trips.

00:11:56.477 --> 00:12:03.097
Matthew was sentenced to a total of 30 years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 24 years.

00:12:03.957 --> 00:12:07.957
Maritza was found not to have played any part in the actual murders,

00:12:08.117 --> 00:12:13.777
but she received a two-year suspended sentence for the false statement when,

00:12:13.837 --> 00:12:18.557
in her statement, she told police that she and her husband had waved goodbye

00:12:18.557 --> 00:12:21.897
to Margaret and Paul after the family dinner, where,

00:12:22.157 --> 00:12:25.737
in fact, he had told her that he had killed them both.

00:12:26.557 --> 00:12:29.677
In court, Matthew did not show any emotion.

00:12:30.517 --> 00:12:35.777
He just maintained a steady gaze when he was sentenced, with his wife crying

00:12:35.777 --> 00:12:37.717
and drying her eyes next to him.

00:12:37.897 --> 00:12:42.657
As a wife and mother, Mertza was faced with a terrible conflict of interest

00:12:42.657 --> 00:12:47.677
between the right thing to do and her loyalty to her child and family.

00:12:48.598 --> 00:12:50.698
Matthew Whale's siblings never

00:12:50.698 --> 00:12:55.318
accepted the reason behind the murders of their mother and stepfather.

00:12:55.538 --> 00:12:59.218
Apart from the belief that money was at the heart of the murders,

00:12:59.418 --> 00:13:04.638
they still thought that there was another underlying reason for the events that

00:13:04.638 --> 00:13:07.398
took place on the 4th of April 2002.

00:13:08.618 --> 00:13:13.738
Matthew could soon walk free from prison, nearing the end of his sentence for

00:13:13.738 --> 00:13:18.138
the murders of his mother, Margaret Whale's King, and her husband, Paul.

00:13:18.598 --> 00:13:23.278
His earliest release date on parole would be May 2026.

00:13:24.398 --> 00:13:28.018
However, remissions granted for days spent in lockdown,

00:13:28.378 --> 00:13:31.858
particularly those racked up during the restrictive COVID era,

00:13:32.038 --> 00:13:38.418
could drag the expiry of his term forward to the early months of 2026 or even

00:13:38.418 --> 00:13:41.438
as early as November or December 2025.

00:13:42.418 --> 00:13:49.098
Matthew cuts a lonely figure in prison, with guards labelling him a polite model prisoner.

00:13:49.318 --> 00:13:53.158
But fellow inmates have a different view of the poor little rich boy.

00:13:53.898 --> 00:14:00.758
In May 2005, a court ruled that the son of the convicted murderer will share

00:14:00.758 --> 00:14:02.398
in his grandmother's estate.

00:14:02.878 --> 00:14:07.038
Matthew appeared in court to forfeit his share of the estate,

00:14:07.238 --> 00:14:14.498
but Matthew's brother and sisters have agreed to give Dominic only $200,000,

00:14:14.738 --> 00:14:20.878
about half a million dollars less than what his father would have been entitled to.

00:14:21.618 --> 00:14:25.878
The money is to be used for Dominic's maintenance until he reaches 25,

00:14:26.158 --> 00:14:29.878
at which point he takes control of what is left.

00:14:30.398 --> 00:14:35.958
Matthew has served 22 years of his minimum 24-year sentence for the The murders

00:14:35.958 --> 00:14:42.798
of his mother and stepfather, his son Dominic Wales, would be nearing 25 years old.

00:14:43.038 --> 00:14:48.478
He will be able to access his 200,000 inheritance awarded to him by the Wales

00:14:48.478 --> 00:14:54.538
children from his grandmother's Margaret Wales King's million-dollar estate.

00:14:54.978 --> 00:14:59.298
Outside of court, the family's lawyer said it was a generous offer.

00:14:59.298 --> 00:15:05.298
Thank you for listening to our podcast and i trust that you enjoyed and found

00:15:05.298 --> 00:15:10.138
the topic interesting we look forward to be with you again shortly have a great

00:15:10.138 --> 00:15:15.058
day thank you for listening to why is it so make sure you tune into our next

00:15:15.058 --> 00:15:18.838
episode remember it's your last defense but common sense.