Victoria Bitter: The Jaidyn Leskie Story

Jaidyn's Tale

If Greg Domaszewicz was vague about the future of his relationship with Bilynda Murphy, he seemed to have no such reservations when it came to Jaidyn. He seemed to genuinely enjoy the time he spent with the boy, and, Jaidyn, who was a bit of a mamma's boy, seemed to be happy in Domaszewicz's company. That was a relief to Murphy, a single mother trying to handle two youngsters. In short order, she began to regularly leave Jaidyn with her noncommittal boyfriend.

Together Domaszewicz and the "Little Man," as he called Jaidyn, would spend their afternoon in the garage behind Grishka's Narracan Drive home, working on one of the mechanic's old cars, as Domaszewicz patiently explained to the uncomprehending toddler the inner workings of a fuel injection system or the trick to unstopping a clogged brake line.

Other times, they would frolic with Greg's three mongrelized pit bulls, beasts he kept, at least in part, to ward off untoward behavior from any of the other hard cases in Moe. Even those who disparage other aspects of Domaszewicz's character concede that he treated his dogs with immense kindness, and by and large, the dogs were gentle, at least in their dealings with Jaidyn. However, as Domaszewicz would later admit to authorities, there was one mishap. On the day Jaidyn disappeared, Domaszewicz told police, the dogs apparently knocked Jaidyn down, or maybe he tripped. He cut his lip. Or maybe he got a bloody nose. Domaszewicz never really was able to recall exactly what had happened.

Maybe it was the fact that Domaszewicz had lost his own father at an early age, but at least on the surface, he seemed to warm to the role of stepdad, however informal that role may have been, to the little boy. In fact, their relationship was far closer than any he was able to cultivate with Brehanna, Jaidyn's slightly older sister. They would spend hours together working on the cars, playing Nintendo, a pastime for which Domaszewicz had a nearly insatiable passion, or they would sprawl together on the couch in Grishka's living room, watching testosterone fueled films, like "The Great Escape." As Domaszewicz would later explain to authorities, the boy was a bit of a sop and he was "trying to teach him more man things." Not long before the little boy disappeared, Domaszewicz decided to surprise Murphy by giving her son a haircut. He later claimed that the razor had slipped, and that was how the youngster ended up with a shorn patch on the front of his head, over which dangled an untamed wisp of mousy hair, much like Domaszewicz's.

Later, some would suggest that the relationship between the two was not all lollipops and video games, that Domaszewicz would sometimes torment the little boy nothing particularly abusive, but he would, witnesses would later say, sometimes taunt the boy, or push him a little roughly. On one occasion, Domaszewicz punished the boy by leaving him in a dark hallway until Kadee Leskie rescued him. By his own admission, Domaszewicz once lost patience with the youngster after some minor infraction, and later told Bilynda Murphy that he had "lost it." Somehow the boy had suffered a bruise. But Domaszewicz seemed abjectly apologetic and even offered to go to the authorities with her to file a report. According to Gleeson, he also warned her that there was a good chance that child protective services would get involved and that she might lose both Jaidyn and Brehanna. Murphy knew that Jaidyn could be a trying child at times, and though it was a decision she later came to regret, she opted to overlook the incident. All the same, she found a way to keep Jaidyn out of sight until the bruises faded. Soon enough, Jaidyn and Domaszewicz were reunited, back together in the backyard, working on cars and playing with the dogs, then curling up on the couch for a game of Nintendo or a manly movie.

That wasn't the only incident that in hindsight takes on ominous overtones. A few months before Jaidyn's disappearance, Bilynda was home when the telephone rang. A woman's voice she didn't recognize it urged her to look in on her two sleeping babies. When she did, she found Jaidyn in Brehanna's bed, and Brehanna in Jaidyn's. Though Bilynda, and author Bowles, still suspect that Yvonne Penfold was behind the prank, they have never been able to prove it and Penfold has adamantly denied that she had anything to do with it.