- Danielle Carroll’s sister, Kelly Wilkinson was killed in a shocking case of domestic violence, at the hands of her estranged husband
- Brian Earl Johnston was jailed for life after setting Kelly alight in her own backyard
- Now Danielle has made it her mission to help secondary victims of domestic violence, after establishing the Kelly Wilkinson Foundation
Here, Danielle, 35, from the Gold Coast, Qld, tells her story in her own words
Cycling around the Gold Coast with my sister Kelly, 27, I felt lighter than I had in months.
It was April 2021 and, sadly, we’d lost our darling mum, Karen, to a brain aneurysm just seven weeks earlier.
Aged 55, her death was sudden, and it left Kelly and me, our other siblings Emma, then 28, and Natalie, 25, and our dad, Reg, 59, heartbroken.
It was a stark reminder of just how precious life really was.
So when we were in the lift at the hospital and Kelly confided that she feared for her safety, I was completely floored.
‘If something happens to me, I just want someone to know,’ she said.
While I knew Kelly’s relationship with her estranged husband, Brian, then 33, a former US Marine, was difficult, I’d never asked her many questions.
They’d met online 10 years earlier when Kelly was just 18. Madly in love, she moved to Ohio in the US, to be with him, and they tied the knot just four months later.
While living in the States, Kelly and Brian welcomed two children, *Ben in 2013, and *Emily in 2015.
Then in mid-2017 Kelly returned to Australia with the kids, explaining she and Brian had split.
But within months the pair had reconciled and, that July, they moved in together in Elanora, Qld.
They welcomed their daughter *Tilly in 2019.
When Mum passed, though, Kelly and Brian split for good and he moved out.
But I had no idea why – until now.
‘He’s very controlling,’ Kelly told me.
She explained when they’d lived overseas, Brian dictated what clothes she wore, and how she styled her hair. He’d also stopped her from getting a driver’s licence or even a job, leaving her with no money.
I listened in heartbreak as my little sister went on to explain Brian had also been physically violent.
How did I not see the signs? I wondered
‘He held me down and threatened to crush my skull,’ she recounted through tears.
How did I not see the signs? I wondered, feeling guilty.
Police imposed a temporary protection order, preventing Brian from coming within 100 metres of Kelly.
But it wasn’t enough – and Kelly had to report breaches to the police.
‘I’m scared for my life. I’m scared for my children’s lives. We are not safe,’ Kelly frantically told the cops.
Kelly even visited multiple police stations, warning that she was in danger, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
‘You need to get out of that house,’ I begged.
‘My kids go to school down the road. They need stability,’ she reasoned.
Kelly was so fearful that she came up with a secret phrase if she was ever in trouble
So each morning after school drop off, I rang Kelly to make sure she and the kids were safe.
‘I don’t know what he’s planning and it scares me,’ she confided one day.
Kelly was so fearful – and worried that Brian would see her messages – that she came up with a secret phrase within the family to let us know if she was ever in trouble – ‘I’m considering moving back to Ohio’.
‘Just say the word and we’ll come and get you,’ Dad promised.
So when Kelly suggested we go on a bike ride that day in April while Dad looked after the kids, I jumped at the chance.
As the wind whipped through our hair, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her so happy.
I had no idea it would be the last time I ever saw my sweet sister alive.
Just three days later, Dad delivered earth-shattering news on the phone.
‘He killed her,’ Dad sobbed, explaining that Brian’s boss had been in touch when Brian hadn’t shown up for work.
Concerned for Kelly’s safety, Dad drove to Kelly’s house where he learned from neighbours that Brian had set her on fire. He’d then been rushed to hospital after trying to take his own life, and was in an induced coma.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My kind, caring sister was gone.
Despite having five kids of our own, aged between one and 11, my husband Rhys and I didn’t hesitate to take in Kelly’s three children, then eight, six and two, making us a family of 10.
When he regained consciousness, Brian Earl Johnston was charged with murder.
Finally, in February 2024, nearly three years after our precious Kelly’s death, our entire family as well as friends gathered at the Brisbane Supreme Court, where Johnston pleaded guilty to murder via video link.
It was less than a month before his scheduled trial.
READ MORE: Aussie teen’s hell: Her boyfriend kept her in a cage
The court heard that a few days before the vicious attack, Johnston had told a friend, ‘If something happens to me, please will you be the one to tell everyone that I am a good person.’
Just after 3am on April 20, 2021, Johnston went to a petrol station where he filled a 20-litre jerry can with fuel.
Dressed in black clothes and a black face mask, Johnston then turned up at Kelly’s home, breaching his temporary protection order.
Along with the can of petrol, he was also toting a camo bag containing duct tape, zip-ties, and a white powder that contained a sedative.
At about 6.30am, neighbours heard dogs barking and a woman screaming, ‘Please stop!’
Then the kids ran to a neighbour’s house for help. Kelly’s eight-year-old son didn’t realise the masked intruder was his daddy and said, ‘Someone is hurting Mummy.’
Neighbours desperately tried to extinguish the flames, but it was too late.
Johnston brutally stabbed the mother of his children in the neck three times, and also in the chest.
Then, in the backyard, he doused Kelly in petrol and set her on fire. Hearing her scream for her life, neighbours desperately tried to extinguish the flames with a garden hose, but it was too late.
My beautiful sister couldn’t be saved.
At the sentencing hearing, Justice Applegarth said, ‘Kelly Wilkinson was burnt to death by you.’
‘You may have simply wanted to kill her because you had lost control of her and thought she should be your possession…
‘Whatever your deluded and antediluvian beliefs, Kelly Wilkinson was not yours to control,’ the judge added, calling the heinous murder ‘premeditated’.
Reading aloud my victim impact statement, I looked Brian Johnston straight in the eyes.
‘All Kelly wanted was love and to be loved, and all you gave her was pure evil,’ I said, as he cowardly avoided my gaze.
In March 2024, Brian Earl Johnston, then 37, was sentenced to jail for life, with a non-parole period of 20 years.
He was served an additional three-year sentence for breaching his domestic violence order.
While it was a relief knowing he would be put away behind bars, I couldn’t help but feel that it was Kelly’s three beautiful kids who’d received a life sentence.
Now four years on, the kids, aged 12, 10 and six, have made our house home and Kelly is never too far from our thoughts.
On her birthday each year we cut a cake, eat Kelly’s favourite strawberry Freddo Frogs, decorate the house with handmade decorations and sing ‘Happy birthday’.
‘We wish you were here, Mummy,’ her kids say.
Three years ago, in 2022, I established the Kelly Wilkinson Foundation, to provide support for secondary victims of domestic violence, particularly the children left behind.
This one’s for you Kel, I thought, proud of how far we’d come.
We’ve also launched ‘Kelly’s long lunch’ held annually on the first Friday in August, to raise funds and honour the incredibly special person Kelly was.
Looking back, I wish I’d asked her more questions while I had the chance.
Maybe if I had, Kelly would still be here with us.
She’ll forever be in our hearts.
