Ronald Glenn West: The 22 Calibre Killer

The first victim, Doreen Morby, was killed at her rural Gormley home May 6, 1970, while she was home alone with her 21-month-old son. She was shot five times in the head and twice in the back with a .22-calibre gun. Her son was left unharmed. Seven days later, Helen Ferguson was shot once in the head and twice in the back at her Palgrave home after she answered the door to a man. Her nine-year-old son was unharmed in his bedroom. A young constable involved in the investigation soon quits and moves away, all is relatively quiet for years. He returned to the Valley in 1988 and they once again plunged into a dark time. West's crime spree continued with a series of violent robberies in 1995. The police had staked out his home for 48 hours, watching their suspect's every move from a boathouse next door. West was on a cell phone outside when a half-dozen cruisers swarmed the property. His house was searched but nothing extraordinary was found, he was convicted of the robberies and sentenced. The next tenant of the West house found the stolen jewellery along with an old registration for a .22-calibre handgun (the same used in the nurse murders in 1970) and photos of a naked woman, all hidden in the bathroom. West was now a suspect in the .22-calibre killings and soon DNA analysis would secure his fate as a convicted murderer.