"I was picked up while hitchhiking on the Hume Highway in the early 1990s by a dangerous man and it wasn't Ivan Milat"

This article has been re-posted as the original has been lost. It was written by the victim as an email which is reproduced below:

It was the early 1990s. I walked from Campbelltown railway station to the Hume Highway. I needed a lift. I was standing under a light near the on-ramp when a four wheel drive pulled over for me. The driver was good looking and looked out of place in a four wheel drive. His hands and face were so smooth he looked like a bank teller. He was an eerie type of person, around 6 foot tall and fit, broadish shoulders. This would fit with Paul Onions' original description of a man of 6 foot which he later changed at the request of police because it did not fit Ivan Milat's description. I believe the real killer had me that night and it was not Ivan Milat.

He asked questions that unnerved me. The further we drove the more terrified I got and the more certain I was that he was going to kill me.

Nearing the Mittagong off-ramp he reached under his seat apparently for his weapon. He kept feeling around under there for it and he could not find it.

I believe for this reason, that the gun was not there, he decided to let me out. As I was getting out he said "This is the luckiest day of your life" in a way that made my skin crawl.

I stood by the road and tried to get another lift. I felt as if someone was watching me. A car stopped for me. I looked behind me and there was the driver whose car I had just got out of. He had been stalking me and had somehow come around behind me.

If that second car had not stopped I believe I would not be here today. I believe this incident was related to the Belanglo murders and I believe this was the same person who picked up Paul Onions who he described quite differently before the police asked him to alter his description to fit Ivan Milat.

I am 6 foot tall and very solid, not easily frightened but I was very shaken and still white and shaking when I reached my sister's house in Canberra.

I contacted police regarding the backpacker murders and was interviewed. They told me it was not related to the Belanglo cases. I believe this is because it would throw doubt on their case against Ivan Milat.

I have been in touch with the ex wife of the other major suspect in the Belanglo murders who lives in Wollongong and the photo of that suspect does not fit the man who picked me up that night either.

I hope Ivan remains strong and I hope the truth comes out.