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'I was in shock. I didn't believe it'

The first time Brenda Lin heard that her entire family had been murdered was through a website link sent to her over Facebook.

She was 15 years old at the time and travelling overseas on a school trip to New Caledonia.

“That’s my house,” she says in Sunday Night’s chilling premiere episode, recalling the image of her two-storey home attached to the top of the news article.

Reading the story, Brenda learned of the horror that had taken place on July 18, 2009, leaving her as an orphan and the only surviving member of her immediate family.

'That's my house': Brenda Lin first heard of the massacre over Facebook.
'That's my house': Brenda Lin first heard of the massacre over Facebook.

“It was such a surreal sort of feeling,” she tells host Melissa Doyle.

“I think I was in so much shock. I didn’t believe it.”

After catching the first flight home, Brenda was met by police at the airport, who escorted her to a private room where her aunt Kathy and uncle Robert were waiting.

Robert Xie took Brenda into his home after her mother, father, aunt and brothers were slain.
Robert Xie took Brenda into his home after her mother, father, aunt and brothers were slain.

“As soon as I saw my aunt she gave me this massive hug. She was crying as well and I think that’s when I knew it was all real,” she says.

For the next two years Brenda lived with Kathy and Robert, unaware that one of her new guardians was behind the senseless slaughter of her family.

“He was definitely not a murderer in my eyes,” Brenda says. “He was just an uncle.”

Brenda said she never suspected Xie was behind the murders.
Brenda said she never suspected Xie was behind the murders.

On May 5 2011, Robert Xie was arrested and charged with the murders of Brenda’s mother, father, aunt and two younger brothers.

But justice was still six years away.

Watch Brenda Lin’s full interview Sunday, 8:30pm.