How a diary solved the disappearance and murder of Richard Dyson
Christopher Wright and Karl Schwalbe have been convicted for the 2019 murder of Richard Dyson, a case solved after a diary entry led police to evidence on a farm. Wright received a 35-year sentence, while Schwalbe was sentenced for perverting the course of justice.
Why it matters
The resolution of this cold case provides closure for the victim's family and highlights the role of investigative persistence in criminal justice.
Image caption, Richard Dyson (left) vanished without a trace in 2019 and Christopher Wright (right) was found guilty of his murder in July this year
When Det Con Tom Ryan came across a diary entry about an old cattle trailer in July 2025, he knew he had finally solved the murder of a man who had disappeared six years earlier.
Richard Dyson vanished without trace in November 2019. He was last seen alive on 17 November that year and was reported missing eight days later when he failed to meet his daughter, Bethany.
"He was by all accounts a very good father, and he was regularly in contact with his daughter Bethany who was, I believe, 19 at the time of his disappearance. It was totally out of character," Ryan recalled.
"It was clear that he had disappeared off the face of the Earth."
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