January 22, 2010 (The Independent Weekly) -- A father has been found guilty of the murder of a 15-year-old girl he met on a gothic vampire website. His son, who was also charged with murdering the girl, has been acquitted of all charges.

The father, 50, and son, 20, both of whom cannot be named, were charged with killing Carly Ryan whose body was found floating at a beach south of Adelaide in February 2007.

Throughout the trial, which began in October, prosecutors alleged the two used a cyberspace alter-ego to communicate with Ms Ryan and she proceeded to fall in love with the boy who was a member of the "emo" subculture.

At the girl's 15th birthday party, she rejected the father's sexual advances.

His oldest son told the court previously that after the rejection his father vowed to "fix her up".

During the trial, the court heard the father and son used their online disguise to lure Ms Ryan to Port Elliot.

The prosecution alleged the Adelaide teenager was then brutally bashed and drowned before her body washed ashore at Horseshoe Bay.

The jury in the South Australian Supreme Court took 10-and-a-half hours to reach their verdicts after hearing 12 weeks of evidence.

The father remained motionless in the dock when his verdict was read out.

But the son smiled when he was acquitted, and the father nodded his head at his son's verdict.

Outside, the 20-year-old Victorian was the first one to leave the court and would not comment to the media while he was ushered to a car by one of his legal team.

His lawyer Bill Boucaut later told the media: "He's a very relieved young man, he wants to go back to his home town and get on with his life. He's very grateful for what's happened."

Carly's mother, Sonya Ryan, who waited until nearly an hour after the verdict to leave the court, was surrounded by people and did not comment as she was ushered past the media pack into a waiting car.

While police refused to comment, prosecutor Tim Preston said "it was a fair verdict" but refused to comment further.

• ‹ Dracula Path of the Dra...
• 9 of 659
• Twilight series to beco... ›