Casefile True Crime - Case 109: Belanglo (Part 2)

Episode Date: March 30, 2019

[Part 2 of 5] After the remains of two bodies are found in Belanglo State Forest, New South Wales police establish a task force to oversee the investigation into the double homicide. Fearing that more remains will be discovered, a wide-scale search of Belanglo is conducted but the murder is ultimately considered to be an isolated incident. ---  Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Episode researched by the Anonymous Host Episode written by Elsha McGill For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-109-belanglo-part-2

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. On September 20, 1992, New South Wales police officers gathered under the eucalyptus trees in the rugged depths of Balingalo State Forest, establishing the crime scene in what appeared to be a double homicide. The gravesite was located a significant distance from the Hume Highway, branching off from

the motorway down a bumpy, red-dust road, bordered by 30-metre-high pine trees. Once the kilometres of pine plantations reached an end, the terrain transformed into dense bushland, intersected by a series of narrow fire trails. This area was only accessible on foot or via vehicles designed specifically to go off-road, meaning the killer had gone to great lengths to take his victims off track and likely owned or had access to a four-wheel drive. Items of clothing and jewelry found in proximity to the bodies indicated there was a strong chance one of the victims was Joanne Walters, the 22-year-old Welsh backpacker who was last

seen leaving Sydney's King's Cross District five months earlier. If this initial conjecture proved accurate, it raised the strong possibility that the second victim could be Joanne's travelling companion, 21-year-old English backpacker Caroline Clark. Both women had disappeared in April 1992 after telling friends and family they planned on hitchhiking south from Sydney towards Victoria before making their way up to Western Australia to commence fruit-picking work. Efforts to locate the two missing women at the time they vanished were unsuccessful.

Not a single trace of either Joanne or Caroline was ever found. Given their heavily decomposed state, the human remains couldn't be identified until further forensic testing was conducted. With thousands of missing people in Australia at the time, police were hesitant to draw any immediate conclusions. A police spokesperson fronted the media, saying, Police aren't ruling out anything at this stage and will be looking at all avenues to try to identify the bodies.

There is nothing at this stage to suggest that it is Joanne and Caroline, but of course we will be looking at missing persons files to try to find something. Two days later, on September 22, dental records provided by the parents of Joanne and Caroline confirmed the remains uncovered in Balingalo were indeed their daughters. Joanne's father, Ray Walters, told the media, This sentiment was shared by Caroline's father, Ian Clark, who said, Forensic experts determined Joanne and Caroline's remains had been in Balingalo since April, meaning the pair were killed shortly after they went missing.

Autopsies revealed both women had fallen victim to what police described as ferocious and sustained attacks. The lack of defensive wounds indicated they were both restrained and remained bound throughout their ordeal. Joanne Walters had upwards of 14 stab wounds throughout her torso. She had been gagged using three strips of material which appeared to have been torn from a size 41 men's shirt, tied in an over-under pullknot. A garot-like device used for strangulation lay on the ground nearby.

Caroline Clark's body lay 30 metres from Joanne's, her head wrapped in a sweatshirt riddled with bullet holes. Ten bullets had penetrated her skull from close range, and she had also sustained a knife wound through her back. Ballistic experts determined the bullets were shot from a .22 calibre rifle. Seven bullets were recovered from Caroline's skull, and the remaining three were found in the soil beneath her remains. Women spent Winchester brand cartridge cases were found three metres from Caroline's body.

Discarded five metres from Caroline's body were six cigarette butts. Five were her preferred brand, with the brand of the sixth unknown. It couldn't be established whether it was Caroline or her killer who had smoked the cigarettes, but if they were all inhaled by the perpetrator, the amount of time that would take them to do so meant they would have spent an unusually long time at the crime scene. An area of trampled-down bush nearby was now showing signs of regrowth, suggesting some of the attack may have occurred there.

40 metres away, investigators came across several bricks circling a small pile of ash, the remnants of a makeshift fire pit. The crime scene was a considerable distance from the main road, leading investigators to believe the killer was local to the area and had familiarity of Belangelo's layout, including the secluded areas less travelled. No possibilities were ruled out, with police considering many scenarios, including that more than one killer was involved, and that there were more bodies hidden in the forest. Detectives from the New South Wales Homicide Squad joined forces

with local officers to conduct a full-scale search of the crime scene and its surrounds. More than 100 police officers, rescue workers and sniffer dogs tracked the Belangelo State Forest, as divers scoured dams on nearby private properties. But the sheer size of the forest, which consisted of gullies, steep hills, creeks, thick trees and dense shrubbery, made the search a monumental task. Despite the extensive efforts of everyone involved, nothing else of significance was uncovered. News of the murders of Joanne Walters and Caroline Clark filled the families of other missing

backpackers with dread. Norbert Habschied's sister, Anya, had disappeared with her boyfriend, Gabor Neugebauer from Sydney, near nine months earlier. Norbert stated, We are very sad that these girls were found dead, because the same thing could have happened to Anya and to Gabor. Investigators did look into the files of other missing backpackers, but failed to find anything to suggest that any met a similar fate to that of Joanne and Caroline.

As such, police wound down their search of Belangelo, and instead focused on finding the killer. A police spokesperson told the Australian newspaper, The search has covered a wide enough area for us to dismiss speculation that there are other bodies. But more graves is obviously not what this search is for, as to find evidence on the two girls found murdered. The task force was established with 12 detectives assigned to work on the case full time, but

their work was cut out for them as they had very little to go on. Just weeks into their investigation, detectives conceded they had virtually no leads. Belangelo was frequented by residents of the nearby small Southern Highlands town of Bowerall. Their forest backdrop provided them with the opportunity to engage in an abundance of outdoor activities including bush walks, picnics, camping, and four-wheel driving. Yet, upon the chilling discovery of human remains within Belangelo's depths, many now vowed to never return. One Bowerall resident remarked,

I can't believe there's such a peaceful place could be the scene of something so awful. One crime was virtually unheard of in Bowerall, and speculation that the killer could live locally led members of the community to yie each other with suspicion. One resident said, For all I know, it could be anybody that you drink with at the pub. It could be anybody you pass in the main street. Just how are we to know?

On October 4, two weeks after Joanne Walters and Caroline Clarke were found, mourners gathered in the remote area of Belangelo for what the Walters family titled, a service of serenity. Relatives of both young women were in attendance, as were members of the local community. The Walters and Clarke families insisted the event wasn't a funeral or memorial service, but a way to thank the Australian people for their support, and to recognise the efforts of police and the Bowerall community in finding their daughters. It also aimed to expunge the evil that had taken place in the forest, to ensure Joanne

and Caroline's souls could rest in peace. An overcast sky stretched above the forest, drizzling rain down on the crowds as they let candles and laid wreaths. A Welsh flag was draped over the site where Joanne was found, and some 30 metres away, a Union jack flag lay where Caroline was discovered. The rain began to ease as Anglican Minister Father Stephen Gray began his opening address, declaring, We have come here to this place, a place where something wicked happened, to call on the

power of God, so this place will be peaceful again. Members of the Sydney Welsh Choir sang a popular folk song from their homeland, Mavunwi. At the conclusion of the service, they sang, You'll Never Walk Alone, during which the clouds parted, and the sun shone down upon the forest. Following the service, Joanne's father said, I just couldn't leave without thanking the Australian people for how they've helped us. To have gone home without this service would have been leaving something out. Now we're putting this area back to how it was, and putting the girls to rest.

In what was considered to be one of the most widespread and exhaustive investigations conducted by the NSW police force, the search for Joanne and Caroline's killer resulted in thousands of lines of inquiry across Australia and the UK, with more than 500 people formally interviewed. Detective Inspector Bob Godden, who was a leading Joanne and Caroline's murder inquiry, stated, Our investigations have covered literally millions of square kilometres both here in Australia and overseas. Detectives have travelled extensively throughout NSW and have made inquiries in areas such as Wagga Wagga, Narendra, Wentworth, Naurar and the Southern Highlands.

NSW police have also travelled to Victoria, Queensland and South Australia as part of their investigations. I can assure the community that dozens of experienced detectives have poured thousands of hours into this murder investigation, and we remain confident of achieving a breakthrough. Despite these efforts, the investigation struggled to make any considerable progress, prompting the NSW state government to offer a $100,000 reward. But the monetary offer did little to rejuvenate the languishing investigation. The task force continued its inquiries, but what began with a team of 12 detectives working

on the case full-time was reduced to just three. On October 5, 1993, a little over one year since Joanne Walters and Caroline Clark were found, a local man named De Bruis Pryor was driving through Balingalo in search of firewood. This was something he had always done, but ever since the murders, Bruis remained extra observant while collecting wood on the off chance he came across anything police had missed during their search. On this particular day, Bruis drove along the upper end of the Longacre fire trail. He was in a remote area of dense scrub, located approximately 500 metres from where Joanne

and Caroline's remains were found. He parked his car and ventured off the fire trail on foot, heading deep into Balingalo's rugged terrain. After walking inward for about 100 metres, Bruis noticed what appeared to be a human femur bone on the ground. He continued through the bush for about 20 metres, where he made another startling discovery, several more bones, and a human skull. Bruis raised the alarm at the closest rangers hut, and the police were contacted.

Upon their arrival, Bruis led them to his discovery. A cursory search of the area uncovered more bones, teeth, and decaying women's clothing hidden under piles of sticks and bracken. A silver chain, crucifix and a bracelet containing small stones were located near the bones. Further away, a pair of pantyhose were found with the lower ends tied into slip knots, having clearly been used as a restraint. A piece of decomposed fabric was thought to have been used as a gag. Four lengths of red and yellow electrical tape were also recovered from the scene.

Two hours later, just 22 metres west from the first set of remains, police came across a pair of men's sand shoes, visible under a large pile of sticks and branches at the base of a tree. Under the pile was the skeleton of a second body. Parallels were immediately drawn between this double homicide crime scene and the one established in the same forest the year prior. Both sets of victims were located in close proximity and had been covered in a similar manner by forest debris.

400 metres from the newly discovered remains was a tree trunk peppered with nine bullets, eight of which were too damaged to be identified, but a ninth which was confirmed to have come from a .22 calibre rifle, the same weapon used against Caroline Clark. Both crime scenes were positioned close to the remnants of old campsites. In the case of the second crime scene, the campsite was 100 metres away from where the victims lay and included a fire pit built from bush rocks. Investigators considered whether the killer had camped out with these victims before turning on them or had stayed in the area after the slayings.

Based on the remoteness and proximity of the two crime scenes, authorities believed the same killer was responsible for all four deaths and that they were still certain they were dealing with a local who was familiar with the forest. Superintendent Clyde Small, quote, you wouldn't expect a person just a driving past to go to these depths. The recently uncovered skeletal remains were sent for post-mortem examination and identification. Meanwhile, speculation ran rife as to who they might be, with theories centralised on missing German backpackers Gabor Neugebauer and his girlfriend Anja Habschied, who were

last seen leaving their hostel in Sydney just over a year and a half earlier. Police expressed their opinion that the remains appear to have been in the forest for approximately 12 months. Further validating theories, they were those of the German couple. Yet, forensic testing revealed the remains had in fact spent close to five years in the bushland, ruling out any possibility they were Gabor and Anja. As investigators waited for results of the post-mortem, they checked missing persons records to determine whether any other foreign backpackers had disappeared from New South

Wales around five years ago. Days later, both bodies were positively identified, and it wasn't at all who many were expecting. Given the media attention had focused primarily on missing international backpackers, not as much had been mentioned about the December 1989 disappearance of 19-year-old Australian couple James Gibson and Deborah Everest. They had last been seen in the Sydney suburb of Surrey Hills, with the intention to hitch hike south to Aubrey. Deborah Everest had a broken jaw and fractured skull, sustained by a solid object.

Such blunt force trauma would have led to unconsciousness, and possibly even caused a hemorrhage, brain damage, or death. Several deep gashes across her skull were caused by a large knife or sword like object. Markings on the rib area of her back were caused by a 30mm wide blade. James Gibson was found in the fetal position, having been stabbed in a frenzied manner seven times throughout his body. Like Joanne Walters and Caroline Clark, neither James nor Deborah had defensive wounds, indicating they too were restrained.

Detectives returned their focus to James Gibson's 35mm Ricoh brand camera, which had been found on Galston Gorge Road on December 31, 1989, one day after the couple went missing. Galston Gorge Road was located 150km north of Balingalo, in the opposite direction to James and Deborah's intended destination near Aubrey. James's backpack, which had also been found on Galston Gorge Road months after the couple's disappearance, contained pine needles, despite there being no pine trees in that area. This led investigators to believe James and Deborah had been killed in Balingalo State Forest on December 30, 1989, the day they were last seen alive.

The killer had then gone to considerable efforts to dump James's belongings along Galston Gorge Road the next day, perhaps in an attempt to mislead police. Upon hearing news that James and Deborah were found, the Gibson and Everest families were left shattered, having maintained hope throughout the years that their children were still alive. James's sister Mary Ann told the media, James was such a good person, he was very, very talented and good fun and gentle, the wrong sort of person to meet a violent end. A town meeting was held in Bowerl, where local police warned the 120 residents in attendance about the dangers of hitchhiking and jogging or walking alone.

Terrified locals bombarded police with questions, desperate to know whether they believed more victims lay undiscovered in the forest. All the while, attending investigators inconspicuously scanned the crowd, looking for anyone who stood out as suspicious. The parents of Joanne Walters and Caroline Clark made an appeal to the people of Bowerl via video, pleading for anyone with information to come forward, emphasising the importance of finding their daughter's backpacks which were still missing and possibly held significant clues. Deborah Everest's brother Tim said, If anyone knows anything about the murders, how would they feel if it was their sister,

mother, daughter, brother or father that this had happened to? Think of it like that. Fear gripped the Bowerl community, with many citizens stating they were too scared to leave the house. Homes once kept open by trusting residents were now locked up, with locals hesitant to move about at night alone. For one regional store, Highland's security, business doubled as the sales of locks and alarms increased. To help solve the murders of Joanne Walters, Caroline Clark, James Gibson and Deborah Everest, the New South Wales police force established Task Force Air, initially consisting of 15 detectives, two intelligence analysts and several forensic investigators,

all led by Superintendent Clive Small. The well-respected astute detective was renowned for his investigation into the 1987 shooting of undercover New South Wales police officer Michael Drury. Small was also responsible for reviewing the rape and kidnapping charges laid against former New South Wales police detective superintendent Harry Blackburn. Small discovered evidence that proved Blackburn's innocence, thus saving him from being sent to prison for crimes he didn't commit. The hunt for the killer presented serious challenges for Task Force Air. A considerable amount of time had passed since the four murders, and police had so far failed to uncover any evidence to point towards a prime suspect. Small assembled a tough,

reliable team of detectives whom he trusted. Some had previously worked on the investigation into notorious serial killer John Wayne Glover. Small fronted the media and publicly declared that they were likely hunting down a serial killer or killers. Quote, There are some similarities, and to the indications are we're heading in the direction of a common offender or offenders. We are very conscious of the fact the two sets of bodies were found in a straight line 500 to 600 meters apart. The investigation will be extended to look at other missing backpackers and missing persons. Warnings about the dangers of hitchhiking were issued, with Small pleading with travelers not to accept rides from strangers under any circumstances.

His warnings seemed to fall on deaf ears, with several backpackers telling journalists for the Sydney Morning Herald the murders wouldn't deter them from hitchhiking, as they were on tight budgets, and it was the cheapest mode of transport. Task Force Air's first major assignment was to develop a plan to conduct the most thorough search possible of Balangelo State Forest. The team used satellite imagery to identify any changes in the density of the vegetation since the late 1980s in the hope it would help locate potential burial sites. GPS was used to plot points on maps and mark locations where bodies and evidence had so far been located, while a command post was established in the forest and staffed around the clock.

Forensic investigators were on standby to attend any newly discovered crime scenes, which police were certain existed. Each day, buses containing hundreds of police and state emergency service volunteers from surrounding regions arrived to the forest, working in teams of 40 as they traversed the scrub in search lines, sometimes on their hands and knees. Two cadaver dogs specially trained to work in rough terrain were also called in. An area extending five square kilometers outwards from the known crime scenes was scoured, with teams also retracing areas covered in previous surges. Anytime a person located an item of interest, they were advised to yell,

find, after which the team leader of the group would assess the item and make contact with the command post. A police spokesperson provided the media with an update on the search, advising, we have found nothing so far to suggest that there are more bodies out there, but we certainly can't discount the possibility that there are. At the moment, we are consolidating the information that has come in to the investigative unit and are sifting through that for leads. One of the only pieces of physical evidence investigators had that could link them directly to the killer or killers were the recovered bullets and cartridge cases that were determined to have been fired from a .22 caliber rifle.

The search to find the knife or knives used in the attacks was a far more difficult task, as forensic experts were not yet able to distinguish whether the same one or several were used in the slayings. Superintendent Small stated, you don't have as many opportunities to chase up a knife as you do a firearm. Therefore, locating the firearm and its owner became a major facet of Task Force Air's investigation. Superintendent Clive Small requested anyone who owned a .22 caliber rifle to come forward to eliminate themselves from the investigation, as detectives spoke to gun dealers within the barrel area. Plans were made to question all 2,000 licensed gun owners in the southern

Highlands region and to extend the search nationwide if required. Every line of inquiry was followed up by Task Force Air, but with no major breakthroughs in the case, things were beginning to slow down in Balingolo. On the afternoon of November 1, 1993, four weeks after James Gibson and Deborah Everest were found, a group of police were asked to do one final sweep of their allocated area of the forest. The officers were exhausted and disheartened. They had been searching for close to a month straight and had yet to uncover anything of importance. Nevertheless, the group performed the sweep as directed, trawling in a single file in an area of bushland located approximately 40

meters off a fire trail known as Miners Despair. They were towards the outer limits of the designated search area, a few kilometers away from where the four bodies had been uncovered. As the officers inspected the rugged terrain and sifted through the fallen branches and foliage, one stopped in their tracks. They raced their hand in the air and yelled, Find. Forensic investigators cordoned off the area near the Miners Despair fire trail, where police uncovered more human skeletal remains, along with several personal items, including jewelry and coins. The bones were sent for forensic testing,

where dental records confirmed they belonged to missing German backpacker, 21-year-old Simone Schmidl. Simone had been missing for almost three years. She was last seen alive in January 1991, walking towards the Hume Highway with plans to hitchhike south to Melbourne. As in the case of several of the other victims found in Belangelo, Simone had been stabbed multiple times with extreme force. Her t-shirt was found 50 meters from her body with its front slashed open, along with a length of soft wire tied in the shape of a noose. Superintendent Clive Small fronted the media, confirming that police were of the opinion that Simone's killer was the same person responsible for the murders of James Gibson, Deborah Everest,

Joanne Walters, and Caroline Clark. Leading criminologist Professor Duncan Campbell from the Australian Institute of Criminology told The Age newspaper that it would be an unusual case if a serial killer was responsible for all slayings as, quote, they don't usually kill across genders and don't normally kill more than one person at a time. The search of Belangelo ramped up once again in what was shaping up to be one of the largest homicide investigations ever conducted in New South Wales. All five victims were found in the northmost region of the forest, and police concentrated their efforts on the three fire trails within the vicinity of the gravesites, long acre, miners' despair, and a tree cave.

Three days later, on November 4, 1993, a police team was searching a rocky bluff approximately 30 metres from the Tree Cave fire trail, about one kilometre east from where Simone Schmiddle's remains were found. An officer spotted a women's brown sandal with a broken strap amongst the forest debris. A 10-metre walk onwards, underneath a stack of branches and next to a partially burned log, lay a human skeleton. The area was immediately silled off by forensic investigators who made another grim discovery just 50 metres away, where underneath a pile of logs, they found the remains of a second body. A plane ticket, shoes, a watch, and a jewellery were found close by, as was a bra with multiple stab marks, a pair of black leggings,

and pink jeans. Wrapped in underwear inside the jeans was a piece of pink coloured cloth, knotted in a V-shape reminiscent of the bandana-type masks worn by cowboys in movies. A homemade restraint made from black insulation tape, sash cord, and plastic electrical ties was also recovered, along with several other pieces of black electrical tape and a length of blue and yellow rope tied to form a 70-centimeter loop at one end and a 12-centimeter loop at the other. Dental records confirmed the identity of the remains to be those of missing German backpacker 21-year-old Gabor Neugebauer and his 20-year-old girlfriend Anja Habschied. The couple were last seen alive checking out of their hostel in Sydney's

Kings Cross area almost two years earlier in December 1991. Anja had been stabbed multiple times in the torso and had also been decapitated with a single powerful blow to the back of the neck by a machete, sword, or axe. Despite extensive searches of the surrounding area, her skull was never recovered. Gabor had been shot in the back of the head six times and his hyoid bone was fractured, likely caused by forceful pressure applied to his neck in an act of strangulation. He was gagged with a piece of material that appeared to have been torn from a child's dress or apron. Curiously, the gag had been tied using a reef knot, which was of particular interest to investigators, as the knot used to tie the gag on Joanne Walters was done using a simple

over-under pool knot. The two knot varieties hinted that it was possible more than one person was involved in the crimes. Dr. Peter Bradhurst, a forensic pathologist from the New South Wales Institute of Forensic Medicine, had been responsible for conducting the post-mortem examinations of all seven Balingolo victims. He noted significant differences as the killings progressed. The first three victims, James Gibson, Deborah Everest, and Simone Schmiddle, had been subject to blunt force trauma and frenzied stabbings. Later, Anya Habsheed, Gabor Neugebauer, Joanne Walters, and Caroline Clark had also been violently stabbed, but the killer had escalated to include shootings and a decapitation. As news spread that the Balingolo murder

count had risen, Superintendent Clive Small fronted the media, commenting, I think it would be fair to say that given we now have seven bodies, that we do have a serial killer. There are obvious similarities. The distance from the road, the distance between the bodies, the manner in which they were covered, and the fact that they have been there for some time would lead us at this stage to conclude they are connected. Four bullets recovered from Gabor Neugebauer's remains were shot from a .22 caliber rifle, the same type of firearm used against Caroline Clark. The remaining two bullets had left his skull from the same exit wound, but couldn't be located at the crime scene despite police sifting

the soil and employing the use of metal detectors. This led to the belief Gabor was shot elsewhere in the bushland. Approximately 160 meters from Gabor and Anya's crime scene was a location investigators named Area A, a space which appeared to have been used by the killer as a shooting gallery. Here, police uncovered 47 used .22 caliber Winchester brand cartridge shells, along with an empty Winchester brand winner model ammunition box. Ballistic experts concluded these bullets were fired from a .22 caliber Ruger self-loading rifle with a 10 round rotary magazine, and it was the same firearm used against both Gabor Neugebauer and Caroline Clark. There were also 46 spent .22 caliber Ealy brand cartridges and an empty Ealy brand ammunition

box. The Ealy bullets were determined to have been discharged from a different firearm, an Anschutz .22 caliber bolt action rifle. This meant two rifles were fired within Area A, a Ruger and Anschutz, with the varied locations of all 93 bullets indicating the guns were discharged from several directions in a concentric circle. Further examination revealed the guns were fired at or about the same time, ruling out the possibility that the killer or anyone else had returned to the scene at a later date to fire the second gun. Gauge marks on some of the bullets indicated a solancer had been attached to at least the Ruger to mitigate the risk of being heard. Bullets were found embedded in tree trunks while others were in the soil amongst the

broken beer and cordial bottles, suggesting the shooter had used the glass bottles as target practice. The Ballistics team used the batch numbers from the empty Winchester and Ealy cartridge boxes found at Area A to try and narrow down the hunt for the owner of the weapons, but it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. The batch of Winchester cartridges comprised of 320,000 bullets which had been sold to over 55 outlets across Australia between June and November 1988, one year before the first of the Belangelo victims went missing. The Ealy brand ammunition had been manufactured and distributed in March 1979, almost a decade earlier, and their manufacturer had no records of which retail outlets the Ealy ammunition had gone to for sale.

With each new discovery investigators learned more insight into the mindset and patterns of the killer or killers. All crime scenes shared noticeable similarities with each victim having endured equally violent ordeals at the hands of a perpetrator who seemed to derive gratification from the torment of others. This was clear in a distinct stab wound some of the victims sustained to their backs, which would have rendered them paralyzed but kept them alive and conscious during subsequent torture. The extent of the perpetrator's depravity was further evident in his treatment of using several victims for target practice, shooting at them whilst they were restrained, with the wounds of at least one victim indicating they were repositioned several times before the

firing recommenced. The disarray of some victims clothing from shirts pulled up to missing pants and underwear that investigators to believe they were also sexually interfered with. In each case the bodies of the victims were concealed under light scrub within 200 meters of a fire trail in the north region of the forest. They were all found lying face down against a rock or fallen tree covered by branches, twigs and forest debris, with the exception of James Gibson who was found laying on his side in the fetal position. Some officers believed there was a ritualistic pattern to the way each victim was buried, while others believed the positioning of each suggested the killer was neat, tidy and well organized. As the murders progressed,

the attacks increased in brutality, becoming more cruel and vicious. The killer also became more brazen and confident, seemingly spending longer at the crime scene with each new victim. The first victims James Gibson and Deborah Everest were buried deep within the natural forest, but the second Simone Schmidl had been buried a little closer to the pine plantations, followed by Anya Habsheed and Gabor Neugebauer, who were buried closer again. From there it appeared the killer realized that they were edging too close to the pine plantations, which were frequented by forestry workers, so he returned deeper into the forest with Joanne Maltes and Caroline Clark. Superintendent Clive Small

quote, I think the sites have been deliberately chosen in the sense that they are all similar locations in terms of geography and conditions. We found a pattern to the extent that they appear to follow the perimeter of the pine forest. All we can do is follow the patterns. The discovery of makeshift fire pits close to each crime scene suggested two scenarios, that the killer lured their victims into the bush under the guise of offering them a genuine Aussie camping experience, charming them over the campfire before launching into an attack, or the killer camped at each scene after carrying out his crimes to relish the moment. Some found it hard to imagine a single offender could abduct, restrain, torture,

and kill the victims traveling in pairs. One explanation was that the killer simply controlled his targets at gunpoint, while another speculated that the victims may have been drugged, with one of the pair killed in this incapacitated state, whilst the other was kept alive and tortured. Some experts even theorized that the killer may have forced one victim to inflict injury or death upon the other. There was also evidence to enhance the multi-perpetrator theory, from the two different firearms being used in conjunction at area A, to the two distinct knot styles used for gags and restraints, as well as the different methods of killing. As at least one victim was repositioned and fired upon in a target practice style setup, it seemed plausible that as one

shooter fired, the other was responsible for moving the victim's body. Of the victim's belongings, only a small amount of clothing and personal effects were recovered from the crime scenes. The backpacks of Debra, Simone, Gabor, Anya, Joanne, and Caroline were still missing and contained a large array of clothes, cooking equipment, tents, sleeping bags, as well as a collection of foreign currency. James Gibson's backpack had been found at Galston Gorge over 100 kilometers away, but it was empty of most of his possessions. Having concluded they were dealing with the killer characterized by power and control, investigators believed it possible that at least some of the victim's belongings had been kept by him as trophies. They believed that once

they found the killer, there was a good chance they would find the missing items. The Belangalo case had already become the biggest serial killing spree in New South Wales history, and Superintendent Clive Small was aware there may be more victims out there, saying, if you'd asked me this time last month whether there were any more bodies in the forest, I would never have expected to be back here talking about seven bodies. There are clearly other backpackers missing, and we have files and a whole range of people. A team of intelligence analysts reviewed over 600 unresolved missing person cases dating back to 1972, narrowing the list down to 20 they believed would be connected to the Belangalo serial killer.

Interstate law enforcement also checked their backlog of case files, forwarding on any they suspected could be linked to Belangalo, with 25 arriving from Victoria Police and another six from Queensland Police. Duncan Chappell, director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, told The Age newspaper, I don't think that the killer would have killed only seven people. I suspect there is no reason why he would have stopped. They don't stop unless they are caught. I have never heard of therapy or anything else stopping serial killers. They may be very sociopathic, but they are not insane. The likelihood is that he has either killed more people, or is planning future killings.

On November 5th, the New South Wales government announced that a reward of $500,000 was on offer for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Belangalo serial killer. This was a significant increase to the existing reward of $100,000 made available following the discovery of Joanne Walters and Caroline Clark, and was on par with the highest reward ever offered in the state. The New South Wales Police Commissioner announced that a further 300 police would be added to the group of officers currently scouring Belangalo, and that the search would be extended to cover the entire perimeter of the 40 square kilometre forest. As the investigation expanded, a shed at the back of the Bowerall police station was converted to form the base of

operations for one half of Task Force Air, with the remaining officers working out of Sydney City. For lead detective Superintendent Clive Small, one of the biggest challenges they faced was information management. He was mindful of the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper serial killings in the United Kingdom during the late 70s, covered in episode 37 of Case File. In that instance, several people had named the perpetrator to police throughout the investigation, but due to the way this vital information was mishandled, it was overlooked. Superintendent Small wanted to learn from these mistakes and ensure nothing of importance from the Belangalo serial killer case slipped through the cracks. Several investigations were now being consolidated under

Task Force Air, including the original missing person investigations of the seven known victims, as well as other missing persons who also may have fallen victim to the Belangalo serial killer. It was a logistical nightmare, as each missing person's case had been handled by police departments from different regions, with each having their own specific way of collating information. Some documents were only available in hard copy and stored within the police station of origin, while others were entered onto digital databases that couldn't be cross-referenced with other systems. Joanne Walters and Caroline Clark's murder investigation alone had generated more than seven and a half thousand inquiries, with over 500 people questioned. All that information had been

stored on the New South Wales Police Task Force Information Management System, which was designed for standalone investigations and not equipped to handle the massive increasing scale that was the Belangalo case. The existing Task Force Management System was also unable to search records from government agencies, interstate police departments, or the Australian Federal Police. Recognizing this deficiency, Superintendent Small worked with intelligence analysts, data management experts, and software specialists to develop a more sophisticated system capable of handling the unique requirements of Task Force Air. They combined elements from 12 existing software packages to create an advanced system that enabled them to record, mine, and cross-reference

data from a variety of sources, naming this new system Netmap. Importing all the existing data from the various old systems into the advanced Netmap database was a painstaking and time-consuming process. It caused short-term delays for investigators who were temporarily unable to access information, but the payoff was worth the wait. With Netmap up and running, more than one million pieces of information, including names, addresses, dates, locations, and vehicle details, could be cross-referenced with ease, saving potentially hundreds of hours of work for Task Force investigators. On November 16, police orchestrated a second search of Galston Gorge, the area two hours drive north of Belangelo, where James Gibson's camera

and backpack were found. The media speculated that the killer may have another burial ground in the surrounding Barara Valley Regional Park, although police insisted they weren't looking for more bodies, but rather for evidence relating to the seven confirmed victims. A team of over 100 police officers combed the designated four-kilometer area of rugged bushland either side of Galston Gorge Road, scouring the scrubbed shoulder-to-shoulder, while police divers searched the waters of nearby Barara Creek. A number of items were recovered, including a shirt, shoes, and a purse. The items were all examined by forensic experts, who determined them to be unrelated to any of the Belangelo victims. Meanwhile, the ongoing search of Belangelo State Forest had become one of the

largest ever conducted in Australia's criminal history. Despite this, no further evidence or bodies were located, and police felt confident there was nothing else to be found. On November 16, 1993, the intensive search of Belangelo finally reached its conclusion. The 400 officers who had conducted the search bowed their heads and observed a moment's silence in memory of the victims. A police chaplain recited the Lord's Prayer before lamenting. We are reminded of the fragility of life as we remember those seven young people whose life was brief and who died in such tragic circumstances. An article penned by journalist Frank Walker for newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald spoke of the eerie silence that haunted Belangelo since

the murders of James Gibson, Deborah Everest, Simone Schmiddle, Gabor Neugebauer, Anya Habschede, Joanne Walters, and Caroline Clark. He wrote, It makes the skin crawl to walk the trails of this creepy place, taking the same path that the killer or killers of seven young backpackers must have taken as he delivered them to their appointment with death. No birds fly from the stringy bark gum trees. No animals scurry away in the bushes. Something is terribly wrong here. As the search of the forest slowly drew to an end, the media reported that up to 20 people were being looked at as potential persons of interest in the Belangelo killings, but police had yet to establish any firm suspects. The search for the

Ruger and Dan Schultz rifles used in Belangelo were still underway, with the US manufacturer of the Ruger stating that tens of thousands of the firearms had been imported into Australia, meaning identifying the owner of one of them would be no easy feat. However, ballistic experts were able to narrow the search down slightly as the base of one of the spent cartridges recovered from the crime scene had an upward indentation. This was caused by a known fault in the firing pins of Ruger's made between 1964 and 1982. Task Force Air obtained the manufacturer's records and created a database of all Ruger rifles that had been imported into Australia. They then acquired the Australian Federal Police database that listed all licensed the Ruger owners in the country.

This database had been created by the AFP following the 1989 murder of former Assistant Federal Police Commissioner Colin Winchester, who was shot dead with a .22 caliber semi-automatic Ruger rifle fitted with a silencer. Task Force Air ruled out all Ruger rifles that were already in police possession or had been destroyed as of December 1991, the first time the firearm was used against a Balingolo victim. Detectives then questioned licensed firearm holders, gun clubs and checked gun shop records. They doorknocked houses of registered gun owners in the southern Highlands area and seized all Ruger rifles to conduct ballistic comparisons. Superintendent Clive Small from his book Inside Australia's Biggest Manhunt quote,

Working from the top down and at the bottom up would, we hoped, enable us to identify both the number of unaccounted four Ruger's and a number of people who could not account for their Ruger. The two-pronged strategy ought to expose emissions and highlight mismatches while allowing us to narrow the focus to specific geographic areas and to individual gun owners who could not be eliminated. It was laborious and time-consuming, but we were not in a race. After inspecting over two and a half thousand registered firearms from residents throughout New South Wales, police were yet to uncover the weapon they were looking for. Police had since launched a toll-free hotline for members of the public to phone in with

information or tips. It received an overwhelming response, with over 5,000 calls made in the first 24 hours from all over Australia and overseas. Details from every single call were entered into the database, with a printout of each handed to an investigator to be assigned one of three classifications. No action, due course or priority one. Superintendent Small was mindful that the seemingly insignificant detail could be the clue needed to identify the killer. But with so many tips coming through, it was not always immediately clear which ones took priority. One woman phoned to report a man she knew whose family owned a property in the Southern Highlands region, not too far from Belangelo. She had been compelled to provide his details

to the hotline purely on the basis that he owned a four-wheel drive vehicle and had a keen interest in firearms, owning several. The call operator took his name, Ivan Malat, and the information was entered onto the database as per protocol. Another call came into the hotline from a woman based in South West Sydney, identified as Mary. She wanted to report an incident that happened near 16 years earlier that bore chilling similarities to the circumstances of the recent Belangelo crimes. In July 1977, when Mary and her friend Therese were 18 years old, they were hitchhiking south along the Hume Highway, hoping for a ride back home to Canberra. The pair were picked up by a man with black straggly hair who appeared to be aged in his 30s.

As he drove the young women along the Hume Highway, the driver suddenly took a right turn near the Southern Highlands town of Mitigong, explaining it was a shortcut. Once they reached an isolated dirt road, he pulled the car over under the guys of needing a toilet brake before grabbing Mary by the arm and saying, Okay girls, who's first? Mary fought him off, and she and Therese managed to escape, running into the surrounding bushland where they hid under some shrubbery. The men searched for them over the following hours, slowly driving up and down the dirt road. Upon failing to find the women, he gave up and left. Shaken, Mary and Therese sought help from the occupants of a nearby farmhouse who offered to drive them to Bowerall

police station, but they declined, choosing not to report the matter. Mary's story was corroborated by her friend Therese, who also placed a call to the hotline later that day to report the same distressing incident that occurred back in 1977. A week after the hotline received the harrowing calls from Mary and Therese, a woman from Canberra named Joanne Berry phoned in to report yet another disturbing incident that took place on the Hume Highway. This one three years earlier, in January 1990. One month after James Gibson and Deborah Everest went missing, Joanne was driving her Toyota Tarago van south down the Hume Highway, when just before the

turnoff to Balangalo State Forest, she noticed two men scuffling on the side of the road. One was violently pushing the other to the ground, and a silver four-wheel drive vehicle was pulled over nearby. The younger man sustaining the attack managed to escape the grip of his assailant, allowing him the opportunity to flee. He raced up the highway frantically signalling for help, jumping in front of Joanne's car as she approached, giving her no choice but to stop. He then rushed around to the door of the van before pulling it open and leaping inside. Joanne ordered the stranger to get out of her vehicle, but he yelled back in a British accent, I'm not getting out, he's got a gun. His distress was palpable, and Joanne instantly

understood the urgency of the situation. She saw a brake in the median strip, drove across it to perform a U-turn, then sped off in the opposite direction. As the Tarago headed towards Bowerall police station, its occupants caught sight of the young man's attacker out the van's rear window. He stood alone on the opposite side of the highway, staring right back at them, an evil smirk across his face. To be continued next week.