Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler?

2006, 55 Minutes

At last, an answer to one of the great unsolved cases in crime history - the mysterious deaths of Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler.

When the half-naked bodies of brilliant physicist, Dr Gilbert Bogle, and his lover, Mrs Margaret Chandler, were found in bizarre circumstances on a Sydney riverbank in 1963, it set into play an unprecedented forensic investigation. Autopsies offered little clue as to how the couple died, only that there were signs of a rapidly acting poison. Despite assistance from the FBI and Scotland Yard, the poison was never identified. At the end of a long and controversial coronial inquest, no cause of death, killer or motive could be identified.

In the ensuing years, scores of tabloid theories have been put forward, from LSD to Cold War assassinations. But in the minds of many, including the police, Margaret Chandler’s husband, Geoffrey, was the likely culprit.  

Four decades later, this explosive documentary reveals startling new scientific evidence - evidence so powerful the police gave filmmaker Peter Butt unprecedented access to their forensic records. It provides a stunning solution to one of crime's most baffling riddles: who killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler?

A Film Australia National Interest Program in association with Blackwattle Films. Produced in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. © 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.

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