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Details :
Category: Serial Killer
Location: Australia
Date: 1989 - 1994
Crime: Convicted of committing a famous Australian crime known as the 'Backpacker Murders', where the bodies of seven hikers were found partially buried in the Belanglo State Forest located just outside of Sydney, Australia. Authorities believe he may be responsible for up to 30 more unsolved murders. He is currently serving seven consecutive life sentences with no chance for parole.
Biography: Ivan Milat grew up as one of fourteen children in a very close-knit family that kept to themselves and rarely socialized with others. There's, was a family that could handle guns, settled their own scores and preached loyalty within the family ranks. Ivan and his brothers tended to get in trouble in their rural community. There came a point where neither of the Milat parents could maintain control over their brood. Ivan, in particular, had a deep fascination with guns. He would steal them and try to modify them in various ways. Another of Ivan's traits was the fact that he was meticulous about his possessions. He would never be out without his clothes being fastidiously pressed and his cars were kept immaculately clean. He also had a way with the ladies and was known as a smooth talker. The first signs of trouble within the family came when Ivan was accused of having an affair, and impregnating his older brothers wife. In 1971, Milat was charged in the rape of two young women. He was eventually acquitted, but that incident was very much on the minds of the authorities who were tasked with solving the Backpacker Murders. The first bodies were discovered in September 1992 and believed to be women that had disappeared in 1989. One of the victims had been stabbed nine times in a frenzied attack and the other had been shot several times in the head at close range. Over the course of the next 18 months, seven corpses in all were found in the Forest, with all victims having been shot or stabbed, with evidence that the female victims had been tortured and/or raped. Ivan Milat was a person of interest from early on in the investigation, however police had nothing linking him to the crimes until a man who had been threatened at gunpoint three years earlier near the Belangelo Forest came forward. Studying a grouping of 13 suspects in the Backpacker Murders, the man positively identified Milat as the man who had pointed a gun at him alongside the road near the forest. To this day, Milat professes his innocence and has attempted escape several times, however, police uncovered DNA evidence, as well as property belonging to the victims which gave them enough evidence for his conviction and life sentence.
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