Illawarra crime: Unsolved mysteries and crimes that rocked the community
It’s one of Greater Sydney’s most talked-about regions with its sandy beaches and relaxed vibe. But it also has a seedy underbelly with its own dark secrets — these are the crimes that have shaken the communities of the Illawarra.
Illawarra Star
Don't miss out on the headlines from Illawarra Star. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Bar owner accused of headbutting man in Melbourne Cup Day ‘brawl’
- Man jailed after gambling, drinking ‘demons’ lead him to sell drugs
Behind its beautiful beaches and developing urban sprawl, Illawarra’s underbelly has quite a history of dark secrets and unsolved mysteries.
Here are some of the biggest crime stories that have shaken the community to its core.
FAMILY KILLER: MATTHEW DE GRUCHY
One of Australia’s most violent criminals was released to parole last year, after spending almost 23 years behind bars for the brutal murders of his mother and siblings.
Matthew De Gruchy was just 18 when he bludgeoned his mother, sister and brother to death in their Albion Park home in March, 1996, sending shockwaves through the Illawarra community.
He was arrested three months later for the crimes, but has always denied any involvement, insisting he was at his girlfriend’s place and found the bodies when he returned home.
But a jury disagreed, and De Gruchy was sentenced to 28 years behind bars.
The murder weapon was never found but was thought to be a car jack or similar.
His mother Jennifer’s body was found in her bedroom, his 13-year-old sister Sarah in her bed and his brother Adrian, 15, outside in a shed.
Their injuries were so violent that pathologists later said they looked like plane crash victims.
Jennifer’s injuries were particularly horrific, with her brain almost forced from her head.
UNSOLVED MURDER: RACHELLE CHILDS
Nearly 20 years since her body was found on fire in a shallow ditch near Gerroa on NSW’s south coast, the mystery of Rachelle Childs’s murder remains unsolved.
On June 7, 2001, the 23-year-old car saleswoman had finished work at the Camden Holden dealership and headed home to change before making her way to the Bargo Hotel, where she had plans to meet someone.
The Bargo woman’s body was found on fire in a ditch off Crooked River Rd the next day and her car was found at the Bargo Hotel on June 9.
Despite exhaustive police investigations and an extended coronial inquest, the circumstances surrounding her death remain a mystery and nobody has ever been charged in connection to her murder.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said the investigation was now the responsibility of the Homicide Squad’s Unsolved Homicide Unit and is currently being reviewed under the new framework.
A $200,000 reward remains on offer for information that leads to the conviction of those responsible for Ms Child’s death.
Anyone who may have information is urged to contact police.
BRUTAL KILLINGS: FRANK ARKELL AND DAVID O’HEARN MURDERS
In 1988, the Illawarra was rocked by the gruesome and brutal murders of shopkeeper David O’Hearn and Wollongong Mayor Frank Arkell.
Both killings were described as extremely brutal with a tie pin being stuck in Arkell’s eye while O’Hearn was decapitated and his body mutilated.
Arkell who was known as “Mr Wonderful Wollongong” was found dead at his West Wollongong home on June 26, 1998, his head bashed in with a bedside lamp and the cord wrapped tightly around his neck.
The horrific crime followed another gory murder just two weeks earlier.
Shopkeeper David O’Hearn made a fatal mistake, opening the door to a stranger, who attacked him from behind with a wine decanter and beat him to death.
The twisted killer then cut off Mr O’Hearn’s head, which police found in the kitchen sink.
Three months after Mr Arkell and Mr O’Hearn’s murders, a young man named Mark Valera arrived at Wollongong Police Station and confessed to the killings.
Valera, who had changed his name from Mark van Krevel, was a 19-year-old man who’d never come under the notice of police.
At his trial in 2000, Valera claimed that his father, Jack van Krevel, had sexually and physically assaulted him during his childhood, and that this led him to the two murders.
He was convicted for the two murders and is serving a double life sentence, never to be released.
PICCADILLY MURDER: WILHEMINA KRUGER
On January 29, 1966, Wilhemina Kruger was found dead at the foot of a staircase in Wollongong’s Piccadilly Arcade.
The 57-year-old cleaner’s murder sent waves of fear through the community, with detectives at the time calling it “one of the most vicious in the history of the state”.
Police believed she was first attacked at the top of the escalators in the Piccadilly Centre.
A trail of blood, clothing and other items were found on the escalator and a set of stairs which police said showed the killer had dragged her body, possibly while she was still alive.
Her murder remains unsolved to this day.
THE BULLI RAPIST: TERRY WILLIAMSON
Terry Williamson was jailed for 24 years in 1991 for multiple rapes and attacks on women and children over a nine month period from 1989 in Bulli.
Williamson was jailed for a maximum of 24 years after he violently raped 10 women between the ages of five and 43, and an 11-year-old boy, between August 1989 and May 1990.
The Bulli rapist either abducted his victims from their homes and raped them nearby or attacked them inside their homes.
He was granted parole after 22 years behind bars in 2012.
SPLASHES: NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING
Wollongong was rocked by a terrifying, fatal shooting at Splashes Nightclub in 2007.
Dragan Sekuljica died when he was shot in the head at about 3am on September 8 at Splashes Nightclub, part of the Novotel Northbeach, on Wollongong’s Cliff Road.
The 29-year-old father-of-two, from Wollongong, died instantly.
Mr Sekuljica was gunned down inside the popular Wollongong nightclub after a falling out over an alleged debt.
FAMILY KILLER: LJUBE VELEVSKI
Ljube Velevski is remembered as the man who slashed the throats of his wife and three children inside their Berkeley home in 1994.
Velevski was sentenced to 25 years jail in 1997, after murdering his wife Snezana and their three daughters.
Mrs Velevski, 25, was found face down on the floor of their Castle Court home on June 20, 1994.
Beneath her was the bodies of Zaklina, 6 and twin babies Daniela and Dijana.
Velevski argued his innocence, creating a version that his wife killed the children before killing herself. But a coroner later found she could not have cut her own throat so cleanly.
Velevski remains in jail.