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Sef Gonzales (born 16 September 1980) is a Filipino Australian murderer who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the July 2001 murders of his father Teodoro "Teddy" Gonzales (46), his mother Mary Loiva Gonzales (43), and his sister Clodine Gonzales (18), in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. As a result of notoriety surrounding the sale of the house where the crimes occurred, the New South Wales government made it illegal to not disclose information related to the history of a property.
The Gonzales family appeared to be close-knit: the parents, however, were devout Catholics who had high hopes and strict expectations for their children. In particular, they had hoped their son would perform well academically, give up his musical and singing aspirations, and embark on a career in medicine or law. After attending Parramatta Marist High School, Gonzales studied medical science at the University of New South Wales but withdrew after two years. He then enrolled in law at Macquarie University.
Performing poorly in his courses and at risk of expulsion, Gonzales tried to cover up his failure by falsifying his grades. When this was revealed by his sister to their parents, they threatened to withdraw certain privileges such as the use of his prized car, a green Ford Festiva. Gonzales also argued with his mother over a girlfriend of whom she disapproved, and his family threatened to disinherit him. This, along with Gonzales' desire to inherit the family's assets, were later established by police as motives for killing his family.
At around 6:00p.m., Gonzales' maternal aunt visited the house. She noted her nephew's and sister's cars in the driveway, but the house was dark and unusually quiet (especially given that the family kept six small dogs inside). Looking into the house, she noticed movement, and left with her son after deciding not to enter via the garage. Teddy then arrived home at about 6:50p.m. After he entered the house, Gonzales attacked him with one of the kitchen knives and inflicted multiple stab wounds to his neck, chest, back and abdomen. One of the stab wounds penetrated his right lung, another penetrated his heart and another partially severed his spinal cord. Teddy sustained , suggesting that there was a struggle.
After killing his family, Gonzales disposed of the murder weapons and the clothing and the size7 running shoes he was wearing at the time of the murders. He showered, changed clothes, and the words "Fuck off Asians" on a wall in the house in an attempt to fool investigating police into believing that his family had been the victims of a hate crime. Gonzales then drove to a friend's house, arriving there about 8:00p.m. The two then went to the Sydney central business district, where they ate at Planet Hollywood and visited a nearby video game arcade. Later in the evening, after dropping his friend off, Gonzales returned home. He called emergency services at 11:48p.m. to say he had discovered the bodies. Gonzales had also frantically run to his neighbours' house and told them that his parents had been shot.
Based on the initial evidence, NSW Police investigators assumed that the murders were part of a robbery attempt. However, there was no sign of intrusion or a forced entry, and despite some superficial ransacking, nothing of value was missing, including the cash in the victims' possession. Also, given the three-hour duration of the crimes, it was deemed unlikely that thieves would remain in the house for that long. Police also noticed an emotional detachment and many inconsistencies in Gonzales' story, such as claims of performing CPR, and thus began to suspect that he was involved. Gonzales' clothes, for example, were found to have the same paint used to spray the graffiti and a shoe box in his room matched the shoes used in the attack. Based on this, Gonzales' internet records were searched, his phone calls began to be recorded, and he was befriended and surveilled by an undercover policeman.
In December 2001, police were able to disprove Gonzales' first alibi, that he waited in his car in the driveway before driving to another suburb and later meeting his friend on the night of the murders. Gonzales then constructed a second alibi, claiming he had taken a taxi (as his car may have been recognised) and visited a brothel at the time of the murders, but this was discredited by both the supposed taxi driver and a sex worker. Other false trails included the fabrication of an e-mail that implicated a business rival of Teddy in the murders and the staging of an attempted burglary on 30 May. A breakthrough came when Gonzales' fingerprint was matched to a series of product poisoning letters which matched address searches on his personal computer. Other evidence indicated his research into poisons, the ordering of toxic-plant seeds, and recent unexplained poisoning-like illnesses in his family. On 13 June 2002, detectives from Strike Force Tawas arrested Gonzales.
On 20 May 2004, Gonzales was found guilty of all four charges. He was sentenced on 17 September 2004 to three concurrent without parole for the murders. Justice Bruce James remarked that, "I consider that the murders show features of very great heinousness and that there are no facts mitigating the objective seriousness of the murders and hence the murders fall within the worst category of cases of murder at common law." In June 2007, Gonzales was granted approval to appeal his conviction and his sentence. The Supreme Court determined that statements taken from Gonzales by police on the night of the murders may be inadmissible, as he was not cautioned. On 27 November 2007, the appeal was dismissed as there had been no miscarriage of justice, and his convictions remained.
In March 2021, Gonzales failed in his third attempt to get a special inquiry into his convictions for the murders. Previous applications for a special inquiry into his convictions were dismissed in 2018 and 2019.
In August 2025, Gonzales won the right to appeal due to the investigators' discovery of his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a disorder which Gonzales himself had previously refused to acknowledge in the original murder trial.
LJ Hooker initially refused to reverse the sale as they had no legal obligation of disclosure, but eventually refunded the buyers' A$80,000 deposit due to the bad publicity it caused. The company was also fined A$21,000 by the NSW Office of Fair Trading. After this incident, the NSW government made it illegal to "fail to disclose information that could have a substantial impact on the value of a property". In November 2005, the house was sold for A$720,000 (A$80,000 less than the previous price) to a buyer who was informed of its history.
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