When Dad is a Serial Killer | The Case of Andrea Blanchard & Trudi

 Look at the girl on the right in this picture. Her name is Trudi Warwick. She looks happy and safe in her mother’s arms. But this picture hides a disturbing secret. Wherever Trudi and her mom go, violent bombings follow, and the truth behind the attacks will uncover one of Australia’s most notorious serial killers.

 Justice Opas was shot in front of his Woollahra home.  …a bomb blast, which ripped through a crowded Jehovah’s Witness Church Hall in Sydney…  Shards of glass impacted into the body of a 12yearold girl.  Sydney’s 10,000 witnesses must be wondering what they’ve done to draw such violence upon them.

 The attacker known as the Family Court Bomber terrorizes Sydney for years, and the entire community lives in fear, not knowing when or where they will strike next. Even the police can’t keep little Trudi safe because one man is willing to burn down Australia to get to her.  He stopped at nothing in his quest to keep custody of his daughter.

He took it personally, because everybody that stood in his way, he went after all of them.  Everyone was scared of him. Everyone who confronted him, their lives were in danger.  The police told me, “You’re next on his hit list.”  I had to do something to stop all these killings. What choice did I have?  It’s June, 1978.

Andrea Warwick and her husband Leonard have just welcomed their first child, Trudi. They live in Casula, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Leonard is a firefighter, but while he spends his time at work rescuing people, at home, he’s controlling and violent to his wife. He quickly becomes possessive of their newborn daughter.

He doesn’t let anyone enter the house or see her, even Andrea’s friends and family. On Andrea’s birthday, her sisters and their children try to visit, enraging Leonard.  And they knocked on the door, and he wasn’t gonna allow them to come in. So I just pushed past him and I said, “They’re coming in.” After they left, he got violent, and he had his fireman boots on, and he stood on my leg and just thrashed into my arm.

I ran in to try and pick up Trudi, I couldn’t pick her up. My arm was bung, couldn’t move it. I thought, “This is it. He’s gonna kill me.”  After years of enduring an abusive relationship, Andrea finds the strength to get out and tell her family. She runs to safety at her sister Judy’s house, pleading for help.

Judy is shocked to hear about Leonard’s violence.  That was the first I knew, and I said to Andrea, “Why didn’t you tell me?” She said, “I was too ashamed,” and you know, I had no idea.  Because of how badly Leonard hurt her, Andrea couldn’t get Trudi out of the house, but she won’t give up her fight to get her back.

She turns to the Family Law Court to start the divorce process, hoping they can help keep her daughter safe. She gets full custody of Trudi, and they move in with Andrea’s dad, Leslie, and her brother Stephen. Leonard gets visiting rights, but it’s not enough for him. He keeps their daughter longer than he’s supposed to, completely ignoring the visitation schedule.

Leonard doesn’t care about the court’s orders, and Andrea decides to confront him to get Trudi back. Worried that Leonard might hurt her again, Andrea asks her brother Stephen to go with her, and they approach Leonard together.  Stephen took Andrea up, knocked on the door and said, “Len, look. We don’t want any trouble.

” ‘Cause Stephen was very softly spoken, I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice.  Stephen calmly asks Leonard for Trudi, but Leonard slams the door closed, refusing to give her up. Andrea has to go back to court for help getting Trudi back, but they have no idea how far her father will go to keep her.

It’s February 22nd, 1980. Andrea wakes up, expecting to say good morning to Stephen, but he’s not in his room. At first, she doesn’t think much of it, figuring he must be visiting his girlfriend or out surfing with his friends. But as hours pass without hearing from him, she starts to panic.  The Thursday night was the last time I saw Stephen.

He was on the phone talking to Mum. The following morning, and I noticed his bedding was gone, and his pillow was gone.  Andrea makes phone calls, but no one has seen Stephen since the night of February 21st. Something is horribly wrong. Police come to investigate the house, and they find specks of blood in his bedroom.

Six days later, a group of friends are out boating at Cowan Creek in the Kuringgai Chase National Park in Northern Sydney. Suddenly, they see something floating in the water. They call the police, who take over and start their investigation.  “Andrea,” he says, “We found Stephen.” And I just automatically said, “Oh, is he alright?”  Police find that Stephen Blanchard was shot and killed at home in the middle of the night.

The attacker likely used a silencer to avoid waking up the rest of the family. Then they drove to Cowan Creek and used a boat so they could drop his body in the middle of the water. His body was weighed down with bricks, and investigators find they were tied with a fireman’s pocket line, but they don’t discover any other evidence to help them catch the killer.

The Blanchard family now has to face life without Stephen.  I was expecting him to walk home. Didn’t expect that. He had his whole life ahead of him, he was 25 years old. He’d never hurt anyone.  While grieving the loss of her brother, Andrea also has to continue her custody battle. Leonard keeps ignoring the court’s orders, repeatedly keeping Trudi longer than he’s supposed to.

April, 1980. Because of Leonard’s constant disrespect of the Family Court, Justice David Opas says he can’t see his daughter for a month. Leonard is furious. When he sees Andrea at the court building, he gives her an ominous message.  He said to me, he says, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about Judge Opas.” I said, “Oh, is he going away on holidays?” And he said, “Oh no. You just don’t have to worry about him.

”  June 23rd, 1980, 7:10 PM, four months after Stephen Blanchard’s murder, Justice David Opas is having dinner with his wife, Kristin, and his kids Josh and Persia, when the doorbell rings. His son Josh tells him to stay at the table and not answer it, but he does, and when he goes to greet the person at the door, he is shot with a .22 caliber rifle.

A man runs away from the scene, and Justice Opas’ family rushes to his side, but it’s too late.  After the phone call from the police that told me that Judge Opas was murdered, when I put the receiver down, I thought, “Something’s going on here. There’s gotta be, there’s a connection.”  Andrea is already suspicious because Leonard was angry at Justice Opas for restricting his access to Trudi.

Andrea tells police she thinks Leonard is involved. Investigators search his locker at the fire station where he works. They find newspapers with headlines about the murder, but no physical evidence that can link him to the scene. Leonard also refuses to answer any questions from the police. As a Family Court justice, David Opas dealt with many people who could want revenge for his orders.

30 detectives work on the case. They interview over 500 people who appeared in front of Justice Opas in court, along with 2,500 people who bought rifles in the last six months. They can’t find any clues or get closer to an arrest, and a killer is on the loose. The people of Sydney worry that the whole Family Court system is the target.

Another Family Court justice, Richard Gee, takes over Justice Opas’ cases after his murder, and his family fears they could be next.  Well, I knew that Justice Opas had been shot dead, and then Dad said, “They’ve offered me the job to replace him,” and I just had this, well, I don’t know, call it a sixth sense, that um, something was gonna happen to us.

 But years pass without any other attacks, and the paranoia begins to fade. Andrea tries to give Trudi a happy childhood, but the nightmare is far from over. March 6th, 1984, almost four years after Justice Opas’ murder, Justice Richard Gee is at home with his children, Alison and Steven. It’s around 1:45 AM, and they’re all asleep.

Suddenly a bomb goes off, destroying most of the home.  I just heard a really loud clap of thunder, the loudest I’d ever heard. Just saw debris all in my room, and it was just like I’d woken up in a movie or a nightmare.  Alison finds her brother, and they frantically try to get out of the house, desperately hoping their dad also made it out.

They make it out safely through a window. They find their dad around the back of the house, injured, but alive.  He was covered in debris dust over his whole body,  He was covered in debris dust over his whole body, he looked like a ghost, except that he had blood pouring down his legs from his thighs. I just cried, and I just felt really sad.

Just looks like a war zone.  Miraculously, the whole family survives, but it’s clear someone is still out for revenge. Right away, police warn other judges to check their homes and cars, and they search family courts across Australia. Investigators also look into all the cases that Justice Richard Gee oversaw.

Andrea again tells them that Leonard is the culprit. Justice Gee had further restricted Leonard’s access to Trudi,  and he even issued an arrest warrant when he failed to return her.  This was an attack on the administration of justice in Australia. Judges would make a ruling against him, and he responded with lethal force.

 We wanted justice served. It’s Leonard John Warwick. I said, “He is the only person.” Every time I spoke to them, it’s him.  Andrea knows that her ex’s violence is getting closer and closer to her, and she has to continuously face the man hunting her in court. Their next court appearance was scheduled for April 16th, 1984, just over a month after the bomb at Justice Gee’s house, but in the middle of the night before Leonard was supposed to appear, the Family Law Court building itself is largely destroyed

as another bomb detonates. Fear and panic is spreading throughout Sydney. Again, Andrea alerts investigators about Leonard’s connection to the attacks, but still, he continues to walk free. It becomes clear to Andrea that no one can keep her and Trudi safe from him, not even the police. He doesn’t leave evidence behind, and unless someone can get him to stop, anyone with connections to the Family Court is in danger.

 We did know that the offender was Warwick. Everything was done that could be done at the time. We couldn’t gather enough evidence to charge him then.  As Justice Richard Gee recovers from his injuries after the bombing at his house, Ray Watson takes over his cases, including Leonard and Andrea’s. Even with fear and suspicion growing, Andrea still respects the visitation rights set by the court.

Trudi loves her father and is happy to see him, but Andrea has to keep returning to court because Leonard still ignores the court’s orders.  One time I didn’t see Trudi for six weeks. Didn’t even know where she was.  Like the other judges, Justice Watson punishes Leonard by restricting his access to Trudi even more.

It’s July 4th, 1984, 8:10 AM, almost three months after the Family Court bombing. Justice Watson gets ready to leave for work. His wife Pearl opens the door of their house, unknowingly triggering a bomb that was fixed to their front door. Ray Watson survives, but Pearl is killed instantly. The people of Sydney, stunned and heartbroken, demand answers.

After Pearl Watson’s murder, investigators ramp up their efforts. A joint federalstate police task force is established and a half a million dollar reward is offered.  All family court judges, their courts, and their families will have a 24hour surveillance until uh, this matter’s resolved.  We had federal surveillance officers and state surveillance officers.

We used up virtually every surveillance officer in New South Wales in Australia.  Surveillance officers follow the prime suspect, Leonard Warwick, desperate to find something they can use to catch him and put a stop to all the attacks. In the middle of the night, they follow him to a national park.  He kept going back to the national park on a total of 11 occasions.

We went in with police dogs after he left when he was way out of the area. It was never really ironed out as to what he was doing there. I put it down to the fact that he was playing games with the surveillance officers.  February 10th, 1985. Police tell Andrea there was an attempt on her lawyer’s life with another bomb.

Fortunately, it was found before it could detonate and no one was hurt. But shortly after, she gets a call from her lawyer, Gary Watts.  And he said, “I won’t be, be able to act on your behalf,” and that was it. He was scared, he was frightened, and I don’t blame him.  I’ve never met a person as dangerous as what Leonard Warwick is.

He stopped at nothing in his quest to keep custody of his daughter. He took it personally, because everybody that stood in his way, he went after all of them.  Fear is spreading throughout Australia. Anyone could be a target, and no one can help Andrea. Even police are scared about their involvement in the investigation.

 One of the surveillance officers said, “Look, I think we’ve gotta worry because Warwick’s sitting in the park watching police headquarters.” A witness that I interviewed said he was looking for my address. The wife and the kids, I had his photo, his police photo on the fridge, that if he was ever sighted in the neighborhood, they were to notify us immediately.

 As Leonard intimidates the police with his own surveillance, the attacks keep getting closer to home for Andrea. All the while, she tries to shield Trudi from the violence that haunts them, and it’s taking a massive toll. Leonard already has his eyes on his next target, as he makes phone calls to Andrea’s sister, Judy, threatening to kill her and her children.

 The police told me, “You’re next on his hit list.” Every noise, I’d wake up. We were looking over our shoulder all that time. We were gonna be next.  Even though Andrea and the police believe Leonard is responsible for all the attacks, they still haven’t been able to find anything they can use to arrest him.

They’ve tried surveillance, offering reward money, and putting numerous detectives and resources into their efforts, but nothing is working. Andrea is terrified. Leonard stalks her, often parking in front of the house and watching her every move. One day, he shows up at the house and yells at Andrea, demanding to see Trudi for an unscheduled visit.

When she says no, he grabs Trudi anyway and starts to run. But Andrea chases him, refusing to let him take her away. In response, he punches Andrea in the face. Shocked, she quickly gets Trudi and runs back inside, locking the doors behind them. Andrea is desperate to get herself and her family away from him and his violence.

Even with the threat to her life, Andrea’s sister Judy steps in. A devout Jehovah’s Witness, Judy turns to her congregation for help. They need to escape in secret to stay safe from Leonard. Her congregation steps up, helping them move away so they could hide.  We didn’t tell anyone why we were moving.  Even the drivers of the truck didn’t know where we were heading until an hour before we got to Forster.

No one knew.  Andrea does all she can to protect her daughter from Leonard and the destruction that follows them. Leonard doesn’t know where Andrea and Trudi went, but he won’t give up his search. He makes multiple phone calls to members of Judy’s congregation, demanding to know where they are.  There was a third call.

He was very upset. He again said, “You must know where she’s gone.” “Listen, mate,” I said, “we don’t know where she’s gone. Do not call here again.”  July, 1985, five months after Andrea and Trudi made their escape, Leonard hasn’t found them and there haven’t been any more attacks, but there are two breakins at the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Casula, southwest of Sydney.

During one of the breakins, a window shatters and cuts the intruder. They leave blood on the carpet, but with the limited capabilities of the time, investigators can only determine that it’s O positive, and they can’t use it to charge anyone. They don’t find that anything was stolen and no one knows why the intruder broke in or what they did.

It’s Sunday, July 21st, 1985. The congregation starts their service like usual. There are over 100 members in the building, including Joy Wykes and her husband Graham.  We were holding hands and I thought, “Oh, his hand would be really cold.” So we had a small rug over our knee and I pulled it up over our hands and he turned to me and whispered, “I love you.

” And that was the last thing I remember. My first memories was really in ICU. I had already been into surgery. I recall asking, “Where’s my husband? Where’s my husband?” all afternoon. A doctor came and told me, “We do have bad news for you.” And I, I’d been asking and asking, and I must’ve already realized that he wasn’t going to be there.

 A bomb was placed under the stage at the Kingdom Hall, timed to go off during the service. Graham Wykes is killed, and dozens more have lifethreatening injuries, including little children. The Blanchard family is devastated to hear the news.  I just burst out crying. I could not speak for a long time.  They announced that the Hall had been bombed.

My daughter, Natasha, was standing next to me and she said, “Mom, that was Len.” My whole body was shaking and I rang down to the bomb squad. They had their suspicions and I said, “That’s my congregation.” And they said, “Oh, that’s what the connection is!”  Joy Wykes had helped the Blanchards pack for their escape and Andrea blames herself for Graham’s death and all the injuries at the Kingdom Hall.

Police take a search warrant to Leonard’s house and they find handwritten notes with phone numbers of Jehovah’s Witness members, but he refuses to answer any questions or give a blood sample. Their attempts to catch him are still hopeless.  Everyone was scared of him. Everyone who confronted him, their lives were in danger.

 The attacks continue to follow Andrea everywhere she goes, even when she escapes Leonard’s stalking. She is overwhelmed with sadness, fear, and guilt. She knows what Leonard wants and that people throughout Australia will continue to die unless he gets it. Andrea makes a heartbreaking choice in a desperate attempt to end his reign of terror.

She gives him full custody of their daughter, Trudi.  I had to do something to stop all these killings. It was heartbreaking saying goodbye to her, but I had to. What choice did I have?  Over the course of nearly 10 years, Andrea has suffered immensely. She was in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship.

She made the brave choice to get out but her fight never stopped. Her own brother was murdered, and after four bombings, three more murders, and families ripped apart by violence and destruction, Andrea knows she is the only one who can stop the Family Court Bomber. Trudi also wants to live with her father, exhausted from constantly moving around and being in the middle of the fighting between her parents.

As Andrea predicted, the attacks come to an abrupt end, but with a huge sacrifice. Leonard Warwick is still a completely free man, and now he has their daughter too. It had a massive impact and she never stopped fighting for justice.  How do you live without your daughter?  Trudi spends her childhood living with Leonard, who many think of as the Family Court Bomber.

At first, she likes living with her father. He even buys horses for them to ride together. But as she gets older, she realizes how controlling he is. He constantly tries to keep her in the house, away from friends and family. And when he decides to remarry and start a new family, Trudi isn’t happy. At 16 years old, she leaves to move back in with her mom and shockingly, Leonard doesn’t stop her.

 He chose the wife over his daughter.  Yeah. Yeah.  This is the daughter he fought so hard for.  Yes.  I don’t get that.  His daughter was just a possession.  After getting everything he wanted and all the destruction and suffering he caused, Leonard lets his target, Trudi, go easily. Finally, Andrea is reunited with her daughter, but they still aren’t truly free of Leonard.

As Trudi grows older, she gets a better understanding of what happened when she was little. From the beginning, Trudi’s mom has repeatedly told police that Leonard Warwick is the man who terrorized Sydney for years. Despite her efforts, he thinks he will get away with everything. And for decades, he does, until one mistake will come back to haunt him.

It becomes one of the coldest cases in Australian history. Andrea had no one to turn to, but in 2012, investigative crime journalists Debi Marshall and Ross Coulthart hear of the case and decide to investigate. But everywhere they turn for information, they’re warned  the prime suspect is still free, and pursuing the story could get them killed.

Debi Marshall even tries to interview Leonard and he threatens her. But the journalists work together with Andrea Blanchard to bring attention back to the case, all of them refusing to back down in their fight for justice. With the help of their work and the release of Debi Marshall’s book, investigators reopen the cold case.

Kevin Woods, the former lead investigator, never forgot about the Family Court Bomber. He remembers the bloodstain left on the carpet before the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall bombing, when an intruder was cut with the glass from a window. They didn’t know it at the time, but the attacker broke in to plant the bomb.

Kevin Woods tells the current investigators about the blood sample, which could be the key to exposing the person behind all the attacks. Detectives ask Trudi if she would give a DNA sample for them to compare it with. At first, she hesitates. She still loves her father and she’s worried about betraying him.

She knows it could send him to jail if it’s a match, but she wants the truth for herself and for all the other victims’ families. In an interview, she says, With advancements in DNA technology, they are able to match the blood with Trudi’s, removing any doubt that Leonard Warwick is the culprit behind all the attacks.

It’s July 29th, 2015. Over 35 years after he began terrorizing the people of Sydney, Leonard Warwick’s past finally catches up to him.  Tonight, an arrest over one of Sydney’s biggest unsolved crimes, a man in custody over the Family Court bombings and murders in the 1980s.  The judgeonly trial lasts almost two years.

Warwick pleads not guilty to over 20 charges against him, but with the overwhelming evidence and the help of Andrea’s testimony, he’s convicted, and he gets three life sentences without parole. Leonard Warwick is finally behind bars and he will never be able to hurt anyone again. After nearly 40 years of living in fear, Andrea can truly begin to move on with her life.

She still has a very close relationship with Judy and Trudi, and they continue to honor Stephen’s memory today. Andrea hopes her story will bring awareness and support to survivors of domestic violence. She encourages others in similar situations to get out of the relationship and seek help.  You’ve gotta think of yourself, and if there’s children involved, you’ve gotta think of the children’s lives.

It’s a hard battle to get back on your feet, but there’s so much help out there today. I say to any woman, “You don’t have to stand for that. There’s no need to stand for that violence against you.”  Andrea stood up for herself to escape her abuser, and with the help of others who never gave up, she brought justice for so many families throughout Australia who were impacted by the attacks.

 You can’t explain the feeling. It’s not a good club to be in, but yes, we’re a family.  I bought Andrea and I a ring and I say, “Every time we get down, we look at that ring and we say, ‘We survived.'”