The Russell Street Bombing by Vikki Petraitis

evidence they had gathered. Wayne
Ashley says that detectives are good at reading people and forensic examiners
are good at reading evidence. It is the two sides of this investigative coin
that get the results in the end.
    As Forensics staff processed the evidence from the Reed search, they began to
see connections between Reed and the bombing. The khaki canvas bag containing
the detonators confiscated from Reed's lounge room had identical buckles to that
found at the bomb scene which meant that a similar bag could have been used in
the bomb car. Wires on the detonators found at Reed's house had been cut with
the same instrument that had been used to cut the bomb detonators. If the
cutting instrument could be found with one of the suspects, that would further
link them to the crime. Both the gelignite and detonators were the same as those
found unexploded at the bomb site. Plastic bread crates identified as being
stolen from a Braeside milkbar were found at Reed's house. These were identical
to the ones that the bomb had been packed in. The silver Commodore accessories
found in the spare room were identified by the owner as coming from the stolen
Brock Commodore.
    Bob Barnes made another break-through. One night as he lay in bed, he had a
Eureka moment when he realised that the strip of metal connecting the clock to
the block of wood making up the circuit, was in fact the handle from a metal
rubbish bin. The following day, he told the Taskforce detectives to be on the
look-out for a metal rubbish bin that was missing a lid or a handle.

14 May
    In light of Karl Zelinka's denials about knowing Reed and the
Minogues, detectives from the Taskforce decided to go back to his house for
another look on 14 May. The Minogue brothers had still not been located, and
none of the other key players were talking.
    Firstly, Zelinka's metal rubbish bin was found to have no lid. Secondly, one
of the handles on the bin itself, looked like someone had made an attempt to cut
it off. Could someone have tried to cut this handle off, and then settled for
the handle on the missing lid? Zelinka was vague about the whereabouts of his
bin lid.
    And then came the discovery that many of the Taskforce investigators still
consider their finest investigative moment. In the course of each of the raids,
all fences had been checked to see if they were missing the block of wood that
the bomb clock had been mounted on. There were no obvious anomalies in Zelinka's
fence, but on this second examination, bomb expert Bob Barnes had an idea. He
climbed up on the fence and jumped over into the next door neighbour's yard.
Detective Bernie Rankin remembers hearing Barnes chuckling. Behind a large
camellia tree was a sawn-off fence post on the neighbour's side of the fence.
Holding the bomb block of wood in his hands, Barnes placed it on top of the
fence post. Even to the untrained eye, there was no doubt they were a perfect
match - faults that ran through the bomb block continued through the fence post.
    And from that moment on, detectives from the Taskforce regarded the house in
Haros Avenue as being the bomb headquarters. All evidence pointed to the bomb
being assembled at Karl Zelinka's house, which put the heat on the hapless young
man. Up until the match with the fence post, Zelinka had been unwilling to
cooperate with police. Now, with evidence to connect his house with the bombing,
he quickly changed his mind.
    Bernie Rankin took Karl Zelinka back to the office for a serious chat. He
laid out all the information that detectives had so far - how he'd lied about
knowing the Minogues and Peter Reed, his missing rubbish bin lid, and the bomb
block of wood matching his fence post.
    'Imagine you were in our shoes,' said Rankin, 'How do you think it
looks?'
    Zelinka knew the game was up. He asked for police protection for his
girlfriend Karen, and his family and agreed to tell police everything he knew.
Interviews took place over the next couple of days.
    According to