True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

The beautiful country of Australia is known for many things, from the stunning landscape, incredible actors and actresses, Iconic TV shows like 'Neighbours' and 'Home And Away', right through to music legends such as Kylie Minogue and INXS. But there's also a darker side to this beautiful place, like a lot of other countries, Australia is no stranger to crime and horrific stories. In the background of all of this beauty, talent and gifts that Australia and it's people have shared with the world, there is also the chilling legacy of one of the most sickening serial killers in history, Ivan Milat. 

A man so terrifying that countless books, documentaries and even a horror movie (as well as a TV series) has been made detailing his horrific actions or has been based on his crimes. Many horror fans will be familiar with the 'Wolf Creek' Film and TV series about the character 'Mick Taylor' who stalks, tortures and murders young backpackers touring Australia. I remember seeing the movie 'Wolf Creek' for the very first time and I remember feeling shocked, it was an incredible horror movie that did keep you on the edge of your seat but to learn that it was based on a real story was even more chilling. 

Ivan Milat was quite a complex character and depending on who you talk to, you'll get a different version of who he really was. I say 'was' because Ivan is no longer on this earth, he passed away on the 27th of October 2019 at the age of 74 of cancer, having reportedly spent his final years in a great deal of pain. What he endured in his final years was nothing compared to the sheer hell that he put his victims through as well as the never ending heartache, utter despair and grief that he caused the loved ones of innocent young people who just wanted to enjoy life and the beauty of what Australia had to offer. 

Ivan was a racist who had an issue with 'outsiders' coming to Australia for work, in his mind, the 'outsiders' were taking the jobs away from real Australians, a narrow-minded stance considering his own father was an immigrant to the country from Croatia. There was no doubt that Ivan was a hardworker and his numerous relatives often depended on him financially as well as with dealing with other tasks but the truth was, he was a cold-blooded monster and hunted humans as well as animals, for fun. 

One of 14 children, Ivan came from quite a large family which was more like a cult. As mentioned before, his father (Stjepan) was an immigrant from Croatia and because of his lonely upbringing, he did his best to have as big a family as he could. Ivan's mother (Margaret) was born and bred in Australia and when it came to who ruled the roost in the Milat family, it was pretty much Stjepan's way or the highway although Margaret did have her moments too. Both parents were strict and did their best to shelter their children from other people. Due to the Milat children playing amongst themselves and not having any outside experience this stunted their social skills and proper development. Ivan on the other hand, was more switched on than his siblings and quite creative although he did have a taste for guns and hunting, as he got older. 

The Milat family were and still remain quite close, close to the point where they will happily lie to protect each other from any possible harsh arm of the law. The family grew quite a reputation with the police when the children were growing up due to constant petty crime and violence. Ivan as well as his other brothers, was troubled but when it came to his sisters, he was quite gentle in the beginning and over-protective of his sisters, especially Margaret (named after his mother). Ivan and Margaret were close and when she died in a tragic car accident as a young teenager, Ivan was distraught. He had been in the car at the time and had been witness to the whole traumatic event, trying his best to save his sister but it was too late. Some people believe that this was the moment when things turned even darker for Ivan. More tragedy was to follow when one of his brothers was left brain damaged after an accident and needed 24 hour care. Ivan couldn't cope with what had become of his brother who could no longer look after himself. 

Ivan went through a period of depression and then threw himself into work to help support the family. When his father died he became even more dedicated to supporting his relatives and they depended on him greatly. However, as close as the family was, there was still conflict and drama. The brothers often fought and a lot of the time it was over women. Despite the Milat's limited knowledge of people beyond the family they did try to function in normal society and some of the brothers had relationships. Ivan was heavily into training and some people would describe him at this point in his life as quite muscular and handsome. An affair with a brother's wife developed and she was pregnant. There's different stories of who was the biological father of this child but more conflict was reported when Ivan's brother had threatened to kill him. 

As with most serial killers, people can guess when their first murder occurred and with Ivan theories are that he began his horrible crimes in 1989 but those are the murders we know about. He could have begun earlier than that. Investigators have given a rough timeline of 1989 to 1992 (he was arrested in 1994). We know that he was involved in petty crime at a young age and had an obsession with guns. He'd spent some time in custody as a teenager and reportedly confessed to one of his brothers that he had killed a man but had managed to get away with it and somebody else was accused of the crime. 

Before his known taste for murdering innocent people, he reportedly robbed backpackers as well as commit sexual assault on some of the female tourists. In 1971 he was accused of sexually assaulting two women but the investigation into the case was a disaster and he basically got away with it claiming the two women offered him sex in exchange for transport. Due to Ivan's calm and collected attitude and behaviour plus the support of his family and people describing him as a great guy who was a hard worker, he was able to fool everyone and get off the hook. More accusations of sexual assault followed but he'd managed to get away with them too. 

The constant escape from proper justice enabled Ivan to carry on into his murderous spiral and he saw backpackers more and more as toys to be played with, tortured and discarded in any way that he saw fit. 

In 1984 he got married to a younger woman but the marriage was a living hell for the poor girl and very short lived. Ivan was very abusive and luckily she escaped and lived to tell the tale. 

Ivan was obsessed with guns and he and his brothers often took part in shooting practice and hunting, they especially liked locations such as the Belanglo State Forest which is a beautiful stretch of woodland but is now seen as a dark and haunting place nowadays for many reasons. This was where Ivan (and many people still believe, an accomplice) took his victims. This beautiful place was where young backpackers were taken to be tortured, sexually assaulted, taunted and used as target practice before being murdered and discarded. He was reported to have murdered 7 young people between 1989 and 1992. The exact dates of when these people were murdered was not easily identifiable, all investigators had to go on was the date and time that they were reported missing. When all 7 victims were found in the forest they were in the late stage of decomposition with only parts of bones remaining. 

The known victims are reported to have been:

- 19 year old Deborah Everest and James Gibson (who was also 19). Their remains were later found in 1993. James had been stabbed and his spine severed whilst investigators determined that Deborah had been beaten, sexually assaulted and stabbed. Ivan enjoyed the sickening act of paralyzing one half of a couple if he managed to kidnap two backpackers at the same time (the manner and effort this would have taken is also why people believe that he had an accomplice) especially if one of the victims was male. The poor man would be tortured, paralyzed and then forced to watch his partner be sexually assaulted and murdered. Investigators believe that the nightmarish circumstances in which Deborah and James had met their death once again plays into the belief, the possibility that Ivan did not act alone in these murders. 

- In 1991, Simone Schmidl (21) vanished and in 1993 a skull had been found separate from skeletal remains which was later identified to be Simone. Simone had also suffered stab wounds to the skull and had her spine severed. As investigators searched the surrounding area they found clothing which had belonged to another missing backpacker.

- The clothing found at the time of Simone Schmidl's remains being discovered was later to be determined as belonging to 20 year old Anja Habschied who was originally reported missing in 1991 with her 21 year old boyfriend, Gabor Neugebaur. Gabor had been shot six times in the head by a gun later identified as belonging to Ivan. Anja had been decapitated and her head was never found. 

- In April of 1992, Joanne Walters (22) and Caroline Clarke (21) were reported missing, their remains were later found in the September of 1992. Another indication of a possibility of Ivan having an accomplice was the manner in which these two girls were murdered. Caroline had been shot in the head 10 times with a gun later identified to be one of Ivan's. Joanne had been stabbed repeatedly in a ferocious attack that left wounds to her chest, back and neck. 

As well as the horrendous things he would do to his victims, he would also rob them of their belongings, even some of their clothing which he would give to his relatives as gifts or to keep for himself. Later searches of properties relating to the Milat family revealed numerous camping equipment, photographs, luggage, clothing etc which were the items identified as belonging to the 7 victims we know about. A lot of items were not traced to their original owners. 

The police knew they had a serial killer on their hands and that the Belanglo State Forest was not only his playground but his dumping ground and how long had this really been going on for? How many victims was there still to identify? They started to look at a list of possible suspects especially anyone who had previous run-ins with backpackers and an investigator stumbled across some files relating to Ivan Milat and a British man named 'Paul Onions'.

Thank you as always for taking the time to read this two part article on this case, I really appreciate it. 

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