"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.

Geography: 

Comments

It was 1983 I was 17 working for the Department Main Roads. In those days out on the road there was a lunch caravan for the Anglo Aussies and one for the Wogs, because I was 50/50 I frequented both. Anyway their was this one guy there a Yugoslav guy he used to sit in the caravan during lunch peeling oranges etc with this huge bowie knife he used to try to invite me and the other young guys to go hunting with him he used to say to us "you come hunting I have many guns we have fun." Later after he had tried to invite us a little Italian guy came up to me and said "do not go with this man this man is a crazy man."
Years later I found out who that crazy Yugoslav was? It was Ivan Milat.
If I went hunting I probably would have been the hunted.

Ivan spoke with an Aussie accent, not at all like a Yugoslav.

Oh for crying out loud. I know he was Australian but his family background was of course Yugoslav. How specific do you want me to be? All I was saying was that I at one time worked with Ivan Milat when he was at the Department Main Roads (DMR).

suspect spoke with an accent and may have spoken german as well as some of the murdered backpackers were german.

You forget the type of person Ivan Milat was/is - he have sexual relations with his brothers wives and allegedly even his sister - he held a gun to his ex wife's head and told her if she ever did something to him in public again (I can't for the life of me remember what, but it was petty) that he would shoot her dead. He has an extensive criminal history for theft.

I would assume it is a good thing this person is behind bars?

If there is another killer out there, the police will be looking.

For now, let Ivan Milat be guilty for crimes of humanity.

"For now, let Ivan Milat be guilty for crimes of humanity" or rather inhumanity??????
Why do people keep writing about Ivan sleeping with his sister in law and sister - yes it's immoral and disgusting, however they appear to have been willing participants in his affairs.
The man is Australia's highest security prison in solitary confinement serving seven life sentences for these murders.He has very few civil rights if any at all and has no recourse for an appeal to reexamine the evidence.There is no capital punishment in Australia and this is the most severe sentence ever imposed.
These articles are based in a collection of evidence about this back packer case and the experiences of people that were harassed by dangerous individual's in and around the area of the murders and or national parks.
There are also other people on other websites that have come forward with relevant information regarding other possible suspect's involved in the murder's of hitchikers.

"There is no capital punishment in Australia and this is the most severe sentence ever imposed."
There used to be capital punishment in Australia, the last man to be executed for a crime in Australia was a Ronald Ryan in 1967, so no, Ivan Milat has not been given the most severe sentence ever imposed in Australia. What about Alexander Pearce? He was not only hanged but his brain dissected for science - although I suppose that's a fair punishment for someone who ate 6 people!

Having read this site and having been told links to look at I am 100 percent certain Ivan Milat is innocent. I wonder if the real criminals enjoyed gun practice for the Port Arthur Massacre. The Truth will be told when the revolution rebels against the real criminals in society - rogue police

Sorry, but did you investigate his crimes? You cannot base your conclusion of his innocence on a website. That's ridiculous.

Any idiot can see that this account is a true account and this person was going to be abducted and come to great harm at this nutters hands.
There are other posts here that tell a similar story.
Why are people in denial that there is something going on and maybe Ivan isn't the only one responsible for the murders whether he is guilty or has been framed or had a lesser role in the murders than we think.
Where is the dna evidence?
By the way what happens to all the missing persons out there?
Are they all abducted by aliens in space ships?

"By the way what happens to all the missing persons out there?
Are they all abducted by aliens in space ships?"

I can see you're being sarcastic there but even so, not everyone who goes missing is murdered by a serial killer, some are just escaping from their past &/or their abusive spouses.

His family, with the exception of one of his brothers whom he grievously hurt believe he is innocent. They would know Ivan better than anyone else. The official police investigation is not available to the general public only to the courts/police.
What Brian Raven did was his own investigation. There are more than one website that present information about this case.
It would be ridiculous to disallow debate and shut down the internet because it is an information source.That would be like retrograding society to the dark ages.

By Ivan Milat and was lucky to have perhaps appealed to his senses ... It was around 1984 and I managed to get out of his vehicle at the turn into the forest whilst he was continually asking sure you wont come up the forest for a couple of hours ... Perhaps it was the lie of the century that appealed to his senses that saved me .. Who knows but I made it out alive!

Did Ivan point a weapon at you and threaten to kill you as he did to the witness that authored this post and Paul Onions?
They tell of a weapon being pulled out and threat of harm before they reach the Belangalo forest.
It sounds as if Ivan was happy to let you go not like he was sent out to lure and catch a potential victim.
If he was going to kill you as you say you were lucky to make it out alive why then did he let you go and not operate as usual as he had done with the other victim's?Quite odd indeed.

i do not know if ivan milat is innocent or not but on the balance of propabilities ( all of the real evidence ) he likely is and the back packer killers are still out there and must be an organised operation. this is just a recent experience in a national park in blue mountains and it was weird enough to write about - a friend and myself were walking along a road in blue mountains national park when a silver/grey 4 wheeldrive drive drove past us very slowly and then about 5 minutes later came back up the road. the driver, a tall man ( his head reaching the roof of the vehicle )with blond brown hair and large george negus type mostache, fair skin and dark blue eyes - i never forget a face- stopping the vehicle ahead of us then reversing the vehicle and stopping next to me, asking me quite concerned several times if we wanted a lift. (we had only gone for a short 45 minute bushwalk along the road and were definitely not hitchiking.) I also noticed a young woman sitting smiling at me from the front passenger seat and young boy in the backseat as well and what was particularly weird is that the driver opened the childs tinted back window the same time he opened his window as if to show us that he had a child in the car and he was legitimately motivated.
my friend also thought it strange behaviour and we began joking that we wanted the excercise and thanks but no thanks.then he thankfully left and we both immediately thought of ivan milat! (and this led me to search the internet today.)
we got to our car in the car park about 15 minutes later the silver 4wd was still around now parked with the woman and child but the driver was nowhere to be seen.the woman turned to look at me again and this time she appeared very angry. the whole situation just seemed so weird.we left in our car straight away after that. i guess the moral of the story is do not ever go alone bushwalking in national parks and definetely refuse lifts from strangers no matter how nice they seem. trust your gut instincts.if these psycho killers are still out there they have no scruples.

Might it also be true that you were framing the whole incident in the way most people do - that is, be distrusting of strangers - and with high-profile cases like Milat's there is plenty of fuel for the imagination. Statistically speaking serial murder is extremely rare in Australia, so they were probably just a family of weirdos or idiots wanting to help out. Then again, seven young people (at least) were killed because they didn't have your instincts...

I am not making any direct or indirect claims about the innocence of Ivan Milat, that is up to the criminal justice system and each person to determine within the capacity of their reasoning abilities.I do take offense to your inferences and comments posted.Your speaking to a good samaritan who would stop to help anyone in need and recognises the same genuine qualities in others.
Thanks for stating the obvious that we don't obey our gut instincts (which we all have) often enough, especially when we need to. Our caution and quick thinking may have saved our lives that day. Who is to say that someone will not happen across this comment and recognise the car or desciption/behaviour of this driver and co and remember this post? It is my duty as a human to warn people of this as I am able or should I just keep silent and disappear?
What I intentionally left out of the previous true account is that the driver of the 4wd was hidden in the bushes and watching us at the top of the car park as well! Why would anyone do that if they were normal and after we stated that we were not interested in his lift?
By the way my friend and I had spent most of the day sightseeing and we noticed that there were cars that had been parked near where we were and their drivers leaving when we did and following? Is this normal or what?
I never ever intended for 1 iota of a second to diminish the impact of the deaths of these young backpackers in any way - that is why i sent out this commentary. My friend and I are not attention seeking or paranoid we are both professionals in the legal and social fields. Who are you kidding mate?

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 30/01/2011 - 1:36pm.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 07/01/2011 - 8:55pm.
Years ago when I was driving to Campbelltown on the Hume for a course I saw a woman being transferred from one car to another. I slowed down cause she looked distressed and stopped. I figured if she ran accross the highway I'd pick her up and take her with me, if mobiles phones where available I would have rung the police. I think one car was a beige 4 cylinder holden torana .But she got in the backseat of the other car and I figured I'd just imagined it. Years later I realised she was the splitting image of the german tourist simone but I had my own problems them. There was certainly more than one male.

this also matches what alex milat saw with two of the backpackers in 4wd full of men. logic would tell you that it would be virtually impossible for one person to drive to destination and simultaneously hold two fit young people against their will at gunpoint.they would have fought for their lives to not let him get away without a fight. it appears that the murdrer/s befriended the victims and would have no doubt drugged them via food or drink because that is the only way they could have gotten them in a position of vulnerability. there may have also been children/women involved in luring the victims. why police chose to focus on ivan milat and ignore credible evidence on other suspects is beyond credibility. lets hope the convicted is the sole killer becuase otherwise we have serial murderers and pyschopaths at large emboldened by their apparent ability to percieve themselves above the law and justice for their abominable crimes against innocent people. yet unsolved murders and missing persons could also be victims of these criminals or milat. puzzling is that the convicted milat left none of his or his family's dna at the murders scene despite the rape and physical torture of the victims and he must also be a heavy drinker and smoker and have none of these substances affect his consciousness and mental focus and satanic occultist murderer because the murders were satanic sacrifices replete with stone circles, bonfires, pine forest and stone altar.
despite the conflicting evidence and the lack of interest in important evidence milay still maintains his innocence one would have to wonder why a convicted criminal would be so adamant that he is innocent, when the pattern for pyschotic killers is to bask in their notoriety without remorse for the terrible suffering they have inflicted. in his stetemement and his behaviour ivan appears coherent and absolutely defiant of the legal processes that inacarcerated him, one can only determine that he has a vested interest in proclaiming that innocence because the principles of justice resonate deep within his consciousness.

Good work from Brian Raven. It wouldn't surprise me that the keystone cops got the Milat case completely wrong.

Late December 1987, me and my girlfriend were hitchhiking from Melbourne to Sydney. I think it was somewhere just outside Goulburn, approaching midday, a guy in a big ford yank tank went past in the opposite direction. I watched him do a uturn across the grass median strip in the middle of the Hume, then he pulled up just in front of us. I was a bit sus on the uturn to offer us a lift, but asked where he was headed. He said he was just 'going up the road a bit' and asked where we were headed.
I told him we had friends in Mossvale we were staying with for a few days before going to Sydney.
The guy was mid to late 40's, clean shaven with sidburns, 175 -180cm tall, medium build and dark hair. His hands and face had seen a bit of sun. I can't remember if I asked, but got the impression he labored outdoors.
I told him we were spending christmas with a mate who was a policeman in Sydney, largely to put paid to any opportunism confidence he might be getting with us being in his car. I tried to talk to him about his car, but he wasn't into saying much about anything. I'm 193cm, was fit and weighed about 105kg, so I summed up any risk with him driving as in my favor. I think him spotting my blond girlfriend, who was 180cm tall and slim, was a big reason in him doing the uturn to offer the lift.
If he was looking for an easy opportunity, he would have realised we weren't going to be it.

He drove us to about 20ks from the turn off at the Illawarra Hwy, so we were in the car about 40 minutes with him, both of us sitting on the front bench seat. When Milat's photo came out a while later, I knew it wasn't him that picked us up. But if there's been any other reports of this guy in his ford yank tank car, it might be useful piecing together the big picture of who else might've been involved in the Belanglo murders.

Hi,
Are you a statistician or rather a detective?
"Then again, seven young people (at least) were killed because they didn't have your instincts..."
How do you know that there are more young people out there that have been murdered?
I know what I experienced and this is not the first time in my life that I experienced the same thing.
People need to be warned and I have done that, I wanted to help people be safe from harms way.
No one should ever be in a dangerous predicament like we were because according to the cjs they captured their killer.
I was very shaken after this happened for several weeks because we were harassed by this creep in the blue mountains and I know he meant us harm.
Since when does anyone do a complete u-turn come speeding up a main road like a lunatic to offer a lift to two total strangers with handbags on their shoulders and keys in their hands? We were being watched that day as well.
Believing that one man was singlehandly responsible for simultaneoulsy abducting and murdering these victims is as unbelievable to many, many other intelligent and rational people as the existence of the tooth fairy.
We as a society have been betrayed.
That is my experience and opinion.
I pity your attitude because your a smart person acting a fool.

do any of these people apart from the first post even know ivan milat personally? how can they be writing all these things about him? what if the cj system has got the wrong man behind bars and/or ivan has not acted alone? the problem is that in this society individuals have forgotten what values are and what they stand for. If it is true that ivans dna has not matched that found on the murder victims then who or what is responsible? Since when are murderer's allowed to walk the streets while their victims are robbed of their life and their family's are suffering for life. What is supposed to be so funny, is the murder and torture of innocent people funny? you are the joke because you have no brain and no heart to feel the pain that these people feel.i am sticking up for what is right you coward.

Firstly, "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" ... who is this mysterious person, how was the email lost, and how did you manage to be able to reproduce it. In other words, it means absolutely nothing, but someone writing something on the internet. There is nothing to verify that this is fact. It never ceases to amaze me how gullible people are. Just because someone "put in on the internet" does not make it fact.
"What I intentionally left out of the previous true account is that the driver of the 4wd was hidden in the bushes and watching us at the top of the car park as well!" ... you've got to be kidding me. Is this your way of trying to convince people you're sincere. Why would you leave out such an important part of your dialogue, intentionally, in the first place, if it actually happened. To try to make your story more acceptable and believable?
And regarding Ivan Milat ... innocent? You've got to be joking. I suggest you all go away and research properly. Yes, that's right. Properly. Which doesn't include believing unfounded ramblings posted on the internet. It means, looking at facts. You know, facts are a pre-internet concept that are backed up by such things as evidence, which is proved.

Thanks, now let me reply to your statements about my credibility.
I left out the part about "mr weirdo" watching us at the top of the ridge/carpark because I was sure that no one would believe it,I was out of the two the only one that saw him hiding in the trees and you would have to go there and see the area for yourself to understand what happened to us that day.
Ok, maybe i shouldve just put the whole incident down in a clearer chronological format, ill give you that, but how composed would you be if you had the same thing happen to you?
I wrote about my experience here because I thought that it was a waste of time to report it to police as they have enough on their plates and Ivan is in jail and is supposed to be the actual killer.I wasn't actually the victim of an abduction, just harassment and stalking and hopefully ill never see " mr weirdo's" face again.
My colleague is a lawyer and they thought it also a waste of time to report it and i have their opinion to consider do I not?
I was also approached in the same manner years ago at casula by a man in a four wheel drive trying to coerce and ultimately abduct me and my school friend, this would have been at the same time of the back packer murders and i did not approach police at that time as i was freaked out by it and managed to get on with my life.
The man at that time was not Ivan, he was tall and had a dark moustache and black hair.
Dont worry, I and my mate wont be bushwaliking alone again , we'd rather see a yowie than the person that harassed us that day -
Now that I have justified myself to you may I ask what the hell is it to you anyway?
I am doing the right thing by coming forward, where else could it be done other than here, an independant discussion site about the subject?
I am obviously not a detective and have no idea whether ivan is innocent or guilty because of that fact but i am entitled to an opinion and how could he have done these crimes on his own?
I can say that I care enough about the safety of others, even if the rest of the stuff written about this topic on this website is a crock of shit as you say, there still remains the facts of what happened to us and an eyewitness, deary, is difficult to disprove.

Umm I don't think u justified anything. You sound like you have issues. Your story and your second surprise story of the same nature as the first one sound like made up or exaggerated stories that u have made yourself believe hence you adding new "facts" to your story in each post. Whoops sorry meant to say stories, plural cause apparently it happened twice. Ha ha

The only issue that I have is with morons like yourself.
The event was uploaded twice by mechanical error. I spoke with the other witness and then added the other information. I didnt transcribe it as best as I could, which is a mixture of aftershock on my part.
Some morons like yourself took it upon themsleves to commence debating to discredit over the authenticity of the accounts.
Who knows maybe you are one of the freaks that I encountered that day? It wouldn't surprise me one bit.
Am I too conscientious for my own good, warning others in harms way?
Maybe I should report the car/s and registration details to police and provide them with the photographic evidence of the occupants of the vehicle?
Laugh at that moron.

Firstly, "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" ... who is this mysterious person, how was the email lost, and how did you manage to be able to reproduce it. In other words, it means absolutely nothing, but someone writing something on the internet. There is nothing to verify that this is fact. It never ceases to amaze me how gullible people are. Just because someone "put in on the internet" does not make it fact.
"What I intentionally left out of the previous true account is that the driver of the 4wd was hidden in the bushes and watching us at the top of the car park as well!" ... you've got to be kidding me. Is this your way of trying to convince people you're sincere. Why would you leave out such an important part of your dialogue, intentionally, in the first place, if it actually happened. To try to make your story more acceptable and believable?
And regarding Ivan Milat ... innocent? You've got to be joking. I suggest you all go away and research properly. Yes, that's right. Properly. Which doesn't include believing unfounded ramblings posted on the internet. It means, looking at facts. You know, facts are a pre-internet concept that are backed up by such things as evidence, which is proved.

How do you know I am making things up or havent researched into the case of Ivan Milat?
I think by reasonable hypothesis that many of the events describing the harassment experienced by persons on this website and others are related.
You have no evidence for what you believe and I do.
I suggest that you go and research as much as some people contributing to this subject blog and open your narrow mind.

Disagree with what you wrote panpp.
The author of the initial abduction account could have sent in an email to another site which had either been taken down in its original posting but may have been retrieved and reposted here for independant discussion. Some of the above are eyewitness accounts of potential and actual abductions not gossip or baseless critiqing.
They have nothing to do with proving ivan milats innocence or guilt, get it?
Rather the fact that something not quite so kosher has and is happening in the style of and in the areas were the crimes were committed AND there may be just that slight possibility that there are more people out there that could have been involved.
There are propably many more people out there that have experienced similar incidences to these accounts and just shrugg them off because they are confronted with a foolish attitude like yours and co that challenges and discourages their accounts before looking closely at what has occurred.
Do urself and society a favour and don't ever become a detective or investagative journalist... please.

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't the police find personal items belonging to the victims at ivan Milats house?

There remains scepticism regarding the backpacker belongings and how they were found in the possession of milat. Do a bit more research there are some good sources, you'll find what your looking for.

Hi wasn't it always suspected that more than one person was involved? I think anyone who thinks Milat is innocent is kidding themselves, look at all the evidence found in his and his families homes. Do a search on hitchhiker murders in Australia, and unsolved murders (Tynong North). I watched underbelly last night and Bandali Debs was convicted of 1 hitchhikers murder in VIC and another womans murder in NSW. I am sure alot more crimes could be solved in all the states introduced mandatory DNA testing like VIC. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/police-killer-bandali-debs-amo...
Get a grip, there are alot of bad bastards out there in our world.

The most disturbing thing about the Ivan Milat case is that Ivan's DNA would be found somewhere on the victims.
It has been written here that his DNA and that of any member of his family does not match the DNA of the murder victims, however the DNA on a further murdered person after his conviction matches the DNA found on the Backpacker victims.
There is something going on here, common sense would tell you that whether you live in Victoria or anywhere else in Australia.
People are missing the point here and it is a very important one, can anyone answer these points regarding the DNA?

Statement of Evidence

By Ivan Robert Milat

Statement of Innocence by Ivan Milat
May 15, 1998 - Two Years After Show Trial.

That morning of my arrest and the circumstances the police used to justify it. Paul Onions (crown witness} was given 13 photos to look at and he chose me. He had no choice - I was the only one with the blackhair and the type of moustache, similar to the description he gave to police after he was robbed at gunpoint near the Belanglo Forest in 1990. He looks at photos and then writes out a statement to back up his description.

It was unreal. It was all there, my pepper and salt hair, colour of eyes, etc. I had to agree it was my photo he looked at in 1994, as it was one from 1990. They (police) changed the 1990 description Onions originally gave in Bowral at the police station. At that interview he said his attacker was 6 foot tall, black hair, Merv Hughes moustache aged mid thirties(The original statement Onions made to the police has never surfaced). The eyes of his attacker went from wearing dark sub-glasses to narrow squint eyes. He made the original statement to police 20 minutes after his attack. Onions had been in his assailant's car for over an hour. His first description would be accurate.

It was not until Onions returned to Australia in 1994 that the matter of Yugoslav parents and my divorce were mentioned as part of conversation with Onions robber. I complained that there were no other people in the 13 photos shown to Onions that resembled me in the photo lineup of 1994. The police answer to that was "the description given by witness Onions was sufficient."

They (the Police) found a shirt at mum's place and said it was stolen from Onions. My wife who had left me in 1987 came to court to say she had bought it at K Mart. It was a plain shirt similar to the type road workers use. My wife insisted it was my shirt as I always wore that type of shirt. I can't understand why on that day only, they photographed that shirt and nothing else. MY wife said "yes, that is Ivan's shirt", at the trial. But the police during 1994 visited Onions in the UK and Onions claimed it was his.

Onion's robber drove a vehicle with a special feature in the placement of the spare wheel. Onions and another eyewitness to the robbery corroborated each other on the outstanding feature of the vehicle, the spare wheel, but they were both wrong when it was proved to the court that the wheel on my vehicle could not have been seen by them. This "mistake" was glossed over by the Crown. The judge told the jury it was hard to see how such a mistake could be made, but they should consider the matter. The judge went on to say that they could consider another scenario. " I think the accused stole or somehow got another vehicle of similar make and had the extras the two witnesses had described.

Who did I borrow or steal the vehicle from? A vehicle other than my own was not part of the case. The charges against me were totally circumstantial. The police fitted together a case which was impossible for me to defend. They fitted the crimes to times when I was away from work or weekends. There was much argument on this matter of dates. And because the crimes had been committed 6 years before - I defy anyone to have total recall of their whereabouts at any given time.

The crown then decided on a second scenario, now they said that a group of people were involved in the crimes. They had no idea and were making a circumstantial case on a circumstantial case. What a turn-up! How can you beat a system like that? They were now saying I was part of a group. I have never seen or heard of the police following up investigations into this wild theory put before the court.

There was property at my place including a tent. I knew nothing about it. Then there was a camera - Paul Onions for the crown swore black and blue that the camera was his. I tried to explain that the camera belonged to my sister Shirley who shared the house with me. Then, OOPS! It is discovered that the camera was not manufactured until 1991. Onions had been robbed in 1990. This "small" matter no problem for the crown, they then claimed the camera could have belonged to one of the UK victims.

The tent, was owned by my brother Dick. The tent was doctored to make believe that the tent belonged to a UK victim. There was much argument argument about this tent and identifying marks. When that tent came to light Dick was able to prove where he had bought it. I often wonder why the media never took this issue up in their reporting of the case. I expect the police don't give out many parking tickets to reporters.

I had come to believe in the science of DNA. They had DNA from both the UK female victims. Police took blood and hair samples from me. Human hair found clasped in the hand of one of the UK girls - there was no match with me. No wonder I was confident going into the trial. The car described by the two witnesses did not match mine + the DNA. A week before the matter of the DNA came into the trial the crown came up with a new report on the DNA. It was from the lab that did the tests saying the tests could be flawed. I still believe The first report to be the true one. I insisted that the tests be done again. The crown said that it was not possible - the hairs gone-missing-destroyed during the tests.

What a joke. The so called expert said the samples could have been contaminated. It could not be tested again. I was not happy with my defence counsel. They were way out their depth with the science evidence. Plastic tape used to bind the victims were found at the crime scene. Those ties had no markings on them. At my home the police took similar tapes as evidence. The tapes had markings on them. All of a sudden the tapes from the crime scene had similar markings on them. An expert on the tapes gave evidence that the tapes allegedly found at the crime scene were sold exclusively to organisations like the Roads and Traffic Authority - my employer.

No matter what. I will always profess my innocence.

Best regards Ivan

I can tell you that Caroline Clarke's DNA was found on blood stained sash cord, recovered from Ivan Milat's garage.

Hi,
There have been several explanations of the back packers property being found at Ivan's place.
You just need to read what is presented on this site alone for several plausable explanations.
A lot of rational people think he is either innocent or has had a lesser role in these crimes.
Lack of dna evidence clears him and his family and that is what he is trying to put forward in his appeal.
Either way you look at it, the bad u know whats are supposed to be robbers and not the good guys - the cops.
I would rather do my research on literature and on the internet than what u see on underbelly which is dramatised media sensationalism making someone very rich on the crimes committed against fellow humans.

who arrested Ivan Milat was it state protection or a local officer ?

50 officers from tactical response unit surrounded his home in cinnibar street eaglevale

Police could re-open Belanglo case

Milat lodges 474 Appeal

July 19th, 2005

"Alice Smith"

The Sunday Telegraph (18/7/05) reports that police are considering reopening the Backpacker Murders case.

Friends of Ivan Milat say this would be a good idea, given that there is so little to link Ivan to the case and given the alleged planting of evidence at Ivan's home and the original description of Paul Onions' attacker as a man of some six feet tall driving a car with a spare wheel attached to the back having been conveniently 'lost' by Bowral police and replaced with a new description fitting Ivan Milat, following Paul Onions being shown photos of him by police.

Could it be a co-incidence that the sudden interest by the media in the case has been manipulated by persons behind the scenes keen to see Ivan's latest appeal, a 474 Appeal for a judicial review, quashed as soon as possible?

Police could start by trying to find the perpetrator whose DNA was found under the fingernails of one of the victims. This DNA is not linked to Ivan Milat or any member of his family. This fact is conveniently left out of media reports of the case. In effect Ivan Milat has been cleared by the DNA evidence. As for him attempting to escape from gaol, this has never been proven in court. Ivan says he did not make any escape plans and that swallowing objects was not an attempt to be taken to an outside hospital but to draw attention to the fact that he was receiving no assistance with preparation of his appeal.

Around the time of the attack on Paul Onions, a young man fled from a four wheel drive south of the Belanglo turn off. The vehicle had stopped , and he saw 3 men and a woman emerge from the bush. They were armed and coming toward him. He escapes and records the details to Bowral police. Task Force Air later dismiss his evidence as not being relevant to their backpacker inquiries. There is clear evidence that the police were reluctant to embrace the group killer theory. Was Paul Onions a victim of the group and fortunate to escape the tragedy of what had happened to the other travelers?

However, this attack is the first inkling placing a woman at the crime scenes. It does go some way to explain the sexual nature inflicted upon some of the victims. Female jewelry had disappeared from the victims. Only commonplace camping items were discovered in later police searches. These items appeared to be new and unused and Ivan Milat says they were planted on him.

Candace Sutton from the Sun-Herald reported concerning a strange blonde man who picked up a male hitchhiker in a 4wd. In the rear of that vehicle were chainsaws and other forestry type tools. There were assorted knives. The man fled from the vehicle when the driver began talking about "bodies in the forest" just after passing the Belanglo turn off. The driver had slowed down allowing the fellow to jump from the vehicle.

Task Force Air had a swag of information from drug raids in the local Sutton Forest and general Southern Highlands areas. The police were well briefed on the Who's Who of the local villains.

Police focused initially on the local area when forensics proved what sort of weapons had been used. As early as 1993, the investigation was confining the search to the Southern Highlands. This line of attack changed after the assault on Paul Onions, and the single theory perpetrator took hold. Anything outside that scenario was dismissed. The police had fixed a rough pattern to the movements of the backpackers. This fixation was flawed. It did not leave open the finding of further information on backpackers movements after leaving Sydney.

An 18 year old's body was found in a local forest area during 1992. He was from Bathurst, NSW. It could easily have been assumed that this victim was to be a part of the backpacker case investigation. Task Force Air said no. To place this victim with the others would have meant problems of defining the patterns of the murders. The police did not mention this case in their original brief, although the killing was similar to those at Belanglo.

Bicycle riders Stephen Mangan and Michael Jones found dumped property belonging to the backpacker Gibson. A Ricoh camera was passed on to police on 31st December, 1989. Backpacks belonging to Gibson and his partner were later found by a motorist and passed on to police.

The significance of these findings was closely similar to the finding at Bright, Victoria. The items were discarded to throw any later investigations away from the Southern Highlands.

The crown attempted to prove that Ivan Milat had been working in the Dural-Galston Gorge area and that he had the opportunity to place the items there. But then, there was the problem of the Items discovered at Bright. All of the items were dumped from the police case. The Casula-Liverpool link to the killers was entrenched in the police mind set, that they refused to take into account the possibility they were mistaken. Vital clues and witnesses were being dismissed.

If police did investigate properly they would find a cesspit of lies cooked up by the prosecution which conveniently ignored the facts that:

1. The Bennetton top allegedly taken from one of the
victims was purchased from a Sydney retail outlet.
This evidence was known to both the crown and the
defence.

2. Property belonging to Simone Schmidl were taken
from the home of a Ms Murphy at Guildford.

3. Property belonging to Simone Schmidl was found at
Bright, Victoria. Some of these items were later found
at the home of Ivan Milat. How they got there should
be a matter for the Police Integrity Commission.

4. The blue day pack allegedly belonging to Simone
Schmidl discovered at Walter Milat's home could not
have belonged to her. A family photo of the backpack
at Walter's home was taken prior to Simone's death.

5. Arresting detectives were captured by the
television news carrying fully formed cartons into the
Milat home.

6. Ivan and Richard Milat explained to police the
origin of some items at both their homes. Backpacks
held up in court as 'evidence' appeared to be new and
unused. Statements that those brands could only be
purchased in Europe were fabrications.

7. Simone Schmidl's mother was not examined nor a
statement taken from her regarding certain items that
she had earlier identified and were found in Victoria.

8. The incompetent handling of the DNA evidence was
detrimental to the defence case. No description was
led as to the colour of the hairs found in the hand of
one of the victims. Recent re-examination of the DNA
evidence has cleared Ivan Milat and all members of his
family. This should be making headlines - but still
Ivan Milat remains incarcerated.

9. The loss of Paul Onions' original statement coupled
with the original Joanne Berry statement raises
suspicions. These statements were made at separate
police stations. Neither the police nor the witnesses
retained a copy of the original staements. This is
suggestive that there was hiding or destruction of
these documents. In his original statement Paul Onions
had described a man around six feet tall with a spare
wheel mounted on the back of his car. This does not fit
the description of Ivan Milat at all.

10. To depict sightings by credible witnesses as false was
designed to undermine and mislead the evidence that
supported a different pattern to the police theory.

11. The police failed to video record the search of
the Milat residences. This reflects on the integrity
of the police searches.

12. If the second statement by Paul Onions was so
credible, why was Ivan Milat not arrested sooner?

13. Only one item of evidence was produced with a
fingerprint on it. For the police and crown to suggest
that Ivan wiped all of the items free of prints or
wore latex gloves was ludicrous considering the amount
of property concerned.

14. Forensic evidence showed neither the Bowie knife
or the blunt sword found at Ivan's mother's place
could have been used in the attacks on the victims. Of
all the guns seized from Milat family members not one
of them was ever fired in Belanglo Forest. Ivan Milat
maintains a Ruger rifle part was planted in his home
and recent sackings of corrupt police suggest they
were indeed capable of such acts.

15. A vital witness, Jock Pittiway, gave Alex Milat a
backpack. PIttiway also gave a trailer load of items
to Richard Milat. Pittiway should have been
investigated by police.

Ivan Milat was not the only suspect in this case. There were other suspects, in particular one from Wollongong of European origin whose children
saw him doing suspicious things. The man from Wollongong had a long history of violence against women and many criminal convictions including convictions for paedophilia. He was obsessed with guns and had been in the armed forces overseas. He looks not unlike Ivan Milat in appearance and is of similar build. This particular suspect's car was seized by Task Force Air and human bloodstains were found in the back. If police really want to reopen the case they could start by comparing his DNA with that found under the victim's fingernails.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Belanglo Murderer DNA Found on Recent Murder Victim
2006/05/18 - 22:02

Parramatta police are hushing up news that DNA matching that found under the fingernails of one of the Belanglo Forest murder victims has been found on a body recently discovered in bushland.
The difficult testing on the Belanglo DNA in England was only completed two years ago due to advances in technology.

Ivan Milat's family were officially informed that the DNA did not match Ivan Milat or any member of his family, nor did the DNA match any of the known victims. Police explained this by pointing out that the judge in his summing up of the case against Ivan Milat stated that there was no way one person committed these murders alone, and that the murders had a ritual-satanic aspect which would suggest a group of people being involved.

Detective Sergeant Michael Ashwood today led a raid on the late Mrs Milat's Guildford home where one of the Milat brothers, who is handicapped, still lives. Mrs Milat died some time ago. Police were allegedly looking for any weapons, clothing or other objects related to the recent discovery of a woman's body in a shallow grave, a fact which has not been reported in the mainstream media. This murder happened in about 2004, ten years after Ivan Milat was jailed so he certainly was not involved.

A Parramatta detective has admitted to one of the Milat brothers that photos are in the possession of police of two of the Belanglo murder victims visiting an area shortly before their abductions which does not fit the scenario of Ivan Milat picking up victims on the Hume Highway in N.S.W. These photos were kept out of the evidence during the trial deliberately because they confirmed sightings of the girls by railway employees in Albury and confirmed the finding of Simone Schmidl's belongings near the highway in Victoria, where Ivan Milat could not have been, due to the fact that his employer's records placed him at work during that time.

It is hoped that the DNA will match a known criminal whose DNA has been obtained. Useful samples of the DNA of the other Belanglo Murders suspect are held by his ex partner in the form of old type postage stamps on letters he wrote to her, one being a letter from prison denying that he sexually assaulted two children aged four and five years.

Picture: Gabor Neugebauer, whose leather jacket and watch were found in the possession of a policeman who committed suicide after harassing the wife and children of a second backpacker murders suspect, the details of whom have been kept secret even though the ex partner of the suspect gave four hours of evidence into the Royal Commmission into Police Corruption.. The jacket and watch were said by his fiancee to have been obtained by him before the bodies in the forest were discovered. http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/node/37040

Don't hitchhike! its a dangerous thing to do.I am sure plenty of nasty people capable of murder cruise around looking for victims.milat definately picked me up march 72 on the hume in vicinity of liverpool.I lasted 1 intersection.luckily he stopped and I got out at traffic lights.he would not answer me in that time.very strange man.capable of rape at the very least.

How do you know he was capable of rape? He gave you a lift so what? What evidence do you have? Was he aggressively trying to hold you in the car so he could attack you? you havent provided any valid explanation and have just surmised your story on what the courts and media have declared about him haven't you. how typical.

The man that tried to abduct me at Casula was not Ivan Milat, but looked very similar to him. There is definitely more to this case than meets the eye, God only knows.

Does anybody know if WMK and Ivan knew eachother? The blonde man has come up a few times aswell. Maybe they are part of a group?

as far as whats outin the open is that no wmk and ivan milat were not aquainted and interestingly wmk was no 1 suspect in police investigations due to past history of extreme violent crime before onions statement.
a woman who was in a relationship with wmk and now supports ivan makes comment that they look " uncannilly similar in appearance", wmk is supposed to be a bit older than milat. it would be interesting to note if what the w stood for in wmk whether or not its wilhelm or william which is shortened to "bill".
blonde man is person who approached the hitchhiker in campbelltown and there was also another blonde man who approached bushwalkers in blue mountains.
many reports say that this may be a group, involved in occult and ritual sacrifice serial murders. there were signs left at the murders scenes that depicted them as ritual killings.there was backpacker belongings as far as victoria and gallstone gorge, which traversed the hume highway. ivan maintains his innocence in these crimes and cannot any longer appeal to have his case reexamined in regards to dna evidence that apparently clears him and his family of any direct involvement. alex milat states he saw two victims in two seperate 4wds full of men, so if he is correct he was an eyewitness to the crimes.

hi there,
i really was picked up while hitchhiking on the hume hwy at casula. 19 years old, heading to mittagong in the summer of 76, before the freeways bypassed the local roads.
a light coloured station wagon, ford or holden i thought, bench seat with the back seat folded down.
large adult, black and tan rottwieller dog in the back.
driver had dark hair and features, average build but muscular, i dont recall facial hair.
no accent. about thirtyish, only the dashboard light once we left the traffic lights.
he mentioned he had to drop in to his mothers?/brothers? house and after driving for some time we stopped at a wooden cottage, close to the ground, he enters a door leading into a closed-in verandah along the front, light in colour. lots of tall gums and scrub on vacant land to the right of the house.
he comes back after just a few minutes carrying a light coloured, grey? vinyl rifle bag that looked to have a rifle in it.
stupid, innocent me shares some hunting experiences!
some time on he pulls off to the left side of the road, with the usual leak break excuse. lots of scrub, trees.
his words on returning to the vehicle were, 'im not going to do to you what i usually do to hitchhikers'.
i wasnt raped or worse that night, and many others nights, because i was a seasoned hiker and for years had told EVERY DRIVER the same story.
my father is the sargeant of police at 'insert town of your destination or nearer', i said mittagong that night, and he's such a worry wart. he knows im coming, so every police car will be looking in passenger seats for me.
he took me to my destination and left never to be seen again.
did he take unfortunate others to that lonely area?

brian raven was right.
that man is not ivan milat.
its someone else.
they are a group of people that is why there are different descriptions of the same type of thing happening to hitchikers along major highways and national parks.
milat is just a scapegoat.
people must come forward to post their experiences.
think of the victims that will never get the chance to tell their story.
those also whose are missing persons and who's murders remain unresolved.

So if this person described above isn't ivan and the other person who picked up the author of the article on the hume highway wasnt ivan and no one else involved in similar incidents related to these isnt ivan, then who are these people?
It appears that just becuase ivan is in jail doesnt mean that there no longer remains any threat to society if there are or has been more than one person involved in some or more of these crimes.
Its a sad world we live in when we can no longer trust, help or accept help from strangers, because some have done the unthinkable and apparently have gotten away with it.
Yes the obvious rules of travel is dont hitchhike, but a person who has no other means of transport should not be punished for it or risk their life.
Its a shame that in our "lucky" country you can't truly be free to travel or walk the streets when you pose no harm to anyone, for fear of your life or possessions being taken.
Something is definitely not right about that.

elizabeth please contact emma martint to discuss further. emma.martin@pacificmags.com.au

While my friend and i were hitchhiking in 1979 from Lithgow to Katoomba, we were picked up by a man about in his late 20's maybe 30. We were driving along the main railway line when he suddenly pulled over into a small rest stop. He asked which one of us was going to have sex with him. After my friend argued with him, we both quickly got out of the car. He sped off but we did not realise that he had thrown a u-turn somewhere up the road and came back to us. He was laughing and told us he was only joking. Like niave little 17 year olds we got back in the car with him. About 500 metres down the road he pulled over again and repeated what he had said the first time only adding "if you dont then i will stab you" as he was reaching down his side of the front seat. We got out of the car so fast i think we literally shocked and confused him. I will never forget the look on his face. He sped off leaving a trail of dirt and dust. Being so young and stupid at the time we thought it was funny. We were picked up by a lady in a small red coupe car and told her our tale. She gave us $7 and dropped us off at the railway station. I have always thought that the driver was Ivan Milat after the backpacker story came out, it has played on my mind for years. I have searched to see if there was any chance that Ivan Milat would have been in the area at the time but can never find out, but if it was him then he was acting alone.