He was an Aussie serial killer on a murderous road-trip across the US. She was a 16-year-old girl abducted from a mall. Against all odds, her bravery and Brownie skills saved her life — and set in train the killer’s final reckoning. WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
Discover the world of true crime from every perspective — the daughter of a serial killer, the desperate parents digging for their son’s body, the victims and the police, and the journalists who witnessed some of our most shocking cases unfold.
Armed robber John Killick was famously busted out of jail in a hijacked helicopter by girlfriend Lucy Dudko in 1999, but in the early ’80s there was another girlfriend drawn into his life of crime — and another dramatic escape.
WHEN wanted posters started appearing for Matthew Brady’s gang, the “Gentleman Bushranger” knew how to keep the public on side — cheekily creating his own wanted posters for Governor George Arthur and offering 20 gallons of rum.
IN bringing the man who abducted and murdered Daniel Morcombe to justice, police had to learn all about Brett Peter Cowan’s perverted world.
THEY were random victims — three young people set on a collision course with a deadly stranger by an innocent ad for a housemate. Just weeks after the chilling killings, the cold-blooded murderer was ready to strike again, only to be thwarted by exceptional acts of bravery.
SOME believed him innocent, jurors who found him guilty still didn’t think he should hang, but the Premier was determined that Ronald Ryan would go to the gallows. Australia’s last-man hanged faced his fate “like a small child who had composed himself into calm bravery”. “Whatever you do, do it quickly, ” he told the hangman.
Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/bookextracts/page/9