Megan Kalajzich was shot twice through the head as she slept beside her husband, Andrew in Fairlight

Fairlight, New South Wales

Fairlight is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Fairlight is located 13 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Manly Council and is part of the Northern Beaches region....

, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia, at about 1am on 27 January 1986. Her husband Andrew Kalajzich is currently serving a 28 year jail sentence for conspiracy to murder. He maintains his innocence.

Timeline

11-12 January 1986

Megan Kalajzich is assaulted in her carport. Four more attempts on her life are made in the following 2 weeks.

27 January 1986

Megan Kalajzich is murdered at her Fairlight home.

1 February 1986

Megan Kalajzich's funeral.

14 February 1986

Andrew Kalajzich, Bill Vandenberg, Warren Elkins and Kerry Orrock are arrested. Kalajzich is charged with the murder of Megan Kalajzich and conspiracy to murder. Vandenberg is charged with the murder of, conspiracy to murder and feloniously assaulting Megan Kalajzich on 11 January 1986 with intent to murder. Mr Elkins and Mr Orrock are charged with conspiracy to murder Megan Kalajzich.

7 July 1986

Committal hearings begin for the four accused murderers including Andrew Kalajzich.

Inquiry

At first police believed Megan had been the victim of a bungled robbery, but this was soon discounted, as there were no signs of forced entry to the house. An exhaustive investigation fails to come up with any leads until an informant told police he had been offered a contract to kill Megan but had turned it down.

Bill Vandenberg confessed to being the "Triggerman" and subsequently committed suicide in prison. In his confession, Vandenberg claimed he fired two bullets into Megan's head and then two bullets into Andrew's pillow a few centimetres from his head. He claimed he deliberately missed, so that it would look as if Andrew had also been a target.

Media

Lindsay Simpson

Lindsay Simpson

Lindsay Jane Simpson is an Australian journalist, a university teacher and a writer of crime fiction. Born in Scotland, Simpson arrived in Australia in 1976.Simpson worked as an investigative journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald for twelve years...

 wrote 'My Husband My Killer: the murder of Megan Kalajzich', co-authored with Sandra Harvey, about the case. It was made into a telemovie starring Colin Friels in 2001.

The Megan Kalajzich murder was the focus of the Crime Investigation Australia season 1 episode "Contract to Kill".