The Backpacker Murders is the name given to the series of homicides that occurred in New South Wales during the late 1980’s and 1990’s.
After the discovery of seven gruesomely murdered victims- five of which were international backpackers visiting Australia, two others travellers from Melbourne – in the Belanglo State Forest, the nation went onto a frenzied state of fear – a serial killer was on the loose.
Ivan Milat, a criminal with a history of kidnapping and rape, quickly became a suspect. Thanks to evidence given by English tourist, Paul Onions, who positively identified Milat as a man who tried pulled a gun on him and kidnap him on January 25, 1990, police had a solid case against their suspect.
On July 27, 1996, following a 15-week trial, a jury found Ivan Milat guilty on all charges.
The killer was sentenced to six years imprisonment for the attack on Onions, and seven consecutive life sentences for each of the murders.
While Milat still continues to protest his innocence his ghastly and sadistic crimes are not the only crimes that have rocked the Australian nation. These are a handful of other horrific murders that devastated us.
Ivan Milat was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for the gruesome Backpacker Murders.
Anita Cobby On the evening of February 2, 1986, registered nurse Anita Cobby was abducted from Blacktown, and raped a murdered at nearby Prospect, NSW. When Cobby’s body was found – horrifically beaten bruised and almost decapitated – the nation was terrified. Just 22 days after the crime five men were taken into custody. John Travers, was arrested 19 days after the crime and was the suspected ringleader of the group. Travers proved to be a sadistic perpetrator with a violent history, including committing acts of bestiality where he was known to have sexual intercourse with animals before slitting their throats. Michael Murdoch was a childhood friend and criminal associate of Travers and had spent part of his childhood in juvenile prisons. The arrest of the Murphy brothers was a sickening part of the case. The three brothers, Michael, Gary and Les came from a family of nine children and had a history of criminal activity. All five men were found guilty of the crime and during the sentencing in 1987 the judge recommended their files be marked “never to be released”.
Daniel Morcombe’s Murder On December 7, 2003, Sunshine Coast school boy, Daniel Morcombe disappeared from a bus stop on the Kiel Mountain Road in Queensland. It took eight years and the biggest murder investigation in Queensland history to set up an elaborate sting operation that would eventually capture Daniel’s killer. Brett Peter Cowan confessed to undercover police officers posing as mobsters and standover men that he’d snapped Daniel’s neck after picking him up from the bus stop and offering him a ride to a local shopping centre. Cowan, a 44-year-old convicted child rapist and father of three was last week sentenced to life in prison for his evil crime.
Port Arthur Massacre On Sunday 28 April 1996, Martin Bryant, a 28-year-old from Hobart, entered the café at the historical Port Arthur penal colony in Tasmania. Bryant sat at the restaurant as he ate a big lunch and then pulled out a semi-automatic rifle and began firing. Within 15 seconds 12 were dead and a further 10 were injured. This was only the beginning of a rampage that saw Bryant kill 35 people and wound 23 others. After a court found Bryant had acted as a lone gunman murdering is victims in cold blood he was jailed for life. The Port Arthur massacre led to tougher gun control laws.
The Snowtown Murders The Snowtown Murders, also known as the ‘Bodies in the Barrel Murders’, were a spate of grisly killings that occurred between August 1992 and May 1999 in South Australia. The crimes were committed by John Bunting, Robert Wagner, and James Vlassakis, with a fourth person, Mark Haydon, convicted guilty of helping to dispose the bodies. John Bunting, the violent ringleader, and Robert Wagner were both sentenced to life in prison with the presiding judge, Justice Brian Martin, saying that the accused were “in the business of killing for pleasure” and were “incapable of true rehabilitation”.
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