Jaidyn Raymond Leskie (30 April 1996 – 15 June 1997) was the Australian child of Bilynda Murphy (now Williams) and Brett Leskie, murdered in 1997. Leskie is believed to have died of head injuries. Despite intense public interest, several leads, and the arrest and trial of a prime suspect, Leskie's murder remains unsolved. Although the decision was made in 2002 not to hold an inquest into the toddler's death, the case remained in the news for several more years. An inquest was later held in 2006, implicating the mother's boyfriend, Greg Domaszewicz (), who at the time of the kidnapping was babysitting the boy at his house at Newborough. The exact circumstances of Leskie's disappearance and death were never clear, and were complicated by vandalism at the house on the evening of the toddler's disappearance; several false tips and pranks about the boy's fate; and the body not being discovered until six months later.
Disappearance
Investigation
At the time of his disappearance, Jaidyn Leskie lived in the Victorian town of Moe with his mother Bilynda Murphy and his older sister. Jaidyn's father, Brett Leskie, was separated from Murphy and was residing in another state at the time of his son's disappearance. On the night of his disappearance, Jaidyn was in the care of Murphy's boyfriend, Greg Domaszewicz, while Murphy went out with her sister. Domaszewicz had been minding Jaidyn during the day, and was originally meant to drop the child home to his regular babysitter at 4pm; however, they never arrived and, despite several attempts, Murphy was unable to get into contact with him. Murphy assumed that Domaszewicz would care for the child throughout the evening and decided to keep her plans with her sister. Around 2:30am, Domaszewicz left his home to pick up a very intoxicated Murphy from Ryan's Hotel in the neighbouring town of Traralgon (an approximately 20-minute drive each way). After returning to Moe at around 3am, Domaszewicz dropped Murphy at home, later returning at approximately 5am to inform her of Jaidyn's disappearance and taking her to Moe Police Station to file a police report. Domaszewicz claims Jaidyn was abducted from his home after he left for Traralgon, stating that he left the child on the couch to avoid waking him; however, police contend that Jaidyn had likely died several hours earlier and while under Domaszewicz's care.
Soon after Jaidyn was reported missing, local and state police launched an intensive, 20-day missing person's search. The search for Jaidyn is believed to have been the largest since the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1967, leading national headlines to proclaim "Where is Jaidyn?". The search was unsuccessful, largely hampered by lack of witnesses, false tips to police, and the extensive geographic area that needed to be searched.
Behaviour of Greg Domaszewicz
Greg Domaszewicz's allegedly strange behaviour the night of Jaidyn's disappearance, during the trial and afterwards, has been the focus of media and investigators. He alleges that he left Jaidyn home alone when picking up Murphy from Traralgon, and that Jaidyn was abducted before he returned. However, earlier that evening Domaszewicz had called Ryan's Hotel and told Murphy that Jaidyn had been taken to hospital for a minor burn. After picking her up, Domaszewicz further told Murphy that he had moved Jaidyn from Moe Hospital due to their substandard care, and that her son was now at Maryvale hospital—near the town of Morwell. Maryvale hospital was under construction at that time, and there was no possibility it would receive patients. Domaszewicz then refused Murphy's requests to be taken to Jaidyn, telling her she was too drunk and would be refused entry. As such, Murphy did not know her child was missing until several hours after she had returned home for the night, believing him to be in hospital. Later defending his claims of Jaidyn's hospitalisation as an ill-timed joke, Domaszewicz's comments regarding the child's whereabouts are viewed by police as an attempt to cover-up Jaidyn's death.
Little is known regarding Domaszewicz's movements between arriving home from Traralgon (around 3am) and reporting Jaidyn missing (around 5am)—he claims that he was searching for Jaidyn by himself around Moe, stating he believed the child had been kidnapped as a prank. Around 4am, Domaszewicz was pulled over by police and subject to a random breath test. Although he knew Jaidyn was missing at this time, Domaszewicz did not use this opportunity to inform police.