David Lawrence was known as a kind, generous soul in his hometown of Morphett Vale, just south of Adelaide, New South Wales. After the death of his partner of 33 years in 2011, David struggled with loneliness, but he remained active in his community, volunteering and maintaining friendships. Life, for a while, seemed to offer a second chance at happiness when he met Wendie-Sue Dent. Their relationship blossomed quickly, with Dent moving into David’s home by late 2015. To his family, though, the romance set off alarm bells.
According to The Mirror, David’s family worried that Dent, whose life had been marked by instability and addiction, was taking advantage of his vulnerable state. Dent’s history included a 40-year drug habit involving opioids and Valium, as well as legal trouble for forging prescriptions. Still, David was smitten. He looked past his family’s concerns, and by all outward appearances, he and Dent were planning a future together. She told friends they intended to marry, and David, ever the optimist, seemed to believe it.
But as David’s 62nd birthday approached on December 1, things took a dark turn. He began to feel unwell and became noticeably withdrawn, raising concerns among his friends and family when he didn’t respond to their birthday messages. Two days later, on December 3, 201X, Dent reported finding David dead in bed. At first, authorities saw nothing suspicious. David had only minor health issues, and it seemed plausible he’d died in his sleep.
However, the post mortem told a different story. The toxicology report revealed a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs in David’s system: morphine, Valium, tramadol, and a total of seven medications. Some of these were prescribed to David, but most were not. Chillingly, the dose of morphine alone—at least 20 doses—would have been enough to kill him. As reported by The Mirror, police concluded that David had ingested the deadly mix unwittingly, likely in food or drink. It was murder, and investigators believed the killer was someone "very close" to him.
The investigation quickly focused on those nearest to David. His three brothers and two sisters were interviewed and soon eliminated from suspicion. What investigators did find was a significant change in David’s will just weeks before his death. He had left his entire estate—including his home and life savings, valued at upwards of £250,000—to Dent. When questioned, Dent claimed this was simply a matter of making provisions for their future, as they were discussing marriage. But to police, the timing seemed suspect. A detective remarked that David’s estate was "worth somebody killing somebody for."
Despite their suspicions, the evidence against Dent was circumstantial. The case took more than a year to build, during which time Dent continued living in David’s home. Finally, in July 2017, Dent was arrested at Adelaide airport as she returned from a trip. The media quickly dubbed her the "Black Widow," painting a picture of a woman who had poisoned her partner for financial gain.
The case proceeded to trial in April 2020, drawing intense public interest. The defense argued there was no concrete proof Dent had poisoned David, suggesting instead that he could have accidentally overdosed. Dent herself insisted the couple were planning to marry, questioning why she would kill him if they had a future together. But the prosecution countered that Dent had taken advantage of David’s generosity and faked his will. They pointed out that David had always been reluctant to take medication, making it unlikely he’d have taken such a dangerous combination by mistake. The sheer quantity of drugs in his system, they argued, could not have been accidental.
After a seven-week trial, the jury found Dent, then 62, guilty of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years. The judge’s words were searing: "Mr Lawrence was besotted with you. Ultimately you killed him for your own financial gain." He added that Dent had preyed on David’s kindness and showed no remorse. It also emerged that Dent had further hurt David’s family by defacing the condolence memorial book at his funeral and aggressively pursuing his money.
For David’s family, the verdict brought relief, but the legal battle was far from over. Dent appealed her conviction, with her lawyers arguing that the verdict was unsafe due to its reliance on circumstantial evidence. In 2021, the appeal succeeded, and her conviction was overturned. But the story didn’t end there. Dent faced a retrial in 2025, this time before a judge alone, without a jury. The defense presented new arguments: Dent, they said, had been in a "drug-induced fog" at the time of the killing and had a traumatic past that influenced her actions. Nevertheless, the judge found her guilty once again in June 2025.
The judge explained her reasoning in court: "I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Ms Dent administered the prescription drugs to the deceased." She elaborated, "In the days preceding his death you isolated [David] from his family and friends and you sedated him with Valium. You then administered to him the fatal dose or doses of your prescription drugs intending to kill him." Once more, Dent was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 25 years in prison.
David’s brother, Phillip Lawrence, spoke during the sentencing hearing, expressing the family’s pain and anger: "He was killed for money, nothing else. This person who murdered David would have spent his life savings on frivolous things for herself, like shopping, gambling, drugs, alcohol, taxi fares and legal fees." According to both The Mirror and The People, the family believed justice had finally been served, even as Dent, now 66, filed yet another appeal in an attempt to overturn her conviction. That appeal was rejected in 2024.
Throughout the ordeal, the case captivated Australia, not just for its tragic details but for the broader questions it raised about trust, vulnerability, and greed. Dent’s defense maintained her innocence to the end, insisting she and David were building a life together, while the prosecution and David’s family saw only manipulation and betrayal. The courts, after years of legal wrangling and two separate trials, sided with the latter. For the Lawrence family, the loss remains raw, but the finality of Dent’s sentence offers some measure of closure.
David Lawrence’s story is a cautionary tale about the dangers that can lurk even in the most seemingly loving relationships. It’s a reminder that justice, though sometimes slow and circuitous, can ultimately prevail—even in the face of heartbreak and loss.
