Dear Rachelle investigation: Chief suspect in Rachelle Childs’ death

A coronial inquest ruled Rachelle Childs had been deliberately killed, but found there was not enough evidence to identify her murderer. At the time, there was one final person of interest.

Police investigating Rachelle Childs’ murder had such a wide pool of suspects they ended up DNA testing three separate towns.

But ultimately, it came down to one man: Kevin Steven Correll.

He was the only one of nine persons of interest a coroner could not eliminate over her 2001 death.

Correll was Rachelle’s boss at a used car dealership in Camden, about an hour south-west of Sydney, when she was killed on June 7.

He had hired her as a saleswoman about a year earlier.

Watch the video of the Dear Rachelle investigation above.

Person of interest Kevin Steven Correll leaving Coroner's Court at Glebe in Sydney, during Inquest into the death of Rachelle Childs, whose burning body was found at Gerroa, near Nowra.

Rachelle, 23, trusted Correll, 45, and looked up to him as a professional mentor.

They exchanged affectionate Christmas cards in 2000. But he would later claim that her work ethic had dimmed in the months before she died.

Correll was among the last to see Rachelle alive when she left work a little after 5pm. Her body was discovered, on fire, in Gerroa on NSW’s south coast nine hours later.

Later that day, her beloved Holden Commodore was found in the carpark of the Bargo Hotel. The position of the driver’s seat suggested that someone else had last driven the car.

Rachelle’s death remains unsolved, despite mass DNA screenings of men, a NSW first, in the region near Rachelle’s home in Bargo. Many bikies volunteered DNA samples in the drive. And so did Correll.

A lack of forensic evidence from six crime scenes would thwart the police investigation.

Correll’s close proximity to Rachelle was naturally of great police interest from the start of the investigation. Correll has always denied any involvement in Rachelle’s death.

In voluntary police interviews in the weeks after her death, Correll provided an involved alibi which was never verified by police.

LISTEN TO EPISODES 1 AND 2 OF THE PODCAST BELOW:

Correll was born in 1956.

He grew up in Sydney’s south-west, one of 13 children.

He had worked as a salesman and manager at various car yards to the south of Sydney.

He had been married twice and had children at the time of Rachelle’s death.

In 2008, the coronial inquest ruled that Rachelle had been deliberately killed, but found there was not enough evidence to identify her killer.

Correll was, however, the last-remaining person of interest. He has been contacted for comment.

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].

You can also join our Dear Rachelle podcast Facebook group.