True Crime Collection

Carly Ryan

Carly Ryan was born 26th January 1992. She lived in Stirling, South Australia with her mother. Approximately 18 months before her death, while using MySpace, she befriended "Brandon Kane", an American teen living in Melbourne, which eventually grew into an online and telephone romance. In January 2007, Garry Newman travelled from Melbourne posing as "Shane", the father of Brandon, in order to give her presents (lingerie and a nurse's outfit) from the non-existent Brandon. After meeting her mother, Sonya, he was then allowed to attend Carly's 15th birthday party and stay overnight. After a shopping trip together, his increasingly erratic and possessive behaviour at the party, and inappropriate physical advances, he was told to leave by Carly's mother Sonya, who then limited Carly's phone access.

Later, on 19th February, Carly left the house for an apparent sleepover with friends, but after not returning the next day, the police were notified. The same morning, at Horseshoe Bay in Port Elliot, Carly's battered and dishevelled body was found floating face down in the shallow water, attempts to revive her failed.

The autopsy revealed 19 separate injuries, with 6-8 injuries being blows to the head, and the cause of death was a combination of facial trauma, smothering, and drowning. It also revealed cannabinoids in her bloodstream and beach sand in her oesophagus. Investigators examined security footage, which showed Carly in and around Port Elliot on 19th February, in the company of 2 men, and she was last seen alive by witnesses at the beach at 9:30pm. A pale blue vehicle used by the men led police to Mornington, where a raid led to the arrest of Garry Newman, and the detention of Garry's younger son. A search revealed that Garry had kept a notebook detailing some 200 online personas, and other criminal attempts at grooming in both Australia and internationally. At trial, Garry, who was initially not identified to the media, acted erratically and initially denied meeting the teenager. On 21st January 2010, Garry was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 29 year non-parole period. Garry's adopted son, who was 17 at the time, and a witness to the killing, was cleared of all charges, and his identity remains suppressed. 

After the trial, Sonya Ryan helped to set up The Carly Ryan Foundation, a non profit charity created to promote internet safety. In 2013, the Foundation began lobbying for a legal change to improve the protection of minors online, particularly given that 25% of teenage Australians are being contact online by people they do not know. The Foundation also promoted safety awareness in Australia and New Zealand, and created a smartphone application, called Thread, as a personal safety app for children. Sonya Ryan, also received a South Australian of the Year Award in 2013 for services to the community.

After a number of unsuccessful proposals by Senator Nick Xenophon's team, on 25th May 2017, a bill titled Criminal Code Amendment Bill 2017 was submitted to the Parliament of Australia. The purpose of the Bill was "to introduce an offence to criminalise acts done using a carriage service to prepare or plan to cause harm to, procure, or engage in sexual activity with, a person under the age of 16. This expressly includes a person misrepresenting their age online as a part of a plan to cause harm to another person under 16 years of age." It proposed changes to 3 federal Australian laws: Criminal Code Act 1995; Crimes Act 1914; and, Telecommunications Act 1979. The amended bill was passed at the Federal level and enacted into law on 23rd June 2017.