Criminal profiler Kris Illingsworth: Rachelle Childs knew and trusted killer

An FBI-trained criminal profiler has shed some new light on why Rachelle Childs’ killer murdered her, dumped her body in the bush and burned her remains. Listen to the podcast and watch the video.

EXCLUSIVE: Rachelle Childs’ killer may not have planned to murder her but exploded when she refused to submit to his sexual desire, according to an FBI-trained criminal profiler.

Kris Illingsworth said the bright and bubbly 23-year-old – whose body was found 100km away from her home in Gerroa, south of Sydney in 2001 – knew and trusted her killer.

She told the Dear Rachelle investigation the pair had travelled up to two hours together in her prized 1978 Holden Commodore on the night of her murder – although it is unlikely car-fanatic Rachelle let him drive it.

FBI-trained criminal profiler Kris Illingsworth. Picture: Thomas Lisson.

Murderer Bargo woman Rachelle Childs, whose burning body was found at Gerroa on June 8, 2001.

Ms Illingsworth, who re-examined Rachelle’s unsolved case for NSW Police in 2003, said the killer likely had a history of impulsive violence, and issues with self-control which would have amplified in the years following her murder.

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He had probably forced himself on women before, she said, and felt enraged when Rachelle refused his intimate advances.

“She would have figuratively pushed back and then perhaps even literally pushed back,” Ms Illingsworth said.

“From there, he wants something, she’s not giving it, and it escalates with more force. Until at some point, he decides to kill her or just gets into a situation where it happens.”

LISTEN TO THE BONUS INVESTIGATION UPDATE EPISODE HERE

Rachelle was found naked from the waist down, which Ms Illingsworth said implied the crime was sexually motivated.

Her death was violent, either by smothering or strangulation, but there was no torture, she said.

Peter Singleton, counsel assisting the coroner for Rachelle’s inquest, said the most likely motivation was a sexual assault, “whether it was by a person who was always intent on sexual assault, followed by murder or got into the murder on the night unplanned”.

“The most likely speculation … is that she met up with somebody who was intent upon a sexual advance, which was rebuffed leading perhaps to a sexual assault followed by a murder,” he said.

“I don’t know whether it was all premeditated, but it seems to me more likely than not that it was a matter of sexual criminality rather than a murder for some other motive.”

Former Detective Sergeant, Damian Loone, and journalist Ashlea Hansen at the site of Rachelle Childs’ murder.

Ms Illingsworth said if the killer was a torturer, he would have planned the situation more carefully, rather than hastily burning her body just eight metres from a main road.

His decision to set her on fire and eradicate any DNA evidence left on her body was not his first choice.

As this masthead revealed earlier this week, he had planned to dump her in a water tank but couldn’t remove the heavy concrete lid.

WATCH: ASHLEA HANSEN, DAMIAN LOONE UNCOVER WHY THE KILLER CHANGED HIS PLANS 

Ms Illingsworth said that suggests a hastily-made decision and showed a lack of strategy, as though the killing was not planned.

She firmly believes the killer had a history of domestic violence incidents, including extreme or coercive sex acts, and may even have drawn police attention.

“It would be that heated, impulsive kind of violence,” she said.

“With that kind of violence you’d also see coercive control behaviours as well – monitoring of the partner, control like that.”

For more information about our investigation, visit dearachelle.com.au

If you have any tips or confidential information, please contact investigative journalist Ashlea Hansen at [e-mail].

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Originally published as Criminal profiler Kris Illingsworth: Rachelle Childs knew and trusted killer