Casefile True Crime - Case 72: Wilhelmina Kruger & Anna Dowlingkoa

Episode Date: January 13, 2018

For several weeks, 56-year-old Wilhelmina Kruger was unable to shake the feeling she was being watched. Her anxiety became so strong that on the night of January 29 1966, she had her partner drive her to her shift at the Piccadilly Centre in Wollongong, where she worked as a cleaner. It turned out Wilhelmina’s suspicions were right. The following morning, her mutilated body was found at the bottom of the basement stairs in what was considered one of the most brutal attacks in New South Wales history. ---  Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-72-wilhelmina-kruger-and-anna-dowlingkoa

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I loved the privacy of it. Airbnb is such a smart way to use what you already have to generate more income, whether you're saving for a wedding or a big trip somewhere, or just trying to cover bills and possibly bump up your income. Your home might be worth more than you think. So find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. The seaside city of Wollongong is located 82 kilometers south of Sydney in the Iloora region

on the east coast of Australia. With a population of close to 300,000 people, it's the third largest city in the state of New South Wales behind Sydney and Newcastle. Archaeological evidence suggests that indigenous Australians inhabited Wollongong and its rich surrounding regions as far back as 40,000 years. With the immense growth of Sydney during the early 1800s, new townships were established to expand the population and grow industry. A harbour was built in Wollongong, creating a fishing industry, and the poor kembla steelworks followed soon after, cementing Wollongong as a harbour of steel

and other heavy industries, bricks, fertilizers, machinery, and coal mining. The opportunities for working immigrants seemed endless, and soon Wollongong's population grew. By 1966, almost 60% of the workers were immigrants coming from around 70 countries. The mix of cultures brought a liveliness to the city, which blended with the relaxed atmosphere of leisurely beachside living. At sea level, surf beaches stretched endlessly both north and south, with twisting rocky coves and crystal clear waters. Behind the city, the Illawarra Ranges, also known as the Illawarra Scarpman,

fold over and over dramatically along the entire coastline. Huge cliffs and plateaus eroded over 30 million years at covered in dense, deep green scrub and rainforest, creating a green mountain range hugging the city. With its natural beauty and cultural diversity and opportunity, Wollongong was an appealing place to live. 56-year-old Wilhelmina Kruger was dropped off to work shortly after 2 a.m. on January 29, 1966. It was an early start, but she had grown accustomed to her six-day-a-week, 2.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. cleaning job. Each night, she'd unwind in front of the television before going to bed around 8.30 p.m. Wilhelmina would wake up five hours later to get ready for work,

and in recent times, her partner Stanley had been getting up with her. Stanley had been driving Wilhelmina to work from their home in Gwynville and in a city suburb of Wollongong. Wilhelmina worked at the Piccadilly Center, a small indoor shopping arcade on the corner of Crown Street and Gladstone Avenue, the western edge of Wollongong's city center. The Piccadilly Center is spread out over five floors and is still similar in layout today as it was in 1966. The very top level features the Piccadilly Motel, a budget motel that has a reputation of attracting some unruly visitors.

The motel is only accessible by entering the center via the western entrance on Gladstone Avenue and driving up the external ramp. There is no access to the motel internally. Underneath the motel are two floors dedicated to retail, the shopping arcade. In the 60s, it featured a variety of department stores, offices and specialty shops that service the surrounding community. The top level of the shopping arcade features pedestrian access only, through the front entrance on Crown Street. The bottom level of the shopping arcade is accessible from the Gladstone Avenue entrance, and of course, both floors are accessible internally

via stairs and escalators. The bottom level of the shopping arcade also features a car parking area. In the two floors underneath, the basement and sub-basement levels are dedicated entirely to car parking. Vehicles enter the Piccadilly Center via the Gladstone Avenue entrance and can either park on the Gladstone Avenue level or drive down the ramps to the basement and sub-basement levels. Alternatively, you can drive up the ramp to make your way to the motel. So on that morning, January 29th, 1966, Stanley drove Wilhelmina into the Piccadilly Center via the Gladstone Avenue entrance. They arrived around 2.20am. The center was completely dark. It was Wilhelmina's job to turn the lights on.

The ceiling lights on the Gladstone Avenue parking level only dimly lit small areas of the large empty space, but that was better than the basement and sub-basement levels that had no lighting at all. The building supervisor refused to install lights down on those levels, as he believed hoodlums would damage them. That morning, Wilhelmina was especially anxious. In the preceding weeks, she had developed a funny feeling that someone was watching her. It's the reason why Stanley was driving her to work, and only two days earlier, she had trouble with the lights. When she arrived at work in the early hours of the morning on January 27th,

the lights didn't turn on at all. Uneasy about working alone in the dark, Wilhelmina complained to the building supervisor and requested they be repaired. He assured her that he'd get round to it. However, the next morning, January 28th, the lights still weren't working. Wilhelmina complained again, but this time threatened that if the lights weren't fixed immediately, she wouldn't be attending work the following day. It was her third year working as a cleaner in the Piccadilly Center, and Wilhelmina had established herself as a valued and highly respected hard worker. She wasn't a petty complainer. It was clear the broken lights were making her uncomfortable,

so the building supervisor called an electrician in to fix them. The cause of the problem was found in the wooden fuse box in the parking area on the Gladstone Avenue level. The lights had fused. It was an easy fix, not a big problem at all, and it could have been caused by a multitude of issues. But one of the screws in the lock hasp of the fuse box door was hanging out, which made it look like someone had accessed it without a key. The electrician replaced the damaged fuse, and the lights were back working again. He tightened the loose screw back into place and reported his findings to the building supervisor. The supervisor nodded. His assumptions were confirmed. Woodlands were entering the Piccadilly

Center at night and destroying his property. He told the electrician that only three weeks earlier he had found two of the three screws in the hasp of the fuse box missing completely. The electrician attended to fix the lights after Willamina had finished her shift, so she wasn't sure if they were back working again when she arrived to start her shift on the morning of the 29th. Stanley parked the car and got out to walk alongside Willamina to the small fuse box on a nearby concrete pillar. Willamina unlocked the fuse box with her set of keys, and Stanley flicked several switches inside. When the lights slowly flickered on in the parking area, both Willamina and Stanley were relieved. Willamina went to the second fuse box at the

far end of the building that turned on the main lights in the shopping arcade. On some mornings, Stanley stayed to help Willamina clean, to keep her company, and to help her get through the overwhelming amount of duty she needed to complete in her shift. She had a large area to tend to, not just the two levels of the shopping arcade, but also several shop interiors and the motel foyer on the very top level. There was so much work to do that she rarely completed everything by the end of her shift. But that morning, Stanley opted to go back home to bed, as they had to go to work himself that day. He and Willamina exchanged a goodbye wave as he slowly drove out of the centre.

By 5.30am, the sun had not yet risen over Wollongong. The outer city streets were dark, empty and quiet when Thomas Fitzgibbon arrived at the Piccadilly Centre from his home in Dapdo, a south-western suburb of Wollongong. Thomas was a butcher and was working inside the Piccadilly Centre that morning. Due to start work at 6am, Thomas pulled into Railway Square, a short roadway adjacent to Wollongong train station, directly behind the Piccadilly Centre. He parked his car and began the short walk to work. He made his way up a footpath on the eastern side of the Piccadilly Centre that ran between the centre and the train line. This took him to Crown Street, where he bought a newspaper and then entered the shopping arcade

area through the front entrance on Crown Street. It came as no surprise that the centre was deserted when Thomas entered, but what was surprising was that the air inside felt unusually heavy and hot. He investigated and found an electric immersion heater submerged in a drum of water at the rear of the building. The heater had caused the water to boil, filling the arcade with steam. He knew the drum and heater were items used by the cleaner and there was little water remaining, so it looked like it had been left for some time. Thomas didn't touch the drum or heater and instead headed to the butcher shop. When he attempted to open the door, it was locked. The owner hadn't arrived yet.

While standing around waiting, Thomas realised he'd left his butchering knives back in his car, so he had to go back and get them. Excluding the very top level where the motel was, each level of the Piccadilly Centre was accessible by an escalator and staircase located at the back end of the building. The escalators only accessed the shopping arcade levels, but the staircase continued all the way down to the basement and sub-basement parking levels. When Thomas reached the escalator, there was a mop and bucket in the way and a ring of keys on the ground. The items appeared to have been left lying around haphazardly by the cleaner, who probably didn't expect many people to be walking around at that time of morning.

Thomas bypassed the escalator and took the stairs instead. He attempted to open a service door, but it was jammed, probably locked, so he decided to continue down to the very bottom sub-basement level where he would be able to walk straight out to his car. His attention was drawn to a men's wristwatch near the top of the stairs. Someone must have lost it, he assumed. He left it and continued down the stairs, where he stepped over a bunched-up cleaner's apron. As he descended down to the sub-basement level, dawn was now breaking and a faint morning light was seeping through. His eyes adjusted to the dark shadowy space below. He tensed when he saw

the outline of a person lying on the ground at the foot of the stairs. He rushed back up the stairs to find a telephone. Unable to find one, he sprinted out onto the street and approached a taxi who had just dropped the passenger off at the Piccadilly Centre. Thomas yelled at the driver to radio for an ambulance, as there had been an accident. It was approximately 5.45am. Thomas rushed back down to the sub-basement level to render assistance. As he approached the foot of the stairs where the person lay, he physically recoiled. There was blood everywhere. Investigators knew the moment they arrived on the scene, that this was one of, if not the most

brutal murders in the history of New South Wales. One and a half pages of notes were required to detail the horrific injuries inflicted on the female victim, who was identified as 56-year-old Piccadilly Centre employee Wilhelmina Kruger. Wilhelmina was found on her back, partially covered by a dress and petticoat, both of which were badly torn and bloodstained. She was naked from the chest down. Her eyes were bruised black. Her nose, jaw and five of her ribs were broken. She had suffered multiple stab wounds all over her face, head, neck and body. Her heart had been ruptured. Her skin was bruised, bitten and torn. Breasts disfigured. Disembowelment had occurred, and a cord was secured tight around

her neck. The trail of objects leading from the crime scene up into the shopping arcade gave a detailed account of what happened. The drum of water and submerged heater, along with the mop and bucket at the top of the escalators, showed that Wilhelmina was in the process of mobbing when she was attacked. As she dunked the mop into the bucket, her killer snuck up behind her and wrapped a cord around her neck. Wilhelmina put up a fight. She struggled with her attacker as she was dragged down the escalator. Several cuts and scrapes on her body were attributed to the rigid edges of the escalator steps. On the escalator she lost her keys, the top set of her false teeth and a shoe. At the stairs leading down to the parking levels, the struggle intensified.

Wilhelmina wore a men's wristwatch and it unclipped from her wrist. Her apron was ripped off on the stairs, and the vicious mutilation began on the sub-basement parking level. The killing appeared premeditated. Wilhelmina's attacker showed he was familiar with the layout of the Piccadilly Center, intentionally dragging her down to the dark sub-basement level where they wouldn't be seen. Additionally, the killer was aware Wilhelmina would be working there alone. The killer may have watched her for some time, familiarizing himself with her routine and determining the ideal time to strike. It was well known Wilhelmina worked meticulously and methodically to a predictable set routine that rarely changed. She completed her duties

in the same order at around the same time each morning, so it was known that Wilhelmina began cleaning the post office around 4.40 am. However, the post office hadn't yet been cleaned, which meant the time of her murder was likely prior to 4.40 am. Several unknown fingerprints were discovered at the crime scene, along with a large, bloody footprint, the size of an average man's shoe. The same footprint was found at the top of the stairs, leading down to the basement and sub-basement parking levels. Wilhelmina didn't smoke, but 30cm away from her body were two cigarette butts. The front of her dress also had seven circular holes caused by the tip of a burning cigarette. The murder weapon was believed to be a 15cm long, 3cm wide, double-edged knife.

It wasn't found at the scene. A police officer conducting an initial search of the Piccadilly Center noticed a bunch of ripped-out hair on the steps of the escalator. There were about 30 hairs in the bunch. They were blonde in colour and around 1-1.5 inches long. The hairs had little white particles on the ends, giving the appearance that they had been pulled out by the roots. This hair sample didn't match Wilhelmina's. Her natural hair was graying, so she had been dying at a reddish-brown colour. The officer who discovered the hairs didn't touch or disturb them. However, investigators weren't alerted until around an hour later, and when they went to

collect them, the hair was no longer there, presumably blown away by a draft. Similar pieces of hair were stuck to Wilhelmina's right thumb and left index finger. These pieces did not have roots attached. The light colouring of the hair sample was thought to be as a result of bleaching. The stray hairs on Wilhelmina's fingertips visually matched the bunch of torn hair seen on the escalator, but as those hairs weren't recovered, a match could never be confirmed. A 1-centimeter wound on the left side of Wilhelmina's face was believed to have been caused by a ring on her killer's finger. An autopsy revealed that Wilhelmina's cause of death was strangulation. It was believed that she had died five minutes into the violent attack. The stab wounds and

mutilation inflicted all over her body occurred after death. Every available police officer in Wollongong assisted with the initial investigation into Wilhelmina Kruger's murder. Those on leave had it cancelled and had to return to work. The investigation showed that after being dropped off at the Piccadilly Centre by her partner Stanley around 2.20am, Wilhelmina had gotten straight to work. She worked out of a caretaker's office on the bottom level of the shopping arcade, where all the cleaning equipment was stored. There were several witnesses who confirmed seeing Wilhelmina working in the arcade that morning. A police officer happened to be driving his patrol car down Gladstone Avenue

at 3.20am. He saw the lights in the parking area when the Gladstone Avenue level were off, and thinking that was unusual, the constable pulled into the centre to investigate. In the darkened space he saw the outline of a female carrying something. The constable slowly drove up the ramp to the motel. He patrolled the motel car park and then drove back down the ramp when he saw the woman again. It's believed the woman he saw was Wilhelmina carrying her mop and bucket. It was 3.40am when the officer drove away. Separately, a car carrying a male driver, his wife, and four of their friends drove east along Crown Street around 3.30am that morning.

As they passed the Piccadilly Centre, the driver spotted Wilhelmina mopping the entrance of the shopping arcade. He commented to the others in the car, imagine having to be up cleaning at this hour. The group drove further down Crown Street until it merged into Kira Street. The group had travelled all the way from the southern state of Victoria, so decided they should find somewhere to stop and rest. They spotted a man sitting in the driver's seat of a utility vehicle parked on the side of Kira Street. They asked him if there was somewhere nearby they could get a bed for the night. The man directed them back up Crown Street to the Piccadilly Motel.

As they drove up the ramp to the Motel lobby, they spotted Wilhelmina again. It was around 3.58am. She was alone and carrying a mop and bucket towards the escalators. The group booked into the Motel, and later they heard, quote, a tremendous noise like a vehicle driven fast and turning at the same time. The Piccadilly Senna's night watchman actually spoke to Wilhelmina. At around 4am, the two bumped into each other in the shopping arcade. He said, g'day to Wilhelmina, who he called Amy, and gave her a copy of the morning newspaper. During their brief exchange, Wilhelmina emptied her bucket into the gutter

at the front Crown Street entrance of the arcade. The two then went their separate ways, and the night watchman didn't see or hear Wilhelmina for the remainder of the morning. These statements greatly narrowed down the time of the murder. It occurred sometime after this final interaction with the night watchman at 4am, and prior to her scheduled post office clean at 4.40am. The building supervisor was interviewed by police. He outlined the issues he'd been having with the tempered fuse box, and gave details of the electrician who had been called to fix the lights only the day before. Wilhelmina's partner, Stanley,

confirmed the lights were working again when he dropped Wilhelmina off the morning of her murder. However, the lights were off when police investigated the crime scene, and the patrolling police officer reported they were off when he conducted his patrol at 3.20am that morning. Investigators checked the fuse box, and saw a screw was sticking out of the hasp. Inside the fuse box, two of the fuses had blown, meaning the lights had gone out on Wilhelmina during her shift, highly unusual considering they had only been fixed the day before. Markings on the fuse box and the loose screws confirmed it had been tampered with again.

It was starting to look like there was a far more sinister explanation than hoodlums. If it was Wilhelmina's killer who accessed the fuse box and turned off the lights, at least three weeks of planning and stalking had gone into the murder, as that's when signs of tampering first appeared. Shortly after arriving at the crime scene, investigators were hit with a bizarre distraction. A reporter for the local newspaper, the Illawarra Mercury, received a phone call. The caller warned there was a bomb in the Piccadilly centre, and it better be cleared by 1pm, as that's when it would be detonated. The reporter tried stalling the caller to keep him on the line,

however he quickly hung up. The bomb threat interrupted the investigation, but it turned out it was just a hoax. There was no bomb in the Piccadilly centre. The phone call ended before it could be traced, and the caller was never identified. The savage nature of Wilhelmina's murder shook the local community. Police appealed to her friends and family for information regarding any concerns she may have had leading up to her death, such as confrontations or fights, or threats she may have received. However, Wilhelmina was described as someone who kept good company, a pleasant person who was well liked. There was no suggestion that she was in any danger.

A friend of Wilhelmina told the Illawarra Mercury, quote, she was very easy to get on with. Mrs Kruger was very strong physically, and was a woman who would not be frightened by anybody. She was healthy, happy, and energetic in the days leading up to her murder. Her partner Stanley and her children could not think of anyone who would want to harm her. But she did express to a worker in one of the Piccadilly shops the day before her murder, that she had a feeling someone was watching her clean. She had expressed the same thing to Stanley, but little more was known about it.

She never explained in any further detail. There was no description of the person, and no further information to go on. Police were open-minded to the possibility that Wilhelmina knew her killer, and her personal history was looked into. She was born in 1909 in Broken Hill, an isolated mining town in far west outback New South Wales. She grew up in Broken Hill, and eventually married Albert Kruger, whom she had a daughter and two sons with. In 1950, whilst her husband Albert was in hospital, Wilhelmina met a man by the name of Cyril Wakefield.

She separated from her husband to pursue a relationship with Cyril. However, the two were only together for a short period of time before Cyril ended their relationship and left Wilhelmina. Police were unable to track him down for questioning. In 1951, Albert Kruger purchased the block of land in Gwynville, Woollongong. He was still living in Broken Hill, but he allowed his ex-wife Wilhelmina to live there with their three children. At the time, it was an empty block of land, so they lived in a tent. A house was eventually built, and Wilhelmina and the children moved in. Two eventually married and moved out, leaving only one of her adult sons living at home.

In 1965, Wilhelmina, aged 56, started a relationship with Stanley Dawson. Stanley was 18 years her junior at 38 years old. The noticeable age gap didn't bother the couple though. It was obvious the two cared deeply for each other and wanted to be together. Wilhelmina's personal history failed to yield a likely suspect, so police appealed to anyone who was in the vicinity of the Piccadilly Center on the morning of the murder to come forward. They were hoping someone may have seen something. Any piece of information was considered vital, no matter how insignificant it may have seemed. One detective told the Illawarra Mercury, quote,

This is one of the most vicious attacks made of a woman in the criminal history of this state. We feel without the assistance of the general public, this crime could go unsolved. Police received hundreds of phone calls and conducted dozens of interviews in the first few days of the investigation alone. Taxi drivers, railway workers, night watchmen, council workers, and staff from Willingong Hospital, only a short walk away from the Piccadilly Center, were all questioned. The taxi driver, who Thomas Fitzgibbon approached to radio an ambulance the morning of the 29th, told police he was parked at the taxi rank opposite the Tattisles Hotel on Crown Street at 4am. Tattisles Hotel is called Dicey Riley's

Hotel today. The hotel is located close to and in view of the Piccadilly Center front entrance, just a few buildings east on Crown Street. While parked at the taxi rank, the taxi driver noticed a big man about six feet tall, acting suspiciously. The unknown man walked slowly up Crown Street towards the Piccadilly Center. He stopped at the Iron Workers Club, which was next door to the Tattisles Hotel, before abruptly crossing to the other side of the road. The taxi driver drove away after the man crossed the street, and he didn't return to the area until nearly two hours later, when Thomas Fitzgibbon emerged from the Piccadilly Center, requesting an ambulance. Police got to work trying to identify the man seen by the taxi driver,

but they soon realized he wasn't the only person they needed to identify. As more witnesses came forward, it became apparent there were a variety of people spotted acting suspiciously around the Piccadilly Center on the morning of the murder. A husband and wife were taking an early morning walk that took them past the Piccadilly Center about 4.45am that morning. They noticed the lights were off and the entrance to the arcade looked dirty and uncleaned. They spotted a slim young male wearing blue jeans with a stuttered belt ahead of them. He looked to be in his 20s and was walking in a hurry and looking from side to side. He ran off down a walkway next to Tattersall's Hotel.

Another witness, who lived opposite the Piccadilly Center, woke at 4.30am and went outside to water the plants on her front veranda. As she tended to her plants, her attention was drawn to two young men loitering at the front of the center. Requests from police for each of these persons seen in the vicinity of the crime scene to come forward went unanswered. Dozens of witness statements were collected. Suspicious persons, vehicles and behaviors were noted. And as more details came to light, several separate witness stories were woven together by a single threat. The first major clue in the case. A witness who lived nearby stood at the front gate of his property waiting for the morning

newspaper to be delivered. It was 4.55am when he saw a young, lean, unshaven man with hair hanging down over his forehead, driving a utility vehicle like a frenzied animal near the crime scene. The witness told the Ilawara Mercury newspaper, quote, I was shocked at the look on his face. He had a horrible appearance. I never saw that chap before and I never want to see him again. The sound of a screeching car was corroborated by both the group from Victoria who were staying at the Piccadilly Motel and another witness in the area who stated, quote, I heard a noise like the screech of tires coming from the shopping centre.

This witness claimed to have heard the sound not long after he saw the lights at the Piccadilly centre go out. The witness who was waiting for the newspaper, who actually saw the car driving erratically, described it as a holden or Chevrolet utility that had a canopy over the rear tray made of plywood. The canopy didn't have windows but was open at the back. The vehicle and plywood canopy were light coloured, either white or cream. The entire vehicle appeared hand-painted. The paint job was untidy and was flaking and peeling. The vehicle was old and had rusted and the bonnet didn't sit straight. It was a very distinctive looking car. The same utility was seen by another witness parked in Gladstone Avenue

around 5am, 50m from the western entrance to the Piccadilly centre. Descriptions of the same vehicle popped up in separate witness statements and it instantly became a major clue for investigators. However, they couldn't track the vehicle down. Despite being distinctive, it seemed to have vanished. The details of the white or cream coloured utility featured heavily in the news at the request of police, hoping someone would recognise it. The owner became the most important person of interest in the investigation. About one week later, after numerous appeals, police finally received an intriguing call about the vehicle. On the other end of the line was a man named Gary Mumlow and he said he had information.

Police agreed to meet Gary in Ferry Meadow, a 5 minute drive north from the Piccadilly centre. Gary told them he was 21 years old and lived locally, giving his address as a house on Gladstone Avenue. Gary explained to police that he had been sitting in his parked car with his girlfriend in the parking lot off Railway Square, directly behind the Piccadilly centre between 2.30am and 3am, the morning of the murder. During that time, he watched a utility vehicle drive into Railway Square and circle the end of the road three times before driving back out onto Gladstone Avenue. It did a U-turn on Gladstone Avenue and parked opposite the Piccadilly centre. A man got out of the utility and walked out of Gary's sight.

Gary described the utility as a rusty, cream coloured vehicle with a plywood canopy over the rear tray. Investigators now seriously considered the possibility that the vehicle was driven by the killer. With Gary Mumlow's statement, police could place the utility at the scene of the crime before and after the murder. However, when investigators attempted to contact Gary Mumlow to follow up on his statement and question him for more details, they couldn't get a hold of him. It turned out the address on Gladstone Avenue that he gave had nothing to do with him. The people who lived there had never heard of him. The electoral roll revealed no one in the area with the surname Mumlow. In fact, no other names even resembled Mumlow. A check of files in various

government registers revealed that the name Gary Mumlow didn't exist anywhere in the entire country. The name and address were fake. The witness, whoever he really was, had vanished. Explanations for this were varied. Maybe he feared reprisal from the killer and didn't want to be identified. Maybe he didn't want to get involved in the investigation any further. He may have felt he did all he could, told all he knew, and that was going to be the end of his participation. Maybe he didn't want to go through a lengthy court process involving the retelling of his story over and over. He could have also been a hanger-on type who had read about the utility in the paper and simply wanted to insert himself into the investigation. The description of the vehicle

had been broadcast all over the media by that time. And then, there was the dark possibility that this Gary Mumlow was Willa Mina's killer and he was taunting police. Was this turning into a cat and mouse game for his own enjoyment? Police tried to shake off the interaction with the man who called himself Gary Mumlow and continued to try and track down the distinct utility. However, the owner never came forward, nor were there any further sightings of it. Police continued their appeals for help. They wanted information from anyone who may have seen any vehicle bearing blood stains, anyone who knew someone absent from home or work the night of the 28th or the early

morning of the 29th, or anyone who gave list to hitchhikers out of Wollongong after the time of the murder. Police were certain that the killer's clothing would contain blood stains and appealed to anyone who may have seen someone washing or disposing of blood stained clothing to come forward. Tips continued to roll in in response to these appeals for help, and police received information about a man spotted acting suspiciously at North Wollongong Beach shortly after the murder. Police and council workers arrived at the beach under the presumption it may have been where the killer disposed of their blood stained clothing. An excavator aided the search, digging a 100 meter strip of sand up to a meter and a half deep. But nothing was found.

In immediate fear, the killer would strike again, seeped throughout Wollongong. Police began warning local women. The following warning was printed in the Alawara Mercury. Quote, The shocking brutality of this killing could have been exercised only by someone with an unhinged mind. The killer is an absolute madman, a monster. But you would be able to pass by the killer in the street without noticing. He is no slobbering idiot who stands out in a crowd. Therefore, the police are anxious that women should run no risks at night. Due to the nature of her injuries, tests were unable to confirm if Willa Mina had been sexually assaulted. But given her injuries, the attack appeared to be sexually motivated.

One police officer warned, quote, Everyone should realize there is a sex maniac at large and the same thing could happen again. Although, I dread the thought. At midnight on February 16, 1966, 18 days after Willa Mina Kruger's murder, 27-year-old Anna Dowling-Culler sat at a table surrounded by friends in the popular night spot, the Taxi Club, located in the high-energy suburb of Darlinghurst, Sydney. The Taxi Club was known as the 24-hour Hangout for Taxi Drivers, and in the early hours, the dimly lit party place attracted a diverse variety of revelers seeking a good time. It was also known as a local pick-up place for sex workers.

Anna stood out amongst the crowd. Her outfit, including a cherry red-colored jumper and cardigan with a blue-green and white-colored skirt, dark brown stockings, and a pair of white shoes, was colorful and eye-catching. Pinned to her jumper was an oval brooch with a single red stone. A white sapphire ring and gold wristwatch sparkled on her arm. She was a bright and memorable beacon within the dark, noisy club. Yelling over the thumping music, Anna told her friends she had to go outside to meet someone. Her friends assumed she was going outside to meet a customer. Anna had worked as a retail shop assistant and waitress by day,

but earned extra income at night as a sex worker. Soliciting since she was 12 years old, Anna had a strong understanding of the risks involved in the work. She only accepted quick jobs purchased off the street that she completed in the backseats of cars or down familiar alleyways. She never took clients back to her flat in the beachside suburb of Bondi. She didn't want them to know where she lived or where they could find her. Anna farewelled her friends and walked outside the taxi club alone. Almost 100 kilometers south, the Wollongong community was still reeling over the unsolved brutal murder of Wilhelmina Kruger only weeks earlier. But the sense of danger hadn't reached

Darlinghurst. 10 days later, on February 26th, Roy Streeding drove through the suburb of Lucas Heights, 40 kilometers southwest of Darlinghurst. It was approaching 5.30pm when Roy noticed one of his tyres was causing him problems, so he pulled over to the site of Old Illawarra Road to investigate. Old Illawarra Road was a relatively straight stretch of road that cut through the top end of an industrial work site featuring the Atomic Energy Commission Research Station. Surrounded by dense shrubbery, the road was mostly used by local workers of the industrial sites and typically bypassed by the average traveller. As Roy began the process of changing his tyre, he spotted something colourful tangled amongst the long grass.

Upon closer inspection, he realised it was a human body. The female victim was partially clothed in a distinctive cherry red coloured jumper and a blue green and white coloured skirt. A gold wristwatch and white sapphire ring were still on her body. She had been strangled, stabbed and mutilated. She was 27 year old and her darling colour. The cause of death was determined to be strangulation, with the mutilation occurring after death. The murder weapon was a knife, but it wasn't located at the scene. Similarities between the murder of Wilhelmina Kruger were made immediately. The gruesome mutilations on Anna's body were similar to those found on Wilhelmina.

Police considered the possibility that the same killer was responsible for both murders, and investigators from the Wilhelmina Kruger Task Force were called in to assist in the Anna Delling Cower investigation. Lucas Heights, where Anna's body was found, is only about a 40 minute drive north from Wollongong and lies almost in between Wollongong and Darling Hurst. The killer could have picked up Anna from Darling Hurst and dumped her body at Lucas Heights on his way back to Wollongong. Anna was well known to police. Originally from Perth in Western Australia, she had a long list of arrests stemming back to her childhood, mostly charges for vacancy and soliciting. Anna avoided authorities by using a variety of aliases, including Anna Delling, Ian

Hamilton, Sherry Delling, Sherry Willis and Sonja Lynchfield, amongst many others. Anna had been married twice previously and had a son who was three years old at the time. Her son, whom she hadn't seen in a long while, lived with her ex-husband. Anna's personal life was so widely scattered throughout Australia and so disjointed from the deception of aliases and false identities that was difficult for investigators to piece together her history prior to her murder. Associates and clients in the sex industry who knew Anna were not very forthcoming with information. The only confirmed fact was that Anna was last seen alive by her friends as she left the taxi club in Darling Hurst 10 days before her body was found. No one recalled seeing her

outside the club, leading investigators to believe she may have met her killer immediately after walking outside, possibly stepping into the killer's vehicle. The remainder of Anna's belongings she had with her that night, including her cardigan, brooch, shoes, stockings and handbag with two diaries inside, were missing. The most disturbing discovery made at the crime scene were 10 meters of drag marks on the ground leading out from a thicket of bushes to where Anna's body was found. A crime scene examination revealed that the killer had originally dumped Anna's body in the bushes, but the bushes prevented her from being found and the killer grew impatient. So he returned to the scene three to four days later and dragged

Anna's body out of the concealment of the bushes to the open spot on the side of the road. The killer wanted Anna to be found. Psychiatrists consulted by police explained that this action was common with killers who found a pleasure in the infamy of their acts. There were unusual acts performed after both murders that if done by the same killer, proved he was a gruesome showman who derived pleasure taunting police. There was the bomb hoax at the Piccadilly Centre, the suspicious statements of the unknown witness who called himself Gary Mumlow and now the intentional interference of Anna's body to ensure it would be discovered. If the same killer was at work, he wasn't burdened with a sense of remorse or guilt and police knew he would likely strike again.

However, they weren't sure if it was the same killer and just like the murder of Willamene Kruger, Anna's murder featured no worthwhile leads, suspects or motives. Police were initially hesitant to publicly draw direct parallels between the two murders. However, behind the scenes, the two investigations worked in tandem. Shopkeepers, cafe owners and hotel and motel managers in Wollongong were questioned about Anna. There were rumors she may have spent time in Wollongong at some stage, but with all her different aliases, it was hard to pin down exactly where she had been and whom she had interacted with. Over 1700 people were interviewed in relation to both murders and a

$10,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest. Despite the offer, no information was shared to help identify the killer. Whoever it was, it seemed as though he lived two separate lives. One life as an unassuming member of the community who didn't draw much attention to himself and the second life, a frenzied psychopathic killer who wanted his violent acts to be front page news. Police worked feverishly in fear another attack was imminent. Almost four months after the murder of Anna Dowling-Culler on the night of June 11th, 1966, 20-year-old Caroline Orphan said goodbye to her parents and left her family home in Gwynville. Caroline was known as a quiet and reserved, respectable woman.

That night, she had agreed to go out dancing with friends to let her hair down. Caroline and her friends wound up at the Iron Workers Club on Crown Street, Wollongong, just east of the Piccadilly Centre. Caroline crossed paths with the cheerful and friendly Alan Bassett, a 20-year-old man from Unendera, a suburb in southwest Wollongong. Bassett worked as a manufacturer and assembler of metal components for tools and machinery. He had the natural rugged charm of an everyday working man, and both he and Caroline hit it off instantly. The two enjoyed a dizzying late night of drinking and dancing together. It was nearing midnight when Bassett offered Caroline a

left home. Graciously, she got into the passenger seat of his light-colored sedan. Bassett assured Caroline it was no trouble. He said there were a lot of dangerous people out at the time, and it was not safe for her to be wandering the streets alone. Bassett made the drive north towards Caroline's home in Gwynville. When he reached her place, he pulled over just down the street. At some point, Bassett took a pair of nylon stockings and used them to tie Caroline's hands behind her back. He then drove her to Mounusli Bypass Road, about five kilometres away, a long, windy road surrounded by thick bush, the most common road driven on by people travelling

to and from Sydney. Bassett stripped Caroline, and brutally raped her. During the attack, Bassett grabbed another pair of stockings and a belt, and tightened them around Caroline's throat. A hitchhiker walking alone on Mounusli Bypass Road walked by Bassett's car around 3.30am. However, he didn't see anything suspect, as the windows were too foggy to see into at the time. After raping Caroline, Bassett strangled her until she fell unconscious. He then pulled her from his car and dragged her battered and bruised body out onto the ground. Bassett picked up a large sandstone rock from the side of the road, stood over Caroline, lifted the rock high above his head, and with violent intensity, brought her back down.

When Caroline didn't return home after her night out on the town, her parents instinctively felt something was wrong, and immediately contacted the police. The police search for Caroline had already begun, when at 6.45am, a couple driving along Mounusli Bypass Road on their way home from Sydney spotted what they believed was a dressmaker's dummy. When they pulled over to investigate, they realised it was the body of a young woman. It was the third violent murder of a woman that year, all within close proximity of each other. People immediately started to wonder if all three murders were linked. It didn't seem obviously so. The murders of Willa Mina and Anna were very similar.

However, the murder of Caroline Orphan had several significant differences. Although Caroline was strangled like the others, her cause of death was a fractured skull, caused by a large rock that had shattered into two pieces upon impact. Her murder didn't involve the use of a knife, nor was her body mutilated, and the most profound difference was the fact that a suspect was identified very quickly for Caroline's murder. Alan Bassett had been seen by multiple witnesses leaving the Iron Workers Club with Caroline the night of the murder. The day after the murder, Bassett met with friends in Dapto to watch a local game of rugby league.

His friends noted that Bassett didn't appear at all interested in the game, he was just staring and lost in thought. This same group of friends were at the Iron Workers Club the night before when Bassett met Caroline. Later, Bassett's friends saw a photograph of Caroline in the local news alongside a story detailing her murder. They recognized her as the woman Bassett had gone home with from the Iron Workers Club. From there, the overwhelming evidence piled up against Bassett and he couldn't reasonably deny his involvement. His friends, as well as Caroline's friends, singled him out as the last person seen with her. His car was seen in her street and again on the road where her body was discovered. He was arrested and interviewed. At first,

Bassett denied any involvement, but upon being shown the nylon stockings used to tie Caroline's hands behind her back, he paused and said, I did do it. At his murder trial, Bassett calmly told the jury, quote, It's very hard for me to try and explain things. I didn't realize what I was doing at the time of the crime. Something must have come over me and I can't really describe things until further tests have been done on me. I certainly did not intend to kill any girl or any person or any such like. I had to ask for a plea of manslaughter as I don't think it's outright murder. I just ask for your help in my case. The jury deliberated for only 16 minutes before finding Bassett guilty

of murder. The presiding judge commented on Bassett's request in difference to human life and he was sentenced to life in prison. However, following the trial, Bassett was assessed by medical professionals who diagnosed him with schizophrenia. He was relocated to a psychiatric hospital to serve his time in a unit for the criminally insane. Despite his own father pleading not to release his son back into the community, Alan Bassett only served 29 years of his life sentence and he was released in 1995. Bassett was an opportunistic, violent rapist and murderer who had preyed on a vulnerable woman at night and for that reason he was considered a person of interest in the murders of Anna Dallencowa and Willa Mina Kruger. Similarities were drawn between

all three murders during which the victims were battered and strangled and left partially naked in places where they would be easily discovered. Willa Mina suffered from internal injuries similar to Caroline consistent with being knelt down on or need with great force. All women suffered distinct injuries to their sexual organs and breasts. Some investigators felt there were similarities to another murder case as well. One year earlier, in early January 1965, the bodies of two 15-year-old friends Mary Ann Schmidt and Christine Sherrick were discovered partially buried in the deserted windswept sandhills of Wanda Beach, Cronulla in the south of Sydney. The two girls are gone missing whilst visiting the beach with Mary Ann's younger siblings. Mary Ann and

Christine's bodies were found the next day partially buried in the sand. Both had suffered from multiple violent stab wounds caused by a knife amongst other injuries. Their murders came to be known as the Wanda Beach murders and remain one of the most infamous unsolved Australian murder cases. We covered the case in detail in case file episode number one. Based on his history, Alan Bassett was considered by at least one detective to be a prime suspect in the Wanda Beach murders. Bassett strongly denied any involvement and he even offered to give a DNA sample to prove his innocence. It's unknown if he was ever taken up on his offer. A blonde-haired young man described as a surfer was seen around Wanda Beach at the time of the

girl's murders. He has never been identified and thus became a prime suspect in the killings. Bassett has naturally dark hair. He continues to strongly deny involvement in any crimes other than the murder of Carolyn Orphin. The Australian Institute of Criminology stated the following, quote. Police suspect that there are links between the Wanda Beach murders and the murders of Willa Mina Kruger and Anna Dalen Kower. Indeed, there appears to be striking similarities between all three murders. In each case, a body was dragged along the ground with no real attempts made to conceal the bodies. Sexual molestation after the slayings was involved in all cases and the victims were murdered near or in Sydney. The question still remains whether the murders were committed by

the same killer or were coincidentally committed around the same time in a similar manner by multiple killers. Retired detective Keith Paul, who was in charge of the Wanda Beach murders investigation, was interviewed by Alan Whitaker for his book Wanda, The Untold Story of the Wanda Beach murders. Keith Paul warned, quote. It's easy to pull out some points of comparison and say it could have been the Wanda Beach killer. But the dissimilar points warn you to back off and not be in such a hurry to make assumptions. Detective Paul is firm in his belief that Alan Bassett had nothing to do with any of the other murders. The search for the killer or killers has stretched in a state and globally. A dossier on the murders was sent to Scotland Yard Detectives in London

on the belief there may have been a connection with an unidentified serial killer operating in London in 1964 and 65, nicknamed Jack the Stripper. The link was weak, but detectives refused to rule out any possibility. Jack the Stripper targeted sex workers specifically, strangling them and leaving them in public. But his killings did not involve mutilation. To this day, Wilhelmina Kruger's crime scene carries clues that might still be answered by members of the public. The rusty, white or cream-colored utility with the plywood cover has never been identified. The large six-foot tall man, seen acting suspiciously by the taxi driver near the iron workers club, was never identified. Nor was the man in blue jeans and a studded belt seen

running down a walkway next to Tattersall's Hotel. More than 50 years later, the depraved, brutal and unsolved murders of Wilhelmina Kruger, Anna Dowling-Kauer, Mary-Anne Schmidt, and Christine Sherrick still horrify the community and stump police. Their deaths leave many unanswered questions of a killer or killers who may still be out there.