The Murder of Carolyn Matthews (and the Black Widow of Australia)

Carolyn Matthews

Carolyn Matthews, born Carolyn Wendy Tidswell, was born on July 25, 1963 to Doug and Yvonne Tidswell.  She was born just a week before her best friend, Kaylene Kenyon, who lived across the street in a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia.  Adelaide is South Australia’s “cosmopolitan coastal capital” known for both museums of history and art.  Carolyn had an older brother named Geoffrey who always called her ‘Miss Muffet’ and she was then known as Missy to her family.  She also had three younger brothers, Glenn, Peter and Christopher.

Carolyn enjoyed being a Nipper in her local surf club.  Nippers are young lifesavers in a surf club usually from 5-14 years of age.  Nippers learn about surf safety but do not patrol the beach like senior lifesavers.  Carolyn later went on to coach young Nippers including her children.  Growing up, Carolyn spent most of her time with her two best friends, Kaylene and Christine.  Throughout their childhood, the girls would get caught up in mischief together and their friendship continued in their teens despite having different interests.  

Carolyn & Kevin

Carolyn was invited to a party on August 16, 1978 to mark the one year anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death in Salisbury, a northern suburb of Adelaide.  Her uncle, Robert, worked at Beaurepaires (a tire shop) and decided to invite one of his junior employees, Kevin Matthews to the party.  Kevin had made an impression on Carolyn, but nothing initially came of their first meeting.  In March of 1979, they both traveled to Perth for the Australian Surf Life Saving Championship (an event where members of surf clubs participate in several beach and ocean events) and again were drawn to each other.  Carolyn was 14 when she first met Kevin and they eventually began dating.

At 18, Carolyn and Kevin had broken up because he had been cheating on her, but she refused to talk about it with anyone.  Kaylene and her fiance asked Carolyn to move in with them and she was hesitant at first because she was coaching Nippers in the surf club and wasn’t sure she wanted to live further away.  Ultimately, she decided to move in with them, but her parents were worried that she was actually moving in with Kevin.  Once they were all moved in, they had Carolyn’s parents over for dinner to smooth over the issue and prove that Kevin wasn’t there.

Shortly after moving in with her friends, though, Carolyn and Kevin got back together and Kevin became a regular at the house.  Her friends and family weren’t too happy with this decision and one of her roommates said that Kevin was often very rude to Carolyn.  There was an incident where he told her that he wouldn’t eat “this fucking shit” she made and threw his dinner across the table.  Eventually, Kevin and Carolyn moved into their own place.

Kevin and Carolyn were married on November 17, 1984.  Their oldest son, Kenny, was born on May 11, 1985 then Shane on September 21, 1987 and their youngest, Daniel, on January 18, 1989.  Carolyn was devoted to her children and her husband.  Carolyn took care of her family, worked at her sewing business, Bedspreads Plus with her partner, Judith, and coached at the surf club.  Kevin was moving up at Beaurepaires and was a regional manager.  (probably deserved to assistant to the regional manager or assistant to the assistant but I digress)

What Happened to Caroyln? 

On the evening of July 12, 2001, Kevin called Carolyn just before 5:30 and asked her to have their three sons ready at the front door so he could pick them up after work and take them to the video store.  When Kevin got home, his boys were waiting at the front door as he had requested and they hopped in the car to head to the store.  Kevin stayed in the car while the boys went inside and each picked out a movie to rent.  They were back home approximately twenty minutes after leaving for the store. 

Once home, the boys made their way inside and noticed that there was some recycling and a frying pan in the front yard, but they didn’t think much of it.  Once inside, the boys heard a scream and ran into the kitchen to find their mother lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood.  They were 12, 13 and 16 years old.  

Kenny, the oldest, began CPR, while Shane, the middle, called 000.  Carolyn had taught her sons how to perform CPR at surf club.  Daniel, the youngest, says that he can still picture the sounds from that night and it makes him feel sick.  Shane recalls blood squirts all over the walls and the ceiling and said that it was really hard to comprehend.  During the 000 call, Shane tells the dispatcher that an ambulance is needed and that it looked like his mom’s wrist was slashed.  You can hear Kevin in the background saying that there was no pulse and Shane repeating it to the operator.  Detective Sergeant Mick Standing said that the boys did a wonderful job trying to save their mom. 

The police arrived at the Matthews home at 6:17pm and were unable to determine Carolyn’s exact time of death, but found that she had been stabbed nine times and died of blood loss in the twenty minutes she had been home alone.  

After Carolyn’s murder, patrols increased, the citizens of Adelaide were afraid to be alone and the police were worried about a killer being on the run.  

Crime Scene / Interviews

The detectives were looking through the crime scene and conducting interviews with Kevin and all three boys for witness statements.  During Kevin’s interview, he was sobbing and breaking down and when asked if he had ever had an affair, he said that he hadn’t but had been accused of having one (put that shit in your back pocket for later).  During Shane’s witness statement, he was asked if his mom and dad had fought that day and he said that they hadn’t.  He was asked if his dad had gone into her business recently and he said that he didn’t but that his dad had been demoted.  When asked if this was a financial issue, Shane said it wasn’t because his father was being paid the same so their financial situation hadn’t changed.  

Police confirmed Kevin and the kids alibis with CCTV footage at the video store confirming they had been there. 

As detectives were evaluating the crime scene, they found trash at the front door outside, evidence of a struggle in the kitchen and evidence of Carolyn moving after being injured trying to defend herself.  DNA samples were taken from the scene and a boot print was found in blood on the floor.  It looked like a boot that a tradesman would wear.  

Detective Mick Standing said that the post-mortem was long and it took most of a night.  They found several stab wounds with substantial force – one in her heart and one in her lungs.  She died from a collapsed lung and had massive internal bleeding.  

There were also three 20 centimeter knives found in the front lawn placed side-by-side.  Shane was the first to find the knives underneath a rosebush.  He asked the police if he should grab them, but they advised him not to.  They were found to be knives from Carolyn’s kitchen.  Because of this, the police began to wonder if this had been a robbery gone wrong.  When asked about the possibility, Kevin told police that the house had been broken into before.

Two days after Carolyn’s murder, all the police had was a boot print that likely belonged to a male and DNA that unfortunately, revealed no new evidence when tested.  Because of this, the police went to the public for help and began receiving tips.  A lot of them were red herrings but were all checked out nonetheless.  They did receive calls with “explosive allegations” that Kevin was having an affair.  The police went through Kevin’s phone logs and found that there were a lot of calls to a woman named Michelle Burgess.  

Who Is Michelle Burgess?  

Michelle Burgess was married to one of Kevin’s employees at Beaurepaires, Darren Burgess.  The couple had met in 1989 when Darren was 18 and Michelle was 15.  The two soon began dating and during their relationship, Michelle stepped out on Darren more than once.  For a period of time, they split up because of this and Michelle began dating someone else, but eventually they found their way back together. 

Once back together, it didn’t take long for Michelle to spend the night with another man.  During the drama of this incident, Michelle announced that she was pregnant.  Michelle swore up and down that the baby was Darren’s, but he had his doubts.  Despite this, Darren moved in with Michelle to care for her and the baby.

At the time of the pregnancy, Darren was working at a Beaurepaires shop in Enfield but a couple of months before the baby was due, the company closed that store.  Once their son was born, Darren started a 4-week leave, but was called to the Beaurepaires head office to discuss his future with the company.  He ended up moving to another store where he was to be second in command with the prospect of becoming manager.  Despite the new position, Michelle and Darren wanted to move back to Adelaide, so Darren began applying for positions at stores in the area.  During their time in Mildura, Darren suspected Michelle of cheating on him again with a coworker of his, but had no proof.

Darren finally got a position as an assistant manager at a store in Adelaide and the couple were happy to be moving back.  Leading up to their wedding, the couple was meeting with a priest for pre-marriage counseling and before they left for the appointment, Darren was cleaning out the car when he found a letter Michelle had written to a morning TV show host looking for advice.  She had written that she had fallen in love with Darren’s coworker and was having an affair.  Even though his suspicions were confirmed, Darren married Michelle on November 20, 1993. 

Beaurepaires had a strong social culture and there were typical Christmas parties each year.  In 1993, Darren and Michelle attended the company party at the Bridgeway Hotel in Pooraka.  This was the first time that Michelle met the regional manager, Kevin Matthews, and his wife Carolyn.  Michelle took an instant dislike to both Carolyn and Kevin.  Michelle even referred to Kevin as “pigdog.”  According to Darren, Kevin would often tell stories sexual in nature about his wife in public and it put a lot of people off.  It wasn’t clear why Michelle didn’t like Carolyn, though, because she was quite the opposite of Kevin in public.  

In 1994, Darren joined a volleyball team where he met a man named Darren Bland who he struck up a friendship with.  Bland would often stop by Beaurepaires complaining about his job and asking if there was a position open for him.  Eventually a position opened up and Darren hired Bland as a wheel aligner.  The two men would carpool to work together and sometimes Michelle would drive them.  Bland became a family friend but an affair between Bland and Michelle eventually began.  Bland ended up transferring to another store because of the affair in mid-1996.

In September of that year, Darren became manager at the Ridgehaven Beaurepaires store.  During this time, Michelle gave birth to their daughter.  The couple was building a new home at this time and Bland had come to celebrate with them.  Shortly after moving in, Michelle became pregnant again, and Darren was sure it wasn’t his.  Darren gave Michelle no choice but to have an abortion.  Bland and Michelle’s affair continued through 1997 when he finally ended it. 

As the years went on, Darren was struggling with his marriage and whether or not he should end it.  He turned to alcohol and on March 1, 2000, he was caught drinking and driving after leaving a work meeting.  He immediately told his regional manager, Kevin Matthews, about the incident.  Kevin told Darren that this was “a sackable offense” and it was taken to the head office for a decision.  Kevin gave the head office his opinion and Darren kept his job. 

Darren lost his license for a six-month period and he believes that this was when Michelle and Kevin began communicating via text message.  No one really knows what changed Michelle’s mind about Kevin but she no longer considered him a “pigdog.” 

Back to the Investigation

At the time the police went through Kevin’s phone logs and saw several calls to Michelle, she and Darren were separated.  Surveillance was put on Michelle and after three or four days, they believed there was an affair occuring between the two.  Detective Mick Standing said of what they saw, “You don’t book a motel at 9:30 in the morning and out at midday because you, with another person, just because you like to drink tea and biscuits with them.”

The police went over to the Beaurepaires in Port Adelaide where Kevin worked and spoke with some tradesmen who worked across the street.  They tell the detectives that they saw Michelle and Kevin at the store the night of Carolyn’s murder with another man.  They said that the two men and Michelle were arguing.  **NOTE: this is still within the same week of the murder – just to keep the timeline on track after the shift to Michelle**  The police issued a statement to the public that burglary was a possibility, but internally, they were looking elsewhere. 

Carolyn’s Funeral

Carolyn’s family and friends held a service on July 19, 2001.  Shane, her middle son, says that he didn’t cry during the service because he was still in shock.  Kaylene, Carolyn’s lifelong friend, remembers Carolyn and said, “She was a very, very beautiful person, and that they [her sons] were very fortunate to have her as their mum.  And I still really miss her and the connections that we had.”  After the service, Kaylene and her husband watched Carolyn and Kevin’s wedding video with Kevin.  Kaylene recalls that Carolyn loved lilies and wanted them in her wedding bouquet.  She said that it was kind of ironic having the death flower in a wedding bouquet.  While watching the video, Kevin said that he had to go and he couldn’t take it.  The boys went up to bed and shut their doors.  

Kaylene said that after several phone calls and her having to get “shitty” with him, Kevin finally came home.  Kaylene confronted Kevin about the affair, but he denied it.  She said that something wasn’t adding up.  

Who’s This Third Dude?

Regardless of the suspicions of an affair, Kevin and Michelle kept communicating with each other.  The police put a tap on their phones and found that Kevin likes to be called Chook and Michelle likes to be called Daffy.  OKAY, BUT WHY.  Okay, looked that shit up and chook is an Australian term for chicken or hen so there’s that. 

So, with the tap on Michelle’s phone, they learned that she had a relationship with another man, David Key.  There was evidence of the two together and that David was living with Michelle.  Key had a record of drugs and robbery and was now a suspect in Carolyn’s murder. 

David was put on surveillance as well and was on his way to see Michelle when he was pulled over and arrested on outstanding warrants.  Upon his arrest, his boots and wallet were confiscated.  His wallet was searched and inside was a piece of paper with a photo of Darren Burgess on it along with details such as where he lived and worked and other personal details.  The police made a copy and put the original back in Key’s wallet.  They didn’t want David or Michelle to know they knew about it (they don’t don’t know that we know that they know).  The piece of paper was a contract to kill Darren Burgess – Michelle’s estranged husband.  The police held Key on the strength of the traffic offenses.

On July 26 (2 weeks after Carolyn’s murder), David Key asked for an attorney.  When questioned about the murder, he denied any involvement.  At this time, Michelle came to collect David’s effects and David is refusing to talk to the police.  

David’s boots were examined for blood on August 2nd and it was found that there was blood on the boots and the sole matched the print left at the crime scene.  The blood was tested and was a match to Carolyn.  David Key was arrested on suspicion of murder.  

After Key’s arrest, Michelle became a prime suspect.  At the time of Carolyn’s murder, Michelle was separated from Darren, in a relationship and living with David Key and having an affair with Kevin Matthews.  The surveillance on Michelle was increased and they heard Kevin say to her that she was going down for it because too many people know.

Michelle’s Take Down

The police now needed to link Michelle to the note and then to David.  They issued a warrant to search Michelle’s house and she was very confident when they arrived.  Michelle was still unaware that the police had a copy of the note.  The police found evidence of David living with Michelle and they found her diary.  The diary was taken in order to compare handwriting.  After a comparison, the handwriting in the diary and on the note were confirmed to be a match.  Michelle Burgess was arrested for the murder of Carolyn Matthews.  During her interviews with police, Michelle said that she and Kevin were not having an affair, but she was friends with Carolyn.

On the day of Michelle’s first court appearance, Kevin (THE FUCKING IDIOT) went to courthouse and sat in the front row.  He was wearing a hat with the word ‘forever’ written on the back and was mouthing words of encouragement to Michelle.  THE FUCKING AUDACITY.  Three weeks later, Kevin issued a media statement denying that he, his children or Michelle had anything to do with Carolyn’s murder.  He said, “You just don’t know what you’ve got until you miss it.”  The police were absolutely flabbergasted by his statement.  By this time, they believed that Kevin was involved in the murder of his wife.

Let’s Arrest Kevin Now

The police began looking further into Kevin and found that there were several calls between Kevin and Michelle on the day of Carolyn’s murder.  They found that David, Michelle and Kevin left Beaurepaires together around 5:30pm after Kevin made the phone call to Carolyn at 5:24pm about taking the boys to the video store. 

A month after Michelle’s arrest, Kevin was arrested for the murder of his wife.  He was at home with his kids when the police came.  Shane said that he and his older brother, Kenny, were making jokes that their dad was being arrested, but then the detectives came in and confirmed it.  The police dug through the Matthews’ financial records and found that there was a $100,000 life insurance policy out for Carolyn.  

During his interviews, Kevin continually denied having an affair with Michelle, but police had a witness statement saying otherwise.  According to this witness, Kevin and Michelle were having sex in a public park.

David Key’s Confession

Finally, the night before his court appearance, David Key confessed to killing Carolyn.  Key realized that he had been played by Michelle and admitted to stabbing Carolyn.  Key agreed to tell the complete truth in order to receive only 20 years.  

According to David, he was introduced to Michelle through another mom at her children’s school.  He said that Kevin and Michelle hired him to kill both Carolyn and Darren for $50,000.  The money is presumed to be coming from Carolyn’s life insurance policy.  Michelle and Kevin were planning on killing their spouses and cashing in on both of their life insurance policies.  During this time, Key was living and sleeping with Michelle, though Kevin was unaware of their relationship.  Key said that Michelle told him, “If you love me, you’ll kill her for me.” 

Michelle had Kevin write up two murder contracts, one for Carolyn and one for Darren.  Each contract had a photo of the intended victim along with personal information about them.  The police asked Key what happened to the contract for Carolyn and he told them that he had put it in a sandwich and eaten it.  He said that if he ate it and it couldn’t be found, then it never existed.  He didn’t have a real answer as to why he hadn’t eaten Darren’s contract.

The week of the murder, Michelle told David that she wanted it “done by Friday” and on July 12th, she said that it must be done that night.  Michelle told Kevin to take the kids to the video store and by the time they got back, it would be done. 

Michelle and David followed Kevin to the house and as soon as the boys were in the car and on their way to the video store, Michelle and David made their move.  When they were at the front of the house, Carolyn came out the front door with recycling and David held up the contract and asked her if she was Carolyn Matthews and pointed to her picture and said, “Is this you?”  Michelle then came up and punched Carolyn in the face, then David grabbed her and they pushed her back into the house.  All the while, Carolyn is yelling and asking who he was and who sent him.  They dragged her down the hallway and into the kitchen.  While David was dragging Carolyn, Michelle was looking for a knife.  When she found one, she gave it to David and told him, “Do it!”  David says that he didn’t hear anything while he was stabbing Carolyn.

David and Michelle left Carolyn bleeding out on her kitchen floor and got back in their car.  David said that there was blood everywhere so they drove down to the beach to wash the blood off of themselves.  Michelle called Kevin and said that it was done – it was a three second phone call.  

Kevin Matthews knew exactly what his three sons would find when they got back home and  let them enter the house before him to find their mother lying in a pool of her own blood on their kitchen floor.  The police say that he did this to shield himself from what was inside.  Tori, I’ll say it for you, he’s an absolute disgust.  And I hate him.

Sentencing

On August 10, 2003, both Michelle and David were both found guilty and sentenced to 30 years without parole.  At the time, their sentence was the longest received in South Australian history.  In court, Shane, then 16, said to his father, “You had a great life.  You threw it away for one stupid woman.  It’s obvious you don’t think of anyone else but yourself.”  David Key was sentenced to 20 years without parole per the agreement made upon his confession.  

After their father went to prison, Kenny, Shane and Daniel have been rebuilding their lives and do not visit their father in prison.  Shane changed his last name from Matthews to Tidswell after his father’s conviction and has said, “I don’t have a father.”  In an interview, Shane also said, “It upsets me a lot these days, is that we, my brothers and I, never sort of got the chance to become friends with Carolyn, or mum.”

Darren Burgess is in a new relationship and is reportedly happy and healthy.  Michelle continues to proclaim her innocence and maintains that David Key was not present at the tire shop the night Carolyn was murdered.  She also denies any involvement in the contract to kill Darren.  In prison, Michelle has attempted to have affairs with the prison guards resulting in a rule that no males are to be alone with her.  Derek Pendley, author of Dead By Friday said that it’s like a reverse Hannibal Lector situation where you can’t leave a man alone with her because she will devour them.  Kevin is still looking for love and has attempted internet dating from prison.  Gross.