Backpacker murders
| Ivan Milat | |
|---|---|
Ivan Milat's 1971 mug shot
|
|
| Born |
Ivan Robert Marko Milat 27 December 1944 Guildford, New South Wales, Australia |
| Other names | The Backpacker Killer The Backpacker Murderer |
| Criminal penalty | 7 consecutive life sentences plus 18 years without parole |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 7 |
|
Span of killings
|
1989–1993 |
| Country | Australia |
| State(s) | New South Wales |
|
Date apprehended
|
22 May 1994 |
The backpacker murders were a spate of serial killings that took place in New South Wales, Australia, between 1989 and 1993, committed by Ivan Milat. The bodies of seven missing young people aged 19 to 22 were discovered partially buried in the Belanglo State Forest, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south west of the New South Wales town of Berrima. Five of the victims were foreign backpackers visiting Australia (three German, two British), and two were Australian travellers from Melbourne.
Milat was convicted of the murders 27 July 1996 and is currently serving seven consecutive life sentences as well as 18 years without parole at the maximum-security Goulburn Correctional Centre.
On 19 September 1992, two runners discovered a decaying corpse while orienteering in the Belanglo State Forest. The following day, police constables Roger Gough and Suzanne Roberts discovered a second body 30 metres (98 ft) from the first. Early media reports suggested that the bodies were of missing British backpackers Caroline Clarke and Joanne Walters, who had disappeared from the inner Sydney suburb of Kings Cross in April 1992. However, a German couple, Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Habschied, had also disappeared from the Kings Cross area some time after Christmas 1991, and Simone Schmidl, also from Germany, had been reported missing for more than a year. It was also possible that the bodies were of a young Victorian couple, Deborah Everist and James Gibson, who had been missing since leaving Frankston in 1989.
Police quickly confirmed, however, that the bodies were those of Clarke and Walters. Walters had been stabbed 14 times. She had been stabbed 4 times in the chest, once in the neck, and 9 times in the back. The stab wounds to her spine would have paralyzed her. Clarke had been shot 10 times in the head. The police believe she had been used as target practice. There were groups of wounds on the back of her head and on either side. Despite a thorough search of the forest over the following five days, no further evidence or bodies were found by police. Investigators ruled out the possibility of further discoveries within Belanglo State Forest.
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