Cold Case Murder of 9-Year-Old Seana Tapp and Her Mother Could Be Solved by a Tennis Shoe

The young girl was found in bed, raped and strangled. Her mother endured a similar fate. Who is responsible?

Seana and her mother, Margaret Tapp, were found strangled to death in 1984. Findagrave (Edited by Author)

In the suburb of Ferntree Gully, located in the Australian state of Victoria, an unidentified assailant took the lives of a young girl and her mother in their own home. Despite the passage of time, the case continues to baffle investigators, leaving it unresolved to this very day.

Margaret Christine Tapp and her precious nine-year-old daughter, Seana Lee Tapp, lived what seemed a simple life in a quaint home at 13 Kelvin Drive. Little did they know that in one swift and vicious act, their lives would suddenly end.

Margaret Tapp, a 35-year-old nurse studying law, and her daughter, Seana (pronounced Shawn-uh) were asleep in their beds when they were attacked on the night of August 6 or the early hours of August 7, 1984.

An unknown assailant entered their home, subjecting them to a horrifying ordeal. They were beaten, strangled to death with a rope, and left dead in their beds still wearing their nightclothes. Adding to the unspeakable cruelty, young Seana had also been raped before her murder.