Ivan Milat – who were the Australian serial killer’s victims and how did he die?
AUSTRALIAN serial killer, Ivan Milat was jailed in 1996 for the murders of seven backpackers, including two Brits.
On October 27, 2019 Milat died in the medical wing of Long Bay Prison in Sydney, from terminal esophageal and stomach cancer.
Who were his victims?
- Brits Caroline Clarke, 21, and Joanne Walters, 22 – their bodies were discovered five months after they went missing
- Deborah Everest and James Gibson, both 19 from Melbourne
- Germans Simone Schmidl, 21 Anja Habschied, 20 and Gabor Neugebauer, 21, found two years after they initially went missing in 1991
Milat’s victims were all young hitchhikers whom he captured after offering them lifts.
He then stabbed, shot and sexually assaulted them with some of his victims potentially dying a slow and painful death from their wounds.
The hitchhikers’ mutilated bodies were found in remote woodland between 1992 and 1993.
The names and pictures of the seven travellers that a jury convicted Milat of murdering are listed here, but cops have a theory that he may have killed at least three more people.
Several youngsters also went missing in a similar way, such as Keren Rowland, 20, who disappeared in 1971 and whose body was later found in the Fairbairn Pine Plantation.
There are also several theories that Milat may have been working with a family member who helped carry out the murders – most likely his sister.
This theory is supported by the fact that all but one of his victims – Simone Schmidl – had been travelling in pairs.
How did police catch Ivan Milat?
Milat, a road worker and gun enthusiast was known to local police having been involved with the law throughout his childhood, along with his 13 other siblings.
Milat came to cops’ attention after a Brit man, Paul Onions alerted them to an incident he had with the killer while hitchhiking in Australia.
He pulled a gun on Onions, who managed to escape into a passerby’s vehicle.
Both Onions and the passerby came forward to help police with the sting.
Milat and his family members’ houses were searched, revealing multiple weapons and possessions belonging to the victims like cameras and camping equipment.
How did the serial killer die?
Ivan Milat died in a Sydney hospital in the early hours of Sunday at the age of 74 – he never confessed to his crimes.
Milat had been diagnosed with terminal oesophagus and stomach cancer earlier this year.
He had been moved from the Goulbourn Supermax jail where he had been serving his life sentence in solitary confinement to the Prince of Wales Hospital on October 11.
Caroline’s dad, Ian Clarke, previously told the Sydney Morning Herald: “It’s a horrible way for anybody to end their life but then it was even more horrible the way our daughter and so many others lost theirs, so sympathy isn’t high on the list, I’m afraid.”
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