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.
Comments
Only site with hitchhiker bone DNA match
I cant find anywhere accept this site that it is said a DNA match from backpacker murders matches bones found in 2010,if anyone can find it elsewhere put the link up.As for Ivan Milat being innocent you only have to think,the backpacker murders were all committed in the same brutal way and no murder since has been like it?. So if there are still killers out there why have there been no murders like it since Milat has been jailed,think about it.
Terrible anxious sad feeling 15km either side of wombean caves
Whilst driving through the back way from jenolin caves to goulbourn I was filled with a horrible feeling. I have never looked into a the backpack murders but the area about 15km either side of wombean caves had a terrible anxious sad feeling to it. Has anyone else felt this.
rumour that the area near wombean caves is haunted
Yes. I am from Taralga and they're is rumour that the area near wombean caves is haunted. Dont know how true it is but apparantly the word that has got around is that they're were 3 men part of the ival milat group he went on his 'sprees' with and when they abducted people they took them somewhere near wombean cave area ( some people say the brothers property) and done their funny business then took them to Belanglo to finish them off and dispose. I personally have felt funny driving past this area too.
Taralga is riddling with
Taralga is riddling with rumours. Apparantely there is a group that is going around abducting and hunting people for decades in the Taralga, Jenolin caves, mittagong, bowral, moss vale and wollongong. Rumour has it that it is a group of at least 10 people that are part of some sort of cult and are killing people for offerings etc. Word has it it has been going on for years and the corruption of police in areas mentioned is huge as they have members in this cult also. Milat and his family took the fall as these people set them up, Milat was on police red lists so members set him up. Rumour is there is ALOT more bodies etc at parks, lakes, mountain ranges in the near distance from towns named above. I was told by a friends from work who know of a certain member of this cult who opens his mouth too much when drunk. They had gone to police in moss vale and had promptly been told this was none of their concern as Milat is jailed. So went to police in Sydney and were told something along same lines. By sounds of it this group has very high members and is covered by police. Any other news on this?
Hired gun has a contract on Richard Milat
I happen to know that there is a hired gun known as the Rough Accountant that has taken a paid position on Richard Milat.
There is no room in todays world for people such as this!! These things need to be left to proper authourties and not to a criminal element that believe they are above the law.
There are witnesses to some of the backpacker murders
They were children when used by their father as decoys to make hitch hikers feel safe. He dressed as a woman while driving the vehicle he used to pick up his victims. These children gave their evidence in Wollongong Court in 1994 as part of another trial, to detectives from Task Force Air (investigating the backpacker murders) in 1993 and to counsellors at Wollongong Womens Centre and Centacare Wollongong. They were interviewed at Wollongong Police Station for six hours and this was only shortly after the first of the bodies was discovered. These children were able to describe English, Welsh and German accents. They were able to describe property including jewellery. They were able to describe in detail exactly how these people died, weeks before it was published in the media and before the then unknown suspect began to be named as 'the backpacker murderer'. They were able to tell things about anatomy, about mutilation of genital areas and about death that children of five and six could not possibly know. They certainly were not with Ivan Milat at the time, nor have they ever seen him. This man may match the DNA found at the scene which was neither Ivan Milat's, nor any member of his family's. It is worth re-stating too, that police never said they found the backpackers' property at Milat family homes. In court they held up each item and stated it was SIMILAR TO an item owned by a murdered backpacker. All this property was new and had not been backpacked anywhere other than out of the shop and into the back of the cars of corrupt investigators. The only exception was a drinking flask which was taken away with nothing whatsoever written on it, but mysteriously came back from forensic testing with 'Simone Schmidl' written on it. But Simone's property had already been found off the Hume Highway in Victoria, including her glasses and camera, and her mother had identified it. This did not fit with Ivan Milat who never missed a day's work and so it never came up in court. And all the guns that were seized from Milat family homes; in those days, many families kept guns for shooting pigs and rabbits. It wasn't illegal as it is now. Not one of those guns was found to have been fired in Belanglo Forest. Ivan Milat was framed.
Pretty sure it was him
people keep saying it wasn't him and all that and that they believe he is innocent. What they seem to forget is that from the seven murders in which he was charged for, they found .22 caliber rifle shells in the back of multiple victims heads. At every murder scene a makeshift fireplace had been built near the bodies in which more .22 caliber rifle shells were found along with ciggerate butts. One of his victims heads had been decapitated. belongings of the seven victims such as sleeping bags, cameras among other things were all found at his house. A calvary sword which contained traces of blood on it which matched that of the girl he decapitated was found at his mothers house, and to top it all off, a deconstructed .22 rifle was found out his house. once pieced together the shells were matched with his rifle. Each to their own and all but i honestly think he is guulty. Not saying other peoples accounts are false at all or that they're lying, i just believe that their is more then one killer and that what they saw was an entirely different person or perhaps an accomplise. But Ivan Milat is deffinately guilty.
Brother
You review makes very interesting reading.
At the end of the day, my brother Paul was not there to prove that Ivan Milat had carried out all the murders.
He was in court to prove that Ivan was the man who picked him up on that day whilst hitchiking, and pulled a gun on him (which he discharged whilst Paul ran from the vehicle, robbed him of all his possessions.
The crown and all the forensic experts convicted Ivan of the murders and not my brother.
Simon
Ivan Milat
The moment i saw Ivan Milats picture 20+ yrs ago i knew he was "Definately" the man that picked up myself,an older sister & a friend in Newcastle around early 1970s...i still remember every detail of that horrifying night. Other girls went missing back then in Newcastle...im very sure i know where he took them. I tried telling the Police...but...i never got past mentioning his name to the Police Woman that answered my call that day...her words "it doesnt matter now,hes in custody anyway" tch tch nsw police,what about the families of the missing girls ??? ...
This is obviously not related
This is obviously not related but just that women should be aware. I was visiting Sydney in 1992 from NZ. I was staying with a friend who was working and so I visited tourist spots on my own during the day. I took the ferry to Manly and walked around there, came back across the harbour and decided to walk around the back of the Opera House. As I walked along I realised that there weren't many people going around there and it seemed a little lonely and so I turned and walked back. I then noticed a man turn and do the same. I then became aware that he was following me. When I stopped he stopped. He didn't approach me but he stood a few feet from me just looking. He was well dressed with a white cap about 5 ft 7 or 8 and reasonably solid build. As I recall clean shaven. He kept following me and I couldn't shake him. If I paused to look at a shop window he would stop and stand and stare. I didn't know what to do. I saw two businessmen walking along so I kept pace with them with him following behind. I saw bus and I jumped on it and I was able to shake him. I honestly don't know who he was or what he was doing. Thinking back I should have gone into a shop or something but what a weird experience and I often wonder how long had he been following me and if he had followed me from Manly. It was the middle of the day and a long time ago. It wasn't safe then so what must it be like now?
Read "Sins of the Brother"
Anyone interested in this case should read "Sins of the Brother" - well researched, and a compelling read by two Walkley award winning Australian journalists. Mind blowing stuff.