Patricia Susan Schmidt Murder Case

Patricia Susan Schmidt 16 years of age (also known as Suzie to those who loved her) was sexually assaulted and murdered at Hallett Cove, South Australia on December 17th, 1971.

Patricia had just finished work at the Darlington Burger King at 1.45 am (now hungry jacks. It was her 2nd night at the job) and was waiting for her father to collect her. He was just 10 minutes late. He was working as a bartender at a German club in the city.

It was those 10 minutes that sealed her fate.

Her battered body was found the next day lying in the grass on the side of Adams Rd, Hallett Cove.

- Patricia was wearing black lace-up boots, hot pants, a red jumper, and an orange coat the last time she was seen alive, by work colleagues at a Darlington fast food restaurant.

- When she was found, she was only wearing the boots. The jumper and coat were draped over her body and her bra was hanging on a wire fence nearby.

-Traces of weathered pink and white paint were found on her body.

- There were also traces of different metals- predominantly nickel and nickel silver. At the time, police investigated the possibility she had been in an engravers or key cutters workshop.

- A kangaroo skin purse Patricia carried was never found.

The popular girl had left the restaurant and waited for her father.

Reports said she stood as if she was waiting for someone and walked around for a few minutes before she started walking north along South Rd, rather than to the south towards her Seacliff Park home.

The previous Tuesday night, after her first shift, Patricia had told a girlfriend she had been walking home when a man stopped and offered her a lift.

She described the stranger as "old", about 30, not attractive, with pimples and a "flashcard".

As she sat in the car, he suggested driving in the Hills, she refused and he started driving towards Hallett Cove before being dropped at home- which he did.

Detectives called to the scene said drag marks suggested she was dumped on the verge after being killed somewhere else.

She was still wearing gold earrings, a gold watch, and a silver signet ring.

SA Police renewed calls for information about the murder and said DNA evidence from the case would be going across the Tasman Sea to be analyzed in New Zealand.

  In the past police have not had any major breaks in the case.

But now police have the best breakthrough in 50 years

Over the past 18 months, police have achieved and uploaded the new DNA profile to the national DNA database so it can be instantly matched against any new profiles uploaded in the future. 

"That profile is not on the database so we don't know who that suspect is, but we are analyzing many familial matches to see if we can link the offenders,"

  Superintendent Bray said.

Even though this case is nearly 50 years old, someone may have heard something or witnessed some weird behaviors from a friend or a family member at the time of Patricia's murder. No matter how small please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. There is a one million dollar reward for information leading to an arrest.