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Jaidyn Raymond Leskie (April 30, 1996 - June 15, 1997) was the Australian child of Bilynda Williams and Brett Leskie, kidnapped and murdered in 1997. Despite leads, and the arrest and trial of a prime suspect, Leskie's murder remains unsolved. Despite the decision in 2002 not to hold an inquest into the toddler's death, the case remained in the news for several more years and an inquest was held in 2006 implicating the mother's boyfriend, Greg Domaszewicz.
Jaidyn was kidnapped from the house of his mother's boyfriend, who was babysitting at the time, in Newborough near Moe. The circumstances around his disappearance and death were never clear, and were complicated by a pig's head being thrown at the house and other vandalism on the evening of the toddler's disappearance, an alleged prank about the boy's fate and the body not being discovered until January 1998. Leskie is believed to have died of head injuries.[1] After a missing person's search, believed to have been the largest since the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1967,[2] Jaidyn's body was found on January 1, 1998 at Blue Rock Dam, 30 km north of Moe.[3] His body had been preserved by the cold waters of the lake through winter and the clothing he was wearing was subject to a DNA test in an effort to solve the crime.[4]
Greg Domaszewicz was charged with murder but was found not guilty in December 1998.[1] A controversial 2006 inquest[5], believed by some to be media driven,[6] found that he had contributed to the toddler's death and had likely disposed of the boy's body.[7] The inability to move forward with what some believe to be new evidence due to the double jeopardy laws in place in Victoria have led Leskie's mother to join a coalition asking for reform of these laws.[8] Almost ten years after Leskie's death, a kit on helping parents choose adequate babysitters was released in his memory.[9]
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