It's August 11, 1978, Volkam Hills northwest of Sydney.

28-year-old John Ernest Cribb, out on parole for armed robbery,

abducts Avalda Connell 39, who had just come home in her car

with two of her six children, Sally 10 and Damien 4.

What happens next would shock the nation. When you when. When. Hi, I'm your host, Cambo, grab a beer and pull up a deck chair.

This is True Crime Island, another True crime podcast. Okay, tonight we go back to 1978 to a shocking case that unfolded in Borkham Hill, Sydney, which is a semi-rural town about 27

kilometers or 17 miles northwest of Sydney.

First, I'll give you a bit of background into the Connell family.

Paul and Valder Connell had six children. Gary 17, Linda 16, Lisa 14, Allison 12, Sally 10 and Damien 4.

They were a church-going and community-oriented family that had a strong bond and would often invite

neighbors to take trips to the beach. They lived in Chapel Lane, Borkam Hills, and as I said before, this was a semi-rural area, just

starting to become developed and the Connells were lucky enough to live on one of the few

remaining two hectare or five acre blocks of

land. They had the usual farm animals such as cows, horses, goats and a pig, and they also had ducks and would go ealing in the dam.

So it was an idyllic lifestyle for the family of six.

It's Friday the 11th of August in the early afternoon. 39 year old

Valder Connell had been playing her usual Friday tennis at theresswood courts near her house. After the game and still

wearing her white tennis dress she drove her metallic gold 1974 Holden Kingswood sedan with registration V.C. 703 to pick up her four-year-old son

Damien from school.

Valter then drove to her friend's place

where her 10-year-old daughter Sally was waiting.

All three then drove the short distance towards their family home.

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