Wynarka/Belanglo murders: Karlie and Khandalyce’s deaths evoke memories of Snowtown
IDENTITY theft, siphoned bank accounts, the northern suburbs — the murders of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce Pearce evoke chilling memories for South Australians. | Closing on suspects
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- THEORIES: Could a serial killer have been responsible?
- BREAKTHROUGH: The one phone call they needed
- THE HIDING SPOT: Belanglo, the forest of nightmares
IDENTITY theft, siphoned bank accounts and the northern suburbs — the murders of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce Pearce evoke chilling memories for South Australians.
Within minutes of Tuesday’s joint SA/NSW police press conference, social media was alive with comparisons between the mystery and the infamous “bodies in the barrels” case.
The subject of numerous best-selling books and a critically-acclaimed movie, the crimes of John Justin Bunting and his bloodthirsty cronies are difficult to forget.
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Originally motivated by a hatred for paedophiles — or so they claimed — Bunting’s cabal was implicated in 12 murders and the exploitation of their victims’ personal lives.
Though they did not know it at the time, SA Police were first alerted to the group’s handiwork in 1995, when the body of Clinton Trezise was found at Lower Light, near Gawler.
More deaths would follow as the group captured, isolated and tortured their victims who they deemed to be “wastes of valuable oxygen”.
On May 9, 1999, Bunting forced one victim — David Johnson — to speak while he recorded his voice, planning to use it to fool family members into believing he had not been killed.
Mr Johnston was ordered to read out a long list of names, threaten and abuse various relatives and make false claims about having left for Perth.
He was also forced to count out numbers, from one to 100, destined to be spliced together so as to access his social security account and welfare benefits.
Mr Johnston was one of several victims subjected to the grotesque, yet effective, tactic that would yield the killers a virtual line of credit upon which to draw.
The recordings, made in the now-infamous Snowtown bank vault where the remains of eight victims were found, were later seized from Bunting’s computer hard drive.
They were used in conjunction with in-person impersonations of the dead at Centrelink offices and doctor’s surgeries.
Ultimately, Bunting’s group would pocket more than $90,000 of their victims’ money — the same amount siphoned from Karlie’s bank account, years later.
Bunting and Wagner were jailed for life without parole while Vlassakis — who gave evidence against them — was ordered to serve a minimum of 26 years.
Haydon, convicted of assisting in the serial killing spree, was jailed for 25 years with an eight-year non-parole period.
But Bunting’s rampage is not the only crime similar to the deaths of Karlie and Khandalyce.
On October 24, 2013, the skeletal remains of Martin Meffert were found in a crudely-dug grave in the state’s Mid North.
He had been killed seven years earlier and, every fortnight, his disability pension had been brazenly stolen and his ATM card used throughout the region.
To this day, no one has been arrested for the murder or the fraud.
Greed was also the motivation for Angelika Gavare, who ambushed, murdered, dismembered and then impersonated pensioner Vonne McGlynn in December 2008.
Gavare wanted Ms McGlynn’s southern suburbs home for renovation and sale, to benefit her own children, and would do anything to achieve her goal.
At the time of her trial, prosecutors said Gavare’s evil was on a level equal to that of Bunting and his accomplices — a description no doubt applicable to Karlie and Khandalyce’s murderers.
THE LATEST REVELATIONS
* Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce were killed in mid to late December 2008 with their last recorded sighting at Charnwood, northwest of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory.
* At least one male and two females were involved in identity fraud that included assuming the identity of Ms Pearce-Stevenson at the Australian Central Credit Union at Elizabeth and Centrelink Salisbury.
* Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s phone was used until mid 2011 to mislead family, friends and police by suggesting that she was still alive.
* Police say they have a very strong focus on the people who may be involved in either the murders or assisting offenders.
* Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s bank account was accessed hundreds of times and transactions worth more than $90,000 were recorded. Some of those transactions include:
3/11/2008 Purchase at KFC (Port Augusta)
6/11/2008 Purchase McDonalds (Rundle Mall, Adelaide)
9/11/2008 Eftpos Purchase Coles (Alice Springs)
14/11/2008 ATM withdrawal (Kent Town)
17/11/2008 Rabbit Photo/Strandbags (Mt Gambier)
24/11/2008 ATM withdrawal Kippax Fair (Canberra)
16/12/2008 Charnwood (Canberra)
19/12/2008 Deakin (Canberra)
22/12/2008 BP OTR (Broadview)
6/01/2009 Coober Pedy (Coober Pedy)
7/01/2009 EFTPOS Purchase Mobil (Alice Springs )
10/01/2009 ATM withdrawal BP (Broadview)
