IVAN MILAT: BACKPACKER MURDERER
CRIME + INVESTIGATION, TUESDAY 10 AUGUST, 9PM
In September 1992, a pair of runners made a grisly discovery deep in the Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales, Australia. Two bodies had been buried in shallow graves, and covered over with foliage and sticks. They were later identified as Caroline Clarke and Joanne Walters, two British travellers who had disappeared five months earlier. It was clear that something terrible had befallen them out there in the forest – Joanne had been stabbed multiple times and Caroline shot, seemingly used as target practice.
Within a year, five more bodies were found in the surrounding area, all of them backpackers from various nations who had been reported missing, and all of them bearing signs of terrible torture and sexual abuse. There was a monster out there – and that monster was Ivan Milat.
Australia’s most notorious serial killer, Milat was finally jailed for the murder of seven people in 1996, and remained in prison until his death in October 2019. But there are many who believe he took his secrets to his grave. Now, this brand-new series – narrated by Jason Donovan – takes an in-depth look at his life and crimes, as criminal psychologist Tim Watson-munro and forensic anthropologist and criminologist Dr Xanthe Mallett uncover compelling evidence that there could be up to two dozen more victims who have yet to be found.
The story begins 20 years before the Belanglo discoveries, in 1971, with the disappearance of pregnant Keren Rowland in Canberra. The crime has never been solved, but Tim and Xanthe now believe Keren might well have been Milat’s first victim. As they discover, not only are the circumstances eerily similar to his later crimes, but they can place Milat in the area at the time.
Piecing together his early life and movements, they also show how the unsolved cold case of Peter Letcher – shot five times and buried in a shallow grave – may also be attributed to Milat.
And there’s compelling testimony from British backpacker Colin Powis, who was picked up by Milat while hitchhiking in 1982, but managed to get away when Milat turned on him. Was he the only one who did, or were there more tourists who narrowly escaped a terrible fate? The team are sure there are – as well as others who didn’t survive their encounters with Milat. It’s a comprehensive and fascinating deep dive into one of Australia’s most shocking cases. HHHH