What do you think of when you hear “mashed potatoes”? Is it that warm, buttery, delicious potato that goes great with gravy and chicken, or even steak? Do you think of home-cooked family dinners? I’m sure one thing you don’t think of is the Mashed Potato Murder. So when 33-year-old Alois Rez was given mashed potatoes to eat, he didn’t think twice.
When 15-year-old Sarah Tarrant met 24-year-old Alois Rez, in Newcastle, Australia, she knew he was the man she wanted to be with. Her mother, a single parent, objected to the relationship for several reasons. First, and most obvious, she was concerned with the 9-year age gap. Second, Alois was associated with the motorcycle gang, The Rebels.
Her mother was so overprotective of her, that the two were fighting almost constantly. Eventually, Sarah had had enough, and when she was in year 10 (US High School equivalent of a Freshman), she ran away to live with Alois and his mother Zonia.
Though this case may sound similar to that of Kelly-Anne Bates, Sarah’s story takes a different turn.
Sarah and Alois stuck together, and when she was 16, Sarah gave birth to their first child. Over the following few years, they had an additional three children. On the outside, they looked like a happy family, but Alois’ association with The Rebels made their situation a dangerous one.
The Rebels motorcycle gang, or club, is the largest motorcycle club in Australia. The Rebels are considered by the Australian government and law enforcement, to be a criminal organization, though the club maintains they’re just motorcycle enthusiasts, nothing more. And they didn’t take too kindly to members wanting to leave. People didn’t just leave The Rebels and live to tell the tale. Yet that is what Alois wanted to do.
Fear for his and his family’s safety, they moved around frequently until June 2012, when they settled down in Dubbo. Dubbo happened to be Zonia’s home town, and the place where Alois was born. It also helped that it was 400 miles away from Newcastle.
When they reached Dubbo, they had no place to live. Fortunately, Zonia had an old family friend, Raymond Roff, that she had gone to school with, and who still happened to live there. Raymond was 51, and was thrilled to see Zonia and her son, Alois, who had grown up playing sports with his son.
Raymond offered to let them stay with him while they looked at houses and re-familiarized themselves with the area.Raymond’s wife had passed away that May from cancer, and he was happy for the company.
It didn’t take long for the family to find and purchase a home and, with Raymond’s help, they began to renovate.
At about this time, Alois ran into an old friend, Hamish Lowe. Hamish was struggling financially, so Alois did what any good friend would do – he invited him, and his son, to move in with his family. The home that was already crowded became even more so.
Alois and Hamish, being old friends, picked up like no time had passed. Meanwhile, Sarah grew close to Raymond, and found herself confiding in him. She told him she was unhappy with Alois. She felt he was controlling, and lazy. In time, their relationship blossomed from platonic feelings into those of a sexual nature.
Sarah would make sexual remarks to Raymond, and even began sharing explicit photos with him. It got to a point where Sarah began exposing herself to Raymond, even while the children were in the house.
By March 2013, the two were sleeping together, meeting up daily, sometimes twice a day, outside the house or under the bridge by a nearby riverbank. Sarah began writing Raymond long love letters in which she would declare her love, saying that their relationship had given her “a new meaning to life and something to live for.” She wrote that she promised to be his bride.
Raymond wrote to Sarah that he would be a great husband and father to her children.
In June, Sarah discovered that she was pregnant, and knew in her heart that the baby was Raymond’s. When she told him the news, he was elated, there was just one problem – Alois. He would not stand by while she remained in a relationship with Alois, and allow him to be the “father” to his child.
Raymond told her that she had 3 weeks to leave Alois.
Sarah knew what she had to do, what she wanted to do, but it wasn’t that easy. She delayed, and time wore on until Alois had had enough. Raymond had been spending more and more time at the house, and one day in July after he left, Alois accused Sarah of having an affair with him.
The confrontation escalated quickly, and Alois became physical. He pushed and dragged her by her hair through the hallway. During the attack, Sarah managed to text Raymond, asking him to call the police. When police arrived however, Sarah lied, telling them nothing was wrong.
Frustrated with Sarah and her inability to free herself of Alois – especially with the prime opportunity she just had, he gave her a new idea of how to be rid of him.
Raymond gave Sarah a bag of crushed up sleeping pills, pills that had once belonged to his wife. He instructed her to put the pills into his food or drink that night, then once he was knocked out Raymond would come over and “take care of it.”
Sarah thought hard about what she could make that would be easy for her to hide the pills in. Then the idea hit her. Mashed potatoes.
She made Alois the mashed potatoes, complete with the crushed up pills and watched as he ate the whole thing.
It didn’t take long for Alois to start showing signs of being drugged. He was so suddenly drowsy that Hamish became instantly concerned. Alois told him he was fine, it was probably just a result of the painkillers he had taken for his back.
Sarah however, was busy texting Raymond, I’m hoping he drops off I’m sick of waiting now I’ve had enough.”
Alois became so drowsy, he told Hamish he was going to go to bed to sleep it off.
Sarah and Raymond continued texting back and forth, with Raymond asking her if she was prepared and told her to switch off the sensor lights, security cameras outside the house, leave the front door open, and put towels where Alois was sleeping.
Around 2am, once he was in a deep sleep, Sarah again texted Raymond.
Raymond killed Alois and dragged his body outside and into his car while Sarah kept watch. At one point Hamish woke up, and saw her staring at him in the doorway. He ignored her and went back to sleep.
Raymond took Alois’ phone and tobacco, and with Sarah’s help, loaded him into his car. Sarah watched as Raymond drove away.
Sarah and Raymond went on with life as normal, she even went out and purchased new bedding. The couple made an agreement to wait to file a missing person’s report. Waiting gave them time to solidify their story. They wanted to be sure that no suspicion would fall on them.
It helped that Alois was known to leave home for long periods of time, so no one missed him at first. However after a few days, Hamish grew concerned. He began calling and texting Alois, and received no response. After another five days passed and Alois’ mom began to worry. She and his aunt went to the police.
Sarah and Raymond knew they couldn’t stand by any longer, if Sarah didn’t go to the police, there would definitely be suspicion. So, she went.
Sarah was asked about Alois’ behaviors. If he was the type of person to go away for long periods. They asked if there was anything going on in his personal life, and if he had any grievances with anyone. This is when Sarah told them about The Rebels.
Sarah told police that he had been receiving threatening messages, and that maybe they had abducted him. While that was plausible, it didn’t line up with any previous situations/interactions Alois had had with the gang. In years past, Alois had gone to the police regarding threatening messages, yet he had not gone to the police this time.
They knew Alois had not been in contact with the gang for some time. Plus, if they, or anyone else, had abducted him in the middle of the night, as Sarah suggested, how did nobody hear or see anything? It didn’t quite add up.
Police went to their home to look for clues. That’s when they found his wallet. It was highly unlikely that he would leave without it.
Sarah, Raymond, and Hamish were all brought in for questioning. That was when police discovered the affair between Sarah and Raymond, with Raymond admitting to saving Sarah in his phone as “hot sexy yummy mummy.” Police now had motive.
Both Sarah and Raymond had their phones seized and searched. A forensics team went to the house. Knowing that security cameras had been turned off, they searched the driveway first. They looked over every square inch of pavement until they found a crack in the cement containing a droplet of blood. Tests confirmed it belonged to Alois.
The missing person was now a murder.
Their search for Alois’ body began. Police attempted to follow Raymond’s car through old CCTV, but were unsuccessful. A break came when a fisherman out in the river found a huge bed sheet. The sheet was taken in for testing and found dog hairs on it – hairs that belonged to Raymond’s dog.
Raymond’s car was taken in for forensic testing, where they discovered a large amount of Alois’ blood in the trunk of the car. They also found a bottle of sleeping pills that were prescribed to Raymond’s deceased wife.
Raymond denied everything, but Sarah cracked. The police, armed with transcripts of the texts between her and Raymond, questioned her again. They asked what she meant by “I can’t wait for the pills to kick in.”
“I know you read those messages,” she said. “Raymond gave me the pills and I gave them to Alois to put him to sleep.” She told police she had put the crushed up pills in the mashed potatoes she gave him, but didn’t know what to expect after he had finished eating.
Sarah claimed she only wanted to scare Alois, not to hurt him.
Sarah and Raymond were both arrested.
During the trial, it was believed that Sarah did not kill Alois, she was not in the room. However, she was involved in the planning and preparation – yet did not know what the end result would be. She was just as guilty as Raymond, however she did not actually kill him.
Raymond was found guilty of premeditated murder and given 32 years in prison, with a minimum of 24 years. He appealed his sentence, claiming it was excessive. The courts agreed. His sentence was reduced to 25 years with a minimum of 18.
Sarah was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds that she was mentally unstable and did not fully understand what was going on. She was given an insanity plea and sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in jail, with a minimum of 8 years.
Sarah gave birth to her baby while incarcerated. The child is currently in her mother’s custody.
To this date, Raymond continues to deny any involvement .
Alois’ body has not been discovered.
Check out the story of Kelsey Berreth – another solved, no body case.
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