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The taxi driver witness, and two other theories about what Keli Lane did with baby Tegan.

The three part documentary series Exposed: The Case of Keli Lane currently airing on the ABC explores one of Sydney’s most infamous murder cases in living memory.

Keli Lane, 43, is serving an 18 year jail sentence in Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre for the 1996 murder of her newborn baby Tegan Lee Lane and three counts of lying under oath.

There are, however, a number of peculiar details about the case that led to a conviction in December 2010.

To begin with, the body of Tegan has never been found. A murder weapon was never recovered or any physical evidence that a murder was committed.

The circumstantial evidence is, of course, overwhelming.

Keli was 21 years old when she gave birth to Tegan at Auburn Hospital on September 12, 1996. Two days later, she attended a wedding, with no sign of the baby, and no acknowledgement that she had even given birth.

Something happened to Tegan between September 12 and September 14, and Exposed led by investigative journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna, intends to uncover exactly what.

These are the three prevailing theories about what happened during that 48 hour period.

Keli Lane murdered Tegan Lee

A jury determined that Keli was guilty of murdering Tegan prior to the wedding she attended on September 14.

They also found her guilty of lying under oath.

In 1999, three years after giving birth to Tegan, Keli fell pregnant for the fifth time. Her first two pregnancies had been terminated, the third child was carried to term and put up for adoption, and the fourth had been Tegan. Her family and friends, according to police reports and subsequent investigations, were unaware she had ever been pregnant.

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Perhaps one of the most bizarre details of the case, is that Keli played water polo for Australia, requiring her to present multiple times a week in front of dozens of teammates and coaches in a swimming costume. Her mother, who was a team manager, confirmed during episode one of Exposed, that she had no idea Keli had been pregnant.

When Keli gave birth in 1999 and put the baby up for adoption, a social worker employed by the Department of Community Services (DOCS) enquired about Keli’s other children. She denied that Tegan or her other child, a boy, had ever been born, insisting this was her first birth.

Several days later, Keli changed her story, and claimed that Tegan lived in Perth. When the child could not be traced, the social worker contacted the police.

The theory goes that Keli, who fell pregnant five times in seven years, believed a child would interfere with her sporting ambitions, particularly her chances of representing Australia at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

The wedding which took place on September 14 was seen as a crucial factor in the court room, as she did not want family and friends at the event to know she had given birth. Perhaps, the prosecution alleged, murdering or abandoning her baby was an impulsive and permanent solution to the problem at hand.

A Coroner determined in 2006 that Tegan Lee was most likely deceased as a result of foul play.

Keli Lane gave Tegan to a man named Andrew Morris or Norris

When Keli was formally interviewed by police in 2001, she alleged that she had given Tegan to the baby’s father, a man named Andrew Morris or Norris.

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Police were unable to locate him or any girl who fit Tegan Lee’s description.

Keli told the court she had been having an affair with Andrew, which no one in her life knew about.

She told police she was forced to hide her pregnancies because she was afraid of what family and friends would think. She insisted, “I had no other choice”.

Keli Lane abandoned Tegan and was observed by a taxi driver

In April 2011, following Keli’s public conviction of murder, a Sydney taxi driver came forward and alleged that he drove Keli to an area of bushland where she abandoned the child.

The man is said to have contacted Sydney criminal lawyer Chris Murphy and outlined a series of events that took place on September 14, 1996.

He claimed he picked Keli up from Auburn Hospital, at which point she was carrying a newborn baby.

Keli is said to have asked him to stop on River Road on the way to Manly, where she allegedly left the baby.

He told Murphy that after he dropped her off he noticed she had left a baby bag in the car. When he reminded her, Keli allegedly said, “I don’t need it,” and left.

The taxi driver then said he drove back to the area of bushland, and found a baby girl lying next to a tree, with a bottle beside her.

He said he left her in the care of another woman who insisted she would mind the baby.

Keli has denied his account.

These are the theories that will be explored at length in Exposed: The Case of Keli Lane.

From falling pregnant five times in seven years, to playing competitive water polo at nine months pregnant more than once, to celebrating a birthday party within hours of giving birth, Keli is a figure that is met with both anger and fascination – often at the same time.

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The middle class girl who grew up in a nuclear family unequivocally made some questionable decisions.

A court has determined that one of those decisions was murdering her newborn baby.

Time will tell if Exposed has uncovered a different story altogether.

EXPOSED: The Case of Keli Lane will air on three Tuesday nights, beginning at 8:30pm on Tuesday September 25 on ABC and iview.

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