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With his third victim, Mr. Cruel got even bolder. In July 1990, 13-year-old Nikki Linus was home alone with her
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sister in one of Melbourne's wealthiest suburbs. Think where business people and
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politicians live. Her parents were out when a masked man woke Nikki up with the tap of a knife.
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The intruder tied up her sister with wire, cut the phone line, forced Nikki to put on her school uniform blazer, and
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drove off in her parents' car. Not even 15 minutes later, Nikki's parents arrived home and Nikki's sister
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relays a ransom message. The kidnapper wants $25,000 and they should expect his call in the
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morning. But he never called. Instead, 50 hours after she was taken, Nikki was released near an electrical
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substation, alive. And what Nikki remembered about her time with Mr. Cruel changed the case as
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police were able to learn even more about Mr. Cruel and where he was taking the girls he was abducted.
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She was blindfolded, but she counted planes overhead, seven to nine of them. She said the drive to where she was held
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took about 45 minutes. Police mapped flight paths from Tullamarine Airport, narrowing it to a
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specific neighborhood. And when it came to the house she described, multiple rooms, a bathroom,
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quiet driveway, but Mr. Cruel was not identified. And his behavior seemed to be escalating.