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Guest Character Profiles > Ellen Crabb Louise Crawford

Detective Sergeant Ellen Crabb 2013, 2016
Children: Josie
Occupation: Detective

When Robbo Slade was left for dead after a hit-and-run, the list of suspects was a long one, and when he died a few days later in hospital, homicide detectives Ellen Crabb and David Oakley were brought onto the case. The prime suspect at that point was lawyer Toadie Rebecchi, who had woken up the morning after the incident, in the car, with no recollection of how he got there, having had his drink spiked the night before. However, it then emerged that Robbo's dying words had implicated Mason, the son of police senior constable Matt Turner. When Mason's car - which he owned with Imogen Willis - was found at the hospital car park, it had a piece of the headlight missing - which matched a fragment found at the scene of the accident, seeming to confirm that the car had been the one that had hit Robbo. Though both Mason and Imogen were claiming that the car had been stolen, and that they both had alibis for their whereabouts that night, it was actually all part of a web of lies to protect Mason's younger sister, Amber.

More suspects then emerged, as swimmer Hudson Walsh was spotted on CCTV footage around the time of the hit-and-run, and then the police learnt that Robbo had been running dodgy poker games from his squat, and an IOU was found amongst Robbo's things. Matt later recognised the signature on the IOU as that of his landlord, Lucas Fitzgerald - so while Detective Senior Constable Oakley spoke to Hudson, DS Crabb focused on Lucas. She questioned his history of gambling addiction, and how he'd ended up with so much money on the morning after the accident. Lucas told her that he'd bumped into a stranger whilst out looking for Robbo, who'd told him about the cards being marked in the games, and had stopped him from getting into a fight with Robbo. The same man had then appeared at the garage with the money Lucas was owed, which he'd somehow got from Robbo, though he wouldn't explain how. Unfortunately, the police found his story unlikely, and Lucas had no idea who the man was, leaving them wondering if Lucas and Toadie had been in on the crime together.

The following week, Robbo's phone was discovered in a bin and handed in, and the police finally discovered that Robbo had made a sex tape of himself and Amber and was blackmailing Mason, threatening to put it online unless he gave him $10,000. Amber was brought in for questioning, and she explained that Mason hadn't been the only one to know about the video, and that Hudson, as well as Chris Pappas had helped to pay Robbo off, whilst Imogen also knew about the video, though she didn't find out until after the hit-and-run. Soon, DS Crabb was interviewing Mason, Chris, Hudson and Imogen, with all four of them maintaining that they were innocent, but Crabb was convinced that one of them was lying to her. As the phone had been used to make a 000 call by the person who'd thrown it away, the police were convinced that the same person was the one who ran down Robbo, and having found the broken iPhone case in the bin too, they sent it away to be analysed for fingerprints, and waited for the results.

When Marty Kranic - the mysterious stranger who'd helped reunite Lucas with his money - handed himself in at the station, he claimed that he'd seen someone getting into the car that had hit Robbo, and identified Toadie from the photographs of the suspects. As she went to the bar to arrest Toadie, Ellen was surprised to find her daughter, Josie, having dinner with the Rebecchi family, and reminded her that she'd asked her not to spend time with them, sending her home immediately. Toadie was then taken in by Ellen for questioning, and unsatisfied with his lack of alibi for that night, the police finally charged him with the crime. Later, however, Matt explained that he'd read Marty's statement and didn't feel that it rang true, and Ellen admitted that she still had her doubts, so the pair went through everything together, trying to find something that they'd missed. At the same time, the forensics came back with fingerprints from the phone, which showed that Imogen had been the one that made the call. Then, Brad Willis came to the police station with more information and the police arrived at the bar to arrest the person who'd run down Robbo - Hudson.

Later that year, Ellen and Victoria were surprised when they were called to the hospital, and told that Josie had collapsed during the local fun run, suffering from malnutrition. Though they were aware that Josie had been doing a little bit of exercise with Sonya Rebecchi, they had no idea that she'd been training for the fun run, as she'd claimed that she was spending the day with a friend. As Josie explained that she'd been pushing herself too hard and skipping meals, hoping to lose weight quickly and become more attractive, Ellen quickly blamed Sonya for what had happened, but Josie made it clear that Sonya had nothing to do with it, and she just wanted to be a different person, and he popular and skinny like Imogen Willis. Ellen and Victoria were shocked to realised just how unhappy their daughter had become, but made it clear to her that she should never see herself as ugly, or try to change her appearance to suit others.

A few years later, Ellen was working on another case, following a series of burglaries in the area. All evidence was linking back to Paige Smith, the fiancee of police officer Mark Brennan. Though Mark was aware that Paige had been set up by her old enemy Michelle Kim, he couldn't deny that it didn't look good for Paige, particularly when the stolen items turned up in a Salvation Army donation bin, and Paige's fingerprints were found on one of them. Mark was then forced to go back to Ramsay Street, unaware that his wedding had been brought forward, and arrest the bride in front of their gathered friends and family.

A few weeks later, when the boiler exploded at Lassiter's hotel, leaving Josh and Doug Willis dead, Paul Robinson was charged with the crime and sentenced to 18 years in prison. However, he, and several other locals, suspected that he'd been set up, but it wasn't until hotel receptionist Wendy admitted that she'd been paid to lie about her witness account, that the truth emerged. Mark called in Ellen to question Wendy, who at first maintained her story, and Ellen told him to drop the matter. But when he checked her bank records and brought her in for another interview, she admitted everything, leaving Ellen feeling foolish. The key to the truth - the mysterious John Doe, a man who'd been at the hotel during the explosion but had no memory of who he was - was actually a priest, who'd received a confession from hotel owner Julie Quill that she was going to pay someone to tamper with the boiler as an insurance job. As John Doe's memories came back, Julie and her accomplice Jacka Hills were brought in for questioning and confessed to everything.

Trivia Notes
• Louise Crawford previously appeared in 2007 as Abby Stafford

Tenure
6718, 6722, 6729, 6732, 6768, 7297, 7392

Biography by Steve

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