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Ivan Milat

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“ I could ask, how could they let a 14-year-old run around at midnight? ”
— Milat about Amanda Robinson

Ivan Robert Marko Milat a.k.a. The Backpacker Murderer is a Croatian-Australian serial killer/rapist and abductor responsible for multiple murders of locals and international tourists backpacking in New South Wales. Milat has been convicted of seven murders, yet is suspected of dozens more across the late 20th century.

Background and Early Crimes[]

Milat was the fifth of fourteen children to Stjepan Milat and Elizabeth Peddleston, his father being the son of a Croatian-born laborer. Long poor, the family lived primarily in Liverpool and stressed their children have Catholic upbringings and educations. The family was mired with problems, due to Stjepan's alcoholism and the boys collecting guns and knives, particularly for target practice in their backyards. Milat was sent to boarding school after his increasing violence peaked at him hacking animals with machetes. On March 6, 1962, taxi driver Neville Knight was shot and rendered paraplegic in an attempted robbery, Allan Dillon being wrongfully convicted and serving five years imprisonment. Milat's brother Boris reported Milat for the crime, and investigators accepted the conclusion Milat was the shooter. After a history of property crimes in his teens and early adult years, on April 7, 1981, Milat abducted two hitchhiking women at knifepoint and raped one of the, but they escaped at a gas station. Milat also participated in a series of armed robberies and faked his suicide at The Gap, a known suicide site, to avoid trial. Milat entered New Zealand with a fake passport and lived there for two years, but returned to Australia when his mother had a heart attack in 1984, during which he was arrested. John Marsden, the family's lawyer, ensured all the cases were dropped. Milat began work in long-haul truck driving and the Roads and Traffic Authority in 1974, maintaining the job for 20 years. He married Karen Duck while she was still a teenager and having a baby conceived with Milat's cousin. They had their own son, and in 1987, Karen divorced Milat on arguments of domestic violence, an obsession with guns, and even shooting kangaroos. Milat attempted to rape and murder two more women in Liverpool in 1976, but he was never charged.

Murders[]

Numerous backpackers, local and international, disappeared from the state from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. However, many theories suggest Milat began killing as far back as the 1970s.

Deborah Everist and James Gibson were never seen again after leaving ConFest in December 1989. Gibson's camera and backpack were found at Galston Gorge as long as month after their disappearances. On January 25, 1990, Paul Onions, a British citizen, was picked up by a man giving his name as "Bill" while Onions was hitchhiking. The man pulled out a revolver and rope and prepared to rob, and presumably murder, Onions, but he escaped, even narrowly when "Bill" fired at him. Motorist Joanne Berry took him to the Bowral police, and they described the attacker and his vehicle.

German national Simone Schmidl went missing in January 1991 after leaving Sydney, hoping to meet her mother at a Melbourne airport. German couple Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Habschied vanished from their hostel at Kings Cross in December 1991. Caroline Clarke and Joanne Walters, also British citizens, also went missing after leaving Kings Cross in April 1992, hoping to go fruit picking at Adelaide and Darwin. Runners discovered Clark and Walters dead in the Belanglo National Forest in September 1992, a man collecting firewood finding Gibson and Everist reduced to skeletons in October 1993. Schmidl, Habschied, and Neugebauer were found in November, Habschied missing her head, which was never found.

This led to an ensuing investigation for a serial killer by Task Force Air, the stage government offering A$500,000 for information on the murders. A profile of the killer was developed, and link analysis reduced the list to 32 suspects. It was particularly believed multiple killers were responsible, as it seemed unlikely for one killer to subdue people in pairs, and their murders happened in different ways. Task Force Air looked back at numerous unsolved disappearances and murderers, fearing the killer was guilty of more violence, compiling dozens of names of victims from Australia, the U.S., England, Germany, Italy, and New Zealand. By the time authors and journalists got wind of Milat's case, they found even more cold cases. Milt was tied to crimes from various circumstantial details, including M.O., vicinity of employment, and witness descriptions.

Keren Rowland, who was pregnant, didn't show up to her motel in Canberra in February 1971. She was found reduced to bones in May at the Air Disaster Memorial. In July 1972, graphic art students Anita Cunningham and Robyn Hoinville-Bartram were hitchhiking to Queensland, only for Cunningham to disappear and Hoinville-Bartram to be found murdered at Sensible Creek. In October 1973, Gabrielle Jahnke and Michelle Rilet were found murdered off the Pacific Highway. German-born Lydia Notz disappeared on Halloween 1976 from Chapel Hill, Narelle Mary Cox from Brunswick Heads in July 1977. In May 1978, American-born Barbara Carol Brown left her boyfriend's home in Beecroft to hitchhike to Perth and was never heard from again. In August, Stephen Lapthorne and Michelle Pope were leaving a green Bedford from Lapthorne's home in West Pymble. They and their car have never been located, but authorities still believe they need to look for their remains in the Ki-ring-gai Chase Naiotnal Park.

In December 1978, Leanne Goodall disappeared from the Star Hotel in Newcastle, being formally reported missing in February of the next year. In January 1979, Alan Martin Fox and Anneke Adriaansen were last seen hitchhiking at Byron Bay, Robyn Hickie going missing in April near her home in Belmont North and Amanda Robinson disappearing later that month after leaving a high school dance in Gatesville. Toni Maree Cavanagh and Kay Docherty went to a disco in Wollongong in July, the last time they were seen alive. A questionable letter with a Darlinghurst return addresses was sent in August saying they were in Sydney.

Kim Cherie Teer vanished from East Melbourne in September, Amanda Zolis disappearing from Hamilton in October, after calling her father and asking for clothes so she could take a trip to Queensland. In January 1980, Annette Briffa was hitchhiking in Asquith, reportedly last seen alive entering an orange car. Elaine Johnson and Kerry Anne Joel went missing from Cronulla in February, Deborah Balken and Gillian Jamieson from a Parramatta tavern in June. The majority of the disappearances in the Hunter Region were originally believed to by another serial killer, but Milat remains a credible suspect.

Joanne Lacey and Lesley David Toshak left Sydney for hitchhiking in April 1981, coinciding with the disappearance of numerous couples in the area during the 70s and 80s. Susan Isenhood disappeared in October 1985 after leaving the Stag and Hunter Hotel. Her bones were found in the Kiwarrak State Forest in 1986. Peter Lechter disappeared in November 1987 while hitchhiking to his family's home, then was found dead at the Jenolan Caves in January of next year.

Carmen Verheyden disappeared from the Crossroads Hotel on Hume Highway in March 1991. Dianne Pennacchio left the Lake George Hotel in Bungedore in September 1991, then found murdered in the Tallaganda State Forest in November. Melony Merrille Sutton and Chad Everett Sutton disappeared from school in Inala in November 1992, having intended to hitchhike to their father in Perth. They were last seen at the Belanglo National Forest.

Arrest, Trial, and Matthew Milat[]

Police surveyed the Milat house starting in February 1994, and Onions positively identified Milat as the attacker he encountered. Milat was arrested in May, where caches of weapons and belongings of the victims found at the Belanglo National Forest were recovered, the latter which were also found in homes of his family members. Milat entered no plea and fired Marsden and wanted legal aid for his defense. His brothers Richard and Walter were arrested for possession of weapons, drugs, and stolen property. Mark Tedeschi prosecuted Milat, who always believed he'd be found innocent. His defense tried to point the blame at the rest of his family. In July 1996, Milat was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to multiple life sentences without parole, along with multiple six-year prison sentences for attacking Onions.

Milat was transferred to Maitland Gaol, where another inmate beat him the first day. Milat tried to escape with drug dealer George Savvas, but the plan went south when Savvas was found hanged in his cell. In 1997, Milat tried and failed to appeal his sentence under arguments of his rights to legal representation being denied. Milat filed numerous other failed appeals into the 2000s. Milat was transferred to the High Risk Management Corrections Centre in 2001, the public being outraged when Milat was found to have privileges to items in his cell. In addition to controversial publicity, Milat also has merchandise sold derived from him, as a far a manufactured action figure, and inspired the Wolf Creek horror film series. In 2005, Marsden named Milat's sister Shirley Soire an accomplice in murders of two British people, but she's never been charged. Milat has publicly denied his family was involved in the murders.

Matthew Milat

Milat's nephew, Matthew Milat

Milat had a lengthy history of self-harm in prison. In 2001, he swallowed multiple metal objects, such as razor blades and staples. In 2009, Milat cut off his finger to mail to the High Court and push them to accept his appeals. Doctors at Goulburn Base Hospital determined they couldn't reattach his finger. In 2011, Milat went on a nine-day hunger strike to get a PlayStation console, which failed. In 2019, Milat was diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer, which metastasized to his stomach. He was transferred to Price of Wales Hospital for treatment, then to the Long Bay Correctional hospital wing. Even when questioned by investigators on his deathbed, Milat never gave a formal confession to murder. He died aged 74 on October 27. he sent a letter demanding the state government pay for his funeral, so they instead ordered his cremation to be paid for from is prison account.

Milat's great-nephew Matthew colluded with Cohen Klein in November 2010 to kill an acquaintance, David Auchterlonie, on his seventeenth birthday Belanglo National Forest, the same forest Milat used as a burial ground. Matthew killed him with an ax while Klein took an audio recording of the murder on his phone. Matthew got 43 years imprisonment, Klein 23 years imprisonment, in 2012.

Modus Operandi[]

Milat targeted Australian and international citizens backpacking typically along the Hume Highway. Milat would either lure them with a ruse of offering them a ride if they were hitchhiking or forcibly abduct them off a roadside, then drive them to isolated locations in the Belanglo State Forest. Milat would cut the victims' spines to paralyze them and prevent them from escaping, then, in the case of the women, rape them. Milat killed the victims by various means, including shooting, stabbing, beating, and with one woman, decapitation. Their remains were buried at the scenes of the murders in shallow graves.

Known Victims[]

The following dates denote when each of the victims disappeared:

Confirmed

  • Australia:
    • April 7, 1971, Liverpool: Two unidentified hitchhikers, 18 (abducted at knifepoint, raping one of them; they escaped)
    • 1977, Liverpool: Two unidentified hitchhikers (attempted; they escaped)
    • December 30 1989, Albury: (both found on October 5, 1993 in the Belanglo National Forest)
      • Deborah Everist, 19 (raped, beaten and slashed in her head, the stabbed in her back)
      • James Gibcon, 19 (cut his upper spine and stabbed eight times in his back and chest; buried in a fetal position)
    • January 25, 1990, Casula: Paul Onions, 21 (abducted; held at gunpoint, and attempted to bind, rob, and presumably kill; he escaped)
    • January 20, 1991, Sydney: Simone Schmidl, 21 (raped and stabbed eight times in her spine and upper body; found on November 1, 1993, in the Belanglo National Forest)
    • December 26, 1991, Kings Cross: (both found on November 4, 1993, in the Belanglo National Forest)
      • Gabor Neugebauer (bound and shot in his head six times)
      • Anja Habscheid (raped and beheaded; her head was never found)
    • April 18, 1992, Kings Cross: (both found on September 19, 1992, in the Belanglo National Forest)
      • Caroline Clarke (raped and shot ten times in her head)
      • Joanne Walters (raped, cut her spine, and stabbed fifteen times in her neck, chest, and back)

Suspected

  • Australia:
    • February 29, 1971, Canterra: Keren Rowland, 21 (found on May 3, 1971 at the Air Disaster Memorial; was pregnant at the time of of her death)
    • July 4, 1972, Melbourne:
      • Anita Cunningham, 19 (her remains were never found)
      • Robyn Hoinville-Bartam, 18 (found at Sensible Creek; shot in her head with a .22 rifle)
    • October 5, 1973, Brisbane: (both found off the Pacific Highway)
      • Gabrielle Jahnke, 18
      • Michelle Riley, 16
    • October 31, 1976, Queensland: Lydia Notz, 21 (her remains were never found)
    • July 20, 1977, Brunswick Heads: Narelle Mary Cox, 21 (her remains were never found)
    • 1978:
    • May 17, Beecroft: Barbara Carol Brown, 22 (her remains were never found)
    • August 25, West Pymble: (their remains were never found)
      • Stephen Lapthorne, 20
      • Michelle Pope, 18
    • December 30, Muswellbrook: Leanne Goodall, 20 (her remains were never found)
    • 1979:
      • January 11, Berowra Heights: (their remains were never found)
        • Alan Martin Fox, 22
        • Anneke Adriaansen, 17
      • April 7, Belmont North: Robyn Hickie, 18 (her remains were never found)
      • April 21, Gateshead: Amanda Robinson, 14 (her remains were never found)
      • July 27, Wollongong: (their remains were never found)
        • Toni Maree Cavanagh, 15
        • Kay Docherty, 16
      • September, East Melbourne: Kim Cherie Teer (her remains were never found)
      • October 12, Hamilton: Amanda Zolis, 16 (her remains were never found)
    • 1980:
      • January 10, Asquith: Anette Briffa, 18 (her remains were never found)
      • February 1, Cronulla: (their remains were never found)
        • Elaine Johnson, 17
        • Kerry Anne Joel, 18
      • June 12, Parramatta: (their remains were never found)
        • Deborah Balken, 20
        • Gillian Jamieson, 20
    • April 20, 1981, Sydney: (their remains were never found)
      • Joanne Lacey, 20
      • Lesley David Toshak, 20
    • October 2, 1985, Newcastle: Susan Isenwood, 22 (her remains were found in 1986 in the Kiwarrak State Forest)
    • November 13, 1987, Bathurst: Peter Letcher, 18 (found on January 21, 1988 at the Jenolan Caves; handcuffed, raped, stabbed repeatedly in his back, and shot five times in his head)
    • 1991:
      • March 10, Casula: Carmen Verheyden, 22 (her remains were never found)
      • September 6, Kings Highway: Dianne Pennacchio, 29 (found on November 13, 1991 in the Tallaganda State Forest; raped and stabbed in her spine)
    • November 23, 1992, Queensland: (their remains were never found)
      • Melony Merrille Sutton, 14
      • Chad Everett Sutton, 16

Note: A 1993 Task Force Air investigation compiled a list of cases leaving Milat suspected of as many as 58 murders.

On Criminal Minds[]

While never directly mentioned or referenced in the franchise, Milat appears to be the inspiration for the following unsubs:

  • Season Two
    • The Mulford Family ("Open Season") - Both are serial killers with families with criminal histories, targeted victims of both genders who were backpacking, had hunting skills they used in their murders, abducted victims before taking them to the woods, left them to be found at the crime scenes, and killed as many as dozens of people (possibly in Milat's case).
  • Season Three
    • Robert Wilkinson ("Birthright") - Both are serial killers and rapists who abused their families, operated in rural areas of their respective home countries, targeted Caucasian victims, abducted them from public locations, raped their female victims, dismembered their victims, at least sometimes doing so antemortem, left their remains in open natural locations, and had family members who were also guilty of murder.
  • Season Nine
    • Joe Bachner ("The Edge of Winter") - Both are serial killers, serial rapists, and abductors with previous records for assault, collected guns as a hobby, targeted male and female victims, tortured them and killed them by stabbing (though Milat also used other means), and were suspected to have accomplices (which was confirmed in Bachner's case).
  • Season Ten
    • "Nelson's Sparrow" - Both are serial killers targeting victims of both genders, primarily women, learned hunting and survival skills that were used in their murders, including marksmanship, abducted victims from public locations with ruses, paralyzed them to hold them captive, and left them in forests after killing them.

On Beyond Borders[]

  • Season One
    • "Love Interrupted" - While never directly mentioned or referenced in the franchise, Milat appears to be an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Antonio Cayetan - Both are serial killers, serial rapists, and abductors targeting couples, including international citizens, abducted their victims from highways, raped the women, killed and mutilated their murder victims with bladed weapons (though Milat also used other means), and left their remains in isolated locations.

Sources[]

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