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Matthew Neary: WA Police detectives nominated for award after tracking down driver after 2020 hit-run death

Major Crash detectives have revealed how a late-night disturbance involving kids at a McDonald’s restaurant and a perfectly-timed surveillance operation helped solve a hit-and-run mystery that killed a Rockingham father of nine. In the early hours of November 22, 2020, Matthew Neary was alone and drunk when he was struck by a car while walking home from his niece’s 21st birthday party. The 37-year-old’s final moments were in the northbound lanes of Mandurah Road, north of the Dampier Drive intersection, out of view from nearby CCTV cameras. After years of public appeals for answers from Mr Neary’s heartbroken family, it wasn’t until last year that detectives delivered justice to his loved ones. Those investigators — including Detective Sergeant Ollie Edwards, Detective Senior Sergeant Hugh Le Tessier and Detective Senior Constable Glenn Burley — proved a then 17-year-old boy was driving a Nissan Navara that hit the father and left him to die. The Major Crash Investigation Unit are finalists for a State Award at the 2026 WA Police Recognition of Excellence (ROE) Awards for their pivotal role in the case, code-named Operation Aground. Winners for are announced on Friday night. In an exclusive interview with The West Australian, Det. Sgt. Edwards and officer-in-charge of the Major Crash investigation section Det. Sen. Sgt. Le Tessier revealed how investigators were able to narrow down which car was involved before arresting the driver. Det. Sgt. Edwards said identifying the car occurred after comprehensive CCTV analysis which factored in the speed of sound on a 14°C night. After analysing sounds of the collision and passing cars recorded on several cameras including grainy CCTV from 800m away, detectives determined that a white four-wheel drive was likely to have struck Mr Neary. Det. Sgt. Edwards said investigators leaned on the expertise of the Major Crime division’s intelligence officers to list all white four-wheel drives registered to addresses within a particular radius of the crash site. One of those vehicles on the list — which had distinctive features already spotted on CCTV — was captured by an automatic number-plate reader inside a police car parked at a McDonald’s on the night before the crash. “Police had responded to a disturbance involving two juveniles who were at McDonald’s nearby the night before the crash,” Det. Sgt. Edwards said. “They were dealing with juveniles in the car park, and the Nissan has gone to drive past . . . the officer has then framed it in his body worn camera. Then we confirmed who made the purchase, through the McDonalds’ drive-through.” “We were confident that was the vehicle . . . but the crux of our investigation was putting a bum in that seat, seeing who was driving the vehicle at that time of the crash.” Det. Sen. Sgt. Le Tessier said a document “about 90 pages long” had been obtained by detectives in late 2024 which listed people who were in the location of the crash at the time, according to cellphone data. Further analysis led Det. Sen. Const. Burley to identify a group of young adults from the same school who had attended a leavers party before the crash. They then formed part of a list of potential witnesses. Instead of seizing the car straight away, Det. Sen. Sgt. Le Tessier said police watched the car’s movement before and after a press conference revealing its distinctive features. “It was located at a home address, we found it at a few work locations, and it still had the decal (vinyl stickers) on one side and nothing on the other side, so that obviously gave us thought for a strategy whereby we release it in the media and go quite hard and see if the suspect does anything to alter the car to try and disguise it, which would be indicative of guilty mind.” On April 29, 2025, Det. Sen. Sgt. Le Tessier shared reconstructed images of the Nissan and placed a particular emphasis on the distinctive car features. He appealed for anyone who was inside the car at the time to come forward. By the end of the press conference, WA Police officers were already watching the suspect’s every move. “We’re not going to disguise the fact that we had police officers that were observing the vehicle post (after) the press conference, post the media release, that captured the suspect leaving work early, going home, scraping the decal off the side of the car,” Det. Sen. Sgt. Le Tessier continued. Within hours of the conference a person also walked into a southern suburbs police station before offering investigators crucial information about the crash, which ultimately saw them receive a financial reward which can’t be disclosed. From 4pm on the day of the press conference until the next morning, three search warrants were conducted by major crash detectives. And after obtaining multiple witness statements, the driver was arrested as he ducked out from his worksite on a lunch break. Det. Sgt. Edwards said the moments leading up to the arrest, executed in the Perth CBD by Det Sen. Const. Burley, occurred the day after the press conference in an “extremely rapid way”. “Our plan for the media engagement was for him to do that (to his car) and to bring forward people and speak to witnesses, and we anticipated it would plan play out over three to four days,” he said. “We were just quite fortunate that it all happened in an extremely rapid way, that we just had the investigative continuity from from go to woe.” The driver was jailed for 12 months, aged 22, in Perth Children’s Court in September 2025. He was released on parole after serving six months. The driver was not charged for causing Mr Neary’s death, but instead failing to stop and render assistance of an incident causing death. His identity cannot be published because he was sentenced as a juvenile. Mr Neary’s cousin, Brody Rodgers, told The West that he remembers the day detectives arrested the suspect “like it was yesterday”. “I can’t speak highly enough of the detectives. They were true to their word — it was solvable,” he said. “I remember the day that I got that phone call to say that someone was in custody, like it was yesterday, and it just felt like a massive relief off my shoulders and also off the family’s shoulders. “We were all still missing Matthew, but now it’s just just a matter of trying to navigate life and get through life as good as possible, and to share his memories that we have with him.” Anyone with information about an incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. Any reports can be made anonymously.

The West Australian exclusiveMatthew Neary: WA Police detectives nominated for award after tracking down driver after 2020 hit-run death

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Matthew Neary: WA Police detectives nominated for award after tracking down driver after 2020 hit-run death