More than ten years after Shandee Blackburn was murdered in Mackay, fresh DNA testing that could clarify the case remains stalled – leaving her former boyfriend John Peros, who was acquitted of the killing, still under public scrutiny.
According to The Australian, Peros was found not guilty in 2017, but a later coroner concluded he had “savagely killed Shandee” without sufficient evidence to recharge him.
Investigations were reopened after major flaws were uncovered in Queensland’s forensic testing, with two public inquiries exposing serious failures in DNA extraction methods used between 2007 and 2016.
Shandee’s mother, Vicki Blackburn, said scientists are still determining how to extract any remaining DNA from limited samples – a process that has never been attempted before. Meanwhile, experts have warned that the forensic lab’s plans to retest samples without new research could risk destroying evidence.
With a backlog of more than 13,000 cases awaiting review, the delay means both justice and certainty remain out of reach.
“I don’t want to be the person that rushes that through, and other people don’t have the opportunity to get their samples retested properly,” Ms Blackburn said.
