The former schoolgirl lover of alleged wife-killer Chris Dawson has come out of hiding three days after his arrest.
On Saturday, Joanne Curtis stepped out of her flat in Sydney's north, where she has been holed up since Thursday, to go shopping at a nearby Woolworths.
Ms Curtis, now 54, was just 16 when she began an affair with Dawson, her 32-year-old PE teacher, and 17 when Dawson's wife Lyn disappeared on January 9, 1982.
Scroll down for video
Joanne Curtis stepped out of her flat in Sydney's north, where she has been holed up since Thursday, to go shopping at a nearby Woolworths on Saturday
Joanne Curtis, pictured with with Chris Dawson's children Shanelle and Sherryn, was just 16 when she began an affair with Dawson, her 32-year-old PE teacher, and 17 when Dawson's wife Lyn disappeared on January 9, 1982
Ms Curtis emerged from seclusion days after Dawson, 70, was charged with murdering his wife Lyn Dawson. She disappeared on January 9, 1982
The schoolgirl moved into the family home and two years later the pair married and later had their daughter Kristen, now aged in her 30s, before they split in 1990.
Two coroners in years past heard Dawson, 70, wanted his wife out of the way so he could carry on his affair with Ms Curtis.
Ms Curtis will be a star witness at Dawson's murder trial after she gave police crucial new information that, along with other new accounts, allowed him to finally be charged.
On Saturday, she set out alone on foot with two purple and pink shopping bags and a coffee cup, stopping to admire a white flower along the route.
She then filled her bags with groceries and paid for them at the self-service checkout before talking on her mobile phone outside and walking home.
On Saturday, she set out alone on foot with two purple and pink shopping bags and a coffee cup, stopping to admire a white flower along the route
It is believed that Ms Curtis will be a star witness at Dawson's murder trial after she gave police crucial new information allowing him to be charged
At the supermarket she filled her bags with groceries and paid for them at the self-service checkout
Fresh statements from at least two witnesses led to Dawson's arrest on Wednesday, almost 37 years after Lyn vanished.
The new evidence helped police 'tie pieces of the puzzle together', NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said.
A former babysitter for the Dawsons, Bev McNally, is another new witness who has given statements to police, along with a third woman who recently met with detectives for the first time.
RELATED ARTICLES
Share this article
ShareThey are understood to have corroborated Ms Curtis' new evidence enough to convince prosecutors to charge Dawson with murder.
Police now believe she was buried in bushland in Sydney's north, despite a recent excavation of her former Bayview home as detectives searched for evidence.
Allegations that Dawson was violent towards Lyn emerged when he appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The court heard there had been evidence of domestic violence.
Ms Curtis stopped to talk on her mobile phone outside the supermarket after shopping
She then carried the two bags of groceries home to the flat she's been holed up in since Dawson's arrest
The schoolgirl moved into the family home and two years later the pair married and later had their daughter Kristen (pictured as a baby), before they split in 1990
Dawson's lawyer Greg Walsh said outside court the defence would argue Ms Dawson simply left her husband and was subsequently seen alive several times
Dawson was then extradited to Sydney where he faced court again and was remanded in custody until a bail hearing on December 14.
His lawyer Greg Walsh said outside court the defence would argue Ms Dawson simply left her husband and was subsequently seen alive several times.
Mr Walsh also said they would rely on 'two very important Bankcard transactions on Lyn's bank account in the weeks after her disappearance'.
Ms Curtis was on holiday with family and friends at South West Rocks on the NSW mid north coast when she says Dawson called her on January 9 or 10.
She told police Dawson said: 'Lyn's gone. She's not coming back. I need you now. Come and live with me and the girls at Bayview.'
Chris Dawson is pictured arriving in Sydney after he was extradited from Queensland following his arrest on Wednesday morning
Former babysitter Bev McNally (pictured) will also be a new witness in the case
On January 9, 1982 Lyn Dawson (pictured) made plans to meet her mother at Northbridge Baths, where her husband worked as a lifeguard. She did not arrive and is presumed to be dead
She moved back into the Dawson family home as his lover and effectively became mother to his children, four-year-old Shanelle and two-year-old Sherryn.
Ms Curtis, who wore Mrs Dawson's clothes as well as taking her place in the marital bed, told police in 1998 the situation was 'very strange for everyone.'
She married Dawson at their home in Gilwinga Drive on January 15, 1984 with Paul and Marilyn as witnesses.
Dawson gave Ms Curtis one of his missing wife's rings to wear for the ceremony. He was 35 and she was 19.
Chris Dawson's daughter Kristen, pictured with her mother Joanne Curtis, still lives on Sydney's northern beaches not far from where Dawson's wife Lyn disappeared in 1982
Joanne Curtis remains close to her daughter Kristen (pictured) who was born after Ms Curtis married her former school teacher Chris Dawson
The couple later sold the Bayview property and moved to Queensland where they had Kristen in 1985.
During the pair's short marriage Dawson allegedly treated Shanelle and Sherryn as princesses and largely rejected Kristen.
'He was even more possessive of me and regretted Kristen,' Ms Curtis told a coroner in 2003. 'He wanted me to himself. He just wanted her out of the way.
'I did as I was told. He chose what I wore. If I was going somewhere, he would have to approve it.
WHAT HAPPENED TO MISSING MOTHER-OF-TWO LYN DAWSON?
1970: Lynette Joy Simms marries footballer Christopher Michael Dawson. They are both 21 and later have two daughters, first Shanelle and then Sherryn
1980: Mr Dawson, who retired from playing rugby league to become a PE teacher, starts affair with 16-year-old pupil Joanne Curtis at Cromer High School on Sydney's northern beaches
1981: Mr Dawson persuades Mrs Dawson to let Joanne move in to their home to get away from her violent stepfather and finish her Higher School Certificate
December 1981: Mr Dawson and his young lover run away together to Queensland but Ms Curtis changes her mind and they return to Sydney
January 8, 1982: Mrs and Mrs Dawson go to marriage counselling. Mrs Dawson's mother speaks to her daughter, who is not a big drinker, on the telephone and thinks she sounds 'sozzled'.
January 9, 1982: Mr Dawson says he dropped his wife at a Mona Vale bus stop so she could go shopping at Chatswood. Mrs Dawson fails to turn up to meet her mother, husband and children at Northbridge Baths. Mr Dawson says his wife rang him and said she needed some time to herself
January 10 or 11, 1982: Mr Dawson picks up Joanne from South West Rocks on the mid north coast of NSW and she moves into his home. He reports his wife missing six weeks later.
1983-85: Mr Dawson divorces his missing wife and marries Joanne. The newlyweds move to Queensland where Joanne has the couple's daughter Kristen
1990: Mr Dawson and Joanne split up. She moves back to Sydney and urges police to search his old garden for a body
2000: Mrs Dawson's pink cardigan is found during a police dig on the family's former property at Bayview
2001 and 2003: Two coroners find that Mrs Dawson was murdered by a 'known person' - Chris Dawson - but he is not charged with any offence
2006: An episode of the British TV series Antiques Roadshow is filmed in Padstow, Cornwall. Mr Dawson later claims a woman seen in the background of the episode could be his missing wife
2018: Police prepare another brief for the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions. The Australian launches its podcast, The Teacher's Pet, about the case
December 5, 2018: Queensland Police arrest Chris Dawson at the home of his twin brother. He is expected to be extradited to NSW and charged with Lyn's murder.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWKDdYOSb2tsZ3Odv6q%2FjH2YsKufo8Buv8Khpqikl56%2FrXnLqK2eql1%2FvKK6zZ5kfK2iqba0ecSmnKuflah6pa3YrGScoJGntKawjKasq5yVp7avs4yFsKdmmKm6rQ%3D%3D