Ex-detective admits stealing Queen St killer Frank Vitkovic's diary to stop family destroying it
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE: AN EX-detective has admitting stealing Queen St killer Frank Vitkovic's diary to stop his family destroying it.
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IN-DEPTH COVERAGE: A RETIRED homicide squad detective yesterday broke a 25-year silence to admit he stole Queen St killer Frank Vitkovic's diary to stop Vitkovic's family from destroying it.
Herald Sun Insight Editor Keith Moor has reconstructed what happened on that dreadful day, used Vitkovic's own diary to indicate the disturbed state of Vitkovic's mind and painted a picture of each of the eight victims he shot dead.
Former Det-Sen-Sgt Jim Conomy said he had no regrets about stealing the diary on the day of the massacre as it later proved to be a vital piece of evidence.
The diary provided clues to why Vitkovic walked into the Australia Post building in Melbourne's Queen St on December 8, 1987 and shot dead eight people before plummeting to his death from an 11th floor window.
"I just wish somebody had read the diary before he murdered all those people because that might have prevented the Queen St tragedy,'' Mr Conomy told the Herald Sun yesterday.
"Anybody reading it could have been left in no doubt Vitkovic was a ticking time bomb and they might have been able to stop him exploding as he did.
"Any normal person reading his diary would say this is a man who is deranged.''
Mr Conomy, who retired from Victoria Police in August this year, was one of the first homicide squad detectives called out to Queen St to investigate the deaths and had the grim task of walking through the crime scene with the coroner before the bodies were removed.
THE VICTIMS: How innocents died in Vitkovic's calculated attack
THE TERRIBLE DAY: The Queen St killer's evil mission
THE VICTIMS: Innocents die in senseless slaughter
THE EMERGENCY: Transcripts from the police radio
LAST WORDS: Frank Vitkovic's suicide note
Today I must do it, there's no other way out. I've got to see it through. It's time to die. Goodbye all
READ VITKOVIC'S DISTURBING DIARY NOW
Web link version: Frank Vitkovic diary
PDF version: Frank Vitkovic diary
Gunman Frank Vitkovic on his killing spree as captured on the Telecom Credit Union security CCTV. Picture: HWT library
In an interview to mark the 25th anniversary of the Queen St murders, he revealed evidence suggested Vitkovic's original plan was to commit the massacre at Melbourne University, but the woman he came to kill wasn't there when he arrived at the university with his sawn-off M1 carbine semi-automatic rifle.
Mr Conomy said he and his then boss, Det-Sgt John Hill, were reading Vitkovic's diary in Vitkovic's home immediately after the murders - without a search warrant - when they made a spur of the moment decision to steal it to prevent it from being destroyed.
"John said to me, `Jim we will probably get charged with stealing this', but he said he would rather get charged with stealing and have the thing than not have it,'' Mr Conomy said.
"I think we were justified in the fact that we took it and I am glad we did.''
The gun Frank Vitkovic used in his Queen St killing spree was a sawn-off M1 Carbine .30. Vitkovic struggled to operate the weapon at times and police believe many more people may have died if it had been fully operational. Picture: HWT library
'He should have killed me'
Mr Conomy said he took Vitkovic's former friend and Queen St survivor Con Margelis home after the shooting and revealed that Mr Margelis told him he felt guilty that he lived and his colleagues died.
Mr Margelis was the first person Vitkovic tried to shoot, but Vitkovic's semi-automatic rifle jammed as he was pointing it at Mr Margelis, giving him the chance to flee.
"Con told me he wished Vitkovic's gun had worked and that he had succeeded in killing him because Vitkovic might then have been satisfied and not gone on to murder the eight other Australia Post workers,'' Mr Conomy said.
"He also said he had no indication previously that Vitkovic, who he had been very friendly with, intended to try to kill him.''
Con Margellis, the former friend of crazed gunman Frank Vitkovic, was the initial target of his hatred before he embarked on a killing spree in Queen St, Melbourne. Picture: HWT library
This is the first time Mr Margelis's death wish has been revealed as he has never spoken publicly about surviving Queen St or his troubled relationship with Vitkovic.
A Margelis family member recently told the Herald Sun Mr Margelis was deeply affected by the massacre, that he was still struggling to cope and was unlikely to respond to the Herald Sun's request to interview him.
Inside the twisted mind of a cruel killer
SALLY was Queen St killer Frank Vitkovic's confidant. She was his shoulder to cry on. A substitute for the woman he yearned to love.
Sally was his diary.
Had the diary ramblings of Vitkovic been discovered before he murdered eight people 25 years ago today then it is likely the deaths could have been avoided.
Certainly any responsible person reading them would have feared the worst and alerted authorities.
Any psychiatrist reading them would have recognised Vitkovic as a volcano waiting to erupt.
Unfortunately, the diary was discovered too late to do anything other than provide a disturbing insight into the twisted mind of its writer.
Det-Sen-Sgt Conomy today has told how he and his then boss, Det-Sgt John Hill, stole Vitkovic's chilling diary on the day of the Queen St massacre.
Vitkovic's family had allowed the detectives into their West Preston home and gave them permission to look in Vitkovic's bedroom within hours of the December 8, 1987, shooting.
The typical weatherboard suburban house where Frank Vitkovic was living. Police found disturbing diaries at the scene. Picture: HWT library
It was there Mr Conomy discovered Vitkovic's comprehensive and chilling diary.
He and Det-Sgt Hill quickly determined the diary was a vital piece of evidence.
They became aware Vitkovic's family had become concerned about letting them into Vitkovic's bedroom, that they knew the diary had been found and that they were ringing a lawyer to get advice.
The almost certain result of that phone call to the lawyer would be that they would be asked to leave and as they didn't have a search warrant they wouldn't be able to take anything with them.
Shooting victim Rod Brown (left) was a popular figure in the Australia Post offices, while Michael McGuire had been hoping to get home for his five-year-old son Brian's birthday. Picture: HWT library
Mr Conomy, who retired from Victoria Police in August this year, said he threw the diary, and other documents, out of the bedroom window in a couple of bags while Det-Sgt Hill distracted the Vitkovic family.
"When we later left the house I went round the side of the house and retrieved the bags,'' he said.
"It is a form of stealing, but we took the evidence and we believed we were doing the right thing. We just took it.''
Mr Conomy said Det-Sgt Hill later told the coroner what they had done and that while he was "shocked and surprised'' he understood the difficult circumstances in which the decision had been made and took no action over it.
"When the family found out later that we had taken the material they rang us up and said they wanted everything brought back,'' Mr Conomy said.
"We said 'no you are not having it back'.
"We took the diary in the interests of justice.''
Frank Vitkovic's murderous rampage only ended when several victims, some wounded, tackled the gunman as he reloaded his weapon. Survivors hid the weapon in a fridge before he fell to his death. Picture: Police evidence, HWT library
The decision by police to steal Vitkovic's diary - which he kept from 1979 to the day he died - meant the coroner had access to it and Mr Conomy said it proved invaluable in determining Vitkovic's mental state.
It showed Vitkovic himself was well aware he was no longer in control of his mind.
The diaries showed a slow build-up of hatred for his former friend and tennis partner Con Margelis.
His hatred grew over the months until it turned into hatred of people like Mr Margelis, and then all people.
The first female victim of Frank Vitkovic's rampage emerges from the building about 5.50pm. Vitkovic fired 41 shots and may have killed more if his gun had not malfunctioned. Picture: HWT library
The following are extracts from Vitkovic's stolen diary. He was 22 when he wrote them.
October 16, 1987: "It makes me sad when I see all the young pretty girls out there and I'm stuck at home without a hope in hell of picking one up. I don't have the guts to even ask one the time. I want to make love badly sometimes. I'm so lonely I just want to hug someone. But I know it won't happen. The old Frank died years ago . . . the result is a walking timebomb which must go off. The strangest thing is that society manufactures these human timebombs yet is so shocked when they go off. Today, somewhere, a future human timebomb is being manufactured by society.''
October 21, 1987: "I get so angry I just want to destroy. The world is full of vicious, cruel people. Why do they hate me? Why does the world hate me? I went to the shops today. I bought a new pair of socks. I said to the girl politely that the weather was a bit better today, she looked at me like I was diarrhoea.''
October 23, 1987: "I was angry after a party when an old acquaintance told me straight to my face that he hated my guts. I would have killed the guy, but it was a party with people everywhere. Otherwise I would have ripped him apart with my hands. He hates me. They all hate me. I hate them, each and every f...ing one of them. Every dog has his day and mine is soon.''
October 26, 1987: "People are just so cruel to each other it just astounds me. Like Con Margelis for example. He always made fun of my bad leg. He is the scum of the earth. He must pay. He will die. I realised that he was the person who has destroyed me. There should not be people like that on this world. They have no right to live. God is on my side. Don't worry God I will punish these evil, vicious, cruel, scum people. I will destroy the evil. My job will be done. My mission will be complete.''
November 11, 1987: "I could kill all those guys even now without blinking an eye.''
November 14, 1987: "All the friends I have had so far have hurt my feelings in the end. So I decided to protect myself by hanging around with no one but myself. It's the safest way to live life for people like me. If someone gave me even lip now I'd crack and kill them. All the crap they've heaped on me I'm going to shuv (sic) it right down their throats.''
December 6, 1987: "It's just when the bad side of me gets out I lose control. I don't know what I'm going to do. I get so angry my heart thumps. I sweat. I just feel like ripping people apart.''
December 8, 1987 - the day of the massacre: "Today I feel funny. I got too much inside me. Today it must all come out. Today I must do it, there's no other way out. I've got to see it through. It's time to die. Goodbye all.''
Tony Gioia and Frank Carmody, pictured with his wife Val, were recognised for their acts of bravery in tackling the murderous Vitkovic. Picture: HWT library.
WITNESS STATEMENTS
Brave Tony Gioia tackled Vitkovic during rampage
Wounded Queen St hero Frank Carmody's story
Donald McElroy tells of killer's 'dead pan expression'
Glen Shilling sent back into the killing zone
Young workers (L-R) Judy Morris, 19, and Julie McBean, 20, both had promising careers and lives before them before being randomly shot dead by Frank Vitkovic. Picture: HWT library
There were indications other than the diary which pointed to Vitkovic being a very disturbed youth.
Police grilled Vitkovic four years before the Queen St massacre after he was caught looking up women's dresses while lying on the floor in a Northlands department store.
Mr Conomy said a number of disturbing items - apart from the diary - were found in Vitkovic's bedroom and home immediately after the killings, including:
COPIES of The Boston Strangler and The Only Living Witness, which both relate to mass murders of women. Various sections of the books were underlined.
A POSTER for the Silent Madness film, which is about a paranoid psychotic who committed multiple murders.
PHOTOGRAPHS of film character John Rambo with the words "Rambo Rules'' and "Rambo Power'' scrawled on them in Vitkovic's handwriting.
A FEMINIST magazine called Judy's Punch in which Vitkovic wrote comments including "I am a psycho'' and "Yorkshire Ripper rule'' and "Killing is my hobby''.
NUMEROUS violent video tapes, including Mind of a Murderer, In Cold Blood and a factual murder film called 10 Rillington Place.
VARIOUS gun parts, ammunition, and the names and addresses of numerous gun shops.
A LARGE quantity of pornographic literature in the incinerator at the bottom of Vitkovic's back yard.
David Spencer's daughter Sarah Jane is escorted at his funeral. Marianne van Ewyk was set to go on leave in a few days before her brutal and untimely death. Pictures: HWT library
