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On Father’s Day 1981, Deborah Smykalla drives her Volkswagen through south Brisbane to her parents’ house.
With her she brings chocolates and flowers for her father.
An ordinary gesture, for a normal family.
Deborah Smykalla (left) with sisters Diana and Elke.
But as Smykalla returns home that Sunday, her parents were not there, something changes in the small, once semi-remote suburb of Capalaba.
In Howlett Road, where he lives, lurks a soon-to-be murderer. And the Smykalla family is about to become anything but ordinary.
At 9.45pm, Smykalla is face down on the kitchen floor, her head in an open gas oven. Around his neck is a tight dog leash.
Behind her, two fires had been lit: one on the kitchen floor and the other in the living room, where a bar heater tipped onto the carpet.
When the police arrive that Sunday night, they find two fires burning. The gas oven’s safety switch had prevented a possible fire, the killer’s alleged cover-up.
Smykalla’s cause of death is determined to be strangulation.
But her murder and the mystery of the dog’s leash have remained unsolved for 40 years.
Nine times out of 10, a victim knows their killer.
That’s what Elke Hall thinks when she investigates the death of her 22-year-old sister, “Debbie.”
Hall recalls his days growing up in Brisbane in the 1970s, laughing as he describes his younger sister over the phone over a pub lunch in South Australia.
Smykalla “could never afford” fuel or water for his beloved Volkswagen, jokes Hall.
Years are happy memories. The photographs of three girls (Smykalla, Hall and their sister Diana Walton) on outings with their mum and dad in the Queensland sun are a vivid reminder of a time when they were just a ‘normal family’.
One of the last memories Hall has of her sister is shopping for antiques in early 1981, before Hall flew overseas.
“She came over and we went antique shopping, because that was a thing of the day — in the ’70s and ’80s everyone was into antiques,” says Hall.
“I can’t even remember where, I think it was around Moorooka somewhere. I ended up bringing home this old broken loom… that was it.
A few months later, Hall returns to Australia shocked and horrified to discover that his sister’s story is front page news.
Smykalla had been in a relationship with Robert Cavallo for about four years until two weeks before her murder, according to reports in 1981.
“Boyfriend Robert appears to have reconciled with Debbie on the day she was murdered. They were seen cuddling at the house between 11am and 1pm,” a newspaper article at the time said . There is no suggestion that Cavallo was involved in the murder.
Deborah Smykalla with her boyfriend, Robert Cavallo.
“The two young people who shared the house have also been evicted. One of them found his body, with his head in a gas oven, when he returned from the Gold Coast at 9.50pm.
“The most frustrating part for the police is a report of another young man, aged 18 to 24, seen talking to Debbie near her small garden around 4pm that afternoon.”
A coronial inquest concluded that Smykalla was killed by an unknown person or persons.
But Hall is convinced the killer was someone his sister knew.
“It’s weird that the person who did it knew I was home alone,” Hall’s voice drops. “So who would have known?”
Newspaper articles from 1981 say that Smykalla was strangled and that “a post-mortem examination showed that the killer tried to do it in two attempts”.
Deborah Smykalla’s parents are both dead, but her sisters are still hoping her killer will be caught.
“She was gagged with a 18-inch length of dog rope,” wrote The Courier Mail’s Jim Crawford.
“The cord, with a braided loop at one end, was too short to be made into a loop and fit over her head.
“Instead, the killer put it around his neck, possibly from behind, put one end through the noose and pulled hard.”
Crawford goes on to explain that the detectives thought it was possible that his killer could have been a woman.
Over the years, there has been speculation that Smykalla had ties to bikies, among other theories, but Hall says her sister was harmless.
His death leaves a void in the family. Weddings, birthdays and holidays are not the same.
“It happens to everybody else, to other people in the news, it doesn’t happen to you,” Hall says softly, struggling to find the words.
“You can’t…that’s basically what it is. It’s kind of surreal, I guess, is the best word for it.
“You can’t understand or imagine or explain or anything.
“She was a harmless girl. She was a wonderful, happy girl, and you know, who would want to do that to her?
Police have been trying to answer that question for four decades.
The case is now being reviewed by the Homicide Cold Case Team, and detectives this year announced a $500,000 reward.
Deborah Smykalla (left) with her friend Denise Konkol.
In May, detectives were hoping for a DNA breakthrough by sending the dog’s lead to the New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research.
With scientific advances over the years, evidence could have provided answers as to who had used the dog’s leash that night.
The lead has been re-examined in recent months using improved forensic DNA technology, police say, but detectives have hit another dead end.
“Although re-examination did not identify significant DNA evidence in the sample, detectives are continuing to investigate the case and remain committed to providing answers to Deborah’s family,” a Queensland Police spokeswoman said.
“While scientific advances can be an important factor in solving cold homicide cases, history has shown that witnesses who come forward and provide information to the police are just as significant.”
Hall has continued to investigate her sister’s case, receiving tips online about people who may have been in the area at the time.
“They [police] he said it was someone they knew because the house wasn’t locked at the time. There was no breakup. They live in Capalaba. Capalaba used to be quite remote, with many properties. A lot of people kept their homes open,” says Hall.
But who was home with Smykalla that night?
Hall says a phone was answered at the property that night, but it was unclear if it was Smykalla.
Deborah Smykalla (right) at her sister Elke’s wedding.
Newspaper articles quoting his mother describe Smykalla as someone who loved people and would invite people in if they needed a bed. He was so kind, his mother once said, that he wouldn’t let people kill the spiders that lived in his house.
Smykalla’s parents died before they knew what really happened to their daughter.
“My dad had a heart attack shortly after. It was very hard on him. He was the soft one in the family,” says Hall.
“Mum died just as the police wanted to do her DNA… she gave me all the newspaper clippings, which I didn’t have of my family at the time because I was overseas on tour.
“When it happens to your own family, you have to wake up and see the news, and you see it differently.
“This could be anyone’s family.”