{"id":40871,"date":"2025-08-03T18:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T18:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40871\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T18:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T18:04:09","slug":"widows-fight-for-answers-about-husbands-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40871\/","title":{"rendered":"Widow’s fight for answers about husband’s murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fiona Splitt still has days where she hopes her husband will walk through the front door.<\/p>\n

It’s been 13 years since Bruce Schuler left home to go prospecting for gold at Palmerville Station in Far North Queensland with three mates and his faithful dog Red.<\/p>\n

When Bruce moved a short distance away from the others, two gunshots rang out – and he was never seen again.<\/p>\n

Speaking with 60 Minutes, Splitt said Bruce’s disappearance and murder is an unbearable agony.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to live the rest of my life looking for Bruce,” she said.<\/p>\n

Bruce Schuler was killed while prospecting for gold on Palmerville Station in 2012. (60 Minutes)<\/p>\n

Cattle farmers Dianne Wilson and Stephen Struber were arrested the next day, accused of shooting and killing Bruce for trespassing on their property.<\/p>\n

A cache of guns were found at their homestead and suspiciously two registered guns were missing and have never been found.<\/p>\n

Wilson and Struber were charged in October 2012 and released on bail for three years while awaiting trial.<\/p>\n

It would take just seven days to seal their fates.<\/p>\n

At the Cairns Supreme Court, Wilson and Struber were both found guilty of murdering Bruce Schuler and sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n

Dianne Wilson and Stephen Struber were found guilty of Bruce’s murder. (60 Minutes)<\/p>\n

“The only thing I can recall is looking at their faces and how hard and cold they were,” Splitt told 60 Minutes.<\/p>\n

“They looked through you … no facial emotion, nothing.”<\/p>\n

Fiona was thankful the pair were found guilty, but for her, the case wasn’t over.<\/p>\n

To try to compel the convicted killers to reveal where they dumped Bruce, she successfully campaigned to have the “no body, no parole” law introduced in Queensland.<\/p>\n

Now, 13 years later, new legislation is allowing Wilson and Struber to fight their conviction – and potentially walk free.<\/p>\n

Fiona Splitt still hopes her partner Bruce Schuler will return home. (60 Minutes)<\/p>\n

It’s a prospect that has Bruce’s family outraged.<\/p>\n

“I just feel like I’ve been kicked in the guts,” Fiona said.<\/p>\n

“It’s just ridiculous, the only other way of finding out anymore is tell us where Bruce is, and we’ll get the rest of the evidence.”<\/p>\n

‘Fresh and compelling’ evidence<\/p>\n

Not everybody is convinced Wilson and Struber killed Bruce in 2012.<\/p>\n

Wilson’s sister, Sharon Ferguson, told 60 Minutes she still believes her sister is innocent and drives nearly five hours to visit Wilson in jail, hoping each visit will be the last.<\/p>\n

“Every time I’ve got to leave and we go to say goodbye, it’s very hard,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’ll see you next time and we love you and we wish we could take you home.”<\/p>\n

Dianne Wilson’s sister Sharon Ferguson maintains her sister’s innocence. (60 Minutes)<\/p>\n

Sharon has found her sister a new legal team and plans are under way to launch a last-ditch appeal in November. For it to be successful there needs to be “fresh and compelling” evidence.<\/p>\n

Former Queensland detective Graeme Crowley told 60 Minutes he believes that to be the case.<\/p>\n

“I believe it’s a miscarriage of justice and it needs to go back to the courts,” he said.<\/p>\n

The second crime scene<\/p>\n

In court, the prosecution’s case was that on July 9, 2012, Bruce Schuler was last seen prospecting in a gully.<\/p>\n

Two of Bruce’s mates told police they saw Wilson and Struber’s ute stop on the road nearby – and shortly after a first shot was fired.<\/p>\n

Police believe Bruce then ran 140 metres through the rocky terrain to a second spot, where another fatal shot rang out.<\/p>\n

It was at this location, referred to as the second crime scene, that a small amount of Bruce’s blood was discovered.<\/p>\n

But according to Crowley, a key detail was left out of the prosecution’s version of events.<\/p>\n

“One of the biggest red flags for me was the fact that the jury never heard that the alleged Struber vehicle did a U-turn,” he told 60 Minutes.<\/p>\n

“Witnesses consistently and repeatedly said the vehicle drove a short distance. The second crime scene is 200 metres up and down a steep ravine.”<\/p>\n

Crowley believes the prosecution’s case contradicts the evidence given by the witnesses and that the U-turn makes it impossible for Wilson and Struber’s vehicle to have ever gone to the second crime scene.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Wilson and Struber also say the lack of DNA evidence tying the pair to the murder also points to their innocence.<\/p>\n

Former Queensland detective Graeme Crowley has been investigating the case in his podcast. (60 Minutes)<\/p>\n

While a small amount of Bruce’s DNA was found, forensic teams couldn’t find any trace of the killers’ DNA at the second crime scene.<\/p>\n

Nor was Bruce’s DNA found on the killers, at their homestead or in their vehicle.<\/p>\n

Will there be a coronial inquest?<\/p>\n

As well as the planned appeal, Wilson’s sister Sharon Ferguson has also been campaigning for a coronial investigation.<\/p>\n

Her online petition has closed, attracting more than 5000 signatures.<\/p>\n

While Fiona Splitt and her children have no doubt the right people are behind bars, she says if an inquest was held she would support it.<\/p>\n

She hopes it would allow another opportunity for Wilson and Struber to finally fess up and tell her what they did with her beloved Bruce.<\/p>\n

“I’ll be the first one to ask whoever’s standing there, ‘Where’s Bruce?'” Fiona said.<\/p>\n

“The bottom line is that’s what we want. Where’s Bruce?”<\/p>\n

Full statement from the Queensland Police service<\/p>\n

The Queensland Police Service refused our request for an interview.<\/p>\n

Instead, they provided the following statement:<\/p>\n

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) will always endeavour to provide media outlets with spokespeople when appropriate.<\/p>\n

Pending legal advice, the QPS is unable to take part in an interview with 60 Minutes in relation to the 2012 disappearance of Bruce Schuler, due to the information regarding a possible appeal.<\/p>\n

Detectives, Specialist Support Officers and General Duties Police conducted extensive and thorough investigations which led to the arrest of Stephen Struber and Dianne Wilson-Struber who were convicted of murder by a jury in 2015.<\/p>\n

Bruce Schuler’s remains have never been recovered and, as such, he continues to be listed as a missing person. Detectives welcome any information or new evidence which may assist in locating him.<\/p>\n

All missing persons reports remain open until the missing person is located and any new information received is reviewed and investigated accordingly.<\/p>\n

Police continue to provide support to the Schuler family.<\/p>\n

Watch the full episode of 60 Minutes on 9Now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fiona Splitt still has days where she hopes her husband will walk through the front door. It’s been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-40871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}