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[Music] just a quick note before we start this episode involves crimes against children
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it won't be for everyone please keep that in mind before listening a mummy cries for her little girl who never came
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back home now a family live in a shattered world straining the family home aah her cries have helped ringing
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in your ears arise pleading for release do you feel her mounting fears because only you can give relief
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please mr. cruel let her go safely without harm please mr. cruel sent her back into her family's arms
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please mr. cruel when you reach deep down inside you and find some good within your soul let her go back to
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society release her from your hold please mr. cruel please mr. cruel please mr. crew
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[Music] Tuesday the 27th of December 1988 John Willis was inside his house on Hillcrest Avenue Ringwood a
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working-class suburb of Melbourne Australia located 23 kilometers or 14 miles east of the central business
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district John's wife Julie was in bed asleep as were his four young daughters John was having trouble sleeping himself
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so instead of tossing and turning in bed he decided to stay up and complete a jigsaw puzzle to try and relax at 5:00
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a.m. John had had enough of the jigsaw puzzle and went to bed curling up next to his wife the Wills family weren't
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alone that night there was somebody outside watching and waiting about 5:30 a.m. 30 minutes after John had gone to
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bed a man wearing a ski mask and blue overalls broke in through the back door of the whoops house he walked straight
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to John and Julie's bedroom Julie woke up and saw the mean standing over her pointing a gun
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Julie started screaming and cried out to her daughter's - running out of the house the man told Julie to shut up and
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stop screaming he then pointed the gun at John's temple and said are you going to be a hero John shook his head no the
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intruder made John and Julie lie face down on their bed and then tied them up with copper wire he told John that he
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wanted all of the money in the house John nodded to the bedside table and the intruder took $35 of cash that was
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located there he then walked out of the bedroom and headed towards the kids room
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Sharon whilst was 10 years old she had woken up to her mother screams and saw the intruder walk into her room
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Sharon was described by neighbors as a quiet well-behaved girl who played several musical instruments she was a
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choir girl with the Victorian children's choir and had appeared on a television show with them only weeks earlier the
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intruder called Sharon by name he covered her mouth with masking tape blindfolded her then picked her up and
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carried her out into the night about 15 minutes later John and Julie managed to cut the copper wire that had been used
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to tie them up John ran to his kids bedroom to find that Sharon was missing the intruder had cut their phone line so
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John ran to his neighbor's house and yelled at them to call the police before frantically searching neighboring yards
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and streets hoping that Sharon had managed to run away from the intruder but his search was in vain
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police were called and cordoned off the wilts house the Major Crime Squad was instantly alerted and arrived on scene
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to take charge a search was conducted of Ringwood in the surrounding suburbs but
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there was no trace of Sharon and no witnesses were found initially the thought was that Sharon may have been
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taken for ransom given the intruder had demanded money in stolen what cash there
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was but no ransom demand had been made one neighbor told the aged newspaper why look for money here it's not like it's
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Templestowe naming a more affluent suburb of Melbourne than ringwood police agreed they didn't believe Sharon had
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been abducted for ransom the belief was the intruder was trying to throw them off by stealing the cash another
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neighbour commented I never thought anything like this could happen here it's such a quiet place the early
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description of the intruder that was circulated was male around 20 years old wearing blue
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overalls and a black ski mask as that morning turned into night police told John and Julie they had to expect the
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worst the officer in charge of the case Detective Chief Inspector Dez Johnson said publicly we're still as much in the
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dark as we were this morning the fears are growing all the time at 11:15 p.m. that night a white
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Commodore vacationer sedan was seen acting suspiciously in Bayswater about eight kilometers or five miles southeast
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of Sharon's house in Ringwood the Commodore had three blue stripes running down the side as the Commodore was
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turning from Jersey Road Bayswater into Mountain Road it nearly collided with another vehicle the Commodore had its
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headlights off and the driver of the other vehicle had the break and swerved to avoid a collision
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the other driver followed the Commodore and pulled up next to it when they stopped at a nearby red light the other
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driver was irate and yelling at the male driver of the Commodore who is the only
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person visible inside the car the driver of the Commodore didn't want anything to
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do with the other driver he turned his head and injured forward looking anxious to not be seen when the lights turned
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green the Commodore continued for a short distance before turning right into Church Street headed towards the
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Bayswater high school the other driver didn't get their registration play less than 45 minutes later Charon was found
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wandering along Orchard Road outside Bayswater high school a passing motorist saw her and stopped to check if she was
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okay the alarm was raised Charon was taken to hospital and the police were notified shown had been held captive for
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18 hours she detailed the extraordinary lengths her captor went to in order to avoid detection he thoroughly cleaned
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both Charon and himself right down to the scraping of their fingernails in the cleaning and flossing of their teeth to
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get rid of any potential DNA evidence he then take the garbage bag up to Sharon's
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neck put a man's shirt over the garbage bag then put another garbage bag over her head he drove her to Orchard Road
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and let her out of his vehicle near Bayswater high school John wills fronted a press conference
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where he said he was grateful for the return of Charon but he would never be able to forgive the man responsible
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he had increased the security of his home and he his wife and four daughters had spent their night
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since Sharon's returned huddled together in the laundry too scared to sleep alone
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fearing the intruder would return police performed regular surveillance and patrols of their house to ensure this
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didn't happen John Willis then said quote the whole experience of somebody bursting into your home and tying you up
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is terrifying to have your daughter taken and not know where she is is indescribable
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I honestly believe this man has done this before he came well-prepared and covered his tracks
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I've run his voice over and over in my mind to try to remember whether I might know him but I don't police checked
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reports of similar offenses to see if they could make any connections to prior cases within days they revealed it was
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possible Sharon's attack could be linked to as many as eight to previous unsolved
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attacks across Melbourne in the last 10 years two teams of detectives were put on the case Detective Chief Inspector
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Dez Johnson told the media that crimes of this nature are often harder to solve than armed robberies or murders as the
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offender is often a loner maintaining the impression of normality in his everyday life and he's somebody who
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wouldn't boast about the crime to family or friends he revealed that Sharon was kept blindfolded for the entire 18 hours
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she was held captive he then said quote we can only dread what the man would have done if the girl had pulled off the
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blindfold and seen his face it is that close to being a homicide it is only an extra step on Monday the
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2nd of January 1989 six days after the attack the Victorian state government announced a $100,000 reward for
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information on Sharon's abduction it's believed this was the first ever reward offered in an abduction case in
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the state's history Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Holliday said quote nobody can
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misunderstand the monstrous nature of this offense or the danger to the community if the offender remains at
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large there is a real possibility that there will be a repetition of it on the 5th of January police did a large
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pamphlet drop at houses near Sharon's home and around the area she was found police also publicly displayed a car
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similar to the white Commodore seen acting suspiciously in Bayswater just prior to when Sharon was found police
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said they had considered Sharon's description and version of events before releasing information about that
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Commodore in doing the public displays many calls were received from the public and many leads were chased in police
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even had a few potential suspects in mind but nothing concrete no arrests were made 18 months later Tuesday the
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3rd of July 1990 13 year-old Nicola Linus was at home with her 15 year old sister Fiona they lived on monomyth
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Avenue Canterbury 17 kilometres or just over 10 miles west of Sharon's house in ring we
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Canterbury is an affluent suburb home to several high-ranking former politicians
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many of the properties in the suburb were worth over a million dollars at the time Nicola was described where her
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principal as a hard-working very balanced and stable girl one of the school's best students the Linus family
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were quiet and mostly kept to themselves they had moved to Australia from England
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two four years earlier niccola's father Brian Linus was a partner in the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers
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office in Melbourne but it was only days before their stay in Australia was over
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Brian's work had been completed and the family's bags were packed ready for the move back to England Nicola and Fiona
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were in bed asleep their parents Brian and rosemary were out for dinner with friends at 11:40 p.m. and Menon
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described as being dressed in dark clothes and wearing a black ski mask forced open a rear window of the house
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he crept inside armed with a knife and a handgun the intruder made his way to the
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girls bedroom and woke them up threatening to harm them if they didn't cooperate he tied up Fiona then said to
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her tell your father I want $25,000 he directed Nicola into another room and told her to get her school uniform
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Nicola was a student at Presbyterian ladies college in Melbourne being true to put Nicholas school uniform and some
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underwear into a bag before taking the carcase to a rented car that was parked in the driveway a navy-blue ballina
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sedan the intruder forced Nicola into the car then drove off 40 minutes later Brian and Rosemarie arrived home to find
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Fiona tied up and Nicola missing they immediately called the police two police officers kept guard at the house and
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monitored all incoming telephone calls waiting for any further contact from the kidnapper on how the ransom is to be
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paid police initially considered the abduction might be fake as it was well known that Nikola wasn't all that keen
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to leave Australia and move back to England however it didn't take long to rule that possibility out the abduction
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was very real the kidnapper had not said how the ransom should be paid or when he
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would make contact again he simply said I want $25,000 Brian and rosemary made it known to police that they were
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prepared to pay the ransom but they needed to know how to do it Brian Linus said we would very much like
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to have Nicky back with us whatever can be done to get her back we would like to
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be done anyone in this room who has children might well understand the stress when you see one of your own
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family taken away like that we have to sit and be patient and hold our nerve there is nothing else he can do the
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family feels now laying it towards the men just a feeling of confusion really as to why someone would do that to such
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an unprotected happy young child she's a normal thirteen-year-old she's not a worldly sort of kid she's not streetwise
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but resourceful in a situation like this who knows one of the things we have loved about Australia is the safety of
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the children on the streets on trends on public transport it was fantastic it gave the children of freedom which
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certainly had their age and as girls we would never have let them have in London
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head of the Major Crime Squad Detective Inspector Ron black Shaw pleaded with the kidnapper to make contact with
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either the police or Nicholas family quote we're prepared to discuss anytime anywhere anything he wants to talk about
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you can draw your own conclusions with a no a 13 year old girl in the hands of a
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kidnapper the mind boggles with what could happen we are very concerned Ron Blackshaw went on to say that the
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kidnapping had been carefully planned and police believed the man responsible observed the house for some time before
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the attack possibly several weeks working out the patterns of the lioness family
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all residents in the street were questioned but nobody heard or saw anything suspicious all they could offer
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was similar to what the neighbors of Sharon wills had said we never thought this sort of thing would happen here
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police visited Presbyterian ladies college and interviewed Nikolas classmates they also investigated the
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possibility that niccola's abduction was linked to the abduction of Sharon Wilson
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the car the kidnapper stole from the Linus house was found dumped at 3 p.m. the next day Wednesday the fourth of
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July in Chaucer Street canterbury only a few streets away from the Lynas home forensic police were immediately called
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and dusted the vehicle for prints the early description of the kidnapper was a softly spoken male possibly in his 30s
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wearing a black balaclava dark colored jeans and a dark sky v the Victorian state government announced a $100,000
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reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of Nicholas abductor forensic psychologist Tim
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Watson Monroe said he was puzzled by the abduction the sum of $25,000 seemed too
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small for a plan to kidnap it didn't look like money was the issue so the motive was unclear he told the aged
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newspaper quote whether it was impulsive or planned the person is a disturbed individual it is someone who can't
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empathize with the family or the victim and is very directed to his own demands but he seems to be in touch with the
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reality there is no indication he is suffering from a psychotic influence that's probably a good thing if he's in
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touch with reality he will probably calm down and release the child the important thing is for him
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to make contact so some dialog can start happening to establish some rapport and take the edge
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out of this situation at 2:00 a.m. on Friday the 6th of July Nicola was driven around in a vehicle by her kidnapper
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he stopped the car in queue and told Nicoletta Gettier queue is a suburb about six kilometers or three point
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seven miles west of Nicholas house in Canterbury she was blindfolded and wrapped in a
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light brown blanket the kidnapper made Nicholas sit down and put her head between her legs
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he then left after a while Nicola made her way to a nearby house and asked to use the phone she called her father
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Brian police were notified and Nicola was taken to hospital it was Nicolas Baudin birthday that
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Friday and she had been held captive for 50 hours she'd been kept at bound and blindfolded during her captivity she had
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no idea who kidnapped her or where she was taken to Nicola reported that the kidnapper was meticulous when it came to
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cleaning and destroying any potential forensic evidence despite this the police announced they had several pieces
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of forensic evidence they believed could provide a breakthrough the evidence was
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found in the Linus house and in the rented car the kidnappers thought although they didn't specify what
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exactly the forensic evidence was forensic psychologist Tim Watson Munroe was interviewed again by the aged
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newspaper he said quote he had thought out the modus operandi quite well the parents were out he may have been
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watching the house or that could have been a coincidence he took the parents car and then used
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his own car there has obviously been quite a deal of cleaning he went on to say that it is possible the same man had
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been responsible for abducting Sharron will say teen months earlier quote if that is true and I suspect it is it
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suggests he is able to sit on his urges fairly well and maybe now is a good time
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for him to seek some help before he starts acting out again he also said that if the offender did
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strike again the time before his next offense would likely be shorter police learned from
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Nicola that the kidnapper was aged between 20 and 40 and wore a dark green here knitted balaclava with cream
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stitching around the eyes and mouth he had a serrated kitchen knife with a 25 centimeter black plastic handle
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Nicola said she was driven around for about 10 minutes in her parents rented car before they stopped in Chaucer
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Street only a few streets away from her house she was then put into another vehicle a blanket was placed over her
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and she was kept underneath the dashboard she was driven around for about another 45 minutes before she was
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taken into a house in a suburban area there was no one else in the house so she heard during her captivity the
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kidnapper watched the press conference given by Nicholas father and commented to Nicola about it police set up an
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information caravan in Chaucer Street in the hope somebody may have seen something they also set up a caravan at
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the location where Nicola was found in relation to these displays Detective Inspector Maloney said we are not
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following any specific leads but some investigations look promising police then set up a roadblock in
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Canterbury every car was pulled over and people were questioned if they were in the area that night Nicola was abducted
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if they were they were asked if they saw anything suspicious traffic was backed up for 500 meters at times some accused
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the police of resorting to this tactic because they were getting desperate Detective Inspector Moloney denied this
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saying he was confident the case would be solved it wouldn't be solved in five minutes
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but it was a solvable case given that the attacker had told Nicola to grab a school uniform police believed he may
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have been keeping watch on her school Presbyterian ladies college there had been recent reports of several different
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suspicious men loitering around the school grounds reports then surfaced that another attack had been linked to
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the abductions of Sharon Wilson Nicola Linus this attack occurred in August 1987
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in the suburb of lava plenty 16 kilometers northeast of Melbourne central business district at 4:00 a.m.
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the attacker removed the windowpane in the lounge room and entered the house he was wearing a mask and carried a small
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handgun and large hunting knife he made his way to the parents bedroom forced them onto their stomachs at gunpoint and
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then expertly tied their hands and feet with knots commonly used by sailors or by those securing large loads the
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offender then made his way to the kids bedroom he gagged a six-year-old boy and tied him to his bed then attacked an
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11-year old girl he didn't abduct the girl but he was in no hurry gave her he remained inside the house for two hours
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even took the time to stop his attack go to the kitchen and to make himself a meal afterwards he searched the house
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and stole a box of classical records and a dark blue coat with a fake fur collar
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before leaving the house the attacker made a phone call he referred to the person on the other end this bozo
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and warned him to move his children or they would be in danger police were called and during that investigation
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they found that no call was made from the phone at all he was pretending a red herring to confuse the police just like
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stealing the records and coat demanding money in stealing the $35 from the Wills
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house and making a ransom demand at the Linus house he was just trying to conceal his true motive those three
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attacks had now been all linked to the same offender and the media came up with a name team mr. cruel the concerning
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thing for police was the torn pattern between each attack was decreasing and the time in which he hold his victims
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was increasing the Sun newspaper ran an article suggesting mr. cruel may be a former
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police officer unnamed detectives were quoted as apparently supporting this theory
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juda mr. crawls obsession with cleaning and destroying clues and his apparent knowledge of forensic science one
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unnamed detective in the article said it could be an axe copper it could be a doctor it could be a lab technician but
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whoever it is he's bloody cunning in response to this detective Maloney said detectives are looking at all possible
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scenarios and two people from a variety of backgrounds it could be anybody other
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senior police dismissed the claim is the crew was a former or current police officer saying he could be anyone even
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someone who has just read a lot of detective books and knew something about procedures and forensic evidence
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whoever mr. cruel was police were no closer to solving the case and in September 1990 they sought the help of
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the FBI to compile a profile they were able to come up with an extensive profile of mr. cruel however the details
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weren't immediately released to the public the police then announced that they believed Panisse Turk rule was
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responsible for at least six attacks in total since 1984 although they didn't release any details about the other
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attacks they did say not all the victims were children at least one was described
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as being mature in age nine months later Saturday the 13th of April 1991 13 year-old Carmen Chen was at home
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watching television with her two younger sisters Carly aged 9 and Karen age 7 they were at their home in circles Road
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Templestowe an affluent Melbourne suburb within close proximity to the other mr.
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cruel attacks Carmen was a student at Presbyterian ladies college the same school Nicola Linus went to Carmen's
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principal described her as charming polite enthusiastic and lively with a good group of friends
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she was known as an extremely hard-working student who hoped to be a barrister one day carmen and her sisters
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were home alone as their parents John and Phyllis Chen were working at one of their Chinese restaurants they owned two
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in total their parents worked extremely long the hours at the restaurants sometimes 15 to 18 hours per day so it
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wasn't unusual for the girls to be home alone about 9:00 p.m. mr. cruel tampered with an elaborate
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security gate and was able to gain entry to the property that was surrounded by a
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high brick fence he made his way through over chairs vehicles that was parked in
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the driveway in white spray paint mr. cruel wrote pay back more to come and Asian drug deal another red herring
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to try and confuse the police it's believed he got inside through an unlocked door or window
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Carmen Carly and Karen were in a bedroom watching a TV special on Marilyn Monroe
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Carmen and Carly heard a noise and walk down the hallway to investigate there they were confronted by mr. cruel he
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forced the girls back into the bedroom where he found a Karen called up hiding behind the bedroom door mr. cruel
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threatened the girls with a knife and made sure they knew he was in charge he put Carly and Karen in a wardrobe and
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pushed the bed up against it to trap them inside mr. cruel then grabbed Carmen and left
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the house it was now about 9:30 p.m. 15 minutes later Carly and Karen managed to free
00:27:01
themselves from the Wardrobe Carly rang John at the restaurant and told him a man with a knife had taken common Jon
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rushed home he frantically searched for Carmen but couldn't find her he called police and a message was broadcast over
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the police radio for a car to attend when the radio dispatcher said a 13 year old girl had been abducted by masked men
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armed with a knife police immediately realized the possible connection between the previous attacks
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all available units were called to attend including a police helicopter and sniffer dogs surrounding streets were
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sealed off as the massive search got underway a police dog did pick up a scent which had followed north to nearby
00:27:44
Church Road however the scent suddenly ended it's believed this is where mr. cruel had his
00:27:50
car waiting nearby residents were canvassed and nobody had seen or heard anything it was a suburban residential
00:27:59
area and police couldn't believe mr. cruel was able to carry a presumably struggling goal that far without being
00:28:06
seen the latest description of mr. cruel was male about 25 to 35 years old slim to medium build 170 to 180
00:28:18
centimeters tall wearing gray sneakers a greyish greenish tracksuit and a balaclava based on the way the words
00:28:25
were spray-painted on the Chan's car they believed he was a right-handed the officer in charge of Carmen's case was
00:28:34
Detective Inspector David Sprague he immediately appealed to the public for help he said police wanted to hear from
00:28:41
anyone knowing of a workmate friend or relative who one accountably disappeared at the time of Carmen's abduction
00:28:48
another thing that stood out it was currently the school holiday period the previous mr. cruel attacks had occurred
00:28:55
either during or right around school holiday time the police had no doubt mr. cruel had been watching the Chan's home
00:29:03
and he knew the three girls were alone whilst the exact details weren't released police said mr. cruel had
00:29:10
become more vicious towards his victims with each attack criminologist dr. Paul Wilson told The Sydney Morning Herald
00:29:17
quote I think that if he is caught a lot of people will be shocked they will have
00:29:24
known him as an intelligent quiet maybe even introverted men he then said mr. crawls personality could be similar to
00:29:32
Peter Sutcliffe the Yorkshire Ripper it's believed to mr. cruel closely followed his own publicity he liked
00:29:40
reading about himself in the paper and watching news reports on television inspector Sprague appealed to him to
00:29:47
release Carmen as she suffered from asthma and did not have a spray with her so she had the potential to suffer a
00:29:53
severe attack under stress John and Phyllis Chen gave an emotional press conference on Tuesday some of the police
00:30:50
working the case had worked for as long as 36 hours straight on Friday the 19th of April common sister's wrote letters
00:30:58
to their sister into mr. cruel there was near six days since Carmen's abduction by far the longest amount of time mr.
00:31:06
cruel had held on to a victim the police released the letters hoping mr. cruel would see them and release Carmen
00:31:14
seven-year-old Karen wrote dear Carmen I'll miss you a lot of time I'm very scared in the dark and mum and dad miss
00:31:23
you very much Mimi is sick because she misses you too love from Karen Minnie was the family
00:31:31
dog nine-year-old collie wrote whoever has my sister I would like her back because
00:31:39
then she can help me with my homework and also take good care of my little sister in me common I'll wake up all the
00:31:46
time I need you Carmen please bring calm and back Carmen mum dad Karen and I are
00:31:55
waiting for you we all miss you very much with our hearts love Carly Chief Superintendent Kevin holiday said the
00:32:05
concern of the investigators was growing the longer command remained missing quote quite obviously the longer the
00:32:11
time the greater our concerns we are now approaching a week we have grave concerns we are affected
00:32:19
it's the tragedies in life that we see all the time I think this one in particular has
00:32:25
probably affected far more people than we realize and that would include many of the media I think inspector Sprague
00:32:33
again had to address questions and rumors about the occupation of mr. cruel he said quote it could just as well be a
00:32:41
policeman who is working now it could be a former policeman it could also be a solicitor or a barrister or it could
00:32:48
just be somebody who is well-read in forensic medicine it could also be a criminal who has come unstuck before
00:32:54
through forensic evidence any suggestion of occupation or background is pure speculation with no basis in fact he
00:33:04
also said that in the 25 years he has been a police officer he had never tried the tracker cooler more calculating
00:33:10
criminal with such an extensive knowledge of forensic science given how mr. cruel had previously tried
00:33:17
to throw police off with red herrings the fact that both Carmen and Nicola were students at Presbyterian ladies
00:33:23
college could have been a deliberate tactic by mr. cruel another decoy to focus police attention on staff at the
00:33:29
school it also could have been the spot that mr. cruelty and his victims or it just could have been a coincidence
00:33:36
police weren't sure which it was and had to consider all possibilities mr. cruel had also tried to make one of
00:33:44
his previous victims believe he wasn't alone he would yell out ask questions and make demands as if he was talking to
00:33:51
somebody else in the house but mr. crews victim never heard anyone answer never heard anyone else speak and got the
00:33:59
sense that mr. cruel was just pretending there was somebody else present yet another red herring despite the fact
00:34:08
that had been awake since Carmen's abduction and concerns were growing inspector Sprague remained hopeful
00:34:13
Carmen would be returned quote we are ever optimistic we know that he displays sympathy to his victims we also know he
00:34:22
is very clever we think that he knows it's in everyone's best interests to release Carmen on Tuesday the 23rd of
00:34:30
April the Victorian state government issued a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of
00:34:36
Carmen Chan's kidnapper the $100,000 Awards still stood for Nicola in Sharon's cases as well making the total
00:34:45
$300,000 on top of the reward police commenced an extensive door knock around the area where Carmen was abducted more
00:34:53
than 200 police knocked on over 3000 doors one of the most widespread police door knocks ever conducted in Victoria
00:35:00
as well as speaking to the residents police also delivered leaflets with information and set up an information
00:35:07
Caravan in temples though widespread public appeals for information had resulted in over 3,000 phone calls made
00:35:14
to the police hotline detectives had hoped that mr. cruel would release comment before the end of the school
00:35:21
holidays when Monday the 29th of April arrived the first day back at school the hopes of finding
00:35:28
Eliab had severely faded police hold grave fears for her safety the students of Presbyterian ladies college began the
00:35:37
new school term with a special assembly praying for the safe return of Carmen police also requested the students fill
00:35:44
out a questionnaire which asked about any suspicious activity they may have seen around the school or around their
00:35:49
homes police had compiled a list of over 130 people they believed could be capable of kidnapping children some
00:35:58
names were provided by members of the public other names were identified by going through police records the
00:36:05
background of all of these suspects was thoroughly investigated establishing their marital status identifying what
00:36:11
car they drove their occupation and ascertaining if their partners went away during the school holiday period on
00:36:18
Wednesday the first of May it was announced that a special task force had been established to investigate the mr.
00:36:24
cruel case the task force was called Operation spectrum and the officer in charge was Detective Inspector David
00:36:31
Sprague who led the investigation into Carmen's abduction they released the color poster with photographs of Carmen
00:36:40
Nicola and Sharon it was titled child abductions and it was displayed in every police station in Victoria and printed
00:36:47
in all major newspapers they'll displayed at railway stations and on Crime Stoppers notice boards in shopping
00:36:52
centres you'll find a link to view the post there in the show notes the poster asks three questions do you believe you
00:37:01
know the identity of this man have you informed police of your suspicions where was the man during the above date on
00:37:09
Thursday the second of May Phyllis Chen wrote an open letter to mr. cruel pleading with him to let come and
00:37:16
go at read to the man who took a common Chan deem is the kind not mr. cruel we miss Carmen very very much please let
00:37:29
come and go we know you are a kind and caring person we hope Carmen is safe with you school has resumed and it would
00:37:38
be nice if Carmen can return to school thank you for letting her free and we can rebuild our lives
00:37:44
please hear our plea love from the chain family father mother and the sisters of
00:37:50
common a family friend of the chain family Jennifer Walsh also wrote a song the lyrics are what you heard at the
00:37:59
start of the show on Sunday the 5th of May it was first reported that police now believed command had been murdered
00:38:07
operation spectrum had started as a murder investigation an unnamed police source told the agent newspaper quote
00:38:14
we've got no doubt the same person is involved and after three weeks you've got to say it's not looking good in the
00:38:21
past tears let them go but this one has gone on too long it has been three weeks
00:38:26
and there hasn't been any contact I would say this bloke not only has a good knowledge of forensic science but also
00:38:33
of autopsy which means we'll probably never find her Crimestoppers calls were starting to
00:38:40
taper off however detectives still remained hopeful of a breakthrough on Tuesday the 14th of May they set up a
00:38:47
roadblock near a bus stop in Main Street Elfen this bus stop is one that Carmen got off after school as it is close by
00:38:54
to her parents Chinese restaurant detectives were working with a theory that mr. cross thought to come and after
00:39:00
he saw her getting off the bus they questioned hundreds of motorists and handed out leaflets containing
00:39:06
information about Carmen's abduction and in what was a first in the history of Australian policing leaflet sized the
00:39:13
copies of the poster that had been released appealing for information we're delivered to every home in Victoria in
00:39:19
to some homes in New South Wales in South Australia about 1.4 million homes in total inspector David Sprague said
00:39:28
quote this is unique in Australian policing nothing on this scale has ever been attempted before it just shows the
00:39:36
feeling out there in the community someone knows who this person is and that's who we are trying to get to I
00:39:42
hope it will trigger the person to give us that phone call we are looking for as well as the leaflets close to 100
00:39:50
billboards around Melbourne displayed the poster Phyllis chain pendant other-- oppan letter to mr. cruel at red to the
00:39:59
man who is with Carmen chair now I beg you to release my daughter Carmen immediately I am longing for her safe
00:40:07
return every minute of the day I love her very very much I am willing to offer my life in exchange for Carmen's release
00:40:15
Carmen sisters Karen and Karly miss her very very much they had trusted you on the night of 13
00:40:21
April they had cooperated with you because you were calm and you looked client you had promised them that after
00:40:29
you had gone their sister would open the door for them you have broken your promise they were very upset they blame
00:40:36
themselves for trusting you and did not help Carmen they feel very very guilty Neel Karen's birthday is at the end of
00:40:45
May and Carly's birthday is in June both girls say they want nothing but coming for their birthday present please send
00:40:52
Carmen back home immediately god bless you thank you very much love from Phyllis Carli had started sleepwalking
00:41:03
she would walk into the living room at the Chanti house sane Carmen where are you have you come home yet
00:41:09
inspector Sprague witness Carly doing this on one occasion and said I've watched her and she's definitely asleep
00:41:16
it's a bit scary the Chen family decided to try something different and bypassed
00:41:22
the police they wrote another open letter to mr. cruel telling him he could contact them by writing to a private
00:41:29
postal address in order to get the address mr. cruel would have to decipher a code
00:41:33
in the letter by asking Carmen the name of family friends in Hong Kong Phyllis Chan said if we do it through
00:41:42
the police he won't get in touch maybe he's at the stage to release her but he's just too scared but he could feel a
00:41:49
little bit easier if he believes us Detective Inspector Sprague said he was surprised by the chain families attempt
00:41:56
to make private contact with mr. cruel but refused to make any further comment as if the chain family won't don't throw
00:42:03
enough on Thursday the 11th of July a prisoner Peter Allen Reid and a Federal Protective Services officer Vince de
00:42:12
paola were charged with a sickening extortion attempt the spot being locked up serving a sentence of 21 years for
00:42:20
shooting dead a police officer after a chase in a stolen car Peter Reid called John Chen on six separate occasions he
00:42:28
demanded $15,000 from John for Carmen's release otherwise he would never see her
00:42:33
again he also threatened to kill John if he didn't pay when John agreed to pay Peter Reid contacted Vince to go to the
00:42:42
arranged drop site and collect the money Vince did go to the location but there was no money the police were aware of
00:42:50
the extortion attempt and had placed the trace on the Chan's phone after the first call they were both arrested and
00:42:57
police conducted several search warrants neither of them knew anything about Carmen's abduction or where she was they
00:43:04
were just trying to obtain money from the Chan family their actions were described as a brutal psychological
00:43:10
assault on the chance the Lynas family had since moved back to England detectives from operation spectrum flew
00:43:19
to England to re-interview Nicola the thought was that Nicola had been held the longest by mr. cruel she now had
00:43:26
more time to reflect and it was hoped she may have remembered more details that could help the investigation
00:43:31
inspector Sprague said you were opening up old wounds when the family is just trying to get back on track but the
00:43:38
family realizes we're trying to catch this bloke the more we know the more chance we've got in catching you leading
00:43:46
up to the one-year anniversary of Carmen's abduction the age newspaper ran a feature article about the case a close
00:43:52
family friend of the chance Paul Williams said this about Phyllis I think she's a lot more in control of herself
00:43:59
now having been through a year of trauma she's more or less resigned to believing
00:44:03
that Carmen may no longer be alive and she's trying to go about her life but certainly in a different way than
00:44:10
she did 12 months ago on Thursday the 9th of April of 1992 only a few days short of the one year anniversary of
00:44:18
Carmen's abduction a man was walking his dog along a track that ran through an isolated State Electricity Commission
00:44:25
terminal station site in Thomas town about 20 kilometers or 12 and a half miles from Templestowe part of the area
00:44:34
had been used as a dumping ground for landfill it had recently been leveled by earthworks causing a shallow grave to be
00:44:40
disturbed the man found a human skull about 20 meters away from Edgar's Creek police were called in an extensive
00:44:49
search uncovered a number of other bones in a shallow grave the human skull had three bullet holes police were able to
00:44:57
confirm there was the remains of Carmen Chen the chains were actually preparing to hold a press conference to mark the
00:45:04
one year anniversary of Carmen's abduction that press conference was cancelled the police held their own
00:45:10
press conference to announce the discovery Detective Inspector Sprague said it is horrific for a child to be
00:45:18
killed in that fashion is just incomprehensible we believe he can not control the desire to act out his urges
00:45:25
it is like an addiction and he would not stop until he is caught although John and Phyllis may never hear the laughter
00:45:32
of their daughter again they can now say goodbye to Carmen and put her soul to rest as she deserves the family will now
00:45:39
have the opportunity to start rebuilding their lives Detective Chief Inspector Peter Halloran head of the homicide
00:45:46
squad said the body had probably been at the site for almost 12 months and whoever buried the body would likely
00:45:53
have some knowledge of the area police believed Carmen may have been killed because she saw mr. cruel face causing
00:46:00
him to panic they believed this based on what mr. cruel told one of his other victims my freedom is more important
00:46:08
than your life Phyllis had also previously told police that cumin was not the sort of girl to
00:46:14
accept being kidnapped without a fire she believes Carmen may have ripped off a blindfold and confronted mr. cruel
00:46:22
believing mr. cruel may have suffered anxiety stress depression and displayed signs of remorse after Carmen's murder
00:46:29
police wrote to every single one of Victoria's 10,000 registered doctors asking them to consider breaking patient
00:46:36
confidentiality their appeal asked doctors to consider whether their duty to the community
00:46:42
outweighed their duty to a patient they believed mr. cruel may have sought treatment after Carmen's death the
00:46:49
letter had the backing of the president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association dr. Paul
00:46:55
hemming the doctors were also sent a profile of mr. cruel the dates of the crimes and other information about the
00:47:03
case the move was met with some criticism as people doubted mr. cruel would have made a full confession to a
00:47:10
doctor so it became a little murky for doctors if they just had suspicions about a patient it would be difficult to
00:47:17
know if they were just being paranoid and overly cautious or if they were making a reasonable judgment many
00:47:24
doctors did respond to the appeal and police said they received some useful information police then turned to the
00:47:31
United States and a convicted kidnapper and child killer Richard starett he was being held in a hospital for the
00:47:38
criminally insane and Victoria police wanted to speak to him in the hope he could give them some insight into mr.
00:47:44
cruel the reason being like mr. cruel starett kidnapped several young girls held them for several days then released
00:47:52
them however he did end up shooting one of his victims dead starett's forensic profile closely resembled mr. crews how
00:48:02
healthily was or if he even spoke to the Victorian police is unknown an officer did fly to the United States at one
00:48:09
point but it's not clear if any contact was made starett said publicly he would be happy to speak to the Victorian
00:48:16
police if they wanted but he doubted he would be able to provide any useful information
00:48:20
in starett's case he was married and waited until his wife visited family who lived in two state he then hired a
00:48:28
vehicle and drove to another city he went door-to-door acting as a salesman until he found a young girl
00:48:34
home alone so his method was different to mr. Cruz it wasn't until Wednesday the 27th of
00:48:42
January 1993 that further information was released to the public about mr. cruel police released sketches of a
00:48:49
bedroom and a bathroom of his house drawn by one of the victims you will find links to those sketches in the show
00:48:56
notes they also released information that mr. Cruz victims heard large jets flying overhead when they were held
00:49:02
captive leading police to believe the house was directly underneath a Melbourne Airport flight path this
00:49:09
information led police to check about 30,000 houses in 15 different northern suburbs of Melbourne trying to find a
00:49:16
match to the descriptions given by mr. Cruz victims Detective Inspector Sprague hoped someone would recognise the
00:49:24
bedroom and bathroom based off the sketches the bedroom had beige or cream carpet peach colored full-length
00:49:30
curtains a double bed with peach colored bedhead an orange alien base and lemon shade with thin white vertical stripes
00:49:38
light colored walls and a white door there was a dark blanket over a bookcase or cabinet at one end of the room and a
00:49:46
radio had been playing constantly the interior design was believed to be dated between 1988 and to 1990 inspector spray
00:49:56
said quote that description of the bedroom was drawn by one of the victims who actually to her extreme danger had a
00:50:03
peep and looked around the bedroom at one stage even though she was warned the bathroom was an unusual
00:50:10
configuration someone would have to pass a wash basin to get into the shower which had a glass sliding door there was
00:50:16
also a bath the house had a right side driveway and there were only a couple of steps to the front entrance the house
00:50:24
was on a quiet street with a little traffic inspector Sprague said that I didn't
00:50:29
want to tip off mr. cruel that they knew that much information about his lair that's why they didn't release the
00:50:34
information sooner mr. cruel could have changed the interior before police had a
00:50:39
chance to find his house however police had now exhausted their door-to-door search for the house so they were
00:50:46
turning to the public for help detectives were convinced their house was under a flight path and close to
00:50:52
Melbourne Airport they received a flood of calls from the public after this press release around 1,400 additional
00:50:59
pieces of information were received they checked out a number of houses but all were eliminated in June 1993 just over
00:51:09
two years since Carmen's abduction operation spectrum was scaled down to a core group of ten police at one stage
00:51:17
there were over 40 working on the task force inspector Sprague departed as head of
00:51:22
the task force to take up a job as officer in charge of the detective training school at Russell Street
00:51:27
headquarters he said quote it is not work after a while it becomes your life you live the investigation day after day
00:51:36
racking your brains for possibilities you're constantly thinking when is he going to strike again if we don't get
00:51:44
him some other child will be a victim that's the pressure we deal with all that one the decision to scale down the
00:51:52
size of the task force was made after an internal review of the investigation the
00:51:57
assistant police commissioner said that after the review he was happy everything
00:52:00
possible had been done to solve the case and nothing had been overlooked he assured the public that the case would
00:52:07
not be forgotten or neglected in the search for mr. cruel would continue if there was a major breakthrough the
00:52:13
number of staff on the task force would be increased again it was then reported that the task force would be completely
00:52:20
disbanded at the end of Jan in 1994 Phyllis Chan said quote the task force has been fantastic the detectives
00:52:29
have been very hard-working but unfortunately they couldn't find or identify the men who took my Carmen I
00:52:35
know they have worked very hard and they care for me and my girls Detective Sergeant Fontana who is the second in
00:52:43
charge under Detective Inspector Sprague said the workload has been enormous everyone has worked extremely long hours
00:52:51
it's not through a lack of trying that we haven't solved this case it's depressing and very frustrating that
00:52:57
with all the work we've put in we haven't solved it responsibility for the investigation fell to the right squad
00:53:04
and to the Homicide Squad the chain marriage had suffered enormous ly in the years since Carmen's abduction the
00:53:13
speculation the strain of media appearances and their never-ending search all took their toll Phyllis and
00:53:21
John divorced after which Phyllis went through a financial collapse she lost her car the house and only just told on
00:53:29
to her restaurant in early 1995 Phyllis was viciously bashed her guard dog was poisoned weeks before the attack and the
00:53:39
police believe her attacker was watching her during that time after working over
00:53:44
16-hour days at a restaurant over the weekend she returned home about 12:30 a.m. on Monday morning she was carrying
00:53:51
the restaurant takings when she'd got out of the car she was clubbed from behind with a wooden object she pleaded
00:53:59
I am calm and Chan's mother please don't but she was smashed on the skull several
00:54:04
more times before her attacker took off with the money she required surgery 60 stitches and a hospitalization for about
00:54:12
one week to recover an ex-employee of Phyllis was responsible for the attack operation spectrum had taken its toll on
00:54:23
the health marriages and family lives of many of the police officers involved as
00:54:28
well six years after Carmen's death a cranial inquest was held the coroner ruled the Carmen died of gunshot wounds
00:54:36
to the head fired by an unknown person the date and location where Carmen was killed could not be determined the
00:54:43
coroner said the case will remain open operation spectrum was the largest task force in Victorious history up to that
00:54:51
point incredible resources were thrown at it the people of Victoria demanded that the crime be solved more so than
00:54:58
any other at lasted for close to three years 27,000 people were interviewed ten thousand eight hundred leads were
00:55:07
investigated nine hundred and ten thousand kilometers or five hundred and sixty five thousand miles were traveled
00:55:14
investigating those leads the FBI and Scotland Yard were both consulted thirty thousand houses were checked there
00:55:24
police worked twenty five thousand hours in unpaid overtime there are still 32 people the task force identified as
00:55:32
possible suspects that have not been able to be eliminated from the investigation the total cost of the
00:55:39
investigation was about 3.8 million dollars as a result of the inquiries and leads
00:55:45
generated by the task force 74 people were charged with offenses such as conspiracy improper use of
00:55:52
telecommunications equipment firearm and drug offenses rape incest and child pornography changes to child pornography
00:56:01
legislation were made as a result of the investigation as was a strengthening of
00:56:06
legislation regarding sex offenders loitering in areas frequented by children but they didn't get the men
00:56:12
they most desperately wanted on the 25th anniversary of Carmen Chan's abduction in 2016 a new reward was announced 1
00:56:23
million dollars for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of her killer they also announced that the
00:56:30
Director of Public Prosecutions have made grant anyone with information on the case Indemnity from prosecution form
00:56:37
a member of the task force who is now an assistant commissioner Steven Fontana said we have always maintained that
00:56:44
there will be someone in the community who is an associate or knows the offender in this case we have always
00:56:49
thought someone would know and be close to him and know it was him he also said that he believed that mr. cruel was
00:56:57
still alive and that he would still have items taken from the victims as trophies
00:57:02
Detective Inspector Sprague describes the case as the monkey on his back that's still there there were too many
00:57:09
suspects rather than too few he believes it is possible mr. cruel was one of the tens of thousands of people
00:57:16
police interviewed during the investigation in 2012 David Sprague told the Herald Sun
00:57:22
newspaper some issues that operation spectrum faced this quote is referring to the Carmen Chan case the crime scene
00:57:30
was not preserved as it should have been we had a lot of problems with it unfortunately the initial police member
00:57:36
in charge had set up the command post inside the house it was a disaster with people stomping all over the place
00:57:43
they didn't seal the crime scene off as they should have he also talked to the herald-sun about
00:57:50
when operation spectrum first identified mr. cruel was almost certainly responsible for an earlier series of
00:57:56
attacks in Melbourne when they reviewed the evidence from those cases they discovered vital evidence had gone
00:58:02
missing the tape that mr. cruel had used to bond one of his victims was no longer
00:58:07
there mr. cruel wasn't as careful in those earlier attacks as he was in the later attacks so his DNA may have been
00:58:15
on that tape able to be discovered by advances in technology this is what David Sprague said quote we will never
00:58:23
know as the exhibit justice and there anymore in those days police didn't have the supervision that they do now with
00:58:31
things like exhibits people would sometimes leave them in their lockers by the time we identified these additional
00:58:37
attacks used after they had taken place some of those exhibits had been lost and
00:58:41
others had simply been thrown out they had never been examined operation spectrum actually changed the way all
00:58:50
Victorian detectives conduct investigations with the introduction of minimum standards for things like
00:58:56
exhibits crime-scene preservation and record-keeping mr. cruel had an incredible impact on Australia in the
00:59:04
late 80s and early 90s he was Australia's boogeyman sparking unprecedented fear in adults and
00:59:10
children even hardened criminals were shaken and took measures to better protect their families unless you lived
00:59:18
through it it's hard to fully appreciate dr. David Wells head of the Victorian police forensic department told The
00:59:25
Sydney Morning Herald in 1991 quote for all children their home is a safe house they feel secure there they are looked
00:59:34
after there suddenly they've been confronted by the idea that they could be taken away from that environment by a
00:59:40
man in a balaclava many parents I've spoken to say their children are feeling very insecure some are having nightmares
00:59:48
can't sleep and are worried about the security on their house the FBI profile of mr. cruel has since been made public
00:59:58
information from the victims was analyzed and formed the basis for some of the profile keep in mind a profile is
01:00:05
only a guide and not an exact science nobody should be discounted just because they don't match the profile mr. cruel
01:00:14
is intelligent obsessive about cleanliness has an intense interest in children a steady job is creative and
01:00:21
visually orientated meaning he gets satisfaction from the way things look rather than the way they function he is
01:00:29
Caucasian with a slim to medium build aged between 30 and 50 about 175 centimeters tall with a small potbelly
01:00:38
fair to sandy colored hair and that Torrens was unshaven or sported a beard he possibly wears glasses
01:00:46
he's tidy and his appearance and dress his home is neat and clean he's the type of person to clean his hands immediately
01:00:53
if they become dirty he could have had a low or senior management job or may have
01:00:58
even been self-employed giving him mobility to roam around the melbourne during the day he would appear to be
01:01:04
kind genuine interested and dedicated to helping children a good neighbor possibly an introvert he would have
01:01:14
access to another house during the kidnappings and would have been very stressed after each crime his behavior
01:01:21
might have been erratic around the times of the crimes he could have taken time off work and appeared preoccupied
01:01:27
distant and unable to concentrate he used the words bozo worrywart and Missy a lot during the attacks he would
01:01:37
possibly show signs of sexual dysfunction if involved in a personal relationship
01:01:41
his sexual arousal and gratification would be dependent on his partner playing specific roles such as dressing
01:01:48
up as a schoolgirl the possibilities as to why mr. cruel hasn't attacked again are as follows he was sent to jail for
01:01:57
an unrelated case he moved either interstate or overseas he may well have committed more crimes but they either
01:02:05
haven't been detected or they haven't been linked to him he was interviewed by officers from task force spectrum during
01:02:12
the investigation and that was enough to make him stop or he's dead we end with a
01:02:19
quote from forensic psychologist Tim Watson Munroe there is a big question mark over mr. cruel in that there have
01:02:26
been no further offenses that we know of since Carmen Chen I find it intriguing that he is not surfaced again because
01:02:34
people with this kind of problem have a very strong compulsion to satisfy their needs
01:02:45
[Music] you