The three part documentary series Exposed: The Case of Keli Lane currently airing on the ABC explores one of Sydney’s most infamous murder cases in living memory.
Keli Lane, 43, is serving an 18 year jail sentence in Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre for the 1996 murder of her newborn baby Tegan Lee Lane and three counts of lying under oath.
There are, however, a number of peculiar details about the case that led to a conviction in December 2010.
To begin with, the body of Tegan has never been found. A murder weapon was never recovered or any physical evidence that a murder was committed.
The circumstantial evidence is, of course, overwhelming.
Keli was 21 years old when she gave birth to Tegan at Auburn Hospital on September 12, 1996. Two days later, she attended a wedding, with no sign of the baby, and no acknowledgement that she had even given birth.
Something happened to Tegan between September 12 and September 14, and Exposed led by investigative journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna, intends to uncover exactly what.
These are the three prevailing theories about what happened during that 48 hour period.
Keli Lane murdered Tegan Lee
A jury determined that Keli was guilty of murdering Tegan prior to the wedding she attended on September 14.
They also found her guilty of lying under oath.
In 1999, three years after giving birth to Tegan, Keli fell pregnant for the fifth time. Her first two pregnancies had been terminated, the third child was carried to term and put up for adoption, and the fourth had been Tegan. Her family and friends, according to police reports and subsequent investigations, were unaware she had ever been pregnant.
Perhaps one of the most bizarre details of the case, is that Keli played water polo for Australia, requiring her to present multiple times a week in front of dozens of teammates and coaches in a swimming costume. Her mother, who was a team manager, confirmed during episode one of Exposed, that she had no idea Keli had been pregnant.
When Keli gave birth in 1999 and put the baby up for adoption, a social worker employed by the Department of Community Services (DOCS) enquired about Keli’s other children. She denied that Tegan or her other child, a boy, had ever been born, insisting this was her first birth.
Several days later, Keli changed her story, and claimed that Tegan lived in Perth. When the child could not be traced, the social worker contacted the police.
The theory goes that Keli, who fell pregnant five times in seven years, believed a child would interfere with her sporting ambitions, particularly her chances of representing Australia at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
The wedding which took place on September 14 was seen as a crucial factor in the court room, as she did not want family and friends at the event to know she had given birth. Perhaps, the prosecution alleged, murdering or abandoning her baby was an impulsive and permanent solution to the problem at hand.
A Coroner determined in 2006 that Tegan Lee was most likely deceased as a result of foul play.
Keli Lane gave Tegan to a man named Andrew Morris or Norris
When Keli was formally interviewed by police in 2001, she alleged that she had given Tegan to the baby’s father, a man named Andrew Morris or Norris.
Police were unable to locate him or any girl who fit Tegan Lee’s description.
Top Comments
This person is a total loon and is exactly where she needs to be - in prison.
RMIT University’s Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative are on the case trying to get a retrial. They found her to be warm honest sincere and likable in every way, "She just comes across as a stand up person". This is someone who, even if you believe her, recklessly gave her own newborn to man she hardly knew, not once caring about her welfare, and then lied about it. Amazing.