Unsolved murder of Australia's first NFL player

1 year ago 101

Blazing a way came people to Colin Scotts.

Scotts, a almighty jock who grew up connected the bluish beaches of Sydney, was the archetypal Aussie to person a assemblage shot assistance successful the United States and beryllium drafted into the NFL.

He was portion of the undefeated 1981 Australian Schoolboys rugby national squad to circuit Ireland and the UK, which included aboriginal Wallabies Michael Lynagh and Brett Papworth.

That squad scored 48 tries and conceded conscionable one. Some keen judges accidental Scotts could person been thing successful the 15-man crippled but aft being spotted by a manager during a rugby game, Scotts near Australia and yet became the archetypal Australian subordinate to play successful the NFL.

Or astatine least, truthful helium thought.

"There was nary societal media, hardly immoderate media astir it astatine the time," Scotts told Wide World of Sports.

"I thought I was the archetypal and everybody other thought truthful too. I was with the Houston Oilers, and a newsman came up to maine and said, 'Hey we conscionable recovered retired determination was different feline (Australian) earlier you'."

"I didn't cognize thing astir it and the full thing. He had an absorbing inheritance to accidental the least. He made the Dallas Cowboys. The full communicative was each a large mystery, it's a weird one."

That different guy's sanction was besides Colin, and helium excessively was a talented athlete. Scotts' connection that his communicative is "a weird one" could beryllium the understatement of the century.

In the 1960's Melbourne-born Colin Ridgway played 3 games arsenic a punter for the Cowboys.

Before helium was signed arsenic a escaped cause successful 1965, helium played under-19s for VFL powerhouse Carlton and aboriginal their reserves team. He besides represented Australia astatine the 1956 Melbourne Olympics successful precocious jump, but missed retired connected on the squad for the 1960 Games.

That led to Ridgway moving to the US connected a way and tract scholarship, which yet brought him to his little stint successful the NFL.

According to archived reports, past manager Tom Landry had tipped him to beryllium 1 of the league's apical punters, but Ridgway had respective atrocious punts aboriginal connected and his vocation was short-lived.

However, the details of his decease would person acold much scope than his diversion feats, erstwhile helium was brutally murdered successful his home, successful the interior Dallas suburb of University Park, successful 1993.

The 56-year-old was changeable astatine slightest 7 times by an intruder arsenic helium entered his location aft a nighttime retired with his wife, Joan Jackson.

Jackson recovered her hubby successful a excavation of humor with weapon changeable wounds to the backmost of his caput erstwhile she entered done the backdoor, aft driving location successful a abstracted car.

Of the 7 shots. 3 of them were situated astir Ridgway's close ear, successful adjacent proximity to 1 different and fired astatine adjacent range.

Joan told exigency services her hubby had suffered a bosom attack.

"His backmost was the lone happening I could spot and I grabbed him and I said: 'Colin, are you alright?'" she told a US TV programme astatine the time.

"He conscionable kept heaving. I thought helium had yet suffered a bosom onslaught oregon a changeable coming up the stairs."

Soon suspicions astir Jackson's imaginable engagement started to intensify when Ridgway's friends offered a reward for accusation relating to the murder.

Ridgway had a brushwood with decease successful the past erstwhile helium was kidnapped by Mexican bandits portion driving from Texas to articulation his woman astatine a Mexico resort. It was thought the convulsive incident, that saw Ridgway unrecorded the remainder of his beingness with a slug lodged successful his lung, was connected to a failed concern deal. But cipher truly knew.

Things betwixt Ridgway and Joan were connected and off. In 1990 Joan filed for divorce. The mates were separated for a twelvemonth and Colin hooked up with different pistillate successful Dallas. But past successful precocious 1992, the mates reportedly accrued the idiosyncratic security argumentation connected Colin's beingness to $590,000. Joan was the sole beneficiary.

On the nighttime of his murder, Colin and Joan attended a gathering of erstwhile Cowboys players and their spouses.

According to reports astatine the time, constabulary tried to pin a murder-for-hire crippled connected Jackson adjacent though she told constabulary she'd been watering flowers retired the backmost of the location and had not heard immoderate shots arsenic she entered the house.

Police said the flat had been ransacked, with covering strewn each implicit the level and definite documentation examined and removed.

Jackson was not indicted by a justice implicit the execution and ever maintained her innocence.

At 1 constituent Jackson had accused Ridgway of being a cause smuggler successful a tv interview, claiming helium could person been killed by "business associates".

She said helium was successful a authorities of fearfulness connected the nighttime of his death

"I'd ne'er seen Colin conscionable falling isolated connected the wrong and virtually ... acrophobic to talk.

"He said, 'My biggest fearfulness is dying, Joan'.

"The lone happening that had been dumped upside down successful my closet were concern records and idiosyncratic records."

A antheral known to her, Kenneth Bicking III, was accused of carrying retired the execution successful 1996, which helium denied.

Yet chances of securing a condemnation were dashed when an alleged execution confession by Bicking to his woman was ruled retired of grounds by a justice the adjacent year.

Police hoped a hairsbreadth found astatine the transgression country would lucifer Bicking's DNA but they were forced to hold due to the fact that the hairsbreadth could not springiness a beardown capable reading.

Twenty years aboriginal constabulary yet got the hairsbreadth tested with improvements successful technology, but it did not lucifer Bicking's DNA.

Bicking has since received 2 beingness sentences for the historical kidnap and rape of a young woman.

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