During her police interview, Leanne Phillips told detectives she remembered finding the lotto ticket “on the side of the drawer” on her hospital bed and that she was “pretty sure” her father put it there.
During her police interview, Leanne Phillips told detectives she remembered finding the lotto ticket “on the side of the drawer” on her hospital bed and that she was “pretty sure” her father put it there.
Former Detective Noel Powers told the Perfect Alibi podcast investigators interviewed the woman who shared Leanne’s hospital room.
“She said Leanne did not receive any visitors in hospital on that day,” Mr Powers said.
“It just didn’t seem to add up.
“I’ve got no doubt that before the 19th and even before the 20th, he’d met his demise.
“And I’ll say that now … there’s no doubt about it that, that Les Ball had been killed prior to that day,” Mr Powers said.
Les Ball’s son-in-law, former Victorian detective David Phillips. Picture: Supplied
Les Ball’s daughter and David Philip’s wife Leanne. Picture: Supplied
While a second coroner found Ms Phillips had no involvement in purchasing the ticket, its presence, coupled with the forged train ticket, deepened suspicions that someone else played a part in Mr Ball’s disappearance.
Mr Ball was reported missing by his youngest daughter La-Chelle despite not making any contact with family members for weeks.
Perfect Alibi – Who’s who
The mystery deepened further with the chilling discovery in July 1993 of Mr Ball’s distinctive, hand-built blue trailer, found burnt to ashes in a remote Townsville dumping ground.
Evidence pointed to deliberate and extensive efforts to conceal and destroy the trailer, including multiple attempts to clear the site.
“I remember finding little scraps of just tiny bits and inch by an inch or something that I knew were part of a dinner set that was ours that I’d given him, you know?,” La-Chelle’s mother and Mr Ball’s ex-wife Et Ison told Perfect Alibi podcast.
Leslie Ball had packed up his life in a trailer and was getting ready to move to Cardwell. The trailer was found burnt out in bushland after he went missing.
Mr Ball’s trailer and personal possessions are found burned in bushland off Jurekey Street, a 10-minute drive from the Phillips’ home
Among the items found were his collection of golfing magazines.
Also found strewn were his personal items including clothing.
“Having to go through … with my fingers to pick out any tiny little bit of thing that I knew was Les’s – that was emotionally one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life because I’m going through ashes.
“And all the time I didn’t know whether his body had been burnt there. It was a horrible time for me. Dreadful,” she said.
“But I didn’t want La-Chelle to have to do it. I went through and did it.”
The Homicide Cold Case Investigation Team extensively reviewed Mr Ball’s disappearance between 2010 and 2017, leading to the reopening of the inquest in 2019.
Perfect Alibi
I know who killed my father
Body of Evidence
On June 13, 2023, the Deputy State Coroner delivered a definitive finding: Mr Ball was deceased, likely to have occurred on or about April 18, 1993.
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The role of David Phillips, Leanne’s husband and a former police detective, has also come under intense scrutiny.
Mr Phillips’ evasive conduct during interviews and his professional background in major crime investigations have raised significant questions about his knowledge of the events.
His claims about Mr Ball’s “tendency to go missing” were pivotal in the initial coronial inquest delivering an “open finding,” leaving the case unresolved for decades.
