A Supreme Court jury found Steven Frederick Johnson guilty of murdering Christopher Jarvis.

Friday is a verdict, and the next date is not one kind of hearing in every account. ABC says the jury deliberated four days, that no bail application was made, and that Dec. 14 is a plea hearing. The Standard says the verdict came about 3 p.m. on the fifth day of deliberations and that he was remanded until Dec. 14. The Age says bail was revoked and that Dec. 14 is a pre-sentence hearing. Guilty of murder is the finding all three report. Dec. 14 is not a sentence.

ABC News, The Age and The Standard reported Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, that a Supreme Court jury in Warrnambool found Steven Frederick Johnson, 74, guilty of murdering Christopher Jarvis. ABC reported Jarvis was 38 and has not been seen since he disappeared from his Wangoom home near Warrnambool on June 13, 2006, and that Johnson had pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder. The Standard reported the verdict came about 3 p.m., on the fifth day of deliberations and the 38th day since the trial began, and that Johnson was taken into custody. ABC reported the jury deliberated for four days and that no bail application was made. The Age reported that after the guilty verdict late Friday, Johnson's bail was revoked. The Standard reported he was remanded until a further hearing on Dec. 14, 2026. ABC reported he will return for a plea hearing on Dec. 14. The Age reported a pre-sentence hearing on Dec. 14, and that he was charged in March 2025. ABC reported police reinvestigated a missing-person case and arrested him in 2022. Four days and a plea hearing are ABC. About 3 p.m., the fifth day, and a remand to a further hearing are The Standard. Bail revoked, a pre-sentence hearing, and a March 2025 charge are The Age.

What he said when the verdict came in is not one quotation. The Age reported that when Johnson was asked to state his name, age and occupation, he stood before Justice Andrew Tinney and said, "I was a police officer for 15 years. I served this state, I served the people," before staff intervened. The Age reported he appeared to try to speak to Jarvis's family and that three of them yelled "do not speak to me." The Standard reported he wiped his eyes, told the court he had served Victoria and its people with "all (his) heart," hugged his family, and tried to address the Jarvis family before staff hurried him away. ABC reported Jarvis's family cheered when the verdict was delivered and Johnson's family sat in shock. ABC reported his daughter, Bree, said outside court, "It's been the longest 20 years to finally get what we've wanted — a little bit of closure, so we can hopefully move on," and that his son, Cale, said he hoped Johnson "rots in his dirty little cell for the rest of his life, and thinks about his actions." The Standard named her Bree Jarvis and reported she also said they can hopefully "move on and start again," and reported Cale also said, "Sit there and just suffer ... like we've had to for the last 20 years of our life." The Age's quotation is what he said to Justice Andrew Tinney. The Standard's quotation is the service line it reported. ABC did not print either line.

The killing the court was told about is the prosecution case, and the outlets do not locate the car or the arrest in the same words. ABC reported the court heard Johnson fired a starter pistol in Jarvis's ear, bundled him into his own car, drove him to Framlingham Forest, killed him with a baseball bat and buried him in a shallow grave, and that the car was later found burnt out at a tourist lookout on the coast. ABC reported the attack was the day before a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing over $2,210 in unpaid rent. The Age reported the sum as $2000 in its headline and as $2210 in the account of what senior Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson, KC, told the jury. The Age and The Standard reported the burnt car was at Thunder Point. The Age reported the jury was told Johnson and another man attacked Jarvis in his driveway as he left for work, that Johnson struck him in the back of the head with a starter pistol, held him down, and shot him in the ear, that the men put him in the boot, and that Johnson then struck him with a baseball bat, buried him, and set the car on fire. The Age reported the other man cannot be identified, that he gave evidence, and that defence barrister Patrick Doyle argued that man was responsible and had an incentive to lie. The Standard reported the accomplice told the court Johnson struck Jarvis, put a starter pistol in his ear and pulled the trigger, and that the car was a 1991 silver Ford station wagon. Gibson's motive line, as The Age reported the closing, was: "It's no coincidence that Chris Jarvis went missing the day before that court case." Doyle's argument, as The Age reported it, was that the co-accused was a practised liar. The body has not been found, ABC, The Age and The Standard reported. The guilty verdict is the jury's finding. Dec. 14 is the next date those outlets named, and they do not agree on what kind of hearing it is. He can still ask a higher court to review the verdict. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.