Backpacker murders
From Encyc
The Backpacker murders relates to 9 bodies found in the Belangalo State Forest in Northern New South Wales in Australia. They are grouped together and termed a serial killing. Ivan Milat has been convicted of the crime and has subsequently been regarded as Australia's largest serial killer. No motivation has ever been suggested for the crimes. The crimes are regarded as one of Australia's 5 largest ever controversies, along with the Port Arthur massacre, the Snowtown murders, the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain and the disappearance of Peter Falconio. There are dozens of theories as to what really happened, and the police story is not readily accepted as truth.
Myth 1: They were all tourists
The first few bodies that were found were all tourists, hence the term "backpacker murders" or alternatively "hitch hiker murders" was coined (there had been an earlier "hitch hiker murders" in the 1970s hence they ended up with the former term). However, this actually wasn't the case for all 9 of them. 3 of the bodies belonged to locals. To suggest that all of them were hitch hikers is false - the 3 who were locals would not have been asking for a lift at all. This has been played down by the media, who would like us to all wrap up this case to claim that Ivan Milat killed them all by getting them all to ride in his car.
Myth 2: They were all couples
Some of them were couples, but some were not. There were brother and sister, two sisters, two unrelated female friends, single people and couples. There was in fact no connection whatsoever between them all, other than the people who travelled together.
Myth 3: They were all killed in the same way
Actually every single killing was done in a different way, which suggested very strongly that this was not a serial killing. Interestingly, it suggested that the 9 people who died were killed in 9 different ways: this is interesting in that 6 of the 9 deaths were people who travelled in groups of 2. If even the groups of 2 were killed by 2 different people, then there had to be at least 2 people involved in each killing, which ridicules any suggestion that Ivan Milat did it working alone.
Myth 4: They were all found in the same area
It is true that the 9 bodies were found in Belangalo State Forest. It is not true that they were all found in the same area. That area is thousands of kilometres long, and it took police years to get so far as to find a 9th body. While it is true that they found up to 3 people in one spot, others were not nearby at all. They were in completely different areas.
Myth 5: They were all buried in the same way
Some of the bodies were not buried at all, but rather were out in the open. Others were buried fairly deeply. It varied enormously. However, one thing that connected at least a few of the killings was that some of the bones from one body were found in a completely different area near the bones of another body. Whilst this could have been a dog or other animal moving the bones, police suggested that this meant that they were linked.
Myth 6: That there were 9 and only 9 murders
In actual fact police were looking for over 30 unsolved disappearances in that area, and expected a similar number of bodies to be uncovered. They only found 9, hence Ivan Milat was only able to be charged with 9. They have never found any other bodies, although in fairness they haven't really looked.
Myth 7: Ivan Milat was positively identified by a witness
There were no eye witnesses to any of the murders. The key witness was someone who had hitch hiked with Ivan Milat once, and in his personal opinion regarded Ivan Milat as suspicious. Nothing actually happened on that one occasion.
Myth 8: That Ivan Milat kept trophies from his victims
When police raided Ivan Milat's house, there was one post card from one of the tourists that he had kept. Why had he kept it? Police assumed, based on that sole piece of evidence, that he had killed all of them. It could have alternatively meant that Ivan Milat just killed that one person or was involved in that one killing, or that he had stumbled upon that postcard and kept it for some reason.
Myth 9: That Ivan Milat confessed
Ivan Milat didn't confess at all. Indeed, he has protested his innocence and continues to protest his innocence to this day. His lawyer has said that he was guilty as sin, and subsequently been heavily criticised by the legal department for speaking about confidential meetings. But Ivan Milat has never confessed.
Theory 1: That Ivan Milat did it with his brothers
It is pretty obvious that these murders were not all committed by one person, hence it was suggested that Ivan Milat did it with the help of his brothers. That Ivan Milat may have killed one or two, but that his brothers killed others. Or a girlfriend. Or a whole group of them.
Theory 2: That Ivan Milat's brothers or family (etc) did it and Ivan Milat is innocent
Another theory that is floating about is that Ivan Milat was used as the scapegoat by his family to hide their own guilt. Ivan Milat was a very friendly helpful person and had even gone to police to help them (successfully) in finding one of the bodies. Police had previously suspected another person who had found a body, but later released them. Perhaps Ivan Milat's brothers had done it and sought to frame him.
Theory 3: That police had no clue who did it and decided to frame Ivan Milat because then they would look good
A pretty obvious explanation is that this was a simple frame job. This whole case had lasted 5 years with no clear leads. The only time that they had suspected anyone beforehand was someone who had found a body for them. Ivan Milat did too. So they thought that if they framed him properly then they could end it all, stop the waste of taxpayer's money and put an end to this, all the while making themselves look good.
In actual fact, this is easily the most widely believed theory.
Theory 4: That organised crime did it
The way that the murders happened and the way that they were disposed of has all of the makings of an organised crime hit. The cleanup crew took them from wherever they were murdered to dump them in their designated drop zone, that being Belangalo State Forest. It could have been several different organised crime gangs, in fact. There are many large organised crime gangs in New South Wales, and indeed they could have been from Queensland, given how far north the forest was. There are 100s of organised crime gangs that could have been involved.
Obviously, catching organised crime is difficult at the best of times, but with a crime of this nature, it would be nearly impossible, hence the need to frame Ivan Milat for it.
This theory is most widely believed by people outside of Australia, as this kind of thing happens a lot in places like USA.
Theory 5: That Ivan Milat and organised crime did it
Perhaps police knew that a particular crime gang did it, but they couldn't bring them down, so they made a deal. That gang expose one of their members to take the fall, and help police to frame him, and then the rest of them get off. This is the kind of underhanded deal that an organised crime gang would be happy to agree with. Perhaps Ivan Milat did something to upset the boss of the gang, the "don" or whatever, and this was his punishment.
This is a combination of the most widely believed theories, and is probably the most sensible of the lot.
