It took 20 years to find six-year-old Bonnie Clarke’s killer. The cold case detective tells why

In 1982, single mother Marion Wishart, looking to make ends meet, invited a lodger to stay in her home in the suburb of Northcote in Melbourne. She could not have predicted what would happen next.

What followed was one of the city’s most notorious child murders, that of her daughter, six-year-old Bonnie Clarke.

A young detective, Tim Day, was handed the cold case of Bonnie. He was thrown into the job to learn the rhythm of murder investigations. The original investigators believed they knew the offender but lacked sufficient evidence.

The murderer, the initial investigators believed, was Marion. They were horribly wrong.

In the first episode of a new season of Naked City, crime reporter John Silvester tells the story of a mother wrongly accused of her daughter’s murder, and a detective who, many years later, was determined to set things right.

John Silvester is a columnist for The Age. He has covered Melbourne’s crime beat and justice system since the 1970s, winning numerous accolades including three Walkley Awards and six Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards. He has written or co-authored more than 30 books including the Underbelly series, which was made into a TV series.

John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld. Subscribers can sign up to receive his Naked City newsletter every Thursday.