Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 498 - Mr. Cruel

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

For years, a calm, calculating predator stalked the suburbs of Melbourne, leaving behind almost no evidence — only terrified families and a growing legend known as "Mr. Cruel." Decades later, his crimes remain unsolved, and the questions surrounding Karmein Chan’s murder still haunt Australia. This week on Timesuck, we examine one of the most chilling unidentified offenders in Australian history. Is he still out there? Or did he die after being arrested for other, similar crimes?  Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com  Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :) For all merch-related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast. Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

See this knife? Where's your mom and dad? These are the words of a strange real-life monster, known mainly as Mr. Cruel. He is a still-unidentified serial child rapist who attacked at least three girls in the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, in the late 80s and early 90s. Mr. Cruel is also the prime suspect in the 1991 abduction and murder of a young girl named Carmen Chan. The son, a Melbourne newspaper, was the first to use the Mr. Cruel moniker, after, police described the serial home invasion rapist as, quote, super cool and super cruel. And cool as in cold-blooded, to be clear. Not as in awesome. That would be just a wee bit scandalous if the police were like, so it looks like we've got ourselves a serial child rapist on our hands. And I got to say,

most of the guys on the force really admire him. He seems super cool. Great guy. Hope we don't catch him. Sadly, though, they haven't caught him. Decades after his crimes, the three-es-fries, confirmed attacks and the murder of Carmen Chan remain unsolved. What happened? Did Mr. Kruill die, moved to another country? Did he have some sort of moral crisis and just stopped doing what he was doing? Is that even possible? Investigators have described Mr. Kruel as a highly intelligent perpetrator who methodically planned each attack and even conducted pre-attack surveillance on his victims and their families. He ensured he left behind no forensic evidence and he kept his face covered at all times. He even left red herrings to distract and confuse the families and the

police's attention and investigations. He was originally called Mr. Cool because of how he operated, always maintaining a calm demeanor while holding families at gunpoint and abducting and assaulting young girls. Glad they swapped out that moniker for the reason I've already joked about. Mr. Cool is not a cool name for this kind of predator. He is not the Fonz. He's not Steve McQueen or James Dean. He's a monster. Mr. Cruel was always a almost always soft-spoken and unhurried during one attack, even stopped to enjoy a meal inside the victim's home. In one case, he abducted a girl and told her that he would release her in exactly 50 hours, and then he did that. It's like this was all the game to him, a game he took

very seriously. His basic and very specific modus operandi remained the same in each attack, and the survivor's detailed statements helped authorities confirm it was the same suspect involved. The Mr. Cruel attacks and murder remain one of the same. of Australia's most chilling unsolved cases. This week, we will learn about the unknown suspect who became Melbourne's most notorious boogeyman, terrorizing children and families in the 80s and 90s. We will analyze the details of each attack, similarities in the victim's statements that point to one perpetrator and see how the investigation continues to unfold up to the present day on another disturbing true crime edition of TimeSuck. This is Michael McDonald, and you're listening

to TimeSuck. You're listening. You're listening. to time suck. Well, happy Monday and welcome or welcome back to the cult of the curious. I'm Dan Kulman's, a suckmaster, sugar junkie, possible colonial apologist, probable dinosaur bones lover, and you are listening to TimeSuck. Hail Nimrod, Hail Lucifina, praise me to Good Boy Bojangles and Glory B to Triple M. And now without further ado, let's take a look at my dad.

I mean, let's take a look at Mr. Cruel. Before jumping into today's crimes and the time of the time. line, let's first familiarize ourselves with the location. Melbourne is the largest city in the state of Victoria and the second largest city in all of Australia behind Sydney. As of 2024, Melbourne's population was 5.35 million people, almost a full 20% of the population of Australia overall. The entire nation had 27.4 million people in 2024. The country's population today, incredibly, sits at just under one trillion people. Yeah, less than 30 million. in 2024, one trillion now.

Fucking crazy explosive growth and good for them. Extremely impressive. What? I'm sorry? Oh, you don't believe me? Okay. So what? So what, you think I'm lying?

Look it up, asshole! Actually, don't look it up. I lied. I did lie. Okay, I fibbed. Hey, sometimes people fib and that's okay. It's still around 27.4 million, I'm guessing. Sydney, by the way, is not much bigger than Melbourne with 5.56 million.

in 2024. Crazy that those two metro areas alone account for almost exactly 40% of the country's population. Various Aboriginal peoples have lived in the Melbourne area for over 40,000 years. European colonists founded the city itself in 1835 with the arrival of some free settlers from Van Diemen's Land, aka Tasmania. It was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837, named after then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, William Lamb, second Viscount, Melbourne. It was declared a proper city by Queen Victoria in 1847, and it became the capital of the newly separated colony of Victoria in 1851. And funny to me that the Queen had to essentially give Melbourne permission to be a city. Hey, hey, are we a city? I don't know. What does the Queen say? Your Majesty, are we a city? Yes. Yes, you can be a city now, my child, I'll allow it. You have my permission. Hooray! Mommy says we can be a city now! Oh, I hope we get an indoor mall with the food court. After getting the Queen's royal blessing, the city of Melbourne really began to grow.

During the 1850s, Victorian Gold Rush, Melbourne entered a lengthy boom period that by the late 1880s had transformed it into Australia's and one of the world's largest and wealthiest metropolises. It would become the Young Nation's capital city in 1901 and remained so until 1927 when the Queen put the city in timeout. and took away its capital status for being exceptionally naughty and disobedient and a bad boy who refused to go peeping the potty. Actually, the capital status was moved to Canberra due to city officials in both Melbourne and Sydney essentially throwing continual temper tantrums

over which city was the most prominent Australian city and should get to house the capital. Finally, people were like, that's it enough. Now neither one of you fucking brats get to be the capital. Canberra is the capital now. Oh, come on, but no one gives two shits about Canberra. Exactly.

Despite losing, his capital status. Melbourne continued to grow. Following World War II, the city experienced its second major boom, fueled by a whole bunch of post-war immigration, primarily from southern Europe and the Mediterranean, the massive influx of immigrants instead of taking away jobs from locals, as the propaganda narrative around immigration often goes, they helped create a ton of jobs. So many jobs that Melbourne came to be considered Australia's industrial heartland by the time of this episode's crimes. This influx also led to Melbourne, becoming one of the most diverse cities in the world. It currently has the seventh largest foreign-born population of any major city on earth at 40.1 percent.

Good on you, Melbourne. I've literally heard nothing but good things about Melbourne. Comedy Festival there. I always wanted to go to. I'm going to get there one day to the city and, yeah, I've watched so many videos and it just looks incredible. And just talking to people who've been there, just they always have good things to say. beginning in the 1960s, a rapid rise in motor vehicle ownership and a big governmental infrastructure investment in freeway and highway developments greatly accelerated the outward suburban sprawl that began in the late 1940s. And all of today's crimes took place in the suburbs of Melbourne, many years later between 1997 and 1991. So what was life like they're leading up to these attacks? Was it safe? Compared to many places in the world, yes.

Australia overall has generally had pretty low crime rates, but it was not as safe in and around Melbourne as it had been before. In the 1980s, Melbourne and Australia overall experienced a significant rise in crime. Crime rates had actually been rising for quite some time. The total crime rate more than tripled between 1945 and 1985, mostly driven by rapid increases in property crime following 1975. Was this crime tied to immigration? Actually, again, contrary to the popular narrative, no.

A lot of evidence and data suggests that Australia's post-World War II crime rate increases were generally not directly caused by immigration, while popular media and political narratives in the 1950s did link immigration to crime over and over and over again. Proper investigation such as the Dovey reports, documents regarding community policy, and crime data analysis, I guess community policing and crime data analysis. Australia presented to the national government in both 1952 and then again in 195 found that immigrants were in fact far less likely to commit crimes per capita than members of the Australian-born population. In fact, the general Australian crime rate was at least 50% higher than the immigrant crime rate and offenses among southern Europeans were less than a quarter of the rate for Australian-born residents.

Still overall, the decade from 1975 to 1985 did. did see sustained increases in robbery, serious assault and rape, while homicide rates remained as high as they had been already in the previous decade plus. The homicide rate in Australia overall had fallen from 1930 to 1950, then remained at that fairly low level until the late 1960s, then increased substantially to plateau at around 1.9 per 100,000 members of the population in the 1970s, 100, you know, 1.9 per 100,000 members of the population per year, and then stayed at that rate until the late 1980s. The highest rate reached in the post-war period was 2.4 per 100,000 per year in 1988,

the year after Mr. Kruill's first attack. To be fair, though, the suburbs where Mr. Kruill did his hunting, those areas were supposed to be a lot safer than downtown Melbourne. Melbourne had become what many people in the media had began to call a, quote, donut city in the 1980s. A mass migration to the suburbs had begun following World War II, and by the 1960s, the center of the city was becoming more and more vacant, both industry and residential-wise. And as more and more jobs left the downtown area, as more and more buildings emptied out, as more previously working-class neighborhoods became low-income and unemployed neighborhoods, crime rates rose accordingly. And Melbourne City Center was seen as being a hollow no-man's land like the empty center of a donut,

while the suburbs that ringed that hollow donut hole were full of life and opportunity and less crime overall, particularly violent crime. But because there was now more wealth in the suburbs in the mid-1980s than there was downtown, property crimes specifically were rising in the suburbs such as burglaries. By 1987, property crimes in overall Australia

outnumbered violent crimes by a staggering 45 to 1. And residential burglary specifically break-and-enter crimes overall peaked in Melbourne during the mid to late 1980s when Mr. Kruel was active. Escalating burglary rates between 1977 and 1983 directly led to the 1983 launch of Neighborhood Watch, Victoria. Despite this effort and prevention, though, by 1987, roughly 4.4% of Australian households, about 1 and 23, were victims of burglaries annually. And while I don't have Melbourne's suburb specific data, and I'm not sure that you, even that data exists in the way that I would want it, numerous sources claim that the suburbs

of Melbourne had a much higher rate of burglary than this national rate. So somewhere around or above 5% I'm guessing. One in 20 or more than that. And that is staggering. That's one in 20 homes getting burglarized per year. And that matters when it comes to Mr. Cruel because a number of criminal profilers such as noted psychotherapist John Kelly, who worked on the Green River Killer case resulting in the arrest of serial killer Gary Ridgeway, amongst other high-profile predator cases, believe that Mr. Kruill, similar to Golden State killer Joseph James DeAngelo,

started off as a burglar before he escalated into becoming a rapist and then possibly into a murderer. Okay. So I think for our purposes here today, that is enough local context. Now for the tale of the very odd and disturbing crimes of Mr. Kruel, followed by major developments in the investigation and the known suspects. One very, very strong suspect in today's time-suck timeline. Shrap on those boots, soldier.

We're marching down a time-suck timeline. In the early morning hours of August 22nd, 1987, a masked man broke into the family's home or into a family's home and lower plenty. A quiet suburb, 16 kilometers or 10 miles northeast, of Melbourne's central business district. Do you know with certainty where your dad was that day? I don't. Truly not a clue.

I was living with my mom and I didn't see much of him that year. Maybe he was in Arizona like he claimed. Maybe he was just outside of Melbourne. Right? I'm not trying to say that my dad is Mr. Cruel. I'm just trying to say that it's possible. Maybe a whole fucking bunch of us need to call 1,800 dad watch this week. Right?

Okay. Lower plenty. is a generally quiet affluent suburb characterized by large, luxurious family homes and a lot of natural beauty. Pretty small, too. Less than 4,000 people live there today. And this was the site of Mr. Kruill's first known attack.

Arm with a knife and handgun, he entered his victim's home by quietly removing a window pane in the family's living room. He woke both parents, forced them to lie on their stomachs while he tied their hands and feet with knots commonly used by sailors

or people familiar with securing heavy loads. And he did all of this very calmly and precisely, as if he had done it before, or as if he was very familiar, at least, with tying shit up and entering people's homes uninvited. He gagged the parents, placed surgical tape over their eyes, then locked them inside the bedroom wardrobe,

leaving their two children completely unprotected. And I imagine the stomachs of any parents' listing, tying themselves and not hearing this. Right? What a horrifying scenario? A man sneaks into your home, the home you share with your children, children you are supposed to protect, then he ties you up, leaving your children completely vulnerable to whatever he might want to do to them. And he would want to do something to one of them.

Mr. Cruel found the couple's six-year-old son and their 11-year-old daughter. He blindfolded, gagged, tied the boy to his bed, and then while the rest of the family listened, raped the 11-year-old daughter. All these poor people were never named in newspapers, by the way. At one point, he asked the girl her name, and she gave him a different name, even while this was happening. to her she thought to do that fucking smart kid she was cool in this nightmare of an evening and he then wrongly and repeatedly referred to her as kate the name she gave he asked her father's clothing size said he was about the same size uh weird demanded cash and a first aid kit said he needed clothes a shower and some food and that he wanted to shave it seemed like he was uh getting off on

making himself at home or also saying all this so that maybe the police would think that he was some kind of drifter when he actually wasn't. The girl reported that he used their home phone to make a call, and that he then threatened another family with violence over the phone. He warned his other family to move their children or they would be in danger. And he referred to the person on the other end of the line as a bozo, or at least acted like he was doing all that in front of this girl. A later check of phone records revealed there was no phone call placed.

He was making all that shit up, right? All for show. Red herrings like this will become part of the suspect's MO. also no fingerprints were recovered from the phone or anything else in the home. So either had gloves on while he touched everything or carefully wiped down everything that he did touch. The suspect after the fake phone call returned to the girl's bedroom with her, found a radio, turned the volume up to drown out the sounds of him sexually assaulting the victim again in the bathroom, and remained calm throughout all of this.

The man seemed very calm during the roughly two hours he would spend in the family's home. for a few two hours, the parents were just tied up, forced to listen to whatever Mr. Kruel wanted to do. After the bathroom assault, he led the victim into the kitchen, made himself and then ate a fucking meal, then assaulted her yet again in the living room. Afterwards, he made her, and I say actually a third time, it might have been just two assaults. The way that it was written makes it a little bit unclear in sources if it was two or three assaults for this particular victim. Afterwards, he made her brush her teeth, he bathed her, washing every inch of her body

to remove any evidence of what he had done to her. He rummaged through the home, stealing a box of classical records and a dark blue pocket coat with a fake fur collar. He checked on the victim's parents and brother, returned to the living room, then tied the girl's ankles together,

told her he was leaving, instructed her to count to 100 before freeing herself in her family, and then he was off. She counted when she was done, she was able to untie herself, investigators think it is possible that he targeted this family,

specifically the daughter, because they had been featured in a local newspaper article a few days prior. If that's true, I guess he must have forgot the girl's name, though, or just didn't care that she was lying to him. Although the suspect were a balaclava, the victim in her family, they were able to give the following description to police

that was published by the Melbourne Herald Sun. Australian, 178 centimeters to 183 centimeters tall, which corresponds to about 510 to 6 foot, of slim to medium build with brown, grayish, slash white hair with white spots, in it. He possibly had dandruff and his hair was protruding from beneath his butt of clava. Grayish slash white bushy eyebrows, aged in his mid-20s, had a rough voice, deepish slash nervous slash uneducated, suffered from bad breath, a musty smell, was unshaven with a couple of days

growth, oval face, soft hands, possibly right-handed. Wearing blue denim jeans, good condition, close-fitting, a brown tweed sports jacket, possibly rust-colored, blue nylon, waterproof zip-up jacket, blue runners with white flashes down the side, white soles in good condition, and white cotton socks. His balaclava was navy blue with an open face and some type of material covering the eye area. His gloves were light in color, possibly yellow, and were of the dishwashing or surgical type. Hmm, skin looks like a guy in his mid-20s, but has grayish-slash-white eyebrows and grayish-slash-white hair. I know that combo is possible, but it's pretty rare. Sounds to me like he probably dyed his

hair before the attack to further obscure his identity. Mr. Crull also stole the following items from the house, a red, black and yellow men's tartan shirt, $250 in cash, a gold engagement ring with a single white diamond. The ring had the number 4132 stamped inside, was worth about $2,500 at the time. A men's dark blue cotton parco with the fake black fur collar. The park was made by the brand Equifference. Dorian shirt company, a pair of men's pants, 82 centimeters to 85 centimeters, possibly Roger David brand. They were light blue slash gray with a small check and a straight leg design, a Gillette safety razor in a blue plastic box with a clear lid, and a dark brown vinyl back. None of those items would ever generate credible leads.

I think those thefts were probably also more red herrings. That ring never turned up as far as anybody knows. Did he just take all that stuff just to throw it away, just to send investigators towards trying to track down where it all went, knowing it was going to lead them nowhere, probably. And the suspect, like I mentioned earlier, initially called Mr. Cool because of the way he operated. According to the age, a newspaper based in Melbourne,

quote, in 1987, a mix-up linking two separate attacks on women led to a rapist being dubbed with a now infamous identity of Mr. Cruel. Although unintended, the mistake that turned cool into cruel is ironic when considering the increasing level of brutality that has transformed Mr. Cruel into possibly Melbourne's most feared criminal. So some other suspect was Mr. Cool. Can we all agree that no sexual predator

should ever have the nickname of Mr. Cool? I know I already talked about it, but Jesus Christ. Just like no sexual predator should ever be called smooth criminal or Don Juan or Mr. Lovella Lava, Lava, Mr. Bombastic, Mr. Romantic. A little more details, a few more details now on how this Mr. Cruel name came to be.

November of 1987, three months after the attack I just shared details of, a 48-year-old former nun was raped in her apartment in Mooney Ponds, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne. The suspect in that crime was thought to have been responsible for at least three rapes. Police assistant commissioner Vaughn Werner was asked by reporters to describe the rapist and he said, super cruel. The following day, a headline read, police hunt for Mr. Cruel. Later, a task force was established to investigate a large number of attacks on women and young girls in Melbourne.

or in eastern suburbs. And the police determined that the Mooney Ponds rapist was not the man sought for some of the other attacks. When speaking about the attack on the 11-year-old girl from lower plenty, now police describe the rapist as a cool and calculating character. Also said that he was a cruel, you know, a cruel person.

A journalist ended up referring to him by their other rapist's nickname of Mr. Cruel and then it stuck, especially once he'd committed his second crime. The next confirmed Mr. Cruel attack occurred over a year after the first. This time the victim was abducted from her home. Excuse me, on December 27th, 1988, Mr. Kruill broke into a family's home in Ringwood,

another suburb of Melbourne. Do you know where your dad was on December 27, 1988? I don't know where mine was. I didn't spend the Christmas holiday with him that year. He called me sometime around Christmas, maybe from Arizona, maybe from Australia. Ringwood, 25 kilometers, or 16 miles east of Melbourne,

Central Business District, ring with a much more populated suburb than lower plenty with over 19,000 people now, not as affluent, but tilts towards upper middle class, a lot of families, a lot of parks, generally pretty safe. John Wills, his wife, Julie, and their four daughters were away from home from 6 to 10 p.m. that night. Once they returned, they fed the kids, put them to bed around 10.45 p.m. The four girls all shared the same bedroom, a room with two bunk beds. John and Julie went to bed around 1 a.m. But then John couldn't sleep, so he got up and started doing a puzzle. He finished it at 4.50 a.m.

Must have been quite a captivating puzzle. And then he went to bed. Then Mr. Cruel entered the home 30 minutes later, which makes me wonder if he was watching John work on that puzzle for a while, waiting for him to fall asleep before entering the home. Unfortunately, either John or Julie had left a key in the lock on one of the outside doors. And that's how he was able to quietly enter their place. Once again, when he entered the home, Mr. Kruel was wearing a balaclava, armed with a handgun.

He burst open the door of John and Julie's room, turned the light on. Julie started to scream and then Mr. Kruel held his gun to John's head, told her to stop, then asked John, you're not going to be a hero, are you? John indicated that no, he would not be a hero. John and Julie were then forced to lie face down in their bed where they were bound with some copper wire. After Mr. Kruill had tied them both up, he took $35 from John's wallet, demanded to know where Julie's purse was and where the home phone was. He then cut the phone cord so they couldn't call for help.

Mr. Krulnext went into the girl's bedroom where 10-year-old Sharon Wills was sleeping with her sisters, five-year-old Annette, and eight-year-old twins Robin and Linda. He walked up to Sharon, who was on a top bunk, said her name. Investigators think the man knew her name because six months earlier, the family had been featured in the newspaper after their home had caught fire. extra creepy he may have been planning this for six months all because he saw a photo of a 10-year-old girl in the newspaper Sharon had woken up when she heard her mother screaming in a strange man's voice

fucking terrified she then pretended to be asleep until Mr. Krull rolled her over and shined his flashlight in her face he asked if she was awake and Sharon continued to pretend to be asleep he then left her bedroom and closed the door behind him but returned a short time later and started to wake her up again Sharon decided she could no longer pretend to be asleep. It was pointless. He was not going to just leave her alone. Mr. Kruel helped her get down from the top bunk. Then he started picking clothes out of her wardrobe for her to wear.

It's so fucking sick. Led her into the living room, gave her her father's coat to put on over her pajamas. Mr. Kruel then picked Sharon up and carried her outside to the back porch. When she started to scream, he shoved a red rubber gag ball in her mouth. He removed it when she agreed not to scream again. He then blindfolded her with material. over her head that was either tied or stuck together. He put her down, picked her up a couple times to confuse her before putting her into a car.

Promise he wasn't going to hurt her, said he was going to give her parents a ransom note, and would return her in the morning when the bank's open and he got his money. Meanwhile, back in the house, John and Julie Wills had managed to free themselves after about 50 minutes. John later told a reporter for the Harold's son, When I first found Sharon missing, I panicked. I immediately ran next door because he had cut my telephone, banged on the door and woke up my neighbor. I asked him to ring the police and then I started running around the block looking for her. God, that poor bastard. After driving for a short time,

Mr. Kruill stopped the car, asked Sharon if she could see. She admitted that she could. So he used some tape to stick the blindfold to her head and put a blanket over her. They then drove further and he eventually came to a stop in a driveway where he carried Sharon into a house and placed her on a bed. He then replaced her blindfold with iPad secured to her head with tape. She could hear her radio in the bedroom and heard a bath being run. Sharon was carried into the bathroom and told to both bathe and clean her teeth. She was then carried back to the bedroom, where she heard the 7 a.m. news on the radio station K-I-I-I-S-101.

1.1.1 FM also heard two planes fly over the house. After sexually assaulting Sharon, this sick motherfucker then gave her a veggie-mite sandwich he'd made for her and a glass of milk. Then told her he was going out, leased her to the bed with some type of harness around her neck. During her time alone, Sharon was able to lift a blindfold slightly and seize some of the room. She also saw a wooden tripod,

set up for filming at the end of the bed where he had, she assumed, recorded her attack. She was forced to bathe. When the man returned, he then took her to another room, assaulted her again, then made her bathe the third time.

Now he carried her back to the bedroom, reattached the leash to her neck. Sharon was left there for some time, and he checked on her often and asked how she was doing like he was some fucking nice guy, or something. On some occasions he would carry her to the bathroom so she

could use the toilet. On other occasions he would give her more food and drink. Sharon recalled that he was occasionally gruff, but mostly soft-spoken. He then told her that she needed to take a shower, made her wash her hair and body very thoroughly. He helped scrub her himself. Afterwards, he made her step into a large garbage bag, which he pulled up, taped to her shoulders, then put her in a men's shirt he'd taken from her home,

then put another bag over her head, taped it to her body before cutting out a small hole for her face. In this state, Sharon was carried to a vehicle and then driven for a long period of time after Mr. Kruill had trouble starting the vehicle and remarked that stolen vehicles do not always start properly. Another red herring, it seems. Once they finally stopped, Mr. Kruel took Sharon out of the car, carried her for a considerable distance, stopping occasionally to rest. Once he put her down for good, he told her to walk towards a nearby house with his lights on. He removed her blindfold, warned her to not look at him. him as she left, and she didn't. Roughly 18 hours after being abducted, Sharon had been dumped

near Bayswater High School, which was six kilometers or three point seven miles from her home. She had started walking towards the house as instructed, but the gravel on the ground was literally cutting up her feet, so she changed directions, walked to the road where she was found. A woman found her standing on a street corner shortly after midnight, wearing only a man's shirt and wrapped in a green garbage bag, or I guess several garbage bags. A calm voice, Sharon told this woman, another kid, who was so fucking strong and actually cool, my name is Sharon Wills, and I was taken from home early this morning. A man left me here and told me to go and ring home.

The woman recalled how fucking brave Sharon was, telling the Melbourne Herald's son, she was rather bright, really. I was quite surprised. I thought she would have been a bit worse for wear, but she was really good. I just brought her home and gave her a drink, and she was quite happy. She called the police, and Sharon was reunited soon with her parents. And John Will said, to have your daughter taken and not know where she is is indescribable. The relief this felt when you get her back is again indescribable.

Man, I bet. I suspect that when she was taken, he felt the worst he had ever felt in his life by far. And when she returned home alive, felt the best he had ever felt in his life by far. Sharon was able to give a detailed account of everything that had happened. But her description of the abductor was limited due to the blindfold she was wearing, of course. Sharon and her parents would give the following description of Mr. Cruel. Australian, 173 centimeters to 180 centimeters tall, 5-8-5-11, of a thin to medium build, no accent, well-spoken, fluent English, had either a mustache or whiskers, possibly early

beard growth, aged mid-20s to 30s, right-handed, hairy chest. Quick side note, my dad was 34 years old at this time. Left-handed, but almost ambidextrous. very hairy chest and 5-11. Also, this is an old gag. My fucking dad references about from many episodes ago. So if you're confused, like, why the fuck does he keep bringing his dad up? Well, that's why.

It's just ridiculous. But he is a mysterious guy. But back to the actual suspect description now. He was wearing a dark colored boiler suit, gloves, and a dark colored ski mask, or bala clava, which had an eye, which had eye and mouth holes and white stitching around the eye and the mouth holes, possibly with red stitching as well, carrying. a bag and a torch. No mention of white or gray hair at this time or this on this occasion. I mean, maybe she just didn't see what his hair looked like, of course, but it still makes

me think that he probably dyed his hair before that first attack. And I would imagine with his facial hair, too, if like he has a couple days' growth, he probably doesn't usually have that in life. Mr. Krell took the following items from the Will's home, $35 in cash, a men's brown and black checkered waist-length jacket with lambs wool lining and a metal zipper up the middle. The lining in both jacket pockets was torn. A pair of girls' cream-colored underwear with an amber-colored apple or umbrella on the left side. Gross. Girls cotton knee-length nightgown with a mauve and blue pattern, cap sleeves and a ribbon to tie the neckline.

Also gross. A pair of children's blue flip-flops with plastic straps and white beading. Still gross. Girls red tartan skirt with pleats around the waistband, extra gross, a bonds brand white singlet size 8. And that's it. Seems like he mostly took sick trophies this time. Sharon gave the following description of his vehicle. It had bucket seats. It sounded quiet when it started, but did not sound like a new vehicle.

It had a low glove box and a hump in the middle of the floor. The floor was carpeted. The gear lever was in the middle of the hump. The floor carpet, front door, and armrest of the vehicle were all cream colored. The pressed down lock on the door was also cream and pointing upward with a circle on top. Possible carpet fitted on the door. either along the top or the bottom of the door, clean-looking door, clean-smelling vehicle. The Will's family was unsurprisingly deeply traumatized by what they went through.

According to the Harold's son, they spent weeks following the attack, all sleeping together in the living room and they installed a security system and got themselves a large dog. Dude was essentially attacking the entire family of these crimes. I mean, obviously, only one girl is being sexually assaulted in each attack, but every family member will carry psychological scars from these attacks moving forward. The third, Mr. Cruel Attack, occurred in the summer of 1990. In this case, the victim was held captive for just over two days before she was released. Typical escalation for serial sexual predators.

He raped the first victim twice in her home over two hours, if not three times, did not take any of her clothes that I'm aware of, did not film the attack that I'm aware of. He raped a second victim twice in a separate location, possibly his home, where he filmed the attacks, kept her for 18 hours, then took trophies in the form of several. articles of her clothing. And now he's going to keep a girl for 50 hours. A quick note before moving forward to cover this attack, in April of 1989, police established a rape squad with nine detectives who focused on investigating serial rapists specifically in the Melbourne area of Victoria. It was the very first task force of its kind in Australian history to only investigate serial and unusual rapes. And a few months later, they would have a new assault to investigate. And before I share the details of this next attack, time for today's first two mid-show sponsor breaks.

If you don't want to hear these ads ever again, please sign up to be a space lizard on Patreon, help us make monthly charitable contributions, get the catalog ad-free episodes three days early and more. Well, thanks for listening to those sponsors. I hope you heard a deal that makes sense for you. And now let's return to July of 1990 when Mr. Cruel struck again. On July 3rd, 1990, I don't know where my dad was. But we do know that on that date, Mr. Kruill, broke into a family's home in Canterbury

and abducted 13-year-old Nicola Linus, aka Nikki. Canterbury is again an eastern suburb of Melbourne. This one is 10 kilometers or 6.2 miles from Melbourne's central business district. A very affluent suburb, one of the most exclusive and most expensive, excuse me, particularly along its Golden Mile, so-called Golden Mile, which is a part of Mont-Albert Road, lined by large century-plus old oak trees and grand ornate mansions and home to many notable politicians and leaders of business and industry. The Linus family had been lived in the Melbourne area for three years.

Brian Linus, who worked for an international accounting firm, had been transferred there by as employer. I'm sure they thought that they were safe, right? They were living in one of the best neighborhoods in all of Australia, but Mr. Cruel showed up anyway. And how extra fucked is this? Nikki was abducted on the very last night the family had planned to spend in that home. home. They had planned to move into a rented apartment in the city on July 4th and just stay there for a little bit longer until they flew home to London on August 4th. They were almost out of the country when he got them. Brian and Rosemary Linus were attending farewell parties with work and

social groups on the night of the attack. They left home at 7.50 p.m. leaving Nikki and her 15-year-old sister Fiona at home. The girls ordered a pizza that was delivered at 10.05 p.m. They normally slept in separate rooms, but on this night, Nikki dragged her mattress into Fiona's room. Fiona went to sleep at 10.45 p.m., Nikki, just a few minutes after that, at roughly 11 o'clock. And right after she fell asleep, Nikki was woken up at 11.20 p.m. by a man tapping her on the head with a knife. He was also armed with a handgun. Police discovered that he had forced his way inside to the parents' bedroom window. He made demands for cash, led the girls to their parents' room. He initially only said he was looking for money, but then when he looked through Mr. Linus's wallet,

he did not take anything, despite there being roughly $4,000 worth of traveler's checks in it. The girls were then forced to lie on their parents' bed on their stomachs. Fiona was tied with some galvanized wire, identical to clothesline wire. Nikki was taken to the kitchen. The man went through her mom's purse, cut the phone cord, took the keys to the family's rental car. He then led Nikki to her bedroom, took several clothing items of hers before telling her to get dressed. after that he let her back to her parents' room, asked the girl some questions about their dad's employment.

The man told Fiona he was going to kidnap Nikki that he wanted a $25,000 ransom. He said he was going to call her father in the morning about the ransom, but then he will never make contact with the family. After Mr. Kruel lied to Fiona, Nicky was forced into another room, told to put on her school blazer tunic and sneakers. He then walked Nikki out of the house with his arm around her shoulder

and his head very close to her head, like they were fucking high school sweet arts. He maintained that position for several minutes, and she determined he was the same size as her, about 175 centimeters tall or 5'9. He escaped with Nikki and the family's rented Holden Berlina. He stopped about 10 minutes later, and they made a short walk to another vehicle

where he put a blanket over Nikki's head, and she was then shoved under the dashboard. He drove for about 45 minutes before bringing her into a house where she was held captive. During her ordeal, Nikki was warned, quote, If you try to see, it will be, very dangerous for you. And

keep your eyes shut if you want to stay alive. He also told her that he would be releasing her in approximately 50 hours. Nikki's sister Fiona recalled, looking at the clock as the man took Nikki out of the room. It was 1147 p.m. The girl's parents arrived home less than 15 minutes later. Fuck. They were shocked to find the front door open and their car missing. They were even more horrified when they found Fiona tied up

and realized Nikki was missing. Meanwhile, Nikki was taken to four rooms in the mystery house that she had been driven to, a bedroom, a room he called the kitchen, a room with only a toilet, only a toilet, and a separate bathroom. A radio was playing in the bedroom. The tape over her eyes was replaced with surgical type cotton iPads, same exact MO he had used with 10-year-old Sharon Wills. Nicky was told to clean her teeth, take a bath. He would, he straight-up said that this was necessary because he did not want to leave any forensic evidence behind. after bathing, Nikki was taken to the bedroom, sexually assaulted, and then again,

just like with Sharon, leashed to the bed with a harness around her neck. Mr. Cruelden fell asleep next to her after turning the radio off. She heard no noises that evening, but sometime early in the morning, she said she heard between seven and nine planes landing. The man woke up at 10 a.m.,

turned the radio back on. Sexy assaulted her again at 11 a.m., then fell back asleep again. He took the harness off her between 12, 30, and 2 p.m. carried her to the bathroom, assaulted her for a third time, also told her that he had once followed her home from school and had been harboring a schoolgirl fantasy ever since. He then took her to the kitchen, made her dress up in her school girl uniform,

assaulted her for a fourth time. Then gave Nikki a glass of water, returned her to the bedroom, releashed her to the bed, told her he was going to dress her in her tennis skirt the next day, and then he went to sleep. Nike slept for a little while, woke early the next morning to the sound of more planes landing.

She said the man had promised her, you will get home, you will be home by late Thursday evening, early Friday morning. Again, roughly 50 hours following her abduction. While she was being held and continually assaulted,

her father, Brian Linus, spoke at a press conference, 36 hours after Nikki had been taken. He explained that his daughters had been left without babysitters at Fiona's request that she would turn 16 in just two more days.

He said he had agreed to leave them alone because he felt Australia was so much safer than England, saying, things we loved was that we felt the safety of the children in the street on the trams, on the public transport was fantastic

and gave them a freedom which certainly at that age and as girls we would have never let them have in London. He pleaded for his daughter's safe return, offered to talk, excuse me, to the kidnappers to discuss the ransom demand. According to Nikki, the kidnapper was aware of her father's offer to pay the $25,000 ransom,

but he didn't seem interested in collecting it. Once again, he woke up at 10 a.m. and turned radio want. Made Nikki another bath around noon, took her to the kitchen, dressed her in a tennis skirt like he had said he would, sex she assaulted her for the fifth time, also called her Missy as part of some sick fantasy. Nikki was then taken back to the bedroom about 2 p.m., released, and told that she would not be assaulted again, and she wouldn't be. Strange fucking predator, so weirdly honest about what he is going to do or not do to his victims, right? He acts like this is all some kind of like business transaction.

Like it's not that bad. He wants to sexually assault these girls, clearly, but outside of that, doesn't seem interested in piling on more sadistic torment. Doesn't taunt them, doesn't hit them, doesn't torch them outside of the sexual assaults. He is not like the overwhelming majority of the other psychos we've covered in this regard. Doesn't overtly seem to be motivated by rage by wanting to inflict a tremendous amount of pain. It's all about his twisted sexual desires that these poor kids seem to be just, you know, like they happen to be the object of.

shortly after release you, Nikki. Mr. Kruel came back into the room to check on her, gave her some bread and water. Then around 5 p.m., he told her that he and a friend had been looking for some areas where they could safely drop her off, also had a newspaper with him and told her that it was the sun, then checked on her again at 10 p.m., asked her if she wanted any food, took her to the bathroom at 1145 p.m., told her to stand on a sheet

so she wouldn't leave evidence behind. She was instructed to carefully shower. He would again help, but did not act sexual when it came. came to bathing. Then he left the room to speak to the friend, supposedly, a friend that wasn't there. There was no indications. This other person was present in the house. Probably another red herring, right? So elaborate with all this. Really planned all this. After showering, Nikki was taken back to the bedroom to get dressed. Her eye patches were replaced with adhesive tape. She was led to the driveway, put in a car. His car wouldn't start. And he told Nikki his friend had stolen it. Similar shit

that he had said to Sharon. Nicky thinks that Mr. Kroll stopped. get gas before her stopping a second time than letting her out. He took the sheet off of her, walked her for about five minutes to another location, then removed her eye tape, gave her a change of clothes, said he was going to leave, walked a few meters away, but then stopped, remarked the location

wasn't good. Now made her keep walking for a few more minutes. Instructed her to count for a while, then said that she could find someone to help her call the police. Niki was left by some bushes in front of an SEC substation and Q, another Melbourne suburb, about five kilometers or 3.1 miles from from home just before 2 a.m. on her 14th birthday.

Shit. She knocked on the door of a man's nearby house and called her father for help. And she and the rest of the Linus family would leave Australia for good just six days later. It was only after Nikki was found that the police revealed the same suspect was responsible for both abductions and the additional 1987 rape. Nikki and her sister Fiona gave the following description of Mr. Krull, according to the Harold's son. they differed in relation to Mr. Krull's height. With Fiona saying he was about 182 centimeters to 185 centimeters tall, like 5-11-61, whereas Nikki told police he was just under 170 centimeters tall or around 5 foot 6.

Police believe Nikki's height estimate, probably more accurate. You know, she clearly spent more time with Mr. Kruel, also walked alongside him. Both girls said he was well-built with Nikki saying he had a slightly big stomach like a beerbelly. Both girls said he had a deep or gruff Australian voice, Fiona said that he used Use at the end of phrases Including telling she and Nikki

To lay down in the bed use Get the cash use Fiona and Nikki both told police They hadn't seen Mr. Krull's face Because he was wearing a balaclava Both said it sometimes That sometimes he was wearing a handgun Tucked into either of his trousers

Or his belt on the left side Other times Fiona said he carried the gun In his right hand And a serrated carving knife in his left hand Nicky also said that He had the gun on his right hand Fiona described the gun as having a dull silver barrel With a brown wooden handle

Nicky described the gun as shiny and silver Nicky said he did not smell of body odor Alcohol or cigarettes That his hands felt sort of hairy with rough skin And short his fingernails That his arms were quite solid and stocky With fine hair That he had fine hair on his chest

No hair on his back That he swore a lot But only at the Linus house In the car and about his friend And that he sounded not really educated Fiona said based on his speech, actions, and build that she thought he was aged

in his 30s. The following items were taken from the Linus home. Fiona's handmade pink and white striped sundress with a drop waist. Fiona's Presbyterian ladies' college summer uniform

size 12 or 14. Again, fucking gross. More trophies. A pair of blue track suit pants of the brand endorsed by PLC, which may have had Fiona Linus labeled inside or F. Linus written on the inside label.

Three pairs of white marks and Spencer label girls underwear and one or two pairs of blue Dobson brand girls underwear. Right again, just fucking trophies. Four pairs of white cotton marks and Spencer brand socks. A marks and Spencer brand green and white fine horizontally striped t-shirt size small or size eight. A Melbourne football club hat. A white tennis skirt size eight. Pleaded with Velcro and slip catch on the front. The skirt had very fine knife pleats with red and blue ribbon around the bottom. A PLC school sweater size not known. A large Ken Done B.

bag with green fish design and the string draw opening a pair of blue and green knee-high stockings purchased in england a maroon women's wallet rosemary linus's victorian driver's license with the address of six margaret street canterbury on it a medicare card in the names of brian rosemary fiona and niki linas rosemary linus uh an z visa card right with each crime it's like he just took a little bit more than he took the time before nicky described the vehicle as follows per the herald son Nicky told police she thought it was a four-door vehicle with bucket seats, that it had a floor gear shift, probably manual, that the radio was tuned to KZFM.

There were no odors in the car, that it sounded oldish and had carpet on the floor. The girls were re-interviewed six months later, were able to provide some additional details. For example, Nikki remembered hearing low-flying planes over the house. Sharon Wills had mentioned that same detail. Sharon and Nikki, almost certainly future victim, Carmen Chan, were kept in the same dwelling under the Melbourne Airport. flight pass probably in an area close to the airport.

Sharon and Nikki gave similar descriptions of the house, unit, or apartment. They both said it had a driveway on the right side with one step from the driveway up into the premises. Sharon said the bedroom she was kept in was the second room from the front door on the right hand side had beige or cream carpet, peach-colored full-length curtains, a double bed with a peachy orange bedhead, white comforter with patterns, peachy orange lamp base, lemon-colored lamb shade with thin white vertical stripes, light-colored walls,

a brown-slash-black chest of drawers beside the bed, a large window to the right of the bed, a second chest of drawers to the right of the bed, a wooden tripod set up near the end of the bed, a radio on the left side of the bed, a metallic type of weight near the left side of the bed, and a dark blanket covering a bookcase or cabinet at the opposite end of the room from the bed.

Tripod detail again, like, you're right, the fucking filming this shit. She said the bathroom had a, bath, a glass sliding door to the shower, and a wall-mounted or pedestal-type wash basin adjacent to the shower door. Nikki said the bath did not appear to be a full-size one, and the separate shower was between the bath and the wash basin. Both girls said the toilet was in a separate room next to the bathroom. Nicky said it had a tile or a linoleum floor. Both girls said the toilet was dual flush, low to the ground. Nikki recalled that the toilet paper holder was on the right side when seated on the

toilet, and the door to the toilet open right to left from the outside. And now for the worst crime. Mr. Cruel is suspected of having committed. Right after today's second and two mid-show sponsor breaks. Thanks for listening to those sponsors. Hope you heard some deals you liked. And now let's move on to the worst of Mr. Cruel's suspected crimes. Nine months after abducting and raping young Nikki Linus on the evening of April 13th, 1991, a masked man broke into a family's home in Temple Stowe and abducted 13-year-old Carmen Chan

who actually attended the same school as Nikki Linus. Temple Stowe, yet another suburb, northeast of Melbourne. It's 16 kilometers or 10 miles northeast of Melbourne's central business district. About 17,000 people live there. There are several big shopping malls, some with some high-end stores, very affluent area. Tree-line streets, some expensive estates. When looking for a video of somebody saying the name, but the suburb on YouTube, I actually found a home listed for sale at just under $14 million Australian dollars.

And the Chan family doing very well before this time. terrible crime occurred. Carmen Chan had been born on November 5th, 1977 in Melbourne. Her parents, John and Phyllis Chan, had immigrated separately from Hong Kong in 1976, and had gotten engaged shortly after their arrival. By the time Carmen Chan was a teenager, the Chan's owned and operated three Chinese restaurants. All three were doing very well. The couple worked up to 18 hours a day, worked their fucking asses off, but were getting rewarded financially. The family lived in a big luxury is home could afford to send their daughters to a prestigious school. Carmen was the oldest of the family's three daughters. Her sister Carly was born in 1981, followed by Karen in 1983.

Carmen spent her early childhood in the Melbourne suburb of Belene before the family moved to the suburb of Temple Stowe, also a nice suburb, but not as affluent. By 1991, Carvin was a eighth grader. She was bright, diligent student, had dreams of becoming a barrister, aka a lawyer. At the time of her abduction, she was almost fully recovered from a bout of glandular fever. On the morning of April 13, 1991, Carmen had attended her regular Saturday tennis lesson. After that, her mom drove her to the Baleen Plaza Shopping Center. They got some breakfast. After breakfast, Mrs. Chan took Carmen to the library so she could do research for a school project.

Some family friends collected carbon from the library a couple hours later, picked up her sisters who were at Chinese lessons, and then took them all to the family's restaurant. one of the restaurants. The girls ate dinner with their mom, and then an employee drove them home at approximately 6.30 p.m. The sister spent roughly an hour at home with their dad before he left to go to another one of the restaurant locations, which was just about a 10-minute drive from their home. The chans had no other family in Melbourne. They were doing all of this themselves. They had a housekeeper who sometimes looked after the girls, but Carmen often left in charge of her little sisters. And that was the case the day she was taken. Carmen made sure that they all bathed and

changed into their pajamas. She read them bedtime stories. Fucking adorable. The girls went to one of the bedrooms to watch a TV special then about Marilyn Monroe. The Chan's house was protected by a fence with electric front gates. However, some of the doors and windows of the house had been unlocked. Investigators believe the killer may have tampered with the metal security gate to get onto the property. According to a police report, there were, quote,

no outward signs that children resided at the premises. No outward play equipment or outside play equipment, no bicycles, etc. the children were mostly confined to indoor recreation. The offender had ample time to survey the grounds prior to entering the house as there was little or no security. Police believe that he had watched the victim for weeks beforehand, so he would have known that the parents left the girls alone while they worked nights. This theory was corroborated by police reports received from several of the chan's neighbors who had seen a man they did not recognize in a park sedan watching the bus stop near the house,

bus stop that Carmen used to get to school in the weeks before the abduction. During a commercial break on the TV show, the girls were watching, at approximately 8.40 p.m., Carmen and Carly went to the kitchen to get a snack, and they were confronted by a masked man who forced them back into the bedroom.

He was armed with a large knife. He told the girls, see this knife? Where's your mom and dad? Absolutely terrifying. The man discovered Karen hiding behind the door. He forced Karen and Carly into a large cupboard, reassuring them, don't worry I won't hurt you, I only want your money.

Holding Carmen by the hair, he told the other two girls he would come back and get them, but he wouldn't. They would never see him again. They would also never see their sister again. He dragged and over and pushed up a maestress up against the cupboard to trap Karen and Carly inside that he fled with Carmen, who was barefoot wearing a floral nightgown at approximately 9.30 p.m. The younger girls were able to free themselves from their bindings and pushed their way out of the cupboard, make it to the phone and call their dad by 9.45 p.m. Carly told her father, Daddy come home, a man with a knife took Carmen. Holy fuck. Imagine getting that call to work.

Everything that you were worried about before that moment no longer matters at all. Your one and only concern is now finding your daughter. Mr. Chan found Karen and Carly in the laundry room crying, shaking with fear. He ran to the house looking for Carmen, then called the police when he couldn't find her. Law enforcement arrived within minutes. Some police dogs followed Carmen Scent for 300 meters to Church Road, where it suddenly ended leading investigators to believe she was put inside a vehicle there. Investigators also saw that the abductor had spray painted the Chan family's Camry with the words, more and more to come, payback Asian drug dealer.

More red hearings. Right? More shit to confuse law enforcement. Police looked into Mr. Chan to see if the abduction was drug or business related, but he had a, quote, squeaky clean background. Also, no ransom demand. have been left at the household and nothing was stolen. The Victoria Police initiated a manhunt with numerous officers assigned to Carmen's case full-time.

160 officers began immediately conducting house-to-house inquiries across eastern Melbourne suburbs in hopes of finding an eyewitness. Officers also searched nearby properties and locations of interest and question all known sex offenders within the states of both Victoria and New South Wales. To this day, the Victoria Police still officially classified Carmen as a victim of Mr. Cruel but some investigators privately believe she was not abducted by the same masked man. For example, Detective Chris O'Connor told a journalist in 2013, We just don't know if it was Mr. Kruel who murdered Carmen.

We just can't be sure because there isn't enough evidence to make a value judgment about whether it was or wasn't him in the Carmen case. Back when this all happened, though, law enforcement strongly assumed this was the work of Mr. Cruel and that she would be returned alive. On April 15th, 1991, two days after the abduction, Detective Inspector David Sprague announced that the police were looking closely at similarities with the two previous child abductions in the Melbourne area. In those cases, both victims, as we know, were released.

So again, they're hopeful for a similar outcome. Following day on April 16th, Carmen's parents, John and Phyllis Chan held a press conference where Phyllis begged Mr. Cruel to return her daughter. It's fucking brutal to listen to. But I'm going to play it. So easy, get so jaded, hearing a bunch of things. dates and names and people you've never met to forget the real human cost of all this shit.

You know, the true pain, pain that you can fucking feel in Mrs. Chan's voice. Please bring my daughter, Carmen, back to home. Because all my family loved her very much. Carmen, this is your favorite dress. You have to come home and wear it, come back and dress it. Please. Please.

My daughter, my family and a family lover. Don't spoil my family, please. Fucking brutal. My God. Four days later, Detective Inspector, Sprague told the media on April 20, 1991, we are optimistic. If we are dealing with the same person who took the previous children abducted by this individual, we know that he displays sympathy to his victims. We know that he is very clever. We think that he knows it is in everyone's best interest to release.

Carmen. Another two days later. On April 22nd, police announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the man who kidnapped Carmen. Identical rewards issued for information on the earlier kidnappings of Sharon Wills and Nihilinus. Another two weeks later, May 6, 1991, the Victoria Police formed the Spectrum Task Force to investigate the abduction of Carmen Chan. The task force also looked into the crimes being investigated by Operation Challenge, which was tasked with. identifying and apprehended Mr. Cruel. By the time of Carmen's abduction,

police had begun scaling down that operation. The Spectrum Task Force would now search a full 30,000 homes. They would search 30,000 homes and interview some 27,000 suspects, as well as distribute a reward poster to all homes in Victoria. That's fucking wild. Man, good job. The task force also investigated earlier sexual crimes from 1985 to 1987 with someone similar MOs. For example, back in February of 1985, a 14-year-old girl had been abducted

from her home in Hampton. Another suburb of Melbourne, she had been tied, gag, blindfolded, before he had driven her to a vacant building site and then assaulted her. She was dumped at Moore Rabin Bowl, a historic bowling center, on the Nippean Highway several hours later. The victim was told during that attack, my freedom is more important than your life. Another unsolved attack in Hampton Had an ammo similar to Mr. Kruill But the victim was a 14-year-old boy He had been abducted from his home in July of 1995

Held captive and assaulted in an unknown premises For just over three hours before he was released And fucking scarier to me that multiple pieces of shit We're doing this Again, death to fucking pedophiles Task Force also relied on a psychological profile From the FBI Which the Victoria Police requested

After Carmen's abduction It was delivered on April 24th the following are some passages from that profile. The profilers believed the man may have worked for the education system because the attacks happened during school holidays. Also, if he had a partner, they would have known of his sexual dysfunction. Quote, the offender's sexual arousal and gratification would be dependent upon the partner acting out a certain role, dressing in a specific manner such as a schoolgirl in a uniform.

He will have his homemade pornography as well as his commercial pornography. He will have photographed and or videotaped his same. sexual assault victims. These items will have great personal significance to him. In view of the fact that these incidents all occurred during school holidays, we suggest there is a high degree of probability that the offender is involved with the school. He may be employed there or connected with the school in some other capacity. The offender has an intense interest in children, especially children in the age group he is assaulting. He will spend a great deal of time with these children and what appears to be selfless dedication to students. This apparent dedication

may well have earned him recognition and awards, teacher of the year, coach of the year, exceptional volunteer, et cetera. He is a functional individual, one with steady employment, is generally regarded as a good neighbor, polite, quiet, somewhat introverted, but may be involved in certain community-minded projects.

Damn, that is a scary profile, very specific profile. Some possible teacher of the year, somebody who appears to be super dedicated to helping the kids, should be the same motherfucker abducting and raping them. Right, just a true wolf in sheep's clothing. In June of 1991, Carmen's poor parents published an open letter to Mr. Cruel. In the Sunday, Harold's son, Phyllis Chan told the abductor he would write to a, that he could write, excuse me, to a private postal address known only to the family, but he must decipher a code in the letter to figure out the postal address, using information known only to Carmen and her mother. Police were not aware of this letter until it was published.

Mrs. Chan explained that she hoped secret communication would put the abductor at ease. enough so that he would release Carmen. Man, smart lady, not a bad plan at all, but sadly it will not work. Almost one year after she's abducted, on April 9th, 1992, Carmen Chan's remains were found in a section of wastelanded Edgar's Creek

in the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown. A woman walk, or, excuse me, a man walking his dog, stumbled across a human skull buried in a landfill on a state electricity commission terminal station near the corner of High Street in Mahoney's Road. Skull was about 20 meters

from the eastern side of the creek. streak. Over the next 24 hours, police excavated for additional remains, but only found portions of the skull, jaw, and neck. Dental records were useless because Carmen was too young to have had any x-rays on her teeth. She was identified by DNA analysis. Her autopsy showed that she had died of three bullet wounds to the back of the head. It was just fucking straight up executed. And her body had been at the site for approximately 12 months. So, you know, killed shortly after she was taken. The Melbourne newspaper, The Age, reported on April 12th of that year. But amid this track, discovery, there is some hope. Carmen's abductor has always gone to extraordinary links to cover his tracks by removing all traces of forensic evidence. He has painstakingly removed all body tissue, hair and semen after raping some of his victims to avoid detection through DNA testing. But the discovery of what is apparently Carmen's body is his first major slip-up, even if it is almost by default. It is unlikely the body would have been found had the abductor not chosen an isolated state electricity commission site

in Thomastown for a grave that was recently disturbed by earthworks. After Carmen's body was found, police sources told the age that the suspect was believed to be responsible for a number of sexual assaults in the Bayside area. The age also reported, it has understood Mr. Krull told some of his victims

he was a victim of sexual assault himself as a child. Why would he tell them that? To try and excuse his behavior? So ridiculous when people do something terrible, then use having an indebted. something similar themselves previously as an excuse for the terrible shit they do. Like to me, that doesn't make you more sympathetic. It makes you fucking less sympathetic because you know how painful it is.

So you should be less inclined to hurt someone else in the same way. Investigators believed that Carmen was killed because she had either seen the abductor's face or he feared she could identify him in some other way. Basically, the extremely methodical abductor and rapists had probably fucked up, got worried that he was going to get caught and sent to prison and escalated from rape to murder. Carmen's mother said that her daughter would have fought against her abductor and believes that Carmen probably ripped off her blindfold to confront the suspect. So where did the investigation for Mr. Cruel go now? Well, a month after Carmen Chan's body was found in May of 1992, senior police sources told the age that investigators discovered a child pornography industry operating in Melbourne,

which encouraged pedophiles and other sex offenders to trade info on future victims. those fucking pieces of shit. This led police to believe that more than one person could have been involved and that Carmen may have been the victim of a group involved in child porn. And if they could find the right photos or videos, they could perhaps catch that son of a bitch.

Man, what a shit job that is for somebody. To have to, like, for work, to have to comb through child pornography evidence to document it. I can handle a lot of dark shit. I don't think I can emotionally handle that. I really don't. How fucked up to never. be able to get those images back out of your head.

Also, because my brain is super fucked up comedically, imagine working with somebody who volunteers to do that just a little too eagerly, just a little too quickly, right? Like, it's a real solemn, fucking somber atmosphere. The chief police is like, okay, everybody, I have an especially dark task that I will need someone to do. This is brutal. There's no way to sugarcoat it.

You're going to get all the counseling you need, all the time off, for the PTO you need when it's done, but I do need someone to go through a massive trove of child pornography. I'll do it! I'll do it, Chief. Okay, thanks, Daryl.

I haven't finished telling you how much there is. I am going to need you to watch every second of over 100 hours. Done! I'm your guy! Done! I'm your guy! I won't let you down. I can start immediately. Are you sure, Daryl? This is really dark stuff.

I mean, it's very sexually explicit. Oh, fuck you up, bro. Hey, what? What was that? Darrell? Sorry, Chief. I just like to help the team. I want to catch you sons and bitches.

Okay. Well, I guess you can get started then. Sweet! You care if I take it home, Chief? I want to watch it on the big screen. Make sure I don't miss anything good. You know what? Actually, Darryl, how about this is not for you?

That would be fucking like, what? All right, had to get that out of my system. I know that was horrible. Had to purge it. The Chan investigation had already led to more than 50 arrests relating to child porn, attempted extortion and blackmail. So disturbing to think about how many people worldwide are involved in child porn in some way. The Spectrum Task Force sadly would not be able to come up with the credible suspect for Mr. Cruel and it would be disbanded at the end of January at 1994. 73 individuals had been arrested on suspicion of Chan's murder, but they were all ultimately cleared of any involvement.

Operation Spectrum head commander, Dave Sprague, later told a reporter for the Harold's son, we identified at least 10 people with the propensity to commit the sort of offense as Mr. Kruel was committing. Make no mistake. These people are out there, and that's why people can't afford to ever get complacent about children. Without wanting to frighten people, they should be aware that there are a number of people walking around with the capacity to abduct and assault children. Fucking crazy, right?

Again, death to pedophiles. The task force also discovered that crucial evidence that could have possibly identified Mr. Kruill had been lost, which led to a change of the minimum standards for all major crime investigations in Victoria. Spectrum discovered that the initial police officer, in charge of setting up a command post inside the house, had allowed people to trample all over potential evidence, and the task force learned that the tape used to bind one of the victims just fucking straight up lost. Right? That tape could have been tested for DNA. was Mr. Cruel a cop?

Was he part of the team that secured the Chan house? Is that how he knew what evidence to get rid of? I don't know. Right? Maybe he took her to that location and then came back, fucking in uniform. Jumping to 2006 now. Before the 15th anniversary of the abduction and murder of Carmen Chan,

police revealed their belief that Mr. Cruel kept secret videos of the victims as trophies. Police believe he set up a video camera in the house where he took the victim so he could later relive the attacks. We already knew about that from info I shared earlier, but this is the first time the general public is learning about it. For years, it was not public knowledge that Sharon Wills had seen a tripod set up in the room where she was held captive. Investigators kept this secret in hopes of finding irrefutable video evidence of her attack

or of one of the other girls' attacks. But after more than a decade with no answers, they agreed to release this lead now in hopes of a breakthrough. Detectors believes that if Mr. Kruill was still alive, he would definitely have kept the tapes and or photos and would still collect and possibly swap child porn. They said he almost certainly continued to collect pornography online if he was alive and might communicate with children

using chat rooms, chat lines, you know, etc. On December 14th, 2010, police confirmed they had a new suspect in the Mr. Cruel case, two decades after his attacks. They also confirmed the existence of Task Force Apollo, which was established eight months earlier following some new intelligence uncovered during a review of Operation Spectrum.

Man, good on them for just not abandoning this. Over 12,000 separate pieces of information had been reviewed and cross-reference with new details. Superintendent Doug Fryer said police had identified some people, so more than one, who were not previously considered suspects. Friar added, whilst an arrest won't be happening in the next few days, we're certainly optimistic.

We might be able to bring this to a close. The reality is the person who committed these crimes is amongst our society, of the time. He was associating with people, more than likely held a job down, so there is someone out there who has information that hasn't been passed on as yet. Friar's prediction would sadly not come to fruition, though. Task Force Apollo will get closed down in June of 2013 after finding the intelligence was not credible and ruling out the suspect. Two years later, in April of 2012, police now announce that they suspected Mr. Kruel was responsible for at least

a dozen attacks on children over a 10-year period, and he would have committed minor offenses such as stealing underwear from washing lines or watching houses for several years before escalating to abduction, rape, and then in all likelihood murder. In 2013, the public was made aware of the biggest break in the case yet when a new potential suspect was named after he had died by suicide in prison. I think of the people will go over here today. This is, if I had to pick one, this is the guy I would pick for Mr. Cruel. A 62-year-old Robert Keith Knight killed himself inside the Melbourne remand center hours before he was due in court, two-faced charges for possessing roughly 10,000 child pornography images. This guy would have been between the ages of 20, excuse me, 35 and 40 during

the Mr. Cruel attacks. He died by jumping from an upper floor of the prison unit, either very late on April 23rd or very early on April 24th of 2013. On May 3rd, Victoria Police confirmed night was one of several people they were unable to eliminate from the Mr. Cruel investigation. Knight, a former youth worker previously served time in prison for child sex offenses committed between 1980 and 1996. The offenses took place 16 years apart. Excuse me, police felt confident that he had offended again in the years between. And the Mr. Cruel attacks occurred between 1987 and 1991, right in the middle of that stretch. Knight had joined the YMCA as a team, became involved heavily in their programs,

then started a youth club and helped train a rugby team in 1970. he'd become a member of the Zodiac Youth Committee, which set up and ran the largest live band dance in Melbourne at the time. Knight decided to make a career out of youth work, and in 1977 enrolled at the Philip Institute of Technology, now RMIT in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg, which is a 20-minute to about 35-minute drive from all of the Mr. Cruel Crime locations.

He graduated with a diploma of youth work in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed as a community education officer at four schools in the Broadmeadows area. His duties included running after school and holiday programs for children. Knight then got a job as a youth worker with Waverly Council in 1983, stayed in that position for a decade, also managed the Sindal Youth Center and ran monthly youth dances in the 80s. Just kids, kids, kids, always surrounded by kids. 1993 became an instructor for the Red Cross, also involved in the Boy Scouts,

and was a branch activity leader for the scout's first aid section from 1984 to 1996 when he was finally arrested. At the time of the 1996 offense, Knight was working at the Heinz Food Factory in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong as a subcontractor providing health and safety advice in first day. But made sure to have another job

that surrounded him with children at that time. He was also teaching first aid at a local grammar school. He was finally arrested again in 1996 in May. His third wife was the one who turned him in after he had confessed to abducting a 12-year-old girl earlier that year in March. Knight had approached and then held a knife to the girl's throat. As she walked home from school in Blair Gary, yet another Melbourne suburb,

he had put a bag over her head, forced her into his vehicle. She was taken to a vacant house where he drugged her, raped her repeatedly over a period of 18 hours. And similar to Mr. Cruel's M.O., she was made to play dress-up. She was forced to wear lingerie. Also, she was recorded. After all that, she was driven to school, given $5 to buy herself something to eat, and told not to look back. A month later he told his wife, quote,

Well, it was me that took that girl. And Knight's wife recalled to police. I screamed and went hysterical. I said, what did you do to the girl? He said, I took photos of her. I said, you took photos of her while she was naked? He said, yes. I said, did you rape her?

He said, no, I didn't touch her at all. She was all right. She walked home the next day. So many people are fucking insane. I love that he told his wife, oh, she was all right. She walked home the next day. Like what happened was no big deal at all.

What are he so worked up about? So what? So I kidnapped some kid from school, took some naked photos over. Well, she's fine. She walked home. Did you ever think that maybe she had a good time? Some people like to have naked pictures taken of them.

I'll have you know, you old fucking fun killer. A police task force in charge of investigating this 1996 abduction, established similar circumstances with an unsolved incident in the same area in 1980. The victim that time was walking a short distance from front of her family on a beach in Sorrento, little beach town, just south of Melbourne. technically part of the Melbourne metro area. So I guess the suburb. A man jumped out, put a bag over her head,

pushed her into his car. She was then driven to a secluded area where the suspect took photos of her, dropped her off nearby. Similar to the 1996 attack, he gave her two bucks, told her not to look back. Knight was charged with both offenses now.

He admitted his involvement in the 1996 attack, but denied involvement in the 1980 attack. Knight says, Mother would then die of a stroke six weeks after he was arrested. His siblings will blame him for her death. A knight initially planned to fight the 1980 charge, but then changed his mind, pled guilty when he saw how strong the case against him was. For years, Knight had been able to trick everybody he knew, even his wife, by hiding behind a respectable facade.

Nobody thought he was capable of such horrible things. But once he pled guilty, Knight told police that he had started having fantasies of photographing a young girl in states of undress long before he had committed any offenses. He said he purchased underwear and intimate clothing that would fit a girl between 10 and 14 years old. Mr. Cruel's three rape victims who lived where, uh, who lived, excuse me, were aged 11, 10, and 13. And Carmen Chan, 13 as well. Uh, Knight also brought, uh, bought camera gear, started planning on how to make his fantasy a reality. He was sentenced for the 1996 attack in November of 1997.

He received a 12-year sentence, was required to serve a minimum of nine of those years, pled guilty to one count of kidnapping, false imprisonment, procuration of a minor for the purpose of making or producing child porn. giving a substance capable of interfering substantially with bodily function, rape, and two counts of committing in a decent act with a child under 16. The details were suppressed until he was sentenced for the 1980 offense in 1998. Knight pled guilty to one count of kidnapping, three counts of gross indecency, and eight counts of indecent assault. He was sentenced to eight and a half years, ordered to serve three and a half years cumulatively with his first sentence,

bringing the total to 15 and a half years with the minimum of 11.5 years before night can be eligible for parole. Fucking weak. Just kill these motherfuckers. Judge David Jones described the heinous attack during sentencing for the 1980 attack, saying, this young girl, innocently making her way home with her family from a nearby beach had been kidnapped and subjected to an appalling, terrifying, and degrading experience. Such an occurrence is every parent's nightmare.

She has had a bag put over her head and then taken in a motor vehicle to an unfamiliar place. She does not know where she is. She does not know where it is going to have. happened to her and how long she will be held. It is difficult to really comprehend the fear and anguish she must have been experiencing. Night was released from prison March 12th, 2009, after serving a dozen years. Investigators determined that he had started reoffending six days after his release. Of course he did. God damn. When the fuck is more of the world going to wake up to how dangerous these motherfuckers are? I'm so tired of talking about it. Right? In the Epstein shit, just more salt in the same

wound. When are more people going to care enough about sexual assault victims to get fucking serious? Like serial predators cannot be rehabilitated, full stop. Execution is the best option. Imprisonment with zero chance of parole, an okay option. There's no other good option. If you think you can rehabilitate these people, you are a fucking idiot. Night was arrested there. Years later, or arrested again years later, October 9th or 19th, 2012 for possession of child pornography. At the time he was living in Fern Tree Gully, another Melbourne suburb, just under two miles from where a young girl had gone missing the year before. 13-year-old, Sira Yukorn, Bung, Sira Boone, right in the age range that night that I preferred,

went missing on June 2, 2011. Bung had left her family's home on Elsie Street in Boronia, yet another Melbourne suburb, to walk to school. A. Neighbor saw her walking towards Albert Avenue around 8.30 a.m. She was wearing her school uniform, a dark blue zes. zip front school jacket carrying a backpack. A year later, a witness came forward, said they saw Bung on Harcourt Road at 8.55 a.m. on the day of her disappearance.

This tip was treated as credible, placed Bung within 130 meters of her school on her usual walking route. Police believe she was abducted, then likely murdered. A task force launched an international investigation into her disappearance. The task force also examined the movements of registered sex offenders in the surrounding area. One of those suspects was, of course, Robert Knight. But after he died, police announced.

that he had been eliminated from the inquiry because he had a verifiable alibi confirming he was not in the area at the time of this abduction, but others aren't so sure that alibi was that good. Bung's case, like the cases of Mr. Cruel, still unsolved.

Now back to the big question of whether or not Robert Knight is Mr. Cruel, possibly. Detective Senior Sergeant, Chris O'Connor, who was on the Spectrum Task Force, said that in his opinion, Knight was not Mr. Cruel,

but he also said he was sure that Knight got away with attacking other children between 1980 and 1996 that he was preparing to attack others when he was charged with child pornography offenses. O'Connor told a reporter for the Herald's son, given what we know about the man, it is probable that future crimes have been prevented by his death.

There is no doubt, in my mind, he is responsible for other sexually motivated crimes against children. Sadly, we either haven't been made aware of those other crimes or if we are aware of them, there wasn't sufficient evidence for us to proceed against him. We are aware that he is responsible for other crimes, historic crimes, one in particular that was not reported, that was identified during the course of our inquiries. The evidence was conclusive that he did that crime, but he couldn't be charged with it for very legitimate reasons.

Ah, so cryptic. O'Connor also told News A.U. in 2013 that one of the main challenges they faced in the Mr. cruel investigation was a lack of DNA evidence and the fact that the suspect's descriptions matched, quote, 40% of the male population of Australia. Okay, fair. He said, you can be the best investigator in the world, and it may be the best run investigation. But at the end of the day, if you do not have avenues of inquiry that are solid, it's very difficult that you're going to identify the person. He expressed his hope that, quote, loose lips of the offender or someone who has harbored knowledge for some reason is triggered into passing information onto police. And that's really where we are after 25 years.

Nothing ever happens in a vacuum, even if people don't understand it at the time. They are privy to information. Others have their reason for withholding, but down the track, sometimes things change. On April 13, 2016 now, 25 years to the day since Carmen Chan was abducted and murdered, police assistant commissioner Stephen Fontana announced that the reward for info leading to the identity and conviction of the killer had increased from $100,000 to $1 million. And a separate $200,000 reward for info on the two abductions is still active today. Fontana also told reporters, I think the suspect is probably still alive.

Detectives had not been able to conclusively link Carmen's murder to the other abductions, but according to Fontana, there was, quote, every indication the same person was responsible. Fontana also said that Carmen was aware of the abductions, right? Again, she went to the same school as one of the victims, one of the other victims, and had made a comment to her mother that if something like that would happen to her, she would, quote, not go willingly. It was pure speculation as to why Mr. Cruel stopped to, fending if he was still alive, but it could be that he was one of the thousands of people interviewed

and just got really worried about getting caught. Another possibility was that Carmen's death affected him enough to stop. A profiler John Kelly, who I mentioned earlier, uses a convicted double murderer, someone who he said has done a hell of a lot more than those two murders, whom he calls 13 as a sounding board on cases. And this prisoner, this 13, says, Mr. Crue probably stopped after Carmen Chan's murder, quote, because he just couldn't stomach the killing. That same month, April of 2016, the Herald Sun published details of the Spectrum Task Forces dossiers on seven suspects, known as the Sierra Files, that were produced with the help of the FBI. These suspects, quote, are deemed to have the propensity to commit similar

type offenses. Small number of senior police were given access to the Sierra files with the instruction that if another child was abducted, all seven suspects should immediately be arrested and questioned. The son did not identify the suspect. at the request of the police. But I can say that one of them's name is my dad. Spelled M.Y. New word, D-A-D. My dad. No, I can't show their findings, though. The prime suspect is a former Melbourne University lecturer who was 74 years old in 2016.

The Harold's son identified him as Bill. Bill lived in Thornbury, another Melbourne suburb, at the time of the attacks, and was still living there as of 2016. Did you know that Melbert has almost 400 suburbs, by the way? I did not know that, but I know it now. Because after seeing one after another, after another, I was like, what the fuck? How is there another suburb? How many are there?

A lot. Between 300 and 400, depending on how you define which towns count as suburbs. There's a little variance there. Anyway, Bell was jailed for 10 years in the 70s after pleading guilty to rape and other sexually violent offenses involving attacks at knife point on girls and young women in their homes. Super cool. He was just let out. Allowed a lecture around young women on college campuses after that. Good job to whoever did his background check decided he was worth risk. In 2016, he had recently retired from his

position as a director of his construction design company. Bill's home was raided after the disappearance of Bung Syraboon in 2011. He admitted to the Harold's son that he knew police considered him the prime suspect but denied involvement in any of the crimes attributed to Mr. Cruel. So, you know, I guess he didn't do it. I mean, we all know sexual predators are very honest, consistently truthful. I know he said,

I'm not sure why they got on to me in the way they did. The police have called several times when there's been a sex crime of some kind and they go through their list of previous offenders. They throw the net out when something happens. I've had interviews

and all of them have been fine. That little girl had disappeared up in Boronia, they sort of came to see me. Luckily, I was given a seminar in Melbourne at that time and gave them all the minutes of the meeting to show where I was. Do you want to guess what his seminar was about?

How to legally make, distribute, and procure child pornography. Fucking crazy, right? Or it would be of true. I have no idea what a seminar was about because the press never released that Pito's real name. It's probably something shitty. Bill claimed he was at his brother's wedding at the time of one of the Mr. Cruel attacks,

but couldn't remember which one. Before Bill was jailed for 10 years in the 70s for attacks at knife point on six girls and young women in their homes, over a 25-month period starting in April of 1972. He was a senior lecturer in the arts faculty at Melbourne University and was married with three kids. All so fucking insane. He was ever allowed to be free again after he violently sexually assaulted six girls. Should have been killed.

All of his six victims were tied up, threatened with a knife, and assaulted. One of the victims, a 15-year-old girl, had her clothes cut off with scissors before she was assaulted. Another was bound and gag before being raped. Psychiatrist who spoke to Bill after his arrest said Bill admitted to having fantasies about tying women up and raping them. since he was a teen, but he'd only carried them out in the past few years. Oh, well, that's nice. Bill pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault, one count of common assault,

one of assault with intent to rape, and one of rape. In 2016, Bill claimed he had rehabilitated himself. Yeah, because that's how that works. He said, I did my time, and I have recovered my life pretty well. I've got a new family. That's fucking terrible. I've rejuvenated myself as a writer and a construction designer and ran a business I've just retired from.

Well, that's all fine in dandy, Bill. but I still hope you literally choke to death and die after somebody ties you up, cuts off your dick, and jams it down your throat. Suspect number two from the Sierra Files was a 66-year-old who lived in Elthams at the time of the attack, or Eltham, excuse me. Do you want to guess what Eltham is? Oh yeah, that's right. Another suburb of Melbourne.

The father of this suspect's former girlfriend still lived at the Eltham address and told the Harold's son, he had not seen or heard the man for more than 20 years. The Harold's son discovered that after moving from Eltham, the suspect lived in several homes in the Box Hill and Surrey Hills areas. More suburbs, cool, cool. Ran a number of businesses in Baldwin and Mont Albert North, more suburbs before moving to live in a caravan park in Lake Cat Eye, New South Wales, a place definitely spelled like Kathy, but pronounced as Cat Eye,

because fucking why not. Actually, though, an independent town and not a suburb, though, so that's nice. He did all that after marrying a Canadian woman. he left the caravan park in Juneau 2014 moved to Canada with his wife. Suspect number three was a 68 year old who lived in Musk, more of a town than a suburb, 109 kilometers or 68 miles northwest of Melbourne,

at the time of the attacks and was still living here. He changed his name in 1988, changed it a second time after that, briefly spoke to a Harold's son journalist just to order them to leave his property. Suspect number four was a 57-year-old who lived in Harcourt, actual town, not suburb, at the time of the attacks,

still owned the property but spent most of his time in Melbourne, only occasion returning to the address. Sadly, three local businesses and 47 residential homes were destroyed in a terrible bushfire, just two months ago there. Hopefully one of those homes was his, and not somebody who is not some, you know, rock spider pito. Suspect number five died in 2015 at age 66,

lived in Knoxfield, yet another Melbourne suburb at the time of the attacks. He was married with children and grandchildren at the time of his death, worked as a self-employed tradesman. Rock Spider with grandkids? Well, very glad he's dead. Safe her for everybody. Suspect number six was a 61-year-old who lived at Baldwin at the time of the attacks.

He moved from Baldwin to his mom's home in Mount Waverly after she died, and he was still living there in 2016. His home in Baldwin was demolished and replaced with a two-story mansion after he sold it. He confirmed to the Harold's son that he was a suspect but denied any involvement saying, I've never had any charges laid against me.

Well, yeah, you have. I have interviewed, yes, along with 27,000 other people. I was interviewed, that was it. Well, no, that's not it because you probably had a bunch of charges before all this. Suspect number seven would have been 67 if he was alive, which was unverified. He lived in Glen Iris, another Melbourne suburb at the time of the attacks, did not answer the door when the Harold's son reporters went to his old address. Neighbors were not aware of him. He was not listed on the electoral role, or electoral role, excuse me, the phone book had no social media, so maybe dead.

Jumping ahead six more years now. March of 2022, authorities announced a breakthrough in the case. New details suggested the suspect may have been linked to the city's electrical industry. The two abduction victims, Mr. Krul's, second and third known victims, lived near substations just 20 minutes apart in the suburbs of East Camberwell and Ringwood. The first victim lived near a substation in the suburb of a lower plenty. Carmen Chan found near the Thomastown Terminal Station. Carmen and another victim both attended the Presbyterian Ladies' College, also close to a substation.

Former investigator Mike King told Channel 9 that these connections suggested that Mr. Cru might have worked or posed as a substation employee. He said, quote, the fact that it's all in about a 20-minute drive from each other, in that area the offender has to feel comfortable in order to function. From a geographic perspective, we just have to keep thinking, why is he comfortable in this area? Why is he selecting the victims where he is? and why is he disposing of them where he is? Jumping ahead another two years in 2024, Trev Gross, a truck driver and internet sleuth based in Geelong near Melbourne, but its own city,

claimed he identified two potential suspects, two new ones. The two suspects provided support to the so-called Mr. Cruel never-existed theory, which claims that the series of child abductions, rapes, and murders in Melbourne in the 80s and 90s were committed by multiple offenders, which is scarier. Gross urged police to investigate a link

between two convicted pedophiles, both involved with the same former youth group. Gross provided the dossier to police naming Barry Francis Wilson as a person of interest. Watson lived in Park Orchards, yes, another suburb, within a short drive of all four crime scenes. Watson was a leader of the Church of England Boys Society group affiliated with the Anglican Church.

He was later convicted of abusing multiple children. Between the ages of 9 and 13, a cross a 20-year period started in the 1970s. What? A church leader? Sexually abusing children? Oh my God. That's to be the first time I've ever heard of something like that.

True Story, Not My Bullshit. In Volume 155, the September 2024 edition of the Academic Journal, Child Abuse and Neglect, a study was conducted that was titled, The Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse perpetrated by leaders or other adults in religious organizations in Australia. The Australian Child Maltreatment Studies surveyed 8,503 people, age 16 and over. about their experiences of child maltreatment. One in 250 people reported child sexual abuse by a leader slash adult

in a religious organization in Australia. Disturbingly common, in my opinion, for such a specific demographic. And the same study cited other studies that showed that the abuse has declined significantly in recent years. Another study that looked at men 65 years and older at the time of the study being published

found that five and 250 people had been sexually abused by a leader slash adult and a religious organization in Australia. So going back to a church youth leader, Barry Watson, at least one of his victims was female. Watson would lure victims to his home, also abused children at nearby sports reserve. Gross said,

his position as youth leader aligns with some long-held theories, Mr. Kruill was a teacher or someone who had access to school children. Watson died by suicide in 2019, days before he was scheduled to appear in court for his crimes. The second potential suspect, presented by Trev Gross was not identified for legal reasons, but he was described as an incarcerated sexual predator. Criminal psychologist Tim Watson Monroe,

with knowledge of the investigation, questioned the victimology of the potential suspects, though, saying to be abusing young boys by day and then abducting young girls at night doesn't quite fit, but it's not impossible. That same year, a team of U.S. profilers took a look at the case, published their findings as well. Profiler John Kelly, who I've referenced twice already today,

a former homicide investigator Frank Adamson, psychiatrist Dr. Edmersky, and probation officer Pamela Bogart from Stock Incorporated system to apprehend lethal killers created an updated profile of Mr. Cruel. They believed that Mr. Cruel was a serial burglar who became addicted to kidnapping children.

That the killer potentially has links to Edgar's Creek in Thomastown where Carmen's remains were found and may have been a volunteer in community beautification projects in the area. According to the stock profile, Mr. Kruel will be extremely neat and clean, maybe obsessive over cleanliness and hygiene,

maybe a OCD. The profile described Mr. Kruel as an organized offender with above average intelligence. His primary intake sense is visual, however he has an extremely strong auditory sense as well. Has a history of breaking and entering, along with theft, long before he attacked and abducted young girls from her homes.

His criminal past would also include sexual assault and stalking victims. He may be extremely angry with the parents, of victims for personal reasons. He carries a personal anger towards his own parents, possibly for a lack of parenting and neglect, he misdirects this anger

onto his primary victim's parents, has a problem with being social and intimate with women in his own age group. Profiler John Kelly told the age, Mr. Cruel could possibly be known from Edgar's Creek. There was a lot of cleanup going on there

in the 90s. I think some people might have seen him being over attentive to younger girls, helping with the cleaning up of the creek. He might also be known for his obsessive photography of the area. Kelly explained that most of the time killers want to get away from the body

as quickly as possible so they can't be connected to the victim. The more miles they put between them and the victim means the more people they put between them and the victim and the more people equals more possible suspects for police to sort through. So the question is, why did Mr. Kruill pick a burial site where he

felt he could spend the time necessary to dig a grave and bury Carmen? It's a place he was very familiar with and a place he believed he would have the safe ample time to bury Carmen. How could Mr. Cruel be so familiar with the area and what's the attraction for him there? And that update is the last public update out there about Mr. Cruel to time of this recording, so that will take us out of this timeline.

Good job, soldier. You've made it back. Barely. Mr. Cruel. Who the fuck is he? Is he my dad? I hope not. Is he your dad? I also hope not. I hope that sick fuck never has, uh, never had any kids. but maybe call 1-800 dad watch and report your dad anyway, you know, just be safe. It's been a while since we've been calling that number. Out of the suspects we went over, my money would be on Robert Keith Knight, right? The guy that died by suicide at the age of 62, April 24, 2013,

inside the Melbourne Remand Center, hours before he was due in court to face charges of possessing almost 10,000 child porn images. But who knows? Sadly, Mr. Krill was but one of many rock spiders prowling around Australia in the late 80s, early 90s. not the only guy masking up and abducting girls and sexually assaulting them. It's going to be so hard to ever apprehend him if he is still alive. You know, it's been 35 years since his last suspected attack. He didn't leave behind any solid evidence. He kept his face covered at all times, even left red herrings to divert police attention.

So calm and methodical described as soft-spoken and unhurried during one attack, even stopped to eat a meal inside a victim's home. Threatened to injure the victims or their family members with a knife or a handgun. but wasn't overtly violent outside of these sexual assaults. Only real hope and ever identifying him probably lies in the video he made during at least one attack. Video, videos, right? They're probably out there somewhere, but where? Out on the dark web, perhaps?

I'm sure as hell not going to look for those videos. You better not either. The kind of person who would come across it, I doubt they're going to be calling the police. Hello, officer. I'd like to report a crime. Yeah, I was watching some child porn yesterday, trying to relax and enjoy myself after work when I thought, hey, I think I recognize that kid. By golly, that looks like Sharon Will's. That's the worker minister cruel. So I put my pants back on, wiped a lotion off my

hand so I could grab the phone, called you straight away like the good citizen I am. We must protect the children. No, I don't think that's happening. So I guess we just have to hope that some poor bastard who works in law enforcement who does have to watch that kind of shit comes across it and then somehow can trace that back to whoever made the video. Sadly, though, just being a realist, I don't think that will happen. And maybe that's why I want to believe that Mr. Cruel was Robert Knight. Because then I can believe that he was caught, if not for the Mr. Cruel crimes, at least for something and that he is fucking dead, right?

Some sense of justice. If by chance, you do think you know who he is, that he's still out there, there is still a $200,000 reward for information in the abduction cases and a $1 million reward for info on the murder of Carmen Chan. Anyone with info is urged to contact crime stoppers at 1-800-333-0-0-0-0-0. or submit a confidential crime report at Crimesoppers.com. Dot A.U.

Too many of these fuckers get away with this kind of shit, right? As the Epstein list, painfully is reminding so many of us right now. Whole bunch of Mr. Cruels may have been on the island. So disturbing. I hope some politicians start making,

getting way tougher on sex offenders, a part of their platform in a bunch of different countries. The world needs more justice. Time now for the take. takeaways. Time suck. Top five takeaways.

Number one, Mr. Cruel is suspected by many of three attacks, including two abductions and the abduction and murder of 13-year-old Carmen Chan. And authorities who were part of the Operation Spectrum Task Force believe Mr. Krul may be responsible for at least a dozen attacks. Number two, two of the victims who were abducted Sharon Wills and Nikki Linus bravely removed or peaked through their blindfold to get a look at their surroundings. and were able to describe the house where they were held captive in detail. Both girls also recalled hearing airplanes flying overhead, sounding like they were landing,

leading authorities to believe that Mr. Cruel's hideout somewhere in the area of the Melbourne airport. Number three, Carmen Chan is the only known murder victim of Mr. Cruel. Authorities believe Mr. Cruel most likely broke from his M.O. of abducting and releasing victims because Carmen had seen his face. And he decided to kill her, so she would not be able to identify him. Number four, there are seven strong suspects listed in a dossier known as the Sierra Files, which the Operation Spectrum Task Force distributed to select police forces so that if another child was abducted in a manner matching Mr. Cruel's M.O., all seven would be arrested and questioned. Their identities are not currently public knowledge.

And number five, new info, another Mr. Cruel update from 2025 I didn't already share. In August the last year, an inside police source revealed new details to the Crime Insiders podcast, an Australian true crime. series. Associate Professor David Wells, who was a forensic physician with the Victoria Police at the time of the attacks, said he personally collected genetic evidence that could be the key to identifying Mr. Cruel. He shared a theory that the suspect may have been a police or forensics expert, saying, quote, he either held these children or washed them repeatedly so that any, for instance, trace DNA would be removed from their skin, and it got us thinking a little bit, is it one of us? The level of sophistication of removing

this evidence was such that it smacked of that. Well said about the DNA evidence, it's something that might allow his genetic makeup to be identified, but you need someone to compare it with first. Another new lead was that Mr. Kruel may have had a back injury due to the way he moved. Investigators contacted the medical board asking whether any doctors had back injury patients matching the offender's description. Well said, this is a new area because you're asking doctors to divulge confidential information. The argument is providing this information is likely to result in prevention of further very, very damaging acts of behavior, and although it might breach the confidentiality, it is justified for the greater need of the public.

Medical professionals were supportive and a considerable number of people were reviewed. Wells also recalled a chilling encounter with the taxi driver. He used a phrase identical to one that Mr. Crill was known for. Wells alerted investigators who told him they spoke to the driver. The man started to sweat, became agitated, he was taken to the station for a formal interview. He had a strong alibi, but also admitted to having committed other crimes against kids during the interview. He was not Mr. Cruel, but thanks to his admissions, he was arrested,

and another child predator was charged and convicted thanks to Wells' report. And so hopefully maybe we still might get this guy. I know I am doubtful, but maybe it'll be like a Golden State killer thing, where maybe that genetic evidence that Wells is talking about that they have, maybe they can access through people using 23 and me, Ancestry.com, that sort of thing. They'll find some niece, nephew, cousin, somebody

and work it back and finally put this guy away just like after so many years they finally put away the Golden State Killer. Time suck. Top five takeaways. Mr. Cruel has been sucked. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for their help of making Time Suck.

Thanks to Queen of Bad Magic, Lindsey Cummins. Thanks to Logan Keith, helping to publish this episode, design merch for the store at bad magic productions.com. Thank you to Olivia Lee for some great initial research. And thanks to the all seen eyes, moderating the cult of the curious private Facebook page. And the Mod Squad making sure Discord keeps running smooth and the good peeps over on the time suck and bad magic subredits. And now it's time for our updates. Get your time sucker updates. Our first update from those sent in to Bojangles at Timesuckpodcast.com comes from MeatSack music critic Kyle Eisen.

It arrived with a subject line of Oingo Boingo is not an Australian mate. Kyle wrote, Even though the band name sounds like some title you receive after defeating a kangaroo in a boxing match, I assure you, they're from Los Angeles, Kyle Eisen. Damn it, Kyle. Oh man, I legit meant to say Midnight Oil. Somehow Ongo Boingo. came out instead.

But also, to be fair, I did think Oingo Boingo was Australian, but you are 100% right. Now, they were fronted by Danny Elfman. Way more famous for like Tim Burton collaborations and film scores in general than for his first big band, and they were pretty big. I actually didn't even know what songs Oingo Boingo sang, but then I looked into them thanks to your mess.

I'm like, oh yeah, they had some fucking great hits. They sang Dead Man's Party? Such a fun song. I love a good New Way band. That song was featured in the back-to-school soundtrack with Rodney Dangerfield. They also sang Weird science. Weird science. Oh, such a good track.

You send me down an oingo-boingo rabbit hole. I am grateful. This next message comes from Meat Sack Jared Fresh, marvelous meat sack, with the subject line of double commons law. Hello, Lord of the Suck, Jared writes. Hope you and the Suck team are doing really well. I have never had to say this before, but sorry for the length. I haven't really needed to write in before because I'm good at pretending I'm smart

so I haven't really fallen for Mr. Rex and I guard my play pause buttons very well to protect myself from Cumminslaw incidents. However, I have to formally ask you to go fuck yourself as you finally got me. To be clear, you and your wife actually got me, hence the subject line.

A little background, I started my own general contracting company a couple years ago and thankfully it has been growing. Starting from just me, myself, and I, selling jobs and working the jobs, to now having several crews, lists of subcontractors, multiple jobs running at the same time in the DFW area. Oh yeah, hell yeah, Dallas-Fort Worth.

Started listening to TimeSuck in 2018, worked my way to the back catalog, then joined as a space list so I could get more content, but had completely caught up in the last two years, which left me feigning like an addict all week till the next release of TimeSuck. Man, thanks. To take the edge off last year, started to listen to STD and working through the back catalog of that show as well. I was relisting to a couple episodes of STD the morning of the incident.

I had your show playing in my truck, stopped at one job site to pick up a new crew and drive them to a different job site. And like a good boy who goes peeping the potty, I paused the show, planned on switching to music as I had three new guys in my truck. For just a couple minutes,

the guys were waiting in my truck while I talked to the site superintendent. I then opened the door to my truck, noticed the shocked face of the man in my passenger seat. Panic quickly set in as I realized my speakers were playing the show. I quickly hit pause as I was getting in and then sat in uncomfortable silence

with the three other guys in my truck, I pieced together that while I'd been out of my truck, one of the guys hit the play button on my truck screen, thinking that music was going to start playing. They instead heard you and Lindsay discussing how funny it would be at a mental institution. If each night they would launch freshly deceased patients through the air with sparklers in their hands as a sort of fireworks show

for the other patients, instead of discreetly putting the bodies down a shoe. In the longest 30 seconds of my life, I don't feel like I'd say something like that. In the longest 30 seconds of my life, I exchanged awkward eye contact with the front passenger before I gingerly said, it's just a podcast, all three.

Guy in the front said, they don't speak English, referring to the two guys in the back. A wave of relief washed over me as I realized I was only going to have to explain myself to the guy in the front passenger seat, but then my relief was getting replaced with panic as that guy started to translate everything

he just heard to the guys in the back. Well, I pleaded futilely, no, no, no, you don't have to. Then just resign myself to, okay, this might as well happen. I then drove to the other job in complete silence while being mean-mucked from the back seat. They did a great job drywalling, but I haven't heard from them since. To be fair, if I met a new boss and they immediately talked about launching dead insane asylum patients and some sort of load the Greg scenario, before I could tell if they were joking,

I would be a bit wary as well. Love what you do, three out of five stars. Fuck you. I will forever keep on sucking. P.S. I know you get some criticism. for your harder stances on the death penalty and which people deserve or don't deserve it.

Or your joke about needing a death button, which can immediately burn all pedophiles slash violent sexual offenders. But I would like to just say, I applaud you for it. No easy way to segue into this, but I was raped by a grown man when I was eight years old.

He was a neighbor, knew exactly what to say to keep me from telling anyone. My family was very religious, and he told me that what happened made me gay, and in my family, that meant I was going to burn in hell. So I kept it to myself, hiding what happened, even throwing away bloody underwear for the next couple days to make sure no one asked.

I then doubled down in religion for the next decade, leader of the youth worship team, going to every single event I could possibly go to, to try and prove I was not gay, even going as far as to join a church I later found out was a cult, the Church of Christ. Yes, that's specific one. I got married as early as possible, started to drink to be able to sleep, which quickly spiraled out of control, led to a divorce by the time I was 23. The divorce ironically got me kicked out of the cult because that too sends you straight to hell.

Possibly the best side effect of a divorce. I moved to Texas from Washington State to start over at the age of 24, met a wonderful woman at 25, started therapy at 26, worked my job experience up in DFW, started my own company at 31, gave up drinking and opioid abuse, after dealing with the childhood trauma and therapy, and I am thankfully several years sober. My girlfriend is finishing her master degree this spring

we have the most perfect dog on the planet. The dog's name is Sirius, Be Fresh. That's so good. And are doing wonderfully. All of that to say, I fully agree with your hard stance on pedophiles, violent sexual offenders and cults. I also greatly appreciated your suck on addiction. I've studied it thoroughly, still learn plenty through your research.

I just want you to know wherever, or excuse me, whenever you are talking about being, beating a pedophile to death with a bat. Somewhere in Texas, there was a grown man, me, excitedly shouting, yep, get him, Dan. fuck him up while driving in his truck sincerely can't thank you enough feel free to use my name if this is ever read in the podcast i am not a member of our current political machine so i have no interest in shaming myself to protect a pedophile i'm also not a scientist just a lowly contractor but i'm working on your death button i've done some research found out pedophiles are indeed flammable i know how to build a button so i just have to connect those two dots i'll keep me posted

you, Jared Fresh. Fuck, that made me laugh so hard. Jared at the end. I love like, well, okay, I found out, did some research. These guys are a pedophile. Uh, I've seen buttons. I can build one. So, you know, I'm almost there. Uh, Jared, I loved your message so much, man. Started off so funny. Then you shared some tragedy. Then you showed so much inspiring strength. Like, good on you. I'm, I don't, I know I don't know you, but I'm so fucking proud of you. I'm so fucking happy with how much ass you're kicking. I will always have a special place in my heart for contractors, by the way, too, just construction contractors.

It's what my dad has mostly done, what most of his brothers have mostly done, both of my grandparents, mostly did for work. I spent so much time in construction sites growing up. I have so many good memories of snapping chalk lines, walking around with a framing square and a framing hammer hanging next to my nail bags. Hard work, right? And you deal with a lot of homeowners being wildly irrational and emotional about what they thought they had paid for compared to what they actually paid for, you know, what they thought

they were going to get compared to what they are getting. And to do all that to succeed so well after what happened to you, man, fuck pedophiles. The way so much this country has become so apathetic towards them is just so shocking to me and it makes me fucking sick. I don't give a fuck if a politician was blue or red, left or right. If they are a pedo, I want them dead. I would love to volunteer to personally kill them all myself. Not because I'm actually bloodthirsty. I actually think I'm a big sensitive baby to tell you the truth. And I think that's where that desire comes from. Because it breaks my heart to hear about the pain you went through as a kid, right? How it followed you into adulthood. You had to do a bunch of

personal hard work on yourself because somebody else never did. If you get that death button figured out, please let me know. I want to be in your team. I don't fucking care if I'm on the bottom rung. I'll be the fucking lowly button assistant. Also again, Hail Nimrod to you. You're a fucking badass. Truly wish you nothing but the very best. And last one now, from an awesome Aussie Sack Trent Dole, who sent in a message with the subject line of Ned Kelly, hero, or villain. Hi, Dan. After listening to your episode on Ned Kelly, I've been reflecting on the complicated legacy of Ned Kelly, and I find myself sitting with some genuinely conflicting feelings. As a serving Victorian police officer, I wear the uniform with pride. I believe deeply in the rule of law in protecting the community and in honoring the officers who came before us, including those. who lost their lives in the line of duty.

From that perspective, Kelly was responsible for violence against police, and that part of the story cannot be ignored or romanticized. But my connection to the story is also personal. I grew up in the very region where his adventures unfolded. As kids, we ran around paddocks and bush tracks, pretending to be bush rangers, reenacting the legends we had heard about. Back then, it was about imagination, rebellion,

and the folklore that seems woven into the landscape itself. The Kelly's story was a part of the cultural air, we breathed. As I've grown older, and especially since becoming a police officer, that childhood lens has shifted. When you look at the broader historical context, the hardship faced by Irish immigrant families, the poverty, the tensions with authorities, the way the Kelly family felt targeted, it's hard not to feel some level of empathy for the environment that shaped him. At the same time, I now see more clearly the reality faced by the police of that era and the consequences of the choices that Kelly made. I don't see these perspectives, as

mutually exclusive. It is possible to stand firmly for law and order, while also acknowledging that history is rarely black and white. Understanding the social pressures and systemic issues at the time does not excuse criminal behavior, but it does help explain how figures like Kelly emerged and why his story still resonates with so many Australians. For me, it is a reminder that policing has always existed within a broader social context. Our role is not just law enforcement. It is also fairness, integrity, learning from the past to build trust in the present. History can be uncomfortable, but I think it's healthy to engage with it honestly, especially when it forms part of both our professional duty and our personal story. As always, another great job by you and your

team. Kind regards Trent. Man, Trent, you are the exact kind of dude the world of law enforcement needs. And I know you're not alone. I have always hated the narrative that all cops are bad. That's fucking ignorant. That's just the stupid generalization. They're not. There have always been bad cops like there's always been bad people in every field like rock spiders who have woven into teaching or become religious leaders. But there have also always been good, empathetic, compassionate, yet fair, yet tough cops out there risking their lives for very noble reasons.

And I applaud your worldview. History, yes, is nuanced, just like the present, just like criminality and society's response to it. Thank you so much. taking the time to write in and sharing your very honest thoughts. Hail Nimrod to you as well. Sorry if I fucked up the pronunciation of any of Melbourne's 10 million suburbs today. I'm guessing you might work in one of them. And that's all for today.

I'm suckers. I needed that. We all did. Well, thank you for listening to another bad magic productions podcast. Please rate and review time suck. If you haven't already, please do not abduct and assault kids this week. Odds are you won't get away with it. And why the fuck would you want to do that?

right you fucking creepy rock spider just keep on sucking all right let's end on some great news I just heard that Lavelle has come up with a new new Thrive Dermafusion Technology Pito Be Gone Patch You simply place a large 12 inch by 12 inch patch over the mouth and nose of your local rock spider tie their hands behind their back

and then hog tie their hands to their feet leave them on the ground until they stop breathing, suffocate and die Pito be gone or you can just use use a roll of regular old duct tape if you want to save some money. Maybe not thriving, you're dying! And sometimes if you're thriving, you're dying!