A former detective has revealed why a decades-old cold case was linked to a well-known AFL player, and promises it is only a matter of time before the “baby in the post” mystery is solved.
Northern Territory police are still investigating how a baby’s body ended up in a Darwin post office on May 11, 1965.
The decomposed and naked body was found wrapped inside a pile of newspapers after staff noticed an unpleasant smell coming from the package.
The umbilical cord was still attached to the baby, while a stocking was tightly wrapped around his neck.
The parcel was addressed to the Darwin Post Office and was destined for someone called J Anderson.
The return address claimed it had been sent by JF Barnes from 2 Woodridge Avenue in Mentone, south-east Melbourne, an address which detectives quickly discovered was false.
In 2023, former detective Denver Marchant, one of the original investigators, suggested to the TRUE Crime Australia podcast ‘The Missing’ that J Anderson could have been former Aussie Rules player Jimmy Anderson.
After listening to the podcast, Jimmy Anderson’s daughter, Amelia Anderson, then 53, reached out to offer a DNA sample.
Former Detective Denver Marchant (pictured) took the Hail Mary step of suggesting Jimmy Anderson’s name to try to move the case forward again.
Marchant left the Northern Territory Police in 1995 and now lives an active retired life in Hervey Bay, Queensland.
A coroner gave police permission to unearth the baby’s unmarked grave at Darwin Central Cemetery in November 2023, and they managed to take a DNA profile of the skeleton.
For a few months, the case seemed tantalizingly close to being solved.
However, in February 2024, police confirmed that the baby’s DNA did not match Ms. Anderson’s sample.
Marchant, 84, who now lives in Queensland, told Daily Mail Australia that obtaining DNA from the baby was still a “small victory” for the cold case team.
A coroner had rejected an earlier request to exhume the remains, “without any appreciation of what DNA can achieve.”
So Mr. Marchant took the step of suggesting the name Jimmy Anderson, to try to move the case forward again.
He knew Mr Anderson personally before his death in 2017, and in 1965 there were only a handful of J Andersons in Darwin.
“They can be counted on one hand and I suspect two fingers,” Marchant said.
Jim Anderson (pictured) played for the Darwin Buffaloes during the 1950s and 1960s and won three premierships playing for the club.
Amelia Anderson (pictured with her late father Jimmy Anderson) has offered to offer her DNA in a bid to solve the case.
‘I mentioned Jim Anderson because he may or may not have been related; Turns out he wasn’t.
‘The reason behind my post was that I knew that permission for the exhumation had not been granted. The moment came when I had to stick my nose in and it worked.”
A DNA match was the “only possibility” of reaching a conclusion in the case, he said.
“It may still be 10, 15 or 20 years, I don’t know, but sooner or later it will emerge somewhere.”
“In my opinion, it’s the only key to unlocking it, unless someone makes a deathbed confession, and the chances of that happening are very low.”
Marchant left the Northern Territory Police in 1995 and now lives an active retired life in Hervey Bay, fishing and carrying out administrative duties at his local shooting range.
He insists the case doesn’t haunt him, but says it would be nice to see it closed in his lifetime.
“It’s going to be hard work because there’s a good chance that the perpetrator, the person who murdered the child, has been dead for a long time.” But either way you would get a result.
The baby’s body was found inside a postal parcel (pictured) that was sent to a Darwin post office almost 60 years ago.
The Northern Territory police cold case team had done good work, he said, and it was time for their Victorian counterparts to take over.
“It’s a Victorian case, it’s a Victorian murder – because the boy was murdered, there’s no doubt about that.”
‘There would be no need for ligation if the child was stillborn. That ligature was put there for a reason. It is evident that the child was breathing.
A Northern Territory police spokesperson said their investigation was ongoing.
‘Northern Territory Police Do not close cases until we are certain that all avenues of investigation have been exhausted in attempting to identify the remains.
“At this stage, the community can be assured that we are pursuing every possible avenue to identify these remains.”
A Victoria Police spokesperson said: “There is no change from our perspective and the matter remains in the hands of NT Police.”
Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.