THE VICTIMS

ELIZABETH STEVENS

TAFE student Elizabeth Stevens, who lived with her aunt and uncle after a difficult childhood, was on the way home from the library on June 11, 1993 when she became Denyer’s first victim. It was a dark night with heavy rain and gusting winds muffling noise. After getting off the bus, she was grabbed by Denyer, who threatened her with a fake gun. He held her hand to give the appearance to any passersby they knew each other. She was just metres from home when he lead her down a side street and into a park, where he brutally murdered her. Her body was covered in stab and slash wounds, and she had also been strangled.

DEBBIE FREAM

Just 12 days before her murder, Debbie Fream, 22, had given birth to her and Garry Blair’s son, Jake. With a friend coming over for dinner, Debbie left baby Jake with the friend and ducked out in her car to get milk and eggs from the shop just 600m down the road on July 8. Denyer hid in the back seat and forced her at gunpoint to drive to a secluded area. She drove erratically, trying to get another motorist’s attention – but to no avail. Days later, her body was found in a paddock. She had been strangled and repeatedly stabbed.

NATALIE RUSSELL

Schoolgirl Natalie Russell must have thought she had nothing to fear riding her bike home in broad daylight at 2.30pm on July 30. But along her usual shortcut home on a track that ran between two golf courses, Denyer lay in wait. He followed her, ambushed her and dragged her through a hole he’d previously cut in the fence to one of his lairs. She was stabbed to death. Denyer’s car, which he’d left nearby, was spotted by a postie and reported to police. It was the breakthrough that would lead to his arrest.