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As Casefile continues into its 10th year, we're currently taking a very short [music] break from new episodes.
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Brand new cases will be returning on May 23rd for premium subscribers >> [music]
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>> and May 30th for the regular feed. But, in the meantime, we're continuing our special bonus series Casefile
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Archives, a collection of releases revisiting the earliest years of the show, along with previously unreleased
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premium episodes. Over the next 3 weeks, we'll be releasing two fully re-recorded episodes
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from our first year of production, along with one episode that was previously only available to Patreon and premium
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[music] subscribers. Rest assured that these are additional bonus releases and will not replace our
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standard schedule. We will still be delivering the same number of new episodes this year as we did last year.
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Casefile Archives is simply a way to mark the 10th year, revisit some older episodes, and share stories that newer
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listeners may not have heard before. For the re-release episodes, we fully edited, polished, re-recorded, and
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freshly produced them from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete
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rewrites. Our aim isn't to reshape the cases or alter the original storytelling, but to
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preserve them as they were first told while bringing them up to the level of production the show has today. [music]
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Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure remains faithful to the originals. Because of
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this, these episodes may sound a little different to our recent work. Today's re-release is the Frankston
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serial killer, originally released as case 23 in June 2016. [music] The case was first presented as a
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two-part series, with part one released on June 19th, followed by part two the following week.
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Thank you to everyone who has listened and supported us over the years. >> [music]
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>> Now, here is the next episode from Case File Archives, the Frankston Serial Killer.
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Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need
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support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers for
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confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this
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episode on your app or on our website. Frankston City is a local government area in Victoria, located 40 km
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southeast of Melbourne. At the time [music] of this episode's initial release, it had a population of
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about 135,000 people. Frankston City incorporates many different suburbs, including Frankston,
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Langwarrin, Frankston North, Seaford, and others. All of the places you will hear about in
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this episode are part of the Frankston City [music] area. Our story begins in February 1993 on
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Claude Street in Seaford, [music] where a local resident by the name of Donna Vines was growing nervous.
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She lived in [music] a unit there with her boyfriend Les and her young infant, but lately Donna's home life [music] had
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been disrupted by a series of prank phone calls. Les worked as a pizza delivery driver,
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meaning he was typically out at night, leaving Donna home alone with the baby. Feeling uncomfortable due to the calls
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she had been receiving, [music] Donna decided to spend one particular February evening driving around with Les
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while he worked rather than stay home alone. As it happened, [music] Les only had a short shift that night,
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so they were back home within about an hour. The first [music] thing they saw when
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they walked inside was Donna's cat on the laundry room floor, dead. A picture of a naked woman [music] had
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been placed on top of the cat. And written on a wall in the cat's blood were the words
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"Donna, you're dead." >> [music] [music] >> There were further horrific discoveries
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elsewhere in the unit. The entire place had been ransacked. Drawers were pulled out, [music]
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cupboards had been opened, and Donna's belongings were strewn everywhere. A knife had been used [music] to slash
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and stab the walls and cabinets. The intruder had even done this in the nursery, slashing some of the baby's
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clothes. In the crib [music] was another picture of a naked woman stabbed through with a knife so
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viciously that cut through to the crib below. In the bathroom, Donna's [music] two
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kittens lay dead, both violently killed. Shaving cream had been used to write the
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names [music] of Donna and Robin on the bathroom mirror. This message baffled Donna, as she
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didn't know anybody named Robin. Nor could she think of anybody who would so violently damage her home or harm her
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pets. Les wasn't her child's father, but the breakup [music] with her ex-partner
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hadn't been that bad. He'd never been violent towards her during the relationship, and she
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couldn't believe he would start now. [music] Police later questioned her ex and learned he had a solid alibi.
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>> [music] >> Terrified, Donna left her unit immediately and moved in with her sister, Trisha Vains.
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Trisha's neighbor, [music] Julia, comforted Donna. She could empathize because she had just
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experienced a similar [music] thing. When Julia was recently away for a holiday, somebody had broken into her
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unit and slashed every photo that featured her across her throat. The dress she'd worn to her engagement
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party was cut up as well. Just like Donna, [music] Julia had no enemies and couldn't imagine who would
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be capable of such a thing. A young man who lived next door to Trisha reassured the two women that
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whoever was responsible was just [music] a sicko, and he would look out for them.
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It wouldn't have seemed like it at the time, but in the coming months, Donna and her Julia would learn how incredibly
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lucky they'd been. Tasmanian local Elizabeth Stevens had been living in foster care since she was
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14. After she turned 18, she decided to relocate to Victoria to move in with her
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auntie Rita and uncle Paul, arriving in January 1993. They lived together in Patterson Avenue
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in the suburb of Lang Warren. Although Elizabeth was quiet and shy, she was also extremely friendly to
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anyone she met. She was studying at TAFE in Frankston. For For not familiar with TAFE, it is
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similar to community or technical college in other parts of the world. As Elizabeth had grown up in Tasmania,
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she didn't have many friends in the Frankston area and no boyfriends. When she wasn't studying, she liked to
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spend her time reading and mainly hung out at home. On Friday, June 11, 1993, 4 months after
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Donahue's violent break-in, Paul and Rita arrived home from work to find a note from Elizabeth on the kitchen
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bench. The note explained that she had gone to the TAFE library to study and would be
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back about 8:00 p.m. Elizabeth always made sure to let Paul and Rita know where she was. So, when it
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ticked over to 10:00 p.m. and Elizabeth still wasn't home, Paul and Rita panicked.
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Paul got in his car and started driving around the streets looking for his niece.
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Elizabeth didn't drive, so she caught the bus to and from TAFE. Paul drove to Frankston TAFE, then back
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to Cranbourne Road, Lang Warren, where Elizabeth's bus stop was located. It was only a short walk from the bus
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stop to Paul and Rita's house. Paul took the same route as the bus before expanding his search into
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surrounding streets. He couldn't find any trace of Elizabeth. The weather didn't help. Heavy rain and
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the gusts of wind [music] significantly reduced Paul's visibility. The couple called the police, who
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arrived at [music] just after 1:00 a.m. The officer who attended, Sergeant Webster,
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>> [music] >> immediately had a feeling something wasn't right. There were the missing person reports
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where a young person had a lot of friends, like to go out partying, took off with boyfriend or girlfriend, or had
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trouble at home. Then, there were the missing person reports that were completely out of
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character. Elizabeth was reliable, well-behaved, and left a note letting her auntie and
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uncle know exactly where she was and when she'd be home. She didn't have a boyfriend or many
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friends at all, and she wasn't the partying type. The police conducted their own search,
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though there wasn't much they could do at that time of morning. The Tafe and library were shut, and the
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company had finished up for the night. There was nobody to go and question. After they looked for Elizabeth without
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success, they made a report and left instructions for their day-shift colleagues to follow up.
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The next day, a local man named Rod was down at Lloyd Park on Cranbourne-Frankston Road in Lang
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Warren. >> [music] >> Lloyd Park is a large area surrounded by scrub and trees with playgrounds,
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[music] barbecue facilities, a couple of sporting fields, and vast grassy areas.
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At night, it is a very quiet and isolated spot. Rod's wife had sent him to Lloyd Park to
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find a small pine tree they could decorate for their mid-year Christmas party. Rod walked along one of the tracks that
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weaved through the trees and scrub searching for a suitable tree. Instead, he discovered the body of
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Elizabeth Stevens. >> [music] >> Police were called and set up a crime scene. Elizabeth had been the victim of a
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frenzied knife attack. Multiple stab wounds in a crisscross pattern had been carved into her
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stomach. [music] The killer had also stomped on her face, breaking her nose. >> [music]
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>> A post-mortem would reveal that Elizabeth was choked unconscious prior to being stabbed.
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Although her top had been removed, the bottom half of her clothing was intact. There was no evidence of sexual assault.
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Lloyd Park was only a short walk from Elizabeth's [music] bus stop. Police believed Elizabeth had caught the
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bus from Frankston TAFE, then disembarked at her usual stop, >> [music] >> where she was attacked.
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The area was quiet and isolated at the best of times, but the previous night's howling wind and heavy rain would have
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prevented neighbors from hearing any screams. Paul and Rita's house actually backed
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onto Lloyd Park. When they spotted the flashing lights and numerous police cars over their back
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fence, they knew before the police even knocked on their door that Elizabeth had
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been found. A forensic examination turned up almost nothing. It had rained all night and was still
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raining that day, removing any possible evidence. A search of the area did reveal one
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thing, >> [music] >> a piece of the knife blade. The force of the attack had been so
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extreme that the killer's [music] knife broke. But no prints or other evidence were
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found on the blade. Elizabeth's [music] bag and the top half of her clothing were found nearby.
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Both were soaking wet with all possible evidence washed away. As well as there being zero forensic
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evidence, nothing useful came from the police's extensive witness interviews. No disgruntled ex-boyfriends, no
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troubles at home, no issues at TAFE. One theory was that maybe Elizabeth had accepted a ride from somebody to escape
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the bad weather. Every student who attended Elizabeth's TAFE was checked out. Some names that popped up raised a few
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eyebrows based on prior criminal history, but they were eventually eliminated from the investigation.
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Police set up a roadblock near Elizabeth's bus [music] stop and displayed a mannequin dressed like her,
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but this didn't help jog anyone's memory. The bus driver couldn't remember Elizabeth, and nor could the librarians.
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Appeals for other passengers on the bus to come forward didn't produce any other
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witnesses. Police also issued public appeals on newspaper front pages and nightly news
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bulletins. [music] They received more than 1,000 tip-offs, though unfortunately none amounted to
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anything. Nothing came out of an extensive doorknock of every house in the area,
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either. No forensic evidence, no witnesses, >> [music] >> no suspects, no leads at all.
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Four weeks later, [music] on Thursday, July 8, 1993, 41-year-old Rosa Toth got off a train at Seaford
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station. It was 5:50 p.m. A short distance from the station was Seaford North Reserve, similar to nearby
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Lloyd Park, though not nearly as big. It had a grass reserve with children's playgrounds, barbecue areas, and
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sporting fields, surrounded by scrub and trees. Rosa walked along Railway Parade, which
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took her past Seaford North Reserve. She noticed a man standing next to the park's toilet block, but didn't think
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much of it. Although it was dark, there were other people in the area. Passengers who had disembarked the same
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train as Rosa were still back in the car park, and there was the odd car driving
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past. As Rosa passed the man, he quickly ran up behind her, covered [music] her mouth, and forced her to the ground.
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He dragged her from the footpath, down past the toilet block, [music] then into the grass to reserve area.
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The attack was quick. It was dark. [music] Nobody saw a thing. Rosa kicked and struggled, trying to
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break free from her attacker, >> [music] >> but she couldn't. Pressing something up against her head,
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he told her he would blow her head off if she didn't stop fighting. But Rosa could tell he wasn't holding a
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gun. The object felt wooden. Rosa stopped struggling, and her attacker relaxed, thinking the threat of
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the gun had worked. Rosa seized her opportunity and ran. She ran straight out onto the road,
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screaming as loudly as she could. >> [music] >> Her attacker didn't follow. He fled in the opposite direction,
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through the reserve and sporting fields. A driver stopped and gave Rosa a lift home. Then Rosa reported the attempted
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abduction to the police. Her right leg was badly grazed, her clothing had been ripped, and some of
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her hair had been pulled out. She described her attacker as male, [music] 18 to 20 years old, wearing a
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black jacket and a beanie. He was approximately [music] 180 cm tall, or just under 6 ft,
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>> [music] >> with a round face and blue eyes. Police took her statement, filled out a
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report, >> [music] >> and sent it to detectives to have a look at. Elsewhere that same night, just a short
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distance away in Seaford's Cannanook Avenue, a woman named Debbie Fream was at home.
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Debbie was 22 years old and had just given birth to a son, who was only 12 days old.
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Her boyfriend was at work and Debbie was cooking dinner for a long-term mutual friend of theirs named Russell.
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Russell hadn't seen Debbie since her child's birth and both were looking forward to the catch-up.
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Debbie was making an omelet when she realized that there was no milk. She told Russell she had to duck out to
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the shops, but it would only take 2 minutes, if that. Her son was asleep, so Debbie would
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leave him at home. It was 7:00 p.m. when Debbie left the house. Russell occupied himself by watching TV.
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As 2 minutes turned to 10 and 10 turned to 20, he grew concerned. Where was Debbie? She said she'd only be
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2 minutes. Russell didn't live in the area, so he wasn't sure which shop Debbie had gone
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to. Besides, he couldn't go out to look for her, as that would mean leaving her baby
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home alone. After an hour had gone by, he called the police and the local hospital to see if
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there'd been any accidents in the area. There hadn't been. He then called Debbie's boyfriend, Gary
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Blair, who arranged to leave work early. He also called one of Debbie's friends,
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who would come over to watch the baby. Gary and Russell then went out looking for Debbie.
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Gary directed Russell to the local shop where Debbie would have gone, and they drove around the surrounding streets.
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There was no trace of her or her car, which was a gray Nissan Pulsar. The two men decided to drive to
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Frankston police station to report Debbie missing. They sat anxiously throughout the night,
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waiting to hear from Debbie or from the police with some information. But they didn't hear anything.
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It was as if Debbie had vanished. Police visited all of the local shops, but nobody could remember serving
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Debbie. It didn't take detectives long to link Debbie's disappearance to the attack on
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Rosa Toth, which had happened in the same area just 1 hour earlier. Debbie lived right near Cannons Creek
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train station, the next stop after Seaford station, where Rosa was attacked. The two locations were just 2 km apart.
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Moreover, [music] they weren't far from Lloyd Park in the nearby suburb of Lang Warren, where Elizabeth Stevens was
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found. >> [music] >> Even without the link to those other two attacks, Debbie Frame's disappearance
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was treated as sinister from the start. She'd had dinner cooking and a guest waiting, and she left her 12-day old son
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at home. A search of nearby Cannons Creek was organized. >> [music] >> Divers were called in to scour the
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water, while the surrounding thick bush and scrub were also searched. Nothing was found.
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This time, [music] an appeal to the public did reveal some interesting information.
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Several people came forward to report they'd seen a gray Pulsar, the same car as Debbie's, driving erratically.
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It was swerving and flashing [music] its high beams at passing cars. Had Debbie been trying to signal for
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help? The next day, Friday, a detective who was out dealing with an unrelated case
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happened to drive past a gray Pulsar parked outside a Christian center on Madden Street in Seaford, [music] just 2
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km from where Debbie had gone missing the night before. Aware of Debbie's case and the car she'd
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been driving, the detective turned around to check out the Pulsar. It was Debbie's.
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The front passenger side door was unlocked, and there was a dent in the center of the bonnet.
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The damage looked recent. Debbie's boyfriend, Gary, confirmed the car hadn't been damaged [music]
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prior to Debbie's disappearance. A forensic examination was quickly arranged, and traces of Debbie's blood
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were found. [music] Something else that stood out was the driver's seat. It was pushed right back.
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Debbie was short, so there was no way she would have had the seat back that far.
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It certainly looked like foul play, but police had to keep an open mind. >> [music]
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>> Four days later, on Monday, July 12, a farmer named Fred was out working on his
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farm on Taylor's Road in Cranbourne Downs. Cranbourne Downs lies east of Seaford,
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and about a 15-minute drive from where Debbie had gone missing. Taylor's Road itself was quiet and
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isolated, surrounded by farmland. Although it was part of the Frankston area, it seemed like it was in the
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middle of nowhere. That afternoon, Fred was driving around checking his fence line to make sure
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there were no holes or other damage that livestock could escape [music] through.
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Underneath a couple of large fern leaves by his fence line along Taylor's Road, Fred saw what he thought was a pile of
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dumped rubbish. As he drew closer, he started smirking. It was a mannequin. One of his neighbors was playing a trick
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on him. Good one, he thought. As he got closer still, he froze. Just that morning, Fred had read a
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newspaper article about the disappearance of Debbie Fream. In that moment, Fred knew that he'd
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found her. Police arrived and set up a crime scene. The case was very similar to that of
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Elizabeth [music] Stevens. Debbie had been the victim of a frenzied knife attack.
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There were no signs of sexual assault, and a postmortem would reveal she had been strangled as well.
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Debbie had numerous defensive wounds on her arms and hands. And just as with the Elizabeth Stevens
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scene, not a shred of forensic evidence was found. The media ran wild with the story, and
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the Frankston [music] area was gripped by fear. The recent attacks were linked to the
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unsolved murders of two other women that had previously occurred in the area. The first was Sarah MacDiarmid, who went
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missing from Kananook train station 3 years earlier in 1990. Blood stains were found next to her
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vehicle, as well as drag marks. To this day, Sarah's body has never been found. However, a coroner ruled she met
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with foul play. A $1 million reward has been offered for information that helps solve her case.
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You can listen to our Casefile presents series about Sarah's case, titled Searching for Sarah MacDiarmid. [music]
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The other victim was Michelle Brown, who was found murdered in Frankston in 1992.
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There's also a $1 million reward on offer for her case, which is now believed to have no connection to the
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Frankston serial killer. To avoid confusion, I won't mention these two cases again. Their inclusion
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here is to give an idea of what was happening at the time and what the media was reporting.
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Despite the uncertainty as to whether Sarah and Michelle's cases were linked to the 1993 attacks, whispers about a
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murderer in Frankston were no longer whispers. There was a serial killer on the loose
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who had killed at least two women and tried to kill a third. Newspapers ran panicked headlines.
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Police warned women to avoid traveling solo or going to their vehicles alone, especially at night and in [music] quiet
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spots. Detectives conducted a search for anyone in the Frankston area with a history of
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violent attacks against women. 500 names were spat out of the computer. That list was eventually narrowed down
00:25:47
to 30 who were checked out more thoroughly. All were eventually cleared. Detectives also sought the help of a
00:25:56
fellow officer who had spent 14 months training in criminal profiling at the FBI Academy in Quantico.
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He put together a profile which suggested that the killer was a male who had acted out on a strong fantasy that
00:26:10
had been building up inside him for years. He was likely unemployed, but if he was
00:26:16
employed, he would hold a menial job. The killer lived in and was very familiar with the Frankston [music]
00:26:23
area. He would be aged between 18 and 24, was average looking, and would live alone.
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Based on the location of the attacks and the spot where Debbie's car was found, the profiler marked out an area on the
00:26:39
map that he believed the killer lived in. As the killer had obviously driven Debbie's car from the crime scene at
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Taylor's Road, then dumped it on Madden Street in Seaford, it was thought that he lived somewhere in that area.
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>> [music] >> Not too close, but not too far either. As was the case with any profile, it was
00:27:01
only a guide and could apply to many people. Detectives were encouraged not [music]
00:27:07
to discount anyone just because they didn't fit the profile. The constant news cycle about a serial
00:27:15
killer on the loose meant that local residents were living in fear. The Frankston area had been a quiet,
00:27:22
friendly place. Now people cast suspicious eyes everywhere they went, wondering is that [music] person the killer?
00:27:31
Some started changing their habits, while others put their houses on the market so they could move away entirely.
00:27:38
But there was a problem trying to sell houses. Nobody wanted to move into the Frankston
00:27:44
area. Property sales dried up and rental homes remained vacant. People started arming themselves with
00:27:52
hockey sticks and cricket bats. Women carried oven cleaner in their handbags to spray in the eyes of any
00:27:59
attacker. Enrollments in self-defense classes skyrocketed. In response [music] to the public's
00:28:06
panic, police commenced Operation Reassurance. The Frankston area was flooded with
00:28:12
extra police. It was a high-visibility operation designed to make the public feel safe,
00:28:18
but also [music] to deter further attacks. On Friday, July 30, just 3 weeks after
00:28:28
the murder of Debbie Fream, a postal worker was delivering mail on her motorbike along Skye Road in Frankston.
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Skye Road is only a short distance from the other crime scenes, all of which were within an 8-km radius.
00:28:44
At about 2:30 p.m., the postal worker noticed a rusty yellow Toyota Corona without number plates parked near the
00:28:51
entrance of a bike track that ran past the nearby golf course. The track was used as a shortcut to get
00:28:58
from Skye Road to Frankston North. A high-wire fence bordered either side with overgrown trees, thick scrub,
00:29:06
[music] and grass pushed up against it. The bike track was quiet and isolated and wasn't visible from the road.
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You couldn't see it from the golf course, either, due to the trees and heavy scrub between them.
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As the postal worker observed the old Toyota parked by the track's entrance, she noticed a man with a chubby face
00:29:27
sitting in the driver's seat. He wore a dark-colored cap and was gazing down Skye Road.
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As she rode past, the man slouched down in his seat as if he didn't want to be seen.
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There was something off about the man. Given the news about a violent serial killer stalking the streets of
00:29:49
Frankston, the postal worker decided to report him to the police. She pulled into the driveway of a nearby
00:29:56
home and knocked on the front door, asking to use their phone. As she did so, she noticed the
00:30:03
schoolgirl walking along Skye Road towards the bike track. The girl was 17-year-old Natalie
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Russell, a year 12 student at John Paul College, a Catholic high school located just off Skye Road.
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Natalie had finished [music] the day with a free period, so she'd left early to go home and study for upcoming exams.
00:30:24
[music] Two days earlier, the principal of John Paul College warned students at a school
00:30:30
assembly to avoid shortcuts home, [music] including the nearby bike track. But plenty of kids had ignored the
00:30:37
caution, and the track remained in [music] use. At this time, however, Natalie was the
00:30:44
only student headed there due to her early finish. It was a much quicker way for her to
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walk home to Frankston [music] North. As Natalie walked up Skye Road, she was being watched through a pair of
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binoculars. Realizing where she was headed, the man [music] stopped watching her. He got out
00:31:04
of the car, ran up the bike track, and waited. A short time later, Natalie walked past
00:31:12
the now empty yellow Toyota and made her way onto the track. [music] Police responded to the postal worker's
00:31:21
call about a suspicious male in the Toyota, but when they arrived, there was nobody
00:31:27
in the car. They doorknocked some nearby houses, though didn't learn anything useful.
00:31:34
When a call for an armed robbery came over the radio, the officers had to leave and respond to that.
00:31:42
By this [music] time, school had finished for the day and students were now starting to flood the streets
00:31:48
heading off in various directions. A few other kids ventured onto the bike track.
00:31:54
One noticed a shoe lying in the middle of the track right next to a hole in the fence that led into the trees and scrub.
00:32:02
Another noticed a man walking hurriedly towards him. Fear gripped the child then quickly
00:32:09
passed when the man kept walking without saying anything, keeping his head down and his hands shoved in his pockets.
00:32:18
At 8:00 p.m. that night, Natalie Russell's family called Frankston Police Station to report her missing.
00:32:25
Natalie was always home before dark and she made sure to call her parents to let
00:32:30
them know where she was. She was a good kid, quiet and well-behaved with a close circle of
00:32:36
friends. She had never run off before. Needless to say, the report was treated with great urgency.
00:32:46
Police questioned Natalie's parents and learned about the bike track that she used to walk home.
00:32:52
A search of the track was quickly arranged. Several holes had been cut along the
00:32:58
wire fence that flanked the track. It was through the third hole, deep into the scrub and trees, that they found
00:33:06
Natalie's body. She had been the victim of a frenzied knife attack and sustained numerous
00:33:12
defensive injuries. There was no sign of sexual assault. There was no question her murder was
00:33:20
related to those of Elizabeth Stevens and Debbie Frame. A search of the crime scene and a
00:33:26
forensic examination was postponed until the next day. Police didn't want to risk losing any
00:33:33
evidence in the poor light. Organizing floodlighting in the area would only increase the amount of foot
00:33:39
traffic, in turn, increasing the chances of a contaminated crime scene. Their decision proved to be a wise one.
00:33:49
Unlike the two previous cases, the site of Natalie Russell's murder provided a lot of forensic evidence.
00:33:57
There was blood around the wire fence where the hole had been cut. The cut in the fence could be matched to
00:34:03
a tool owned by the suspect if one was ever identified. A small piece of skin was located in one
00:34:11
of Natalie's wounds, which seemed foreign. The pathologist believed the killer may
00:34:17
have cut himself in the attack. About 10 small dark hairs that did not belong to Natalie were found in her
00:34:24
hand. She had ripped some of the killer's hair out. Two leather straps with blood on them
00:34:32
were also found at the scene. While police were waiting for test results to come back, they linked the
00:34:39
postal worker's report about the suspicious mail to the attack on Natalie Russell.
00:34:45
So, who was the man in the Toyota Corona? When police had responded to the postal
00:34:52
worker's call, there was nobody in the car and the car had no number plates. However, there was a registration
00:35:00
sticker affixed to the windscreen and the police who attended had recorded those registration details.
00:35:08
Detectives ran a check and found the vehicle belonged to a man who they'd run into before.
00:35:15
He'd recently been spotted sitting in his car alone at night in a nearby car park, prompting police to approach and
00:35:22
[music] speak to him. His name was Paul Charles Denyer. Paul Denyer was born on April 14, 1972,
00:35:36
making him 21 years old. He was a middle child with four brothers and one sister.
00:35:43
Paul was average looking and overweight with a baby face, clean-cut, and quietly
00:35:49
spoken. His parents were Anthony and Maureen Denyer, who moved to Australia from the
00:35:55
United Kingdom in 1965. They lived in Sydney and Adelaide before settling in Melbourne.
00:36:03
Paul didn't mix well with the other kids at school. He struggled academically, had low self-esteem, and other students
00:36:10
tended to stay away from him, leaving him isolated. From a young age, he showed a complete
00:36:17
lack of emotion about pretty much everything. At the age of 11, Paul cut the throat of
00:36:24
his sister's teddy bear. When confronted about it, he just smirked. Around the same time, his family's pet
00:36:32
cat was found hanging in a tree with its throat slashed. Paul blamed the neighbors, but his older
00:36:40
brother noticed the blood on Paul's pocket knife. At 13, he was arrested for stealing a
00:36:47
car. He ended up [music] getting a caution for that because he was a juvenile. At 15, he was charged with assault on a
00:36:56
fellow student. Paul was also caught staring through the window at one of his brother's
00:37:02
girlfriends while she was undressing. He had an interest in knives and he liked going on long walks by himself in
00:37:10
the middle of the night. Paul worked a number of menial jobs, but was fired from all of them either for
00:37:17
dishonesty or for being lazy. He met his girlfriend Sharon while working at a grocery store, one of seven
00:37:24
jobs he was sacked from. Sharon was described by some as being somewhat controlling, demanding to know
00:37:32
where Paul was at all times. She was often opinionated and could at times be rude and outspoken, whereas
00:37:40
Paul was generally more reserved and softly spoken. He had very few friends, mainly
00:37:47
associating with just his family and Sharon. Earlier in 1993, before fear had gripped
00:37:55
Frankston, Paul applied to join the police force, but failed the physical due to being overweight.
00:38:02
He knew the Frankston area well, having lived there most of his life. He'd spent much of his teenage years
00:38:09
smoking cannabis with his brothers at Lloyd Park where Elizabeth Stevens was found and along Taylors Road where
00:38:17
Debbie Fream was found. Detectives paid a visit to Paul's Frankston North unit on the afternoon of
00:38:26
Saturday, July 31, the day after Natalie Russell was killed. They found Daniel at home with his
00:38:33
girlfriend, Sharon. The couple invited the detectives into their small, messy, and barely furnished
00:38:40
home. The detectives asked Daniel all of the usual background questions. Then they got down to business, asking
00:38:49
him where he had been and what he had done the day before. Daniel explained that he'd woken up at
00:38:56
about 7:30 a.m. He drove Sharon to work, then went to an ATM in Seaford to withdraw $40.
00:39:04
Next, he drove around to visit a few car wreckers in search of a spare wheel for
00:39:09
his old Toyota Corona. After finding one, Daniel returned home, worked on his car for a bit, then went
00:39:17
to a different car wrecker to look for a new speedo cable. While he was out, he visited his mother,
00:39:23
but she wasn't home, so he had a coffee with her boyfriend instead. During the journey home, Daniel's car
00:39:31
overheated, and he had to pull over. He topped the vehicle's water up, then went for a quick walk while waiting for
00:39:38
the radiator to cool down. Returning to the car, he successfully started it up, only for it to overheat
00:39:45
again a short distance later. [music] Daniel pulled over on Skye Road, checked under the bonnet, and to notice a hose
00:39:54
had come loose. He needed a screwdriver, so he closed the bonnet and walked home to get one,
00:40:00
also filling his water bottles up so he could top up the radiator again. That was his explanation for being on
00:40:08
Skye Road. Detectives asked why he didn't go to a nearby house to ask for water and a
00:40:15
screwdriver. Denyer replied, "I don't like going into other people's houses." When queried why he didn't go to the
00:40:25
nearby golf course instead, Denyer replied, "I didn't think of that." Denyer had a number of scratches on his
00:40:34
fingers, including some deeper cuts [music] on his middle finger and thumb. He explained these away as being caused
00:40:42
by the work he'd been doing on his car. When detectives asked what he'd been doing 3 weeks earlier on the night
00:40:49
Debbie Fream went missing, Denyer surprised them by specifically recalling that it was a [music] Thursday
00:40:55
night. They were even more surprised when he said he'd been at Cannons Creek [music]
00:41:00
railway station, just around the corner from where Debbie had gone missing. Denyer had just placed himself at the
00:41:09
scene of two murders. Instead of wondering why they were asking him all these questions, Denyer
00:41:21
sat back casually and answered everything, almost as if he was enjoying the experience.
00:41:28
He was calm and relaxed, barely batting an eyelid. He agreed to participate in a more
00:41:34
formal interview. Denyer was taken to Frankston police station, where he was interviewed by
00:41:40
Sergeant Rod Wilson and Senior Constable Mark Wolf from the Homicide Squad. The interview commenced at 9:20 p.m. on
00:41:49
Saturday, July 31. It was recorded on video. The detectives advised Denyer that he
00:41:57
didn't have to say anything, and that he also had the right to speak to a lawyer.
00:42:02
Denyer said he didn't want to exercise either right, and he was happy to talk. They went back [music] over the story he
00:42:10
told at his unit in painstaking detail. There were contradictions and times weren't matching up.
00:42:17
>> [music] >> The explanation he gave for his injuries didn't make much sense either.
00:42:23
Before continuing, I must inform you that you are not obliged to say or do anything, but anything you say or do may
00:42:28
be given in evidence. Do you understand that? Yeah. What is your age and date of birth?
00:42:34
21 years old. I was born on the 14th of April, 1972. Okay. Are you an Australian
00:42:40
citizen? >> Yeah. Are you currently employed? No, I'm unemployed at the present time. What
00:42:45
we'd like to do, Paul, is if you could just run through, um, starting with yesterday
00:42:51
morning. I got up in the morning about 20 to 8:00. 7:30, 20 to 8:00. Right. As I was coming
00:43:00
down, say past Corio Road, I noticed Mhm. the temperature gauge started go right
00:43:06
up to high. So, I just pulled over and in Skye Drive All right, yeah. And what I crossed over
00:43:11
is, you know, a golf course and that. Yeah. And everything. So, I pulled up there and I checked
00:43:16
under the car and under the bonnet, found out the hose had come loose. When we saw you down at your flat this
00:43:22
afternoon, >> Mhm. I noticed a number of cuts on your fingers. >> Yeah. Can you just, um, put your hands
00:43:29
flat on the desk here so that, um, just right up here. >> [snorts] >> This injury here is a long, a sort of a
00:43:35
cut. Just explain how you got that injury and when you got that injury. I got it yesterday when I was working on
00:43:42
the car. What How are you saying it occurred? Well, the fan spins this way. So, if I'm
00:43:48
standing at the front of the car, Yeah. like, yeah, the fan spins that way, the alternator sits there. Yeah.
00:43:55
And there's some wires running down underneath bottom of the radiator. There's a wire at the top, which was for
00:44:02
a wire that I just recently put on. And it must have been when I was putting my hand down there, I caught the fan.
00:44:07
Why did you have it [clears throat] running uh, at that stage What when you were checking the radiator?
00:44:12
I'm a worker. I'm fast. Denyer's story wasn't holding up under scrutiny. Detectives asked him more questions
00:44:23
about Debbie Fream. Denyer stuck with his story, placing [music] himself at Cannonal train
00:44:28
station at roughly the same time and just around the corner from where Debbie went missing.
00:44:36
Not only that, it had been the one night Paul [music] didn't pick up his girlfriend Sharon from work, something
00:44:42
he usually did without fail. Amazingly, Denyer told detectives that he was out walking in the heavy rain on
00:44:51
the night Elizabeth Stevens was [music] murdered. He walked from his place to his mom's
00:44:57
place, then to Sharon's mom's place, supposedly looking for a spare car battery.
00:45:03
The area he said he was walking, Lang Warren, right near Lloyd Park. Instead of giving himself an alibi,
00:45:13
Denyer was repeatedly placing himself at the scene of each murder. Yesterday, your car was parked opposite
00:45:22
the location where the body of Natalie Russell was found. Mhm. On the night that Debbie Fream
00:45:28
disappeared, you walked over to Cannonal railway station, missed the train and walked back.
00:45:34
And on the night Elizabeth Stevens disappeared, you walked in a very close proximity to Lloyd Park
00:45:44
on your way to pick up this battery. Do you think that's fairly coincidental in all the all the circumstances?
00:45:51
>> Are you responsible for the deaths of any of these women? No. When detectives asked specifically about
00:45:58
Natalie Russell's murder, Denyer denied any involvement, but he said he was aware of what happened because he'd
00:46:04
driven past the scene. Are you aware that girl was found murdered in Frankston? >> Yeah.
00:46:11
Today being Saturday. Yeah. When did you first become aware of that? Well, I saw
00:46:15
some police cars and everything when I was driving up Sky Road this morning. And SES workers. So, you saw SES workers
00:46:23
and all that? Yeah. In Sky Road? >> Yeah. And I had some white tape across the walkway.
00:46:29
>> I saw you. You saw You saw me? >> Yeah, I saw you. And I saw uh the other guy. And that was What were
00:46:36
you doing when you saw that? What were you going or what were you doing? Uh we were going to the wrecker's.
00:46:42
He was then asked if he knew anything about the victims or how they died. Danya replied,
00:46:50
"Elizabeth Stevens had her throat cut and the other girl, Debbie Fream, had multiple stab wounds or something to her
00:46:56
body and upper body. Up here." Danya pointed to the exact [music] spot where Debbie's wounds were.
00:47:06
Detective Wilson pounced. "Why did you indicate the exact area?" Danya, "I was just pointing. That's all."
00:47:17
"But why did you point there?" "It was just a lucky guess." When detectives asked if he would
00:47:25
provide his fingerprints and samples of his blood and hair, Danya agreed. >> [music]
00:47:30
>> But he started to look very uncomfortable. The detectives paused the interview for
00:47:36
a coffee break and to wait for an officer to come and collect the samples. Well, I just want to suspend the
00:47:42
interview for a short time. Is there anything else you want, like a cup of coffee or glass of
00:47:46
>> Yeah, I'd like another cup of coffee. Danya, have your coffee. Uh I'd like one or two. All right, you
00:47:50
get a couple of coffees just for a short break. During the break, Danya went to the
00:47:57
toilet. The officer who escorted him there was Detective Darren O'Loughlin, who hadn't
00:48:02
participated in the interrogation. Denyer noticed [music] that the detective was wearing a cross
00:48:09
and began asking him about religion. The conversation then moved to DNA. Denyer wanted to know why they wanted
00:48:19
his blood and hair, wondering if they'd found something at the scene, and if so,
00:48:25
how long would it take to match? Detective O'Loughlin said that he couldn't [music] answer those questions.
00:48:31
He would have to ask Detective Wilson. Denyer was [music] silent for a short period of time before looking at
00:48:39
O'Loughlin and saying, "Okay, I killed all three of them." O'Loughlin immediately alerted Detective
00:48:50
Wilson, and the interview recommenced. This time, O'Loughlin joined in, as Paul [music] seemed to have taken a liking to
00:48:58
him. Some of the audio you're about to hear has been taken from the interview, and
00:49:04
some of [music] it was taken from a walk-through of the crime scenes completed after the interview.
00:49:10
First, they talked about the murder of Elizabeth Stevens. Can you tell me why you attacked her on that night?
00:49:22
Just Just had Just had the feeling that's all. What what sort of feeling can you
00:49:33
possibly describe it? Where where you had this feeling? Just wanted Just wanted to kill.
00:49:45
Denyer also admitted to the attack on Rosa Toth. The The asked him, "What did you plan to do with Rosa?"
00:49:55
Danyal replied, "I was just going to drag her in the park and kill her. That's all."
00:50:02
He went on to say that after Rosa ran away, he caught the train one stop from Seaford to Cannons Creek.
00:50:10
Not long after getting off the train, he saw Debbie Fream exiting her car at the
00:50:15
shop. What caused you to select her as a at that time? Just that gut feeling. Danyal then described killing Debbie
00:50:27
before detailing what happened after. I um dragged her about a meter into the trees and
00:50:34
bushes lying against the fence. Yeah. And I broke off two branches off the nearest tree to put them on her body.
00:50:42
And I hopped back in the car again and I adjusted the seat to match my height cuz
00:50:46
she was a lot smaller than me. And I headed back to Madden Street. Where was Madden Street? Wasn't too
00:50:52
close. Wasn't too far from home. He buried [music] Debbie Fream's purse along the bike track where he later
00:50:59
attacked Natalie Russell. Danyal later dug up the purse for police when they did a walk-through of the
00:51:06
crime scenes. When asked why [music] he killed Debbie Fream, his reply was, "I just wanted to."
00:51:16
Danyal then detailed the murder of Natalie Russell. What did you want to kill her for?
00:51:27
Same reason as before. No, always wanted to kill. Since when? Since I was about 14.
00:51:36
I've been stalking women for a few years. Right. In Frankston. Just waiting for that opportunity.
00:51:46
Right. Waiting for the sign. Right. After the murder, Daniel walked back down the track towards his car and saw
00:51:55
the police there checking it out. He casually continued out of the track and headed down Sky Road away from the
00:52:03
police. As you can hear from the interviews, Daniel displayed zero emotion and zero
00:52:10
remorse. That never changed and he never said [music] he was sorry. Daniel just repeated that he had always
00:52:19
wanted to kill and was waiting for the right opportunity. While the interview was taking place,
00:52:29
other police officers were searching Daniel's unit. They found a hat with blood [music] on
00:52:34
it, a large homemade knife, and a long cord with two knots tied at each end. >> [music]
00:52:41
>> The cord looked as though it had hair on it. In his car, they found the fake gun he
00:52:47
had made as well as another large knife and a pair of pliers. They were later able to confirm that the
00:52:54
pliers had been used [music] to cut the holes in the bike track fence. Each pair of pliers leaves a distinctive
00:53:01
mark much [music] like a fingerprint. Remember back at the start of this episode, a woman named Donna Vains had
00:53:10
her home vandalized and her cats killed. >> [music] >> A death threat was also written in blood
00:53:16
across her wall. Donna then learned that her sister Trisha's neighbor had experienced a
00:53:22
similarly terrifying break-in. Every photo in her house that featured her had been slashed across the throat.
00:53:31
The two women were comforted by a male neighbor of Trisha's who called the person responsible a sicko and promised
00:53:38
to look out [music] for them. Well, that neighbor was Paul Denyer. He lived next door to Trisha Fiennes and
00:53:47
admitted to both [music] of the break-ins. Denyer had met Donna through Trisha and
00:53:52
found out that she was home alone most nights. Denyer openly confessed that he had gone
00:53:59
to Donna's flat with the intention of murdering her. But when she wasn't there, he killed her
00:54:05
cats instead. He said he had done so because he hated [music] Donna and Trisha. Denyer never explained why he hated
00:54:15
them. >> [music] >> They weren't the only women Denyer hated. When one of the detectives asked Denyer
00:54:23
why all of his victims were female, Denyer replied, "I just hate them." "Is that particular girls [music]
00:54:32
or is that women in general?" the detective asked. "General." said [music] Denyer.
00:54:40
Donna had been left so terrified by her break-in that she moved out of her unit and in with her sister Trisha, not
00:54:48
realizing she had moved next door to the person responsible. When Denyer was arrested, Trisha told
00:54:55
reporters, "He was the nicest and most considerate person I ever met. I could not believe
00:55:02
it when I heard the news. I still find it difficult to accept. He was cool, calm, and collected.
00:55:10
He seemed quiet and subdued and often kept to himself." Another of Paul's neighbors agreed.
00:55:20
"I just can't believe that the charges have been laid against him. He seemed the nicest of people."
00:55:30
Paul Denyer was charged with the murders of Elizabeth Stevens, Debbie Fream, and
00:55:35
Natalie Russell, as well as the abduction of Rosa Toth. He pleaded guilty [music]
00:55:41
and never attempted to fight the charges. While awaiting sentencing, he was visited by many doctors and
00:55:48
psychologists [music] who were looking for answers. What they found was that Paul Denyer was
00:55:54
a rare breed of serial killer who murdered his victims at random without motive, simply because he had always
00:56:01
wanted to. He had always wanted to kill and claimed he could no longer suppress the urge.
00:56:09
Denyer was able to describe his crimes without a flicker of emotion. Experts found him to be extremely
00:56:16
emotionally disturbed, but not legally insane. He was diagnosed as having a sadistic
00:56:23
personality disorder demonstrated by a steady pattern of cruel, demeaning, and aggressive behavior since early
00:56:30
adulthood. He appeared amused by the psychological and physical suffering he inflicted on
00:56:37
his victims. Denyer mentioned that his favorite movie was a 1987 horror film called The
00:56:45
Stepfather, which had given him the idea to slash his victims' throats. He thought it seemed effective.
00:56:54
Denyer claimed that one of his brothers had sexually abused him when he was younger, but this was strongly denied by
00:57:01
his family. Paul Denyer was sentenced in Melbourne's Supreme Court on Monday, December 20,
00:57:08
1993. He was given three life sentences with no parole period. The judge described Denyer as a danger
00:57:18
to society for which nothing could be done. Denyer showed no remorse, and his only
00:57:25
regret appeared to be the fact he was arrested. 11 days later, Paul Denyer lodged an
00:57:33
appeal against his sentence on the grounds that it was excessive. He argued that the sentencing judge
00:57:39
should have given him a minimum term of imprisonment. The appeal was heard in the Supreme
00:57:45
Court in July 1994. Three judges came to a majority verdict of two to one, overruling the trial
00:57:54
judge's decision not to issue a minimum term. They granted Paul Denyer a non-parole of
00:58:01
30 years, meaning he could have been released in 2023, when he was 51 years old.
00:58:10
When given this minimum term, Denyer said, "I will become a better person and I will not re-offend. That's my promise to
00:58:20
God as well as to the people [music] of Melbourne." While in prison, Denyer began saying
00:58:30
that he now identified as a woman and began going by the name Paula instead of Paul.
00:58:36
He claimed that his gender dysphoria had led him to hate women and ultimately resulted in him committing crimes
00:58:42
against them. He applied to have access to makeup and other beauty products as well as hormone
00:58:49
therapy and to gender reassignment surgery. All of those requests were denied. Prison authorities, victims' families,
00:58:59
and the transgender advocates have all expressed their doubts about the sincerity of Denyer's claims.
00:59:06
One prison officer said Denyer's supposed transition was sudden and merely a ruse to gain access [music] to
00:59:13
certain benefits. By 2022, Denyer had reverted back to using the name Paul and identifying as male.
00:59:24
In 2023, seven years after this episode was originally released, crime author Vicky Bettridge released an 11-part
00:59:32
podcast series titled The Frankston Murders with Casefile Presents. The series uncovered new material about
00:59:40
the infamous case and featured interviews with other women who were stalked by Paul Denyer, as well as the
00:59:46
victims' family members, prison guards, and detectives who worked on the case. That same year, Paul Denyer became
00:59:55
eligible for parole. He submitted an application to the Adult Parole Board of Victoria, which was
01:00:01
rejected. When Natalie Russell's father, Brian, received the news, he felt a sense of
01:00:08
relief, telling the ABC, "It [music] was a terrific outcome as far as I'm concerned."
01:00:14
Debbie Fream's son, Jake, who was just 12 days old when his mother was murdered, told The Age newspaper that
01:00:22
Denyer was not someone who should ever be released. Quote, "He has done nothing to deserve it. He
01:00:29
will never change, >> [music] >> and they must keep him inside." Despite his initial parole application
01:00:37
being rejected, Denyer remained eligible to apply again and again. [music] Each time, the victims' families would
01:00:45
be forced to prepare submissions, relive the trauma, and face the possibility that he could one day be released.
01:00:53
In direct response, the Victorian government passed new laws in late 2023, allowing the parole board to impose a
01:01:01
no-return date for certain life-sentence prisoners, >> [music] >> including Denyer.
01:01:07
The laws were developed in consultation with the family of Natalie Russell, Denyer's final victim, and were dubbed
01:01:14
[music] Nat's Law. "It's like having a tremendous weight lifted off us," Brian Russell told the
01:01:22
ABC. We're tickled [music] pink knowing that Denyer will never be allowed to apply
01:01:28
for parole again, and there's no hope of him ever getting out of jail. It's something we've been working
01:01:34
towards for the last 30 years. When this started, Denyer was [music] knocked back on parole, but 6 months
01:01:43
down the track, he could have applied again, and [music] we'd have to go through it all once more.
01:01:49
Now, that will never happen, and it won't happen in other cases, either. The loss of Natalie is something we live
01:01:58
with every day. We don't need the added pressure of knowing her murderer could be free
01:02:03
[music] at any time.