Claremont serial killer
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The Claremont Serial Killer Case is the name given to the murders of two young Australian women in 1996 and the disappearance of a third on March 14, 1997.
All three women disappeared from night spots in Claremont, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, approximately 9km from the CBD. They disappeared in similar circumstances, leading police to believe that an unidentified serial killer may be behind the crimes.
The case began with the disappearance of Sarah Spiers, 18, in January 1996 from a nightclub in the centre of Claremont. Her disappearance was completely out of character and attracted massive publicity in Perth.
Some months later, Jane Rimmer, 23, disappeared from the same part of Claremont. The similarity in the circumstances of her disappearance led many to speculate that a serial killer was at large. Her body was found in bushland in the far southern suburbs of Perth in August 1996.
On March 14, 1997, Ciara Glennon, a 27-year-old lawyer, also disappeared from the Claremont area. Her body was found on April 3, off a track in scrub in the far northern suburbs of Perth. [1] With this murder police admitted that they were searching for a serial killer.
All three women had either gone to a pub called The Continental (since renamed The Red Rock and now known as The Claremont Hotel) and/or a nightclub called Club Bayview.
[edit] Possible related case
It has also been suggested by a Perth radio/TV journalist that Sarah Spiers was not the first victim[2]. He wrote that police have told the father of a fourth missing woman, 22-year-old Julie Cutler, that his daughter was probably the first victim of the Claremont killer.
Ms Cutler, a university student from Fremantle, vanished after leaving a staff function at the Sheraton Hotel in Perth at 9pm one night in 1988.
Her car was found in the surf near the groyne at Cottesloe Beach two days later. Her body has never been found.
[edit] Investigation
A public servant from Cottesloe, Western Australia is the prime suspect, though to date no charges have been laid.[3] It has been reported in the news, via print, radio, television, and online, that police are also investigating the possibility Bradley John Murdoch, the convicted killer of Peter Falconio may have been involved,[4] although Murdoch was serving a custodial sentence from November 1995 until February 1997. There has also been some scrutiny on former Town of Claremont Mayor Peter Weygers.[5] Weygers was the mayor during the time of the disappearances.
The inability to apprehend the culprit is seen as a major embarrassment to the Western Australia Police. The "Macro Task Force" set up to investigate the murders has been disbanded and reformed several times. Public confidence has not been helped with several senior officers being implicated in corruption allegations in the WA Police Royal Commission.
In October 2006, it was announced that Mark Dixie, a man on trial in the United Kingdom over the murder in 2005 of the 18-year-old model Sally Anne Bowman, is a prime suspect in the killings, and the WA Police's Macro Taskforce has requested DNA samples from Dixie to test against evidence taken during the enquiry[6].
[edit] References
- ^ Australian Broadcasting Commission, Australian Story, He Who Waits, February 9, 2004
- ^ http://www.postnewspapers.com.au/20030201/news/002.shtml
- ^ [1]
- ^ Falconio killer probed over murders, December 17, 2005
- ^ [2]
- ^ http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/murder-accused-linked-to-wa-riddle/2006/09/30/1159337391088.html
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