{"id":91169,"date":"2026-09-08T16:18:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/91169\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:18:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:18:38","slug":"chilling-selfie-darryl-youngs-thumbs-up-hours-after-triple-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/91169\/","title":{"rendered":"Chilling selfie: Darryl Young\u2019s thumbs up hours after triple murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Darryl Young looks directly into the camera \u2013 his eyes give nothing away and he\u2019s giving a thumbs up \u2013 but the person taking the chilling selfie has no idea they\u2019re standing with a triple murderer.<\/a><\/p>\n

The photo was snapped less than six hours after Young raised a gun to the heads of his neighbours Mervyn Schwarz, Maree Schwarz, and Graham Tighe and shot them at the front gate of his Bogie property, Shannonvale.<\/a><\/p>\n

The selfie \u2013 taken by wind farm worker Liam Parnell \u2013 was taken at the request of police as a proof of life and to show Young wasn\u2019t armed, after officers found the bodies of his three neighbours on his driveway.<\/p>\n

The haunting image was among more than a 100 exhibits shown to the jury who convicted Young of the triple murders, and the attempted murder of sole survivor Ross Tighe on August 4, 2022. <\/p>\n

Young tried to convince the jury he didn\u2019t shoot the family \u2013 his defence team attempting to pin the killings on Ross \u2013 but they didn\u2019t believe him, and he was sent to jail for life with a non-parole period of 40 years.<\/p>\n

He will be eligible for parole when he is 99 years old, if he\u2019s still alive.<\/p>\n

In Young\u2019s isolated corner of northern Queensland, the sweep of wild hills and valleys were picturesque against the horrors committed at his front gate.<\/p>\n

Eerie crime scene photos showed Mervyn Schwarz\u2019s cowboy hat sitting on the red dirt next to his body, his work boots crossed at the ankles close to the gate.<\/p>\n

A few metres away, Graham Tighe is lying on the ground below his mother Maree Schwarz, who\u2019s sitting in the driver\u2019s seat of a maroon LandCruiser with dogs in the back. The ignition is running. <\/p>\n

She almost got away, until Young shot through the car window, shattering the glass and killing her. <\/p>\n

The steel front gate to Young\u2019s property \u2013 two hours from the nearest town \u2013 offers trespassers a stern warning that they cannot enter.<\/p>\n

A second maroon ute has been driven from the scene by an injured Ross Tighe, who ran for his life and hid in long grass, leaving behind his own Akubra in the chaos.<\/p>\n

He drove the wild track from Young\u2019s gate so frantically he got a flat tyre \u2013 but he kept driving on the rim, a bullet in his belly, until he eventually found help. <\/p>\n

The family \u2013 who owned neighbouring property Sutherland Station \u2013 had driven the 30-40 minute trip to Young\u2019s front gate the morning of August 4, 2022 on his insistent request they have a meeting, as he was under the belief the family had stolen some of his cattle.<\/p>\n

They obliged, only to be met by Young who pulled a rifle from the back seat of his silver Nissan Navara, declared \u201cI\u2019ll end this once and for all\u201d, and shot them. <\/p>\n

Young tried to pin the killings on Ross, but the prosecution relied on a crucial piece of evidence which sank his defence case \u2013 bullet casings. <\/p>\n

Spent 30-30 bullet casings found at the crime scene were shown to the jury \u2013 including one found 50cm inside Young\u2019s property gate, and another 7m further inside the gate. Another two were found near Graham\u2019s body. <\/p>\n

Inside Young\u2019s homestead, another spent bullet casing was found in a long-life milk carton.<\/p>\n

Expert ballistics witness Sergeant Ian Bruce gave evidence that all five spent casings had been fired from the same gun. But no gun was ever found. <\/p>\n

Inside that milk carton was also a trail camera \u2013 one of many found around the dilapidated, cyclone damaged homestead on Young\u2019s property.<\/p>\n

One of those cameras had been at the front gate and captured the days leading up to the killings, including capturing Young arriving at the property the day before.<\/p>\n

The final photo on the camera\u2019s SD card was a dark, blurry picture taken at 8.33pm on August 3, 2022.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors suggested it was a photograph taken as Young was pulling the camera down, knowing what he was planning the following morning.<\/p>\n

Young told a jury in his trial that he took the camera off hours earlier \u2013 a statement prosecutors said was a lie. <\/p>\n

Inside Young\u2019s house \u2013 which consisted of two liveable rooms, half a roof, mattresses on the floor and computer chairs at the dining table \u2013 he also denied that boxes of 30-30 ammunition found by police were his.<\/p>\n

One box had five missing bullets \u2013 bullets consistent with those which had been used to kill Merv, Maree and Graham.<\/p>\n

After shooting the family, Young drove an ATV more than 3km through the steep terrain on his property to a high ridge line where wind farm workers had arrived earlier that morning and were conducting testing.<\/p>\n

Young had let the two workers through the front gate about 7.30am \u2013 just 30 minutes before the killings. <\/p>\n

The workers told a jury that Young was at the gate when they arrived, and didn\u2019t follow them.<\/p>\n

It was on this ridge line that police called wind farm worker Liam Parnell and asked for a photograph of who he was with \u2013 showing their hands \u2013 as there had been a shooting.<\/p>\n

Mr Parnell took two selfies with the group he was with \u2013 his co-worker Matthew Garbutt, Young, his son Derek Young and his family friend Sharon Young. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

In one photo \u2013 taken about 2pm \u2013 Young is giving a thumbs up to the camera.<\/p>\n

He murdered the family around 8.07am.<\/p>\n

After hours of negotiations, the group drove down the ridge and met SERT at the front gate where they were arrested, split up and questioned. Young was charged.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s first taste of custody was a full-body mug shot taken in the early hours of the morning, barefoot and dressed in work clothes at Bowen Police Station. <\/p>\n

Four years and 34 days later, Young would appear in court to hear his sentence \u2013 this time dressed in a blue checkered shirt and jacket, weathered, with no family in support, and with a noticeable twitch in his neck.<\/p>\n

He left the Townsville courtroom a guilty man \u2013 a convicted triple murderer \u2013 who will likely die in jail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darryl Young looks directly into the camera \u2013 his eyes give nothing away and he\u2019s giving a 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