Serial Killer of the Month: Ivan Milat
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Australia has always been a Mecca for adventurous young backpackers from all over the world, but from 1989 to 1991 a serial killer named Ivan Milat waged a private war against them, savagely torturing and murdering seven young men and women from three different countries.
Ivan Robert Marko Milat, 49, a worker on a road construction team, and had a fascination with guns. A loner with a massive ego, an obsession with cleanliness and a failed marriage behind him, he sought revenge on society by kidnapping, torturing and then executing young tourists. He chose backpackers as his targets as they traveled alone, would not be missed for a very long time and were often eager for a free lift off a friendly driver.
The first of his known victims were a young couple from the state of Victoria named James Gibson and Deborah Everist, who were last heard of on 30th December 1989. Two young British tourists named Joanne Walters and Caroline Clarke were next, disappearing without a trace in April 1992.
Their skeletons were located a short distance apart in the Belanglo State Forest (2 hours South-West of Sydney) in September the same year. Further victims included lone German Traveler Simone Schmidel from Germany, last seen 20th January 1991. Then the last of his known victims were the German couple of Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Habschied who were last seen on 26th December 1991.
Milat’s abductions were well planned. He offered all his victims a friendly face and free lift in his 4WD. He would then overpower them, tie them up, and take them to the Belanglo State Forest where he would spend his time torturing the unlucky victims. He would then shoot or stab them to death. He beheaded Anja Habschied, with police unable to ever locate her head. All the skeletons were found semi-naked, with multiple stab and/or bullet wounds in close proximity.
Milat’s fatal error came about with the failed abduction of the remarkably brave English backpacker named Paul Onions. Milat picked up Onions on 25th January 1991 at the Casula Newsagency, near Liverpool. He offered Onions a lift to Mildura where he was heading to pick fruit. Onions, a seasoned traveler and ex-Navy sailor, thought he was safe enough, and jumped in. After some friendly conversation where Milat introduced himself as “Bill”, Milat turned nasty, complaining about The English Army in Ireland, and there being too many Asians in Australia. Milat then stopped the car, and pulled a revolver on Onions. He tried to escape, but Milat stopped him leaving the truck. Milat then produced rope to tie him up with. Onions realized how close to death he was, and jumped out of the truck. Even though he was parked on a major highway, Milat raced after him, firing shots at him. In desperation Onion threw himself in front of a van, climbed in, and made the driver take him to a Police Station at nearby Bowral. Despite his ordeal, police took little action, and the report was soon forgotten. Onions was later awarded $50,000.00 compensation for his ordeal, which he donated to the families of the deceased.
The murders were causing hysteria all over Australia at this time, and police were given thousands of leads. One came from a workmate of Milat who noticed that he was always on holidays when the backpackers went missing, and how he boasted that stabbing someone was like “cutting a loaf of bread.” This and other leads led police to raid his house in the outer Sydney Suburb of Eagle-Vale in May 1994. In his house they found guns which had fired bullets found in the skeletons, Paul Onion’s backpack and passport, Schmidil’s water-bottle and backpack, a photo of Milat’s girlfriend wearing Clarke’s “Benneton” shirt, bloodstained rope, and a large quantity of guns and knives. Other items belonging to the missing backpackers were found in the home of Milat’s brothers and sisters. The items in Milat’s house were found in many different locations, some of which were concealed in the wall cavities.
Charged with seven counts of murder and the abduction of Paul Onions, Milat said he had “no idea” where the evidence came from, suggesting it was put there by police or one of his brothers. He was found guilty in 1996, and sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole. Large portions of the evidence pointed to Milat using an accomplice, and although there was much speculation about one of his brothers being involved, they have not been arrested or charged, and seem unlikely to be. When his criminal record was revealed, it showed an entry for a double abduction and rape attempt in 1972, which he was found not guilty on a technicality.
There are an abundance of unsolved murders that almost exactly fit the description of Milat’s mode of operation in New South Wales and Queensland, but unless he decides to confess, there seems little chance of these cases ever being solved. Who knows exactly how many young lives this animal took? Milat is destined to spend the rest of his life an inmate of Grafton Maximum Security Prison alone and friendless, and will always be remembered as one of the most evil and despised men in Australia’s short history. He recently tried to escape with a convicted drug trafficker, but their plan was thwarted just before it was to be carried out.
Read more Serial Killer of the Month:
Serial Killer of the Month: Larry Eyler
Serial Killer of the Month: David Berkowitz
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