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| For some people this is more than something to watch * |
If like me you do a lot of research into unexplained deaths that usually involve murderers and serial killers, there are 2 words that constantly come up -
Hitchhiker and backpacker
I would say those what are only second to sex worker when it comes to how often they come up. You're more likely to become a victim it seems if either of those three words or all of them can be applied to you.
Too often hitchhiker's and backpackers are the one being targeted by evil men with murder and often rape on their mind. Of course there are a few women who feature in that mix - usually women who have committed unspeakable crimes with their male partners.
On a few occasions these women have even been the instigators behind the violence as has been suggested in the case of Rose West.
The movie and subsequent TV show Wolf Creek, is something we can choose to watch or not. But in the case of eight young people (and quite possibly many more) who were backpacking around Australia at different times, it became a terrifying reality that resulted in all but one of their horrific deaths at the hands of a cowardly psychopath called Ivan Milat.
The cowardly serial killer
He would stab his victims in the back to paralyze them before raping and stabbing or shooting them brutally to death as they lay there helpless as babies.
It's hard to think of a more cowardly way to kill people. But that's the one thing that unites all serial killers - cowardice.
Seven young people are known to have died at his hands, most of them who were hitchhiking and backpacking in pairs because they thought it was safer.
December 1989 - April 1992
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| The lives that were stolen by a sadist |
Seven backpackers who were also hitchhiking, went missing during these dates. Most were in pairs. Their bodies were all discovered at different times in Belanglo State Forest, which is south-west of Sydney.
Best friends Deborah Everist and James Gibson (both Australian and 19), disappeared in December 1989. They had travelled from their home city of Melbourne and planned to attend a conservation festival. They never made it.
Simone Schmidl (from Germany and aged 20), disappeared in January 1991. Apart from the one who got away who we'll find about later, Simone was the only one who was travelling alone. She was planning to meet up with her mum who was coming over from Germany. Her mum never saw her again. She was known to her friends as Simi.
Childhood sweethearts Gabor Neugebauer, 21 and Anja Habschied 20 (both from Germany), disappeared in January 1992. Friends say that Gabor was strong and it would have taken a lot to subdue him but police believe terrified that his girlfriend would be hurt he had complied with his killer who had promised to let them go as serial killers often do to get people's compliance.
Caroline Clarke, 21, Joanne Walters, 22 (both from the UK), disappeared in April 1992. They had met and become friends whilst they had been backpacking. The only consolation to their families was they were together when they died.
All of these people with their whole life ahead of them, had two things in common - they had all stayed in Sydney backpacker's hostels and that had started the horrendous chain of events that would lead to their deaths In a forest far away from help.
Escape from a killer
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| The guy who got away |
Someone as pathetic as this killer doesn't deserve to have his name remembered. So instead I would like to concentrate on the one who got away. A man whose testimony and ID of the killer ensured the beast was caged at last.
Paul Onions from the West Midlands in the UK should have been the 8th victim (at least that the police know of). Instead, he was the one who got away.
He was backpacking around Australia when he met a man he thought was a nice, ordinary bloke but that man was a serial killer. He accepted a lift and it almost cost him his life.
The stranger started fidgeting about in the car and when he came out with a gun and then some rope, Mr Onions wasn't paralyzed by fear. He was jolted into action, undoing his seatbelt he leapt out of the car under gunfire. He would probably have been done for for one thing as a bullet could stop Usain Bolt - a car just happened to be passing by and he jumped inside.
Without the car being there and the woman inside wth her children helping him it's doubtful he would still have been alive. But Mr onions is still deserving of our respect and admiration for not losing his head and saving his own life by getting out of that car.
Brave Mr Onions was probably not the only one who got away. Australian police also believe that the serial killer claimed more victims that they have still to find.
Paul Onions was in court to testify against the man who tried to kill him and was there when he was sentenced to life for the 7 other murders and for his own attempted murder.
We will never know how many people died at the hands of the sneering killer because he died in hospital of cancer and didn't reveal anymore about the ones he killed.
Did he have an accomplice?
There have been suggestions that Milat did not act alone and that he had an accomplice - possibly even a family member. Could ge be part of the first known serial killer family?
We'll never know as Milat is dead and surely if there's any justice at all, he will be rotting in hell.
*NOTE - Wolf Creek is very, very loosley based on the murders and should not be treated as an reinactment.
