Bogle-chandler Case

BACKGROUND TO THE CASE

Dr Gilbert Bogle was a physicist who worked at the CSIRO . Married with several children, he was considered to be a brilliant scientist and had been a Rhodes Scholar . He was also involved in relationships with people other than his wife, having as many as five affairs at any one time.

Mrs Chandler was also married, to Mr Geoffrey Chandler who also worked at the CSIRO . She was a mother and a housewife and witnesses later suggested that she may have been slightly bored with her life.

Dr Bogle, the Chandlers and several others attended a barbeque in the Sydney suburb of Murraybank, just prior to Christmas 1962. Mrs Chandler was quite taken with Dr Bogle and later mentioned this to her husband. Mr Chandler later explained that he and his wife had "an understanding", and so he told her: "If you want to take Gib as a lover, if it would make you happy, you do it."

THE CHATSWOOD PARTY

Two of the other people at the Murraybank party were Ken and Ruth Nash. Ken Nash also worked at the CSIRO and knew Geoffrey Chandler. He invited the Chandlers to his New Year's Eve party, to be held at his home in Waratah Street, Chatswood .

The Chandlers arrived late for the party, with Geoffrey Chandler underdressed. Chandler soon left the party and drove to another party in the suburb of Balmain where he met Pam Logan, with whom he was having an affair. He returned to the Chatswood party in the early hours of the morning but left again, with the understanding that Dr Bogle would drive Mrs Chandler home.

Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler left the party soon after 4am and drove to the nearby Lane Cove River, which was known as a lovers' lane. What happened next is still unclear, but several hours later their bodies were found.

DISCOVERY OF THE BODIES

Dr Bogle's body was discovered first, by two youths searching for golf balls. They saw his body and presumed him to be drunk, but when they returned an hour later to find that he hadn't moved and that his face had turned blue, they went to fetch help.

When police arrived at the scene, they discovered that Bogle's body was half-undressed. Somebody had placed his clothes on him in such a way that he appeared to be dressed, but wasn't.

Shortly after this, Mrs Chandler's body was discovered a short distance away. She was also in a state of undress, her body having been covered with pieces of cardboard. It was initially believed that she had covered first Bogle's body and then her own, but closer examination suggested that someone had covered her body as well.

INVESTIGATION

It was obvious that both had died from some sort of poisoning. At the scene were signs of vomit and excreta. Unfortunately, forensic examination of the bodies was delayed for 36 hours because New Year's Day was a public holiday. When Forensic examination did take place, no traces of any poison could be found.

As might be expected, the case attracted instant publicity. It involved a high-society party, wife-swapping, an unidentified third person at the death scene and an unidentified poison. Combined with speculation that Bogle was involved in research important in the Cold War , it was a guaranteed news. It was also the quietest news period of the year.

The inquest in May 1963 did not help to resolve the mystery. The Coroner , Mr J.J. Loomes, concluded that Bogle and Chandler had died because of "...acute circulatory failure. But as to the circumstances under which such circulatory failure was brought about, the evidence does not permit me to say." In other words, Bogle and Chandler either died because their hearts stopped beating or they stopped breathing.

POISON IDENTIFIED?

One suggested solution to the mystery came in 1989. Heart tissues from both Bogle and Chandler had been preserved and new forensic techniques were applied to them. These techniques gave evidence of the presence of LSD . These techniques were not claimed as conclusive but they were presented as evidence that Bogle and Chandler had used LSD and some authorities suggested that they died of an overdose. Against this, LSD is considered to be a drug on which it is next to impossible to overdose, with no other associated fatalities apart from that of a prisoner in Brixton, London, in the 1980s. This has led to further speculation that impurities in the LSD may have caused death, but both this and the LSD overdose theory are dismissed by many and the cause of death for Bogle and Chandler remains subject to speculation.

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Bogle-chandler Case