Subject of popular true crime podcast found guilty of murder nearly four decades later

A 38-year-old Australian cold case has finally been solved — all thanks to a popular true crime podcast.

Chris Dawson, the husband featured in the 2018 podcast The Teacher’s Pet, has now been convicted of murdering his wife, Lynette Dawson, nearly four decades ago.

After a two-month-long trial, Justice Ian Harrison handed down the verdict at the Supreme Court of New South Wales on Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. The verdict took five hours to be delivered, due to “wholly circumstantial” evidence.

The guilty verdict marks a dramatic conclusion to a cold case that shook the nation when the podcast first aired in May 2018.

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Hosted by journalist Hedley Thomas and produced by The Australian, The Teacher’s Pet has garnered over 30 million downloads worldwide. The podcast dives deep into the Dawsons’ marriage, the wife’s sudden disappearance, and an alleged affair between the husband and a 16-year-old school girl.

Chris Dawson, a 74-year-old retired schoolteacher and rugby player, was arrested in 2018 –the same year the podcast came out – but maintained his innocence in his wife’s murder and plead not guilty.

When Lynette vanished without a trace from her Sydney home in January 1982, it took Dawson six weeks to report her missing. Her body has never been found, the podcast reveals.

According to the Post, Harrison stated during judgment that it was probable the podcast may have affected “some” of the evidence in the case.

Dawson’s lawyer, Greg Walsh, told reporters outside the courthouse that they will appeal the guilty verdict.

Dawson will be sentenced at a later date.