Full name Robert Lane Name Bob Lane Nickname(s) Rocky Role Australian footballer | Original team(s) Kerang Died 1979 Height/Weight 188 cm / 85.5 kg | |
Date of birth (1946-02-12)12 February 1946 Date of death 13 July 1979(1979-07-13) (aged 33) | ||
Bob "Rocky" Lane (12 February 1946 – 13 July 1979) was an Victorian police detective who was murdered in the line of duty. He was also Australian rules footballer who played 2 senior games with Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Lane, who hailed from Kerang, had joined the Victoria Police before he was recruited to Carlton. Former teammates remember him turning up to training in his police uniform. He managed only the briefest of opportunities at the VFL level, coming on late in the last quarter in both of his appearances. He transferred to Williamstown, and later transferred to the country as his career progressed. Lane captain-coach Lake Boga and later Lalbert in the Mid Murray Football League
On 13 July 1979, working as a Detective Senior Constable with Victoria Police, Lane accompanied a suspect to a campsite across the state border at Kyalite New South Wales. While searching the caravan, the suspect shot Lane twice in the head with a rifle that he had previously hidden, killing him instantly. Following a massive manhunt involving both Victorian and New South Wales police members, the suspect was apprehended 7 days later after he had dumped the police car in the river, and was sentenced to life in prison. He was released just 13 years later.
Lane left behind a wife and two daughters.