The Lin Family Murder
The sole survivor of the family, Brenda Lin, was taken under the wings of the suspected killer that wiped her family.
“Help! I think someone murdered my brother’s family.”
In the background of the 000 call, Kathy begged in Cantonese for her husband to stay, but he insisted he needed to get her parents over. She pleaded that she was more afraid than him, but in the end, he left her alone in the house where they discovered 5 bodies of her family.
The Lins
Min Lin and Yun “Lily” Lin migrated from China to Australia, where they met and fell in love. It was a classic story of immigrants working tirelessly in hopes of providing a better future for their children.
They grew their newsagency business in North Epping into a big success, with an estimated revenue of $1 million per year. The Lins were well-loved by the community.
The Lins were a tight-knit family. Lily’s sister, Irene, also lived in the same house and helped out with her nephews and niece. The eldest sibling was 15-year-old Brenda, followed by 12-year-old Henry and 9-year-old Terry.
Min Lin’s sister, Kathy, and her husband, Robert Xie, lived within walking distance of Min Lin’s house. They first arrived in Melbourne, Australia, back in 2002. Robert was an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist back in China but decided on a whole new career in Australia. But, his attempt at his restaurant business in Melbourne failed. 3 years later, they moved to Sydney to be closer to their family, Min Lin, and Lily. Kathy worked part-time in Min Lin’s newsagency business.
The Day of the Mass Murder
It was a Saturday morning on July 18, 2009. On one of the busiest days, Min Lin’s newsagency, was closed without any notice. That was rather unusual as the newsagency had been operating daily. His customers were close to him, finding him as a “daily fixture” in their daily routine. English was not Min Lin’s first language, but he was friendly with his customers. Worried, one of the customers called up Min Lin’s sister, Kathy, to inquire.
She, too, found it odd for her 45-year-old brother to miss work. Was one of her nephews or niece sick? When she and her husband arrived at Min Lin’s home and realized that the front door was left unlocked, they knew something was wrong. In the master room, they found a body lying in bed. The body was bludgeoned badly, with blood splatter over the ceiling, wall, floor, and furniture. Even though the bloodied face was disfigured, Kathy knew instinctively it was her sister-in-law, Lily.
In a mixture of panic, fear, and grief, she dialed 000, Australia’s emergency service. She struggled to relay the situation over, a situation she clearly was still digesting. She pleaded with Robert to stay with her in the house, but he insisted on driving Min Lin’s parents over.
The first immediate suspect was Min Lin. He was the only one missing, and the theory was he had beaten his family to death and fled. It was Kathy who pointed out the possibility that Min Lin was under a doona. He was. He was beaten so badly that he was unrecognizable.
The only surviving member was Brenda Lin, who was away for a school activity. She found out through her friends on Facebook. She was flooded with messages from her friends, asking whether she was okay. In the beginning, she thought it was just a sick, cruel joke that her friends were playing on her. Only when she was put on the next airplane home and saw her aunty Kathy in tears, reality sunk in.
The Investigation
This was not a case of robbery gone wrong as there weren’t any signs of missing items. The violence inflicted on the victims was extensive to the point, the police initially believed the victims were shot at close range. The autopsy determined that the victims were beaten far more than necessary to end a life.
The media brought out the possibility of a murder-suicide, but it was quickly ruled out when the autopsy determined none of the wounds were self-inflicted.
Based on the bloody shoeprints, the investigators theorized that there was only one murderer. The murderer first suffocated and beat Min Lin and Lily with a “hammer-like” weapon with a string attached. They had the worst injuries inflicted out of everyone else. Based on the blood splatter, it was believed that one of the boys was awake and tried to fight off the murderer.
The investigators estimated the time of the murder was between 2 AM and 5:30 AM, where the electricity to the house was cut off. The murderer had knowledge of the house layout and the location of the circuit box.
The murderer had access to the house as there were no signs of a forced entry. He or she also knew the family well, or at least, Brenda’s schedule as it was only her doorknob left untouched, without any blood smears. It was as if the murderer already knew that Brenda would not be home that night.
A month after the murder, the police came out with another possible theory on the Lin family murder. It could be possible that Min Lin was targeted as he witnessed a robbery of an armed car opposite of his newsagency just two months before the murder. But, this theory was later ruled out.
Based on the evidence gathered and the knowledge the murderer had on the family, the authorities suspected it was an inside job. They turned their suspicions to Robert Xie.
Robert and Kathy took Brenda in. They tried their best to fill in Brenda’s parent’s shoes. They took her to school and made her lunches. Brenda said that Robert and Kathy were the next best thing to her irreplaceable parents.
But, there could be a more sinister motive behind this. Since Brenda was the sole survivor, she was passed down everything, including her family’s estate and fortune. But, she was just 15 years old. A power of attorney was given to her legal guardian, Robert Xie. With that, Robert evicted Brenda’s grandparents, who lived in a house originally purchased by Min Lin. Min Lin’s newsagency was also taken over by the couple. The authorities allowed Brenda to stay with her family’s murder suspect after assessing that Brenda was not in harm’s way.
On May 7, 2010, Robert was recorded on a secret surveillance camera placed in his residence, cutting and flushing down a shoebox. Kathy was next to him, watching. The action of cutting a shoebox piece by piece and flushing it down was odd. But, the determining evidence was that the shoebox matched the shoe prints left in Lin’s home. Those were not common shoes. The shoe prints matched one of the discontinued models, Asics Gel Elevation II, that Robert was photographed using. Robert’s shoe size, 9.5, matched the estimated shoe size of the murderer, 8.5 to 10.5.
Investigators began their search with Robert’s garage that he said he was cleaning on the morning of the murder even though Robert was known to sleep in. Beneath a chest drawer, investigators found a stain labeled as ‘stain 91’. It had a complex DNA mixture of 4 out of 5 victim’s DNA. The possibility of Terry’s DNA found matching to another person was one in 50 quadrillion chances. Stain 91 also matched another stain on the victim’s mattress.
Brenda believed that her uncle Robert was wrongly accused. Brenda’s principal was supportive of Brenda after her loss. At a luncheon she shared with Brenda and Robert, she was alarmed over Robert’s behavior over Brenda. He was physically too close and seemed like he was asserting his opinion onto Brenda.
2 years after the mass murder, investigators finally arrested Robert Xie. The court denied the multiple bail applications filed by Robert.
The investigators were able to get an inmate to snitch on Robert. The inmate, known as ‘witness A’ said Robert admitted to purchasing a hammer from a two-dollar store with no surveillance camera. He was able to easily subdue his victims by using martial arts, where then, he allegedly demonstrated the pressure points on the neck. He sedated Kathy so that he could sneak out of the house. It should be made clear that witness A did get a substantial reduction in jail time for this.
Justice
The next year, 2012, Robert committed to trial the mass murder of the Lin family. Kathy stood firmly next to her husband, believing that he was innocent.
In the first trial in 2013, Robert pleaded not guilty. In court, Brenda revealed she suffered sexual assault from her uncle before the murder and only worsened after the murder. She kept that information to herself as she believed in his uncle’s innocence. The trial was declared a mistrial.
3 months later, the second trial began. The prosecutor drew up Robert’s motive, including the sexual interest in his niece, the success of Min Lin in comparison to him, and Kathy’s parents’ favoritism for Min Lin over him. Due to the judge falling ill, the trial was postponed to February 2015, with a new judge taking over.
After 9 months, the new panel of the jury was not able to come to a verdict. By then, Robert had spent 5 years alone in jail. He was released on bail with strict restrictions and set to a retrial in 2016.
After almost 8 years, in February 2017, Robert Xie was found guilty on five counts of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Until the end, Robert pleaded innocent.
Aftermath
In the interview with 7News, Brenda recalled her last memory of her father. It was the day Min Lin drove Brenda to the airport at 4 AM for her trip. As they stood there at the airport, her classmates were crying and hugging their parents. Brenda said her goodbyes and left without the dramatic farewells. After all, it was only a week.
Brenda said,
“To this day, my biggest regret was not hugging (my father) and telling him I loved him, to say thank you for being an amazingly loving and caring parent.”
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