Murder of Carly Ryan

Carly Ryan (31 January 1992 – 20 February 2007) was a teenager living in Stirling, South Australia, with her mother, Sonya Ryan. Approximately 18 months before her death, while using MySpace and Vampirefreaks.com, she began communicating with a user calling himself "Brandon Kane," who claimed to be an 18-year-old, Texas-born musician living in Melbourne. Their online contact developed into a phone and internet relationship. Unknown to Ryan, "Kane" was a fictitious persona created by Garry Francis Newman, a 50-year-old man from Melbourne.

In January 2007, Newman travelled from Melbourne to South Australia posing as "Shane," Kane's father, delivering gifts—including lingerie and a nurse's outfit—purportedly from Kane. Sonya Ryan met Newman and permitted him to attend Carly's 15th birthday party and stay overnight. During the visit, Newman displayed increasingly erratic and possessive behavior, including inappropriate physical conduct such as lying on Ryan's bed while she slept. Sonya Ryan asked him to leave the following morning and began more closely monitoring her daughter's internet use.

On 19 February 2007, Ryan left home for what she said was a sleepover with friends. When she did not return the next day, police were notified. That same morning, her body was found floating face-down in shallow water at Horseshoe Bay in Port Elliot; attempts to revive her were unsuccessful.

An autopsy found 19 separate injuries, including six to eight blows to the head, with cause of death attributed to a combination of facial trauma, smothering, and drowning. Cannabinoids were detected in her bloodstream, and beach sand was found in her oesophagus. Security footage showed Ryan in the company of two men in and around Port Elliot on 19 February, and witnesses last saw her alive at the beach at 9:30 PM. Police traced a pale blue vehicle used by the men to the Mornington Peninsula, where a raid eleven days after the murder led to Newman's arrest and the detention of his younger son. A search of Newman's computer showed he was still actively using the "Kane" persona, and investigators found a notebook detailing roughly 200 online personas linked to other alleged grooming attempts in Australia and internationally.

Newman's trial ran from October 2009 to April 2010. He was not initially identified to media, acted erratically during proceedings, and initially denied ever meeting Ryan. On 21 January 2010, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 29-year non-parole period. Newman's adopted son, a minor at the time who witnessed the killing, was cleared of all charges, and his identity remains suppressed.

Following the trial, Sonya Ryan helped establish the Carly Ryan Foundation in 2010 to promote internet safety, later lobbying for legal reform. These efforts contributed to the federal Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017, enacted 23 June 2017, and a South Australian law passed 5 July 2018 and effective from 13 August 2018, criminalising adults lying to children about their age or identity in order to arrange a meeting.