Mum cared for my dying dad while poisoning him with arsenic-laced lunches reason for callous crime was chilling

ITS something no one expects or wants to ask their own mum: Did you kill Dad?

But that was the question Tracey Moss was forced to ask her mother, Lorraine Whyte, after her dad, John, died aged just 38 after years of declining health which no one could explain.

[Portrait of Tracey Moss, a woman in a colorful blouse, smiling in front of green leaves.]

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[Lorraine Whyte, a killer, with her daughter Tracey and another daughter whose face is pixelated.]

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However, the story started much earlier in 1978.

John, then 33, went from being a healthy man who loved tending the familys vegetable patch and giving piggybacks to his kids to a shell of a figure who was wheelchair-bound in just five years.

But his decline left doctors completely baffled he once visited his GP an astonishing 13 times in two months, but they were clueless.

It was only after old blood tests detailing sky-high levels of arsenic were found the day before his death but too late to save him that the truth unravelled.

[Headshot of murder victim John Moss, a man with dark hair, light-colored eyes, and a slight smile, wearing a suit and tie with a boutonnire, against a brick wall.]

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[Lorraine Whyte and John Moss.]

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Then the sickest details emerged. His wife of 18 years, who he described as a Godsend, had actually been poisoning his lunches. Shockingly, she was slowly killing him so she would be free to date and ultimately marry his colleague.

Now, having released a book about her trauma, Tracey, 59, who was 17 when her dad died in January 1984, says: When he died, he was a shadow of his former self.

She remembers him first falling ill when she was around 12. Originally it would fluctuate, she says. Sometimes hed get better and return to work at a local meat processing facility, only to fall ill again weeks later.

Hed get fatigue, dizziness and numbness in his fingers and toes, writhe with stomach cramps, and experience night sweats and diarrhoea.

Some time into his illness, baffled GPs suggested leptospirosis, a bacterial infection caused by exposure to pigs urine. He was given antibiotics, but they didnt work.

It broke my heart to see him so ill, Tracey, from Victoria, Australia, says.

Mum stayed by his side when he was in hospital as doctors didnt know what was wrong. I stayed with his parents.

When he was at home, Mum became his full-time carer, helping him shower and use the bathroom.

As time progressed, John worsened. Soon he was too weak to sit in chairs, so his wife moved a bed into the lounge.

But it was tough as he continued to deteriorate, going from a walking frame to a wheelchair.

Some Fridays, Mum would wheel Dad to the local pub for a beer with his mates, says Tracey. Dad would call her a Godsend.

Despite his agony, he had a brave outlook. He got on with it and had a positive attitude, says Tracey.

[Book cover for "Who Owns Your Loved One's Grave" featuring a smiling woman, a black and white photo of a man, and a grave marker.]

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[Tracey Moss, a woman in a red top and blazer, smiles at the camera in front of a colorful, floral backdrop.]

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She fondly remembers December 1983 the last Christmas they spent together.

Happily, he was well enough to come home to Victoria. He was in good spirits, despite medication, she says. We spent the next couple of weeks together as a family, sometimes wheeling Dad out into his beloved garden.

However, the familys joy was short-lived. In early 1984, John took a bad turn, with his toe becoming infected and subsequently septic.

Tragically, this time he couldnt rally and died in hospital on January 13, 1984.

I was devastated, says Tracey. I couldnt stop crying for my lovely dad. Mum seemed heartbroken too. Even though hed been ill, it was a huge shock. I didnt expect Dad to die.

Understandably, Tracey was stunned when, four days after her dads death, murder police visited.

Tests carried out on her dad as early as August 1983, but which were lost in the system and only reappeared in his hospital file the day before his death, revealed he had 80 times the normal levels of arsenic in his body.

The detective, who was called Jack Jacobs, told us he needed to find out how it got there, remembers Tracey. I was in disbelief at the idea that my dad could have been poisoned.

In time, Johns funeral was held. But afterwards, her mum became unrecognisable, says Tracey.

She remembers: While she was still visiting the cemetery often, she dyed her dark hair blonde, and started wearing skimpy outfits and more make-up.

And there was another change.

Dads workmate Bobby Whyte began coming around more often. Then, five-and-a-half months after Dad died, Mum asked if wed mind if Bobby moved in.

It was around the same time police returned to take more statements. Tracey says it was clear they suspected her mum.

We all supported her and I asked: Could it have been an accident? But Detective Jacobs said not.

Tracey recalls asking her mum if she did it.

She said: Of course not, dont be so silly. At one stage, she actually turned to me and said: What would you say if I said I’d killed your father?

I replied: I would kill you.

But Mum brushed it off, saying: Well, I didn’t kill him anyway.

Traceys relationship with her mum became fractured. It was like shed turned into a stranger, she says. Bobby moved in, but it felt wrong having another man in Dads house, so I moved out even though I was still only 17.

But she was horrified when, around two years later in July 1986, her mum was charged with her dads murder.

The case was dropped after an inquest said there was insufficient evidence to commit her to trial.

I stopped talking to Mum and in 1990 married my then-husband, welcoming my daughter Brooke two years later, she says. My life was happy.

Until 2000.

It emerged her mum had confessed to killing her dad to someone. Tracey contacted Detective Jacobs, who arrested her mum.

In April 2002, Lorraine Whyte, then 52, appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria and pleaded not guilty to murder.

The court heard that shed poisoned her dad multiple times.

Shockingly, shed even placed arsenic in his work lunches, which he often shared with colleagues, who had fallen violently ill too.

She was found guilty and jailed for 22 years. Court records state how he died from arsenic poisoning.

The deceased had become increasingly incapacitated over a period of many months prior to his death, to the point where he was wheelchair-bound, the records add.

The deceased had had symptoms consistent with the administration of arsenic for several years. It was accepted that, in the last 18 months of his life, the deceased was in excruciating pain. Shortly after the death of the deceased, the appellant began a romantic liaison with Robert Bobby Whyte, who had been a workmate of the deceased.

Judge J Gillard told Whyte: Your wickedness knew no bounds you were not nursing him to health, you were nursing him to certain death.

Tracey continues: What Id suspected for years was now confirmed Mum was a killer. Distraught, I never wanted to hear from her again.

But she encountered a different problem her mum actually had control over her dads grave.

During a visit to Dads grave in February 2023, I noticed damage to his granite plaque, she says. Planning to fix it, I contacted Remembrance Parks Central Victoria, and was told I couldnt authorise repairs because I didnt own the grave Mum did.

Horrified, I couldnt fathom that my fathers killer still had custody of his grave.

“After a 12-month process, my request to transfer ownership was denied. I was told I had to speak with my mother who was released in 2020 and ask her to voluntarily transfer it.

I was furious, but I had no choice. In April 2025, I penned a letter explaining the situation, not knowing if shed ignore it. With many thanks, love Tracey, I signed off.

Two weeks later, I got news that Mum had filed the paperwork and I was granted custody. I broke down in tears of relief.

I wrote to Mum again in February 2026, thanking her for her help.

Explaining why she wrote her book Who Owns Your Loved Ones Grave, which is available now, she says: To cope with losing Dad, Id written my thoughts, feelings and memories down in my diaries years ago.

“I want others to know grave ownership does not automatically pass down through bloodlines a painful truth I learned the hard way. Now Dads truth can finally be told. I am honoured to give my dad the dignity he always deserved. Not a day goes by where I dont think of him.

Buy Traceys book at: https://freemyfamily.com.au

Additional reporting: Helen O’Brien