The Moorhouse Murders

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David and Catherine Birnie abducted 5 girls, killing 4 in 1986. It became known as the Moorehouse Murders.

Could you ever imagine that your neighbors would turn out to be serial killers? Well, this became reality for the people who lived on Moorhouse Street in Perth, Australia in November 1986. Listen to the story of how one couple kidnapped five unsuspecting women over a five-week period. One brave girl survived leading to the police capturing the notorious Moorhouse Murders killer couple Catherine and David Birnie.

Dire Straits Guitar - Fernando García, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Dire Straits Guitar Fernando García, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Location

Our Moorhouse Murders episode takes place in Perth, Australia, which is located on the western coast of Australia. It is the fourth largest city in Australia with a population of 2.1 million as of 2020.  Founded in 1829, by Captain James Stirling Perth was named after a city in Scotland.  The second most common language spoken in Perth is Mandarin Chinese (2.3%) followed by Italian (1.4%). Celebrities from Perth include actor Heath Ledger, formula one race car driver Daniel Ricciardo, and actresses Judy Davis, Melissa George, and Katherine Langford.

Perth, Australia

Shock

On November 10, 1986, customers in a shopping center in Willagee located near Moorhouse Street were shocked to see a half-naked teenager who was visibly upset wanting to talk to the police. She was taken to the local Palmyra police station. Once there, Seventeen-year-old Kate Moir tells detectives that she had been abducted at knifepoint by a couple. Unbeknownst to Kate, the detectives were working on another disappearance case. She had been hitchhiking along Stirling Highway after a night out with friends and was taken to the couple’s home. Kate had been drinking and felt safe when the modest-looking couple pulled over asking for directions.  She tried to get out of the car at one point but found that there were no interior door handles.

When the group arrived at the couple’s home she was forced to take a shower, smoke some marijuana and watch a movie with the couple. She was also made to dance for them to the Dire Straits song Romeo & Juliet. She asked them if she was going to be raped or killed. The man’s reply was if you are good you’ll only be raped.

After midnight she was taken to a room and chained to the bed by her hands and feet. She was raped by the man as the woman watched. The woman appeared to be taking notes as the assault occurred. Afterward, she was given a pen and paper, told to write goodbye letters, and then made to shower again. She was taken to the master bedroom where her leg was chained to the man’s leg. She was given some pills that she was smart enough to put under her tongue.  

Escape

Kate tells the police that when the man left for work that morning she was unchained by the woman. She was directed to make a phone call to her parents telling them that she had stayed over at a friend’s house after getting drunk and was fine. While making the call Kate noted the number she was calling from. While she was being led back to the bedroom someone knocked on the door. The woman didn’t have a chance to chain her up.

Kate took her lipstick and wrote down her number on a piece of paper to prove she was there before breaking the window lock and jumping out of the window. She then ran for help going to three houses, but no one was home. Kate told the police the address and phone number of the home where she had been held and assaulted. She also gave them a detailed description of the couple.

Disheveled House

Kate and a team of detectives then headed to 3 Moorhouse Street. It was a small three-bedroom white-brick home located in Willagee, in the working-class suburb of Fremantle. When the detectives knocked no one answered so they waited out of sight until one of the homeowners came back. When the woman arrived home she told detectives that she recognized the girl but she didn’t want to talk without her husband. Thirty-five-year-old Catherine Birnie was placed under arrest. David Birnie, also 35, was arrested at his job where he sold car parts at a wrecking yard in Myaree.

Interviews

At the police station, David and Catherine were interviewed separately with each not sharing much. Both claimed that Kate voluntarily went with them to smoke marijuana and had agreed to have sex with David. As the morning turned into the late afternoon and David’s interview stretched on, one of the detectives asked him since it was getting dark why doesn’t he just show them where the bodies are so they can dig them up. David’s response, “okay, there are four of them.”

Once Catherine was told about David’s confession she also folded and told detectives what they had done.

Killers

Who is David John Birnie? David Birnie was the eldest of five children born in February 1951, in the Perth suburb of Wattle Grove. The family moved in the early 1960s to a new neighborhood and that is where he met 12-year-old Catherine Harrison. David’s upbringing was wrought with dysfunction. His mother didn’t appear to be cut out for motherhood and often drank her days away allowing her children to run wild.  Not much is written about David’s father, only that he was handicapped and disabled. He would pass away in 1986. Rumors would surround the family relating to incest. One of David’s brothers would tell reporters that David was in constant need of sex and one time had solicited him for sex.

David and his siblings were eventually removed from their home due to neglect and sent to different foster homes. At 15, David left school and entered an apprenticeship program to become a horse jockey at Ascot Racecourse. It is said that during his year of training he was often physically harmful towards the horses . He also seemed to be an exhibitionist as he exposed himself to others. It has been reported that one night David, who was naked except for a stocking over his head, broke into an elderly lady’s home and raped her. This would be his first documented rape, but not his last.

David had a long history of criminal activity starting in his adolescence. He spent the majority of his youth in and out of jail after being convicted of various misdemeanors and felonies. He was addicted to pornography and is described as a paraphilic. A paraphilic is a condition that is characterized by abnormal sexual desires that typically involve extreme or dangerous activities.

David did marry in his twenties and had a daughter.

Other Half

Catherine Margaret Harrison was also born in 1951, in the Perth suburb of Subiaco. Her mother died in childbirth when Catherine was two years old. After her mother’s passing, she was sent to live with her father in South Africa. Her father wasn’t cut out to be a parent. After two years she was sent back to Australia to live with her grandparents. Her father was abusive, it is not known if that abuse was physical or sexual. Catherine is described as a sad child with no friends and that loneliness seemed to cause her too long for any type of relationship, good or bad.

Catherine and David met when they were young as the two would be neighbors for a time around the age of 12. She was living with her aunt and uncle after her grandparents died. They happened to live next to the Birnies in Lathlain. Soon the pair became friends with David filling her void of loneliness.

Together the pair would get in trouble. In July 1969, when they were both 18, they were brought to trial for 11 counts of breaking and entering and theft of goods totaling close to $3,000. This was after they tried to steal a safe from a local drive-in theater. Catherine was pregnant at the time. David was not the father. So Catherine got probation and David was sent to prison for nine months.

The following month more charges were brought against the pair. Eight more in fact, again for breaking and entering and theft. Three more years were added to David’s sentence and Catherine was placed on probation for four years.

Break Out

In June 1970, David had enough of prison. He escaped and reunited with Catherine. The pair was apprehended a month later. This time they were charged with 53 counts of breaking and entering, theft, unlawfully driving a motor vehicle and other various offenses. When they were apprehended the police discovered that they had 100 sticks of dynamite with 120 detonators and three fuses.

Catherine told authorities at that time that she knew what she had done was wrong, but she loved David and there is nothing that she wouldn’t do for him. That statement is one we will hear again. This time David got two and a half years in prison and Catherine six months. While in prison she gave birth and the baby was taken by welfare services until her release.

It was upon Catherine’s release that she took a job as a nanny for a family in Fremantle. This seems to be the only time in Catherine’s life that she truly seemed to find some happiness. While working for the family she met Donald McLauchlan. The pair fell in love and married on May 31, 1972, on Catherine’s 21st birthday. Shortly after the nuptials, she gave birth to the first of five children.

Tragedy

Catherine and Donald’s son, Little Donny, named after his father, lived a short life. Little Donny would be hit and crushed to death by a car in the family driveway. This tragic accident was witnessed by Catherine.  Catherine and Donald’s marriage may have started as a happy one, but it didn’t last. The family was living in state-funded housing in the working-class suburb of Victoria Park. Donald was unemployed and on disability due to a back injury. Catherine, Donald, and their five, possibly six, children plus his father and uncle lived in a crammed unkempt home where there was little care for the property or the children.

Reunited

After thirteen years without David in her life, Catherine had had enough and left her family behind. Her youngest child was three, and moved in with David in 1985. Catherine ended up legally changing her last name to Birnie even though the couple never married and she never got a divorce. All was not smooth sailing as David’s ferocious appetite for sex was insatiable. The couple experimented sexually daily delving into the kinkier side of things. When that wasn’t enough the couple discussed abducting a random female to rape. David convinced Cathrine that she would experience the heights of sexual pleasure watching him “penetrate another woman who was bound and gagged.” Catherine, ever ready to please David, agreed.

At one point, David’s younger brother, James Birnie, stayed with the couple. He had just gotten out of jail for indecent assault on his six-year-old niece. Sexual depravity seems to run in this family. James, having nowhere to go since he assaulted his mother and had a restraining order against him, moved in with David and Catherine.  James would tell reporters years later that David had a massive pornography collection and wanted sex up to six times a day. If he didn’t get it he would “go mad.”  He also claimed that David would inject an anesthetic into his penis to maintain his erection longer.

The Beginning of the Moorhouse Murders

On October 6, 1986, the couple’s kinky talk and fantasies turned into reality. This was after the couple had researched how to get away with murder. David tried in September to lure unsuspecting victims by placing an advertisement in a local paper. It read, “URGENT.  Looking for a lonely person.  Prefer females 18 to 24 years, share a single room flat.”  The ad didn’t pan out, but their first victim would end up coming to him.

Twenty-two-year-old psychology student Mary Neilson had met David earlier at his place of work looking for some tires. David talked her up and told her he had some that he would sell her at a cheaper price.  Mary was a college student and looked to save some money so she took him up on his offer. When Mary entered the Birnie residence she was grabbed from behind and a knife was put to her throat. She was dragged to a bedroom, chained by her hands and feet, and a gag was placed in her mouth.

Catherine watched the entire time David repeatedly raped Mary. It has been reported that Catherine would stimulate David’s body parts while he was raping their victims.  Although the couple had not discussed murdering their victims, they knew that to avoid being caught their victim could not live to talk about it. Later that evening David and Catherine drove Mary to the Gleneagles National Park.  Once there David again raped Mary and then strangled her with a nylon rope. Once deceased, David stabbed her to speed up decomposition as this would allow the body gasses to be released quicker, or at least he believed it would.

Mary Neilson was then buried in a shallow grave.  

Moorhouse Murders Continue Two Weeks Later

The thrill of raping and killing a terrified woman only appeared to satiate the pair for about two weeks.  This time instead of the prey coming to them they went hunting. It’s been said that when Catherine spotted a potential victim she would say “I’ve got the munchies.”  David agreeing with the prey would reply, “I’ve got the munchies too.”  Fifteen-year-old Susannah Candy had been hitchhiking when she was picked up by the Birnies. Can you imagine how unassuming this couple looked pulling over to offer her a ride? Having a female in the car may have lowered Susannah’s concern for safety.

Once Susannah got into the car she was bound and gagged and taken back to 3 Moorhouse Street at knifepoint. Susannah was forced to write letters to her parents assuring them that she was okay and just needed to be alone. Susannah was then chained to the bed and raped by David. This time Catherine joined them on the bed knowing that it would turn David on even more. This was something they had talked about in their fantasy phase.

Afterward, David tried to strangle Susannah, but she fought back so the couple drugged her with sleeping pills. Once she fell asleep, David tried again putting a rope around her neck. But this time he wanted Catherine to do it to show him how much she loved him. Catherine strangled Susannah to death. Again, the couple drove to the Gleneagles Forest and buried her in a shallow grave next to Mary.  

Moorhouse Murders Pick-up

On November 1, 1986, Nolene Patterson, thirty-one, ran out of gas (petrol) and was happy to accept a ride from the Birnies. That happiness didn’t last long once a knife was placed to her throat. What happened twice before occurred again with Nolene being chained, gagged, and repeatedly raped. This victim however caused Catherine some concern as she felt that David fancied her. This was reinforced by David putting off killing her. Nolene was kept prisoner for three days. On the fourth day, Catherine made David force sleeping pills down Nolene’s throat. Then Catherine held a knife to her throat and told David to decide between them. David chose Catherine and strangled Nolene to death. Nolene was buried beside both Susannah and Mary.  

Next

Four days later on November 5th, Denise Brown, 21, was hitch-hiking along the Stirling Highway. Her original plan was to get to a nearby bus stop, but when the Birnies offered her a ride she readily accepted.  Like the three victims before her, Denise soon had a knife to her throat. She was taken to the depraved couple’s home only to be chained and gagged before being raped repeatedly. Unlike Nolene, who was kept for a few days, Denise was driven to a new location for their final act. It was near Pinjar at the Gnangara Pine Plantation, north of Perth.

Upon arrival David once again raped Denise. This time he plunged a knife into her throat while committing his heinous assault. However, Denise didn’t die so Catherine, who brought along a bigger knife, gave it to David who plunged it into Denise’s chest. Thinking she had died the couple started to dig a shallow grave and moved her body for burial. Denise surprised the couple once again by attempting to sit up. David grabbed an ax and swung it at Denise’s skull. His first strike didn’t end Denise’s suffering as she once again attempted to sit up. His next strike opened up her skull. Once deceased the couple quickly covered her grave.

Second Thoughts

After the couple returned home, Catherine was not satisfied with the after-killing sex that usually occurred after burying their victims. Denise’s death was different and Catherine was not too keen on going through that again. She believed that the rapes and murders couldn’t go on forever and would soon come to an end. Little did she know that those thoughts would come true just five days later.

David once again seemed to be jonesing for another victim and he convinced Catherine to go out hunting. This time Kate Moir would be responsible for bringing the murderous couple’s rampage to an end.

Charged

On November 12th, Catherine and David were each charged with four counts of murder, two counts of aggravated sexual assault (for Kate Moir), and one count of deprivation of liberty. It was two months after Catherine’s arrest that she reached out to her children by letter dated January 4, 1987. This was the first contact they had had with her in over two years. In it, Catherine sounds cheerful and explains to her children that the reason she had taken David’s last name was so they wouldn’t be hurt by all the media.  She goes on to say she is hopeful that the doctors would be able to find out why she did what she did.  She claimed to love her children and asked them to keep out of trouble, “because of what I’m supposed to have done.” An interesting statement.

According to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald, Catherine’s husband, Donald stated that he would “welcome his wife back, no matter the crime.”  Donald’s family seems to be supportive of Catherine even after the evidence of her crimes was exposed. Those that knew Catherine before reuniting with David say she was a kind and caring person and a good mom (mum). They are shocked and bewildered by the murders and Catherine’s role in them.  

Sentenced

David Birnie was sentenced in February 1987, in Perth Supreme Court to life imprisonment under strict security. David prepared a statement that was read in court where he claimed to be “extremely sorry for his actions and that he had wished to spare the parents and relatives the agony of a trial.”  He did not try to present a defense of insanity and told the court that he “knew and understood what I was doing and I knew it was wrong.”

The judge stated during sentencing that David was a “danger to society and that you should not be released – ever.”  The judge also used his time to praise Kate Moir for “her courage resulted in your arrest and I have little doubt cut short the campaign of sexual gratification and murder which you and your de facto wife had embarked on during October and November.”  “That young girl’s cool head and initiative, coupled with providence, undoubtedly enabled her to escape the fate of her predecessors.”

Catherine Birnie was sentenced to four terms of life imprisonment in March 1987, in Perth Supreme Court. Life in Australia means that one can be eligible for parole in twenty years.  The judge at her sentencing stated that he hoped that Catherine and David, who had received the same sentence a month earlier, would never be released.

Suicide

At the age of 54 after nineteen years behind bars, David Birnie was found dead in his cell on October 7, 2005. Ironically, he had used a cord to hang himself from the air conditioner vent in his cell. Prison officials noted that David was depressed due to his computer begin confiscated after pornographic images were found on it. In addition, he was implicated in a sexual assault on another prisoner. There was also the issue of his antidepressant medication not arriving on time. This resulted in him being without his meds for three days.

Parole Attempts

Since entering prison, Catherine has maintained a quiet existence and is described as a cooperative inmate. She works as a prison librarian in Bandyup’s maximum-security prison. However, Detective Paul Ferguson feels she is an “evil parasite.” She is also described by others as being highly manipulative and cunning. These are the same skills that she used to lure unsuspecting women into the couple’s car.  Catherine has been up for parole numerous times. Each time she has been denied. Now 70 as of September 2021, she is Western Australia’s longest-serving prisoner.

Speculation

David and Catherine have also been suspected of the abduction and killing of three other women. Cheryl Renwick, Barbara Wester, and Lisa Marie Mott. These are three unsolved murders.

For Sale

In January 2021, the house that is the subject of the Moorhouse Murders, 3 Moorhouse Street sold for $425,000 to a young twenty-something couple looking for a bargain. This is not the first time 3 Moorhouse has come on the market. Apparently, before 2021, it had been sold three other times in the previous eight years.

This episode sponsored by Manscape.

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