The bodies were moved to the Gilbert's hotel and at 4pm Dr. Von Lossberg, the Government Medical Officer at Ipswich arrived and between 4-5pm began an autopsy. Michael had been shot and struck with a blunt instrument on the right side of the head. Theresa 'Ellen' had her skull fractured by two blows to the left side of her head. The wounds and position of the bodies when found indicated that Michael and Theresa 'Ellen' were sitting upright and back-to-back when struck. Norah had also been struck on the left side of her head, pulverising her skull to the extent that her brain was protruding. In addition, Norah had a harness strap tied around her neck, tight enough to have caused death. It is alleged that both women had been "outraged" (raped). In the absence of semen, based on the evidence of Sergeant Arrell that he found a pool of blood, which turned the soil to mud and stuck to the underside of the rug on which Nora's body was found, it appears that both women had been raped with the brass-mounted handle of a whip. An extensive police search for the whip met with negative results.