page_title: Murder of Celia Douty
section_title: Murder
hierarchical_section_title: Murder of Celia Douty / Murder
caption_attribution_description: Photo I took of Brampton Island, Queensland, Australia, in December 2005.
context_page_description: Celia Natasha "Tasha" Douty was a British resort worker who was murdered on Brampton Island in Queensland, Australia. The crime remained unsolved until 2001, when Sydney motor industry finance Business Manager, Wayne Butler, was found guilty. It was the first murder in Australia to be solved using DNA profiling. The prosecution relied heavily on DNA evidence and it became a case study for the use of the technique in court.
context_section_description: Tasha Douty was working as a waitress at the resort on Brampton Island in the summer of 1983. On 31 August, she took the ferry to the nearby town of Mackay for a dental appointment and spent the night there. The following day, she travelled back to the island. Police began searching for Douty when she failed to show up for work on 2 September.
  It is known that Douty went straight from the ferry to her room to drop off the things she had bought which included presents for her younger son's upcoming 19th birthday. Taking the new red towel she had just purchased she headed to secluded Dinghy Bay. Butler had been following her but lost her at this time. Unfortunately, he knew her destination and asked a member of staff for directions. It is estimated that she reached the beach at about 10.40 but when the 11 o'clock plane flew in, she was no longer on the beach. She was found in scrub behind the beach, her body covered with the red towel which had blood and semen on it. Douty's clothes and personal possessions, including a handbag, were missing and were never found. She had been beaten on the head with a stone.
caption: Dinghy Bay on Brampton Island, where police found Tasha Douty's body.
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