Convicted for seven murders, investigators tell podcast Ivan Milat may have killed 80 more victims

While Ivan Milat was convicted of seven murders, leading figures in the investigation have revealed there may have been many more victims dating back to the 1970s. Listen to the podcast.

Three key police investigators who helped track down backpacker killer Ivan Milat say there could be as many as 80 additional victims buried in bushland whose bodies may never be found.

Milat’s first known victims were hitchhikers James Gibson and Deborah Everist, both 19, who were stabbed and beaten to death and buried in shallow graves in Belanglo State Forest in 1990. Their bodies were among seven located in the same area between 1992 and ’93.

The killer managed to evade police for years, but one of his victims, Paul Onions, managed to escape and was eventually called to help police identify Milat.

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Milat maintained his innocence until he died from cancer in 2019.

While he was only ever convicted of seven murders, leading figures in the Milat investigation have now told this masthead, and host Meni Caroutas the new podcast, Ivan Milat Untold, that there may have been many more victims dating back to the 1970s.

Meni Caroutas, Neville Scullion and Paul Gordon. Pictures: Tim Hunter and Owen Yang.

Two former NSW detectives, Neville Scullion and Paul Gordon, and a former undercover cop who only wanted to be identified as Roy, all came to the same conclusions in separate interviews. Another retired detective, Hugh Hughes, spent years investigating the unsolved murder of his wife’s cousin, Keren Rowland. She was 20 years old and five months pregnant, and he believes she was one of Milat’s first victims.

Keren Rowland who was abducted and murdered as a pregnant 20 year old in 1971. Picture: Supplied/Seven

Detective Scullion led the Milat investigation in the early ’90s and opened up about his role in the case for the first time. He said there are about 900 long-term missing people in NSW alone, some of whom were last seen in locations where Milat had been.

He also said there about 700 unsolved murders, some of which “you could look at and think, yeah, Milat’s been involved here”.

“There’s anything up to 80 people that he killed,” Detective Scullion said.

“The first body is found in 1992, he’s arrested in 1994, but he didn’t just start killing in ’92 … he was rampant over a 20-year period.”

A youthful Ivan Milat.

Ivan Milat smiles after attending a court in 1997.

Detective Gordon was credited with bringing Mr Onions into the investigation. Mr Onions had escaped Milat’s clutches in 1990 and gave a statement to police in Bowral, but the file sat in a drawer at the station for years before it was properly investigated.

In the last-ever interview before his death, Detective Gordon echoed the same sentiment – that it’s very likely Milat committed a host of murders that he’ll never be held accountable for.

“Do the math, two or three a year for 20 years,” he said, estimating there could be an additional 60 victims.

Listen to the podcast here and catch up with more episodes from The Missing Australia.

Roy, the undercover cop, was charged with the task of planting police listening devices in a caravan at Milat’s property prior to the arrest.

He walked into the van with a colleague while Milat was out, and found a stockpile of guns, knives, bow and arrows, crossbows – “like a miniature armoury,” he said.

When Milat came home early, the pair had no choice but to hide underneath the van for about an hour until it was safe to escape.

Roy said Milat was a strong contender as the reason a number of people went missing between the 1970s and when he was caught in 1994.

“He had a camping truck and he used to go camping in different parts of Australia. I’d definitely put him up high,” he said.

In the days before his death in prison in 2019, police officers tried to convince Milat to confess to his crimes and tell them whether there were other victims.

The killer refused to answer questions. At one stage, he pretended to be asleep, taking his secrets to the grave.

Originally published as Convicted for seven murders, investigators tell podcast Ivan Milat may have killed 80 more victims