Did Australian Authorities Miss Opportunities to Prevent a Young Mother’s Murder?

“Just cool off,” a 27-year-old Australian mother of three was allegedly told by police as they turned her away four days before her estranged husband burned her alive. 

Kelly Wilkinson went to the Gold Coast police about her husband, former U.S. marine Brian Earl Johnston, at least three times. Days after her last police visit, CCTV camera footage shows her husband packing a bag with duct tape, zip ties and a sedative, among other items. He also filled a 20-liter jerry can with petrol and had a colleague drive him to her house. 

Then, neighbors heard screams followed by an explosion. They called the police, but by the time law enforcement arrived, Wilkinson was dead. Her young children were inside the house at the time. Two of them had seen the incident occur. An autopsy found Wilkinson was also stabbed eight times before the fire was set. 

Johnston pleaded guilty in March 2024 and is currently serving a life sentence. An inquest, or court hearing, is looking into police actions before Wilkinson’s murder. 

In 2011, about a year after Johnston was medically discharged from the Marines, he met an 18-year old Wilkinson online. She flew to the U.S. to meet him, and soon they were married with two children. But their relationship took a turn.

Wilkinson moved back to Australia with her children in 2017. After burning her belongings, including her wedding dress, Johnston followed her there, asking to be taken back. They reunited and had a third child, but within four years, Wilkinson wanted to separate again. She alleged to her sisters that Johnston was abusive and asked him to move out. 

When it came to light that Wilkinson had accused Johnston of sexually assaulting her, Johnston told his boss and the police that she was lying. The police subsequently called Wilkinson, who told them she was afraid of Johnston. He was trying to “control the narrative.” 

A protection order was issued so Johnston could not come within 100 meters (or approximately 328 feet) of her. 

On March 30, 2021, Wilkinson gave a police interview that led to her file being marked “high risk,” detective inspector Paul Fletcher, who heads the Gold Coast Domestic, Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Unit told the inquest. However, no one opened a referral to a specialist domestic violence liaison officer or created a safety plan with her. On April 3, police responded to a domestic violence complaint from Wilkinson but did not have access to her high-risk report and catalogued her case as "medium risk".

Wilkinson spoke with the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre (DVPC) on April 4, which asked the police to review her case. Constable Teresa Springer responded in less than a day, saying that she had identified no problems with the police response and that Wilkinson could lodge a complaint with the officer-in-charge if she was unhappy. Springer later told the court that she had not received formal training in assessing domestic violence risk and was not trying to be rude or condescending. 

Johnston was eventually arrested and charged with rape. He was told not to reach out to Wilkinson except for matters related to their children, but Wilkinson was still fearful. She told her family that if there was an emergency, she would message them, "I'm considering moving back to Ohio."

Johnston’s arrest should have prompted a hearing before a magistrate where he would have to explain why his continued detention was unjustified, the inquest heard. Instead, Johnston was granted police bail on April 12, which detective inspector Suzanne Newton, who is investigating the police’s response, called a violation of the Bail Act.

Wilkinson visited two police stations to inform officers that Johnston was violating a protection order by having a colleague text her on his behalf. One of the involved officers, Constable Diana Sovacki, noted in a police database that Wilkinson was “cop shopping to get the outcome she wants". Fletcher characterized this note as "wildly inappropriate." "It doesn't really show a thorough understanding of the risks of domestic violence," he said.

Sovacki also labelled the report a “street check,” though Wilkinson had come into the station to make the report, which Fletcher said could cause it to "get lost in the system.”

Four days before Wilkinson was killed, she and her sister drove to a police station, according to the Wilkinson family attorney, Mitch Rawlings. Katherine McGree of the DVPC said Wilkinson took evidence an officer had asked for to the station. Per the inquest, it is alleged that a front desk employee told her, “Just cool off, give Brian a break.” Wilkinson recounted the incident to her sister, Danielle Carroll, and two others, but the police have no record of this visit. 

This previously unknown interaction came to light on the last day of a three-day inquest, causing court proceedings to be adjourned so additional evidence can be investigated. 

Wilkinson is one of four who were women killed in an arson attack by a former partner in Queensland in a 14-month span. Fletcher says new procedures have been implemented since her death. All employees of the Gold Coast's domestic violence unit have to take a five-day specialist course, and court officers will be required to check police databases for more information when assessing the risk faced by a domestic violence complainant.

Police want to look at scenarios more holistically, tracking what has been happening in a relationship over time, rather than in individual incidents, Fletcher says.

Since Wilkinson’s death, Carroll has been taking care of her children, in addition to five of her own. She started the Kelly Wilkinson Foundation to provide short- and long-term financial support to children, and other secondary victims of domestic violence homicide.

After Johnston’s sentencing hearing, Carroll said in a statement, “Our family’s journey does not stop here today. It will never end, which makes me question, who really gets the life sentence?”