A Victorian family seeking answers about their murdered ancestors have found help from an unlikely source — a Sydney school teacher.
Maria Langley, a young woman known for her singing voice, was murdered in 1874 near Edenhope, a Victorian town about 30 kilometres from the South Australian border. Her death sparked a cross-border manhunt for the prime suspect, her husband Robert Cook.
Maria and her toddler Louisa's remains were found 10 years later concealed under a large, fallen tree on a sheep station at Maryvale.
But it took another three decades before they were buried in an unmarked grave at Edenhope cemetery.
"Maria seemed like a strong woman who wanted to experience life for herself and, had she lived would've probably asserted herself and been an amazing mother," school teacher Nick Manganas said.
Mr Manganas, who teaches history and has no connection to the Langley family or Edenhope, stumbled upon the case when looking through old newspapers while researching the bubonic plague for his class.
"My eyes wandered down the page and came across a little article about the discovery of bones in Edenhope," he said.
"[The police] actually kept [Maria and Louisa's] remains in a box in the back paddocks of the Edenhope police station, and it just gripped me that justice hadn't been served for this poor lady."
Captivated by the mystery, Mr Manganas did most of his research remotely during the COVID pandemic and began flying to Melbourne a year ago to trawl through Victorian archives including newspaper articles, inquest reports, ledgers and police communications.
"I've marked exams and assignments and you'd think it was written in hieroglyphics — and I say that with love — so I'm very good at reading handwriting that's rushed."
After two years of research, he met some of Maria Langley's descendants, including Kevin Ryan and Lynette van Vondel-Langley, to share what he uncovered about the case and its cast of characters.
A Valentine's Day card
A significant finding was a rotten box containing a Valentine's Day card from 1872 that police found about 2.5km from the remains.
It was addressed to Maria who was in the early stages of pregnancy, and Mr Manganas suspects it was sent by Joseph Sugars, a Mount Gambier baker she worked for.
He said Sugars was active in the South Australian Volunteer Military Force and also a talented musician who played the cornet.
Research has revealed he played so well that the packed crowd celebrating an anniversary of the Mount Gambier Lodge requested an encore of his rendition of Bonnie Hills of Scotland.
Mr Manganas said from newspaper archives Sugars appeared to be a big personality — a star athlete but also a hard drinker and fighter.
The Langley family previously thought that Sugars abused Maria which led to her running away but Mr Manganas believed the nature of their relationship was less clear.
He said Maria's father told police Maria was "keeping company" with Sugars which back then meant they were a couple that would likely become engaged.
Mr Manganas suspected that music was likely an activity Maria and Sugars shared.
But when Maria fell pregnant to him with Louisa, he left town and abandoned her.
"She had the misfortune of becoming pregnant prior to wedlock, which would've been socially devastating for a young lady at the time," Mr Manganas said.
With Sugars unwilling to marry Maria, her father, Charles Langley Sr, took her home.
Ms van Vondel-Langley, Maria's great-niece, said it would have been a tough time.
"Certainly Charles never turned his daughter away, so I see him as more a caring person, especially under the circumstances," she said.
Was jealousy a motive?
About two years later Maria married Robert Cook, an itinerant who moved frequently to work odd jobs as a labourer.
Mr Manganas said Cook was described as a short man who had a limp, was "thick set, with a dark complexion and hair" and had a violent temper.
At their wedding Cook did not want Maria to sing but she did anyway.
"It seems like [Cook] did not like Maria displaying activities that were related to Joseph," Mr Manganas said.
"He stormed out and apparently he went out, got drunk and slept with his dog in the paddock that night and made a couple of sinister remarks to the family the next day."
Mr Manganas said that at an 1884 inquest into her death, Maria's brother told the coroner that Cook said something to the effect of, "You might be sorry some day".
Descendant Kevin Ryan wondered if jealousy was a motive for Cook murdering Maria and Louisa just days later.
"Did he discover the [Valentine's] card on the way to the Maryvale Station … made her throw it out … and that evening they had an argument and the murders happened there and then?" he said.
Within weeks of the inquest finding Maria and Louisa had been murdered, police charged Cook and issued a warrant for his arrest.
Mr Manganas said the police looked for Cook for years in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales but he was never found.
Although the Langley family believed that a body found at Silverton dam belonged to Cook, Mr Manganas said a lengthy investigation police recorded it was "pretty clear" the body wasn't Cook.
Then in 1902, a police officer stationed at Edenhope asked if the remains could be removed from the stables but the chief commissioner denied the request because Cook was "still at large".
Police continued to search for him until 1918.
There were also doubts over the Cook family's credibility, as his brothers gave police conflicting information about his age.
According to police reports Mr Manganas has found, Jung Jung townsfolk who knew the Cook family did suspect they harboured him in the immediate years after the murders.
A year before Maria and Louisa's remains were found, Cook's brother John was fined for not having the lights on at the front of his hotel.
A cold case
Ms van Vondel-Langley and Mr Ryan said the details Mr Manganas shared were consistent with the family's historical account and even filled in some gaps.
"There was a lot of information about [Cook's] arrival in Australia and the sightings of him after the murders," Mr Ryan said.
Ms van Vondel-Langley said she was glad to learn that the police kept Charles Sr and the family involved during the investigation, which was a doubt she previously had.
"It helped answer some of our questions from when we read the initial story … because it truly is a jigsaw puzzle," she said.
The case also resonated with Mr Manganas, himself a father.
"I have a lot of sympathy for Charles or anyone who opens his front door to find a constable there who wants him to go and identify the remains of someone who might be his loved one," he said.
"Just the thought of it tightens my chest.
"This is the story of a very young lady who experienced abuse and domestic violence.
"These things don't just pass away with time."
Mr Manganas plans to visit the South Australian archives to learn more about the case.
