It was a pleasant morning on Saturday the 21st of October, 1989, when rowers training with the Brisbane Grammar School in Brisbane, Australia, were by the Brisbane River in the southern suburb of Hill End

 It was a pleasant morning on Saturday the 21st of October, 1989, when rowers training with the Brisbane Grammar School in Brisbane, Australia, were by the Brisbane River in the southern suburb of Hill End.

It was around 6:15AM, when they observed something on the banks of the river. As they got closer, they recoiled in horror to see that it was the body of a man, nude except for his socks.

The body was transported to the medical examiner’s office where it was found that he had sustained 14 stab wounds to his back, as well as others to his chest and side. His throat had also been slashed with such ferocity that his head had almost been severed.

The body was identified as 47-year-old Edward Baldock. Edward was a Brisbane council worker.

Investigators first of all wanted to establish the timeline leading up to Edward being found on the Brisbane River. They determined that he had left his home in the suburb of West End at around 7PM on Friday evening. He had caught a taxi to the Caledonian Club where he spent the night drinking with his friends. He left at around 11PM, but what happened between that time and the following morning remained a mystery.

As investigators were trying to establish a timeline, they examined evidence found at the crime scene. Alongside Edward’s body were his shoes. Inside one of these shoes, they found a bank card belonging to 24-year-old Tracey Wigginton. She was arrested that afternoon, and instead of deny any involvement, she readily confessed to murdering Edward along with her 25-year-old girlfriend, Lisa Ptaschinski, and two of her friends: 24-year-old Tracey Waugh and her girlfriend, 24-year-old Kim Jervis.

As Wigginton was confessing, both Waugh and Jervis went to police with details of the murder, and both placed the blame directly on Wigginton.

According to Wigginton, she was a vampire that fed on human blood. On the night of the murder, the women drank champagne in a nightclub before driving around looking for a victim for Wigginton to feed on.  After Edward left the Caledonian Club, he was spotted by the four women as he waited for a taxi. He was intoxicated, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.31. The four women pulled up alongside him. It’s disputed whether Edward was lured to the car with promise of sex, or whether he was simply offered a lift by the women.

They drove Edward to a deserted yacht club. Wigginton and Edward got out of the car and walked to the yacht club.  Moments later, Wigginton returned and said: “This guy is too strong, I’ll need help.” Both Wigginton and Ptaschinski were armed with knives, so Ptaschinski and Jervis followed Wigginton back to Edward. At this point, Edward was sitting naked on the riverbank. 

Wigginton took the knife from Ptaschinski and came up behind Edward and began to stab him as Ptaschinski and Jervis held him down....

…Wigginton attacked Edward from behind while the others restrained him. The assault was brief but overwhelming. Edward died at the scene, and the group left his body by the riverbank. His clothes were discarded, and his shoes—containing Tracey Wigginton’s bank card—were left nearby, a mistake that would quickly unravel the case.

After the killing, the four women drove away and later disposed of the weapons. By morning, Edward’s body was discovered by the rowing crew, setting off one of Brisbane’s most shocking murder investigations.

Arrests and Confessions

Wigginton was arrested later that same day. She openly admitted to the killing and claimed she believed herself to be a vampire who needed to drink blood to survive. Her statements were inconsistent and often contradictory, and police later concluded that her claims of vampirism were part of a fantasy identity rather than evidence of mental illness.

Tracey Waugh and Kim Jervis voluntarily went to police and gave statements that placed primary responsibility on Wigginton. Lisa Ptaschinski also cooperated with investigators. All four women were charged in connection with Edward Baldock’s murder.

Trial and Verdicts

In 1991, the case went to trial. The court rejected Wigginton’s claims that the killing was driven by supernatural beliefs. Instead, the prosecution argued—and the jury accepted—that Edward was deliberately targeted and murdered.

• Tracey Wigginton was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period.

• Lisa Ptaschinski, Tracey Waugh, and Kim Jervis were convicted of manslaughter, receiving significantly shorter sentences due to their lesser roles and cooperation with police.

Aftermath and Legacy

The case became infamous in Australia and internationally, often referred to in the media as the work of the “Lesbian Vampire Killers”—a label later criticized for sensationalism and for unfairly stigmatizing LGBTQ+ people.

Edward Baldock’s death remains one of Brisbane’s most disturbing crimes, not because of mystery, but because of its calculated nature and the ordinary circumstances that led to an extraordinary act of violence.