A forensic breakthrough has identified a person of interest in the unsolved 1993 murder of former AC/DC manager Crispin Dye.
Dye, 41, died on Christmas Day in 1993, a day after he was attacked in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, where he had been celebrating the release of his debut solo album.
A New South Wales inquiry into potential gay hate-related deaths resumed on Tuesday to focus on the killing of the long-term manager of the legendary Australian rock band.
A 1995 inquest failed to shed light on the case and a $100,000 reward also led nowhere.
But the 2023 inquiry has previously found that Dye’s blood-stained jeans and denim shirt were never sent for forensic analysis. Information written on two pieces of paper found in his shirt pocket were also undetected in an evidence box for almost 30 years.
At the direction of the inquiry, five items of clothing – including Dye’s jeans and shirt – were submitted for forensic analysis for the first time. Blood on the back pocket of the jeans was in July found to contain DNA from an unknown male that matched a profile obtained from another crime scene, the inquiry heard.
Documents produced by NSW police revealed that crime scene was a house in Glenwood where there had been a reported break-in in 2002.
The DNA match resulted in a previously unknown male being identified as a person of interest in relation to Dye’s death.
“The existence of [the male’s] DNA within a blood stain on Mr Dye’s jeans is consistent with his having made physical contact with Mr Dye on the night he was assaulted,” counsel assisting the inquiry, Meg O’Brien, said.
However, the inquiry was unable to draw any conclusions about what, if any, role the person played in Dye’s death, based on publicly available information.
The person of interest died in late 2002.
O’Brien said it was “extraordinary” NSW police officers had not previously discovered the pieces of paper in Dye’s shirt, given the multiple investigations into his death.
“What’s particularly troubling about this is that the pieces of paper found by the inquiry ... may have been a source of fingerprints or DNA, which in turn may have provided the police with information about Mr Dye’s assailant or assailants,” she said.
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“It is plainly unsatisfactory that this evidence has lain untouched for nearly 30 years without being found or subjected to testing.”
She said the motivations of Dye’s assailant or assailants remained unknown but there was “objective reason” to suspect the attack was motivated by LGBTQ+ bias.
Some of Dye’s friends believed the attack was a hate crime, but police investigating did not classify it as such because it took place in a robbery hotspot.
But O’Brien pointed to expert advice previously provided to the inquiry that most LGBTQ+ hate crimes were opportunistic and that many offenders also took the opportunity to rob their victims.
“The possibility of both motives co-existing does not appear to have been considered by [police] in any detail at all,” she said.
The special commission of inquiry into LGBTQ+ hate crimes has been examining the deaths of gay people between 1970 and 2010.
The commissioner, supreme court justice John Sackar, is due to deliver a final report to the state government in December.