Alternate Suspects
During my years of investigations I came across several alternate and notable suspects for this murder. I might mention that these suspects came to my attention between 1992 and 2008.
Of all the names I discovered there are three persons that stand out and are worthy of further comment. I provided their details to investigators when a police review of the case was announced in 2010.
Were these suspects considered or interviewed during the police review? I have no idea as the Queensland Police refuse to release their findings. The cloak of secrecy in Queensland is worn as if the outside temperature is below zero rather than well above it.
And with no apology or explanation.
Sean McPhedran
Sean was easily the first and most logical suspect for this murder. Leanne Holland was murdered on either Monday 23 September 1991 or Tuesday 24 September 1991. On Wednesday 16 October 1991, 3 weeks later, Sean Peter McPhedran then 18 years murdered Julie Ann Lowe 12 years, at Woogaroo Creek Goodna whilst she was on her way to school. This location, in a straight line, 970 M from 70A Alice St Goodna. The Gailes Caravan Park is on the banks of the creek and walking distance away. McPhedran was living at the caravan park at the time and Leanne Holland was a frequent visitor to the park as her best friend Trisha Lynch lived there. Graham Stafford was in custody at that time and obviously not a suspect. Although two 12 year old girls were murdered within a very short time frame and in the same geographic area, the police rejected any association between the murders out of hand, claiming the means of death was different in each instance and therefore they were not related. In early 1993 I spoke at length with the mother of Sean McPhedran. She was of the personal opinion that Sean was involved in the death of Leanne. However, the next time I visited her she was not willing to speak to me. She had been told by police that I was spreading lies and not to talk to me. At his trial in 1993 Sean’s mother told the court that he committed his first murder at 4 years of age. As bizarre as this sounds, it is documented. My inquiries revealed he attempted to commit further murders after that and before he was successful in 1991. Those attempts have also been well documented. My suspicions surrounding Sean McPhedran and the information I gathered was passed to police investigators. We have since determined police eliminated him as a suspect but we are not sure of the grounds for such elimination.
Mark Thomas Noble
If I was ‘hot’ for Sean McPhedran as a suspect that all changed when I became aware of Mark Thomas NOBLE. A housemate of a previous girlfriend of his contacted me in 2006; she was literally too scared for her life to speak out before that time. In 2006 she learned he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Hobart, Tasmania for murder. Only then did she feel safe enough to tell her story. She described him as a an extremely violent drug addict and alcoholic. He was particularly violent toward women. They were all sharing a house in Caboolture, north of Brisbane. She told the story that he confided to his then girlfriend in 2001/2002 that he had killed a young girl in the western suburbs of Brisbane near some beehives. (Leanne Holland’s body was found less than 100 M of beehives. A fact that was not generally known and not published in the media.). The girlfriend later confided to the informant; neither was willing to do anything with the information for years. Noble has a lengthy violent criminal history. He has convictions in Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania. In January 2005 he was arrested in Hobart for killing a male with an axe and a hammer. In October 2005 he pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to nineteen years imprisonment. At that time he was 39 years of age. He was living in Brisbane at the time of the murder of Leanne Holland. Did he kill Leanne Holland? I wrote to him in Risdon jail, Hobart but never received a reply. My suspicions surrounding Mark Thomas Noble and the information I gathered was passed to police investigators. We have since determined police believe Noble was involved in another cold case murder but we do not know if he was even interviewed. Noble died in 2017.
Pedophile Pete
This male person has been the subject of much media speculation regarding his involvement in this murder. What do we know about him? Apart from the fact he was at both crime scenes? And that he has a lengthy criminal history? According to his two daughters he ‘ran’ the Holland murder investigation. A most unusual claim but the majority of their (initially bizarre) claims have been able to have been corroborated. There has been so much media reported about this person I must limit the reports to the most relevant. My suspicions surrounding the pedophile and the information I gathered was passed to police investigators. They must have been living under a rock if they were not independently aware of the allegations against him. We have since determined police eliminated him as a suspect but we are not sure of the investigations they conducted. The police have concluded the pedophile was not at the crime scene. In their report they were critical that I relied on only one person to say he was in the photograph. However, 3 relatives confirmed him in the photograph but at no time did the police ever contact me to ask who I had spoken to regarding the identification. At this time I do believe he was at the crime scene. The possibility that one, two or three of the above persons were involved in the murder of Leanne Holland was canvassed. Unfortunately we did not have the resources to finalise those investigations. We have no idea if the police even considered that possibility.
