Rachelle Childs’ remains were found near another Gerroa murder victim, sparking serial killer fears

The inexplicable circumstances of Rachelle Childs’ death sparked fears a serial killer was on the loose after her burning remains were found near another female murder victim.

Rachelle Childs’ body was found only a few hundred metres from another young murder victim, prompting fears that a serial killer “like Ivan Milat” was on the loose.

Rachelle’s remains were discovered on fire early on June 8, 2001, metres off Crooked River Road near the seaside town of Gerroa on NSW’s south coast.

Four years’ earlier, in 1997, young mother Jodie Fesus had been found buried under a tree of a nearby bush track, about a month after her husband had reported her as missing.

Jodie had been strangled, as detectives suspected that Rachelle had been.

Watch the video of the Dear Rachelle investigation above.

Murder victim Jodie Fesus with husband Steven (Steve) & two children Kimberly and Dylan.

A picture tendered in court during the Steve Fesus’ trial over murdering his wife Jodie Fesus showing the site where her body was found at Seven Mile Beach, Gerroa in 1997.

Was the proximity of the two bodies a murderer’s ploy to throw off investigators?

Had the same man killed the women?

Police promptly investigated if the two unsolved killings were linked.

Within a week, they had interviewed Steve Fesus, who had been the main suspect in his wife’s death.

Steve Fesus was jailed for his wife’s murder in 2018. Picture: AAP Image/David Moir

Rachelle Child’s remains were found burning close to where Jodie Fesus’ body was buried in Gerroa.

Fesus said he had worked as a club bouncer on the night of Rachelle’s death in Wollongong, an alibi supported by workplace documentation.

Further investigations over coming years found no associations between Fesus and Rachelle.

LISTEN TO EPISODES 1 AND 2 OF THE PODCAST BELOW:

But the inexplicable circumstances of Rachelle’s death – she had no known enemies, nor had she pursued lifestyle choices which endangered her – triggered extraordinary theories about drugs, bikies and a serial killer.

Compounding the ill-ease, nine-year-old Ebony Simpson had been abducted and killed in Rachelle’s home town of Bargo nine years earlier.

The manager of Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park, about 500 metres from the site of Rachelle’s body, reported strange noises to police in the minutes before Rachelle’s remains were discovered.

The next day, she thought: “Is this going to be one of those stories like Ivan Milat, when he took people to this remote location that he knew of, that nobody else knew about, and no one could see from the road?”

Police at the scene of the burial site after the body of murder victim Jodie Fesus was found at Seven Mile Beach National Park.

Police at the time pursued many lines of inquiry which proved fruitless.

Steve Fesus was jailed for his wife’s murder in 2018, and died of cancer in 2020.

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].

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.

Originally published as Rachelle Childs’ remains were found near another Gerroa murder victim, sparking serial killer fears