Mackay, Brisbane, Australia—October 2025— More than ten years after the brutal murder of 23-year-old Shandee Renée Blackburn in 2013, her case is still making big changes to Queensland’s forensic system, legal precedent, and public attention. As DNA reforms move forward quickly, the effects go far beyond one city. They affect victims of crime, the integrity of labs, and the justice system’s accountability.
A Case That Won’t Go Away
Shandee Blackburn was walking home near Harrup Park Country Club in Mackay on February 9, 2013, when she was brutally attacked just 100 metres from her front door. Shandee was stabbed 23 times in the head, neck, and chest, and she had defensive wounds on her arms. Despite the efforts of paramedics, she died from her injuries. After months of investigation, police arrested her on-again/off-again ex, John Peros, in 2014. But in 2017, a jury found him not guilty in the Queensland Supreme Court because there wasn’t enough direct forensic evidence.
In 2020, though, a coronial inquest led by Coroner David O’Connell found that Peros had used a knife in her death. This was not a criminal conviction, but a formal finding. That inquest brought back attention to the evidence and the process.
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The DNA “Train Wreck” Shows Forensic Failures
The coroner’s findings brought attention to the Queensland Health Forensic & Scientific Services (QHFSS) lab and the problems that followed.
In 2021, forensic biologist Dr. Kirsty Wright said that the lab had put away thousands of DNA samples because they said they didn’t have enough DNA, even though that wasn’t true. Retests found usable DNA in 30% of these unprocessed cases and 66% of sexual assault samples.
The government started two investigations. In March 2024, the Queensland Parliament passed new forensic laws that set up an independent legal framework for Forensic Science Queensland (FSQ). The changes include making sure that politics doesn’t affect the lab, hiring an independent director, and putting together an 11-member advisory council made up of people from the science, legal, victim, and public sectors.
The crisis is not over yet, though. Dr. Wright’s 2025 report said the lab was in a “critical failure” state because it took an average of 420 days to get DNA results for major crimes, while it took five to ten days in other places. There were still more than 13,000 samples that hadn’t been tested, including 650 rape kits, some of which involved kids or people with disabilities.
Mick Fuller, a former police commissioner in New South Wales, was recently chosen to head an expert team that will make changes to FSQ. He said that more than 170 rape kits that have been sitting around for a while will be sent to another country in the next few weeks. This is part of a AUD $50 million programme that will take several years to finish.
Power and Defamation Battles in Podcasts
Hedley Thomas’s investigative podcast Shandee’s Story gave the investigation into forensic failures a human face and a national audience. The series looked at mistakes made during the investigation, revealed a DNA scandal, and got strong testimony from Shandee’s sister, Shannah Blackburn. The podcast won a Walkley Award and made people want judicial review and reform even more.
John Peros sued Thomas, The Australian, and Shannah in 2024 for defamation, saying that Episode 13 made it seem like he was guilty and hurt his reputation. He tried to prove that he had been “seriously harmed” by Queensland’s Defamation Act. But a preliminary hearing found that the coroner’s findings and earlier media coverage had already hurt Peros’s reputation a lot. The Supreme Court threw out his case on April 10, 2025.
Peros has since asked the Queensland Court of Appeal to hear the defamation case again. His lawyers say that the podcast hurt his reputation even more than people already thought it did.
Legal and Systemic Effects
- The defamation ruling has set a standard: plaintiffs must now show new, different harm beyond what they have already suffered, especially in high-profile cases.
- New laws in Queensland let people who were found not guilty go through a new trial if new forensic evidence comes to light. If DNA retesting finds strong new evidence, this change could, in theory, make it possible to reopen the Blackburn case.
- The Australian
- The 2025 Review of Operational Matters at FSQ says that it could take at least six years to clear the historical backlog, which starts with about 41,000 major crime cases, even if no new cases are added.
- Vicki Blackburn, Shandee’s mother, is pushing for more changes. She has publicly called for limiting or getting rid of character references in murder trials, which she sees as a way to close a gap in how killers are portrayed in court.
What’s Next
The current state of the Shandee Blackburn case is both hopeful and full of problems:
- If DNA retesting finds new evidence, it could start prosecutions again.
- The appeal in Peros’s defamation case could show how much the media can look into crimes that haven’t been solved yet.
- If the changes at FSQ are carried out properly, they should help restore faith in forensic science in Queensland, which is something that has been needed for a long time.
- But victims, families, and advocacy groups warn that delays, institutional inertia, or political resistance could slow progress and make trauma last longer.
No one has been found guilty of a crime in connection with Shandee’s death. But 12 years later, her case is still making things better: in forensics, in public debate, and in how we deal with justice that hasn’t been served.
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