Why chief suspect Kevin Steven Correll’s daughter believes her dad murdered Rachelle Childs

The estranged daughter of the man accused of one of Australia’s most perplexing cold cases says ‘deep down’ she believes he did it. Listen to the podcast, watch the video.

EXCLUSIVE

The estranged daughter of the man accused of one of Australia’s most perplexing cold cases says ‘deep down’ she believes he did it, along with up to four separate sexual assaults on women.

Jazz, 41, recalls the ‘moment’ she convinced herself her ‘sociopath’ father Kevin Steven Correll was Rachelle Childs’ killer, as he sat on her couch bemoaning his involvement in the coronial inquest into her 2001 murder.

The 23-year-old’s body was to be exhumed five years after her death to examine a new lead that emerged in the inquest – that Mr Correll had spread rumours about bikies severing Rachelle’s fingers.

Jazz, who is voicing her opinion only based on her conversations with her father, not evidence, said she was shocked when her father said to her: “I’ve never said that”.

“I knew at that moment that he’d done it because he told me the story many times,” Jazz told the Dear Rachelle podcast.

“He had said that Rachelle’s fingers were cut off because she was dealing drugs for the bikies … that’s when I realised he’s done this. That was the moment.”

Jazz recalls the ‘moment’ she convinced herself her ‘sociopath’ father Kevin Steven Correll, pictured, was Rachelle Childs’ killer.

The second instalment of Jazz’s podcast interview, features in episode 14 of the Dear Rachelle podcast, which dropped early on Friday morning.

Mr Correll was named as the primary person of interest in the case, although he has always denied murdering Rachelle and has never been charged with the crime.

Mr Correll has also participated in police interviews and volunteered his DNA to investigators.

LISTEN TO DEAR RACHELLE PODCAST EPISODES BELOW:

LISTEN TO MORE EPISODES AT DEARRACHELLE.COM.AU

Dear Rachelle host Ashlea Hansen recently confronted Mr Correll about his alleged involvement outside his workplace, The Entrance Leagues Club, on NSW’s Central Coast.

When Ms Hansen asked if he killed Rachelle, he responded: “Get out of here, will ya? F***.”

He was said to fly to Thailand days later.

Mr Correll was one of the last people to see Rachelle alive when she left the car dealership where the pair worked – Camden Holden – on June 7, 2001.

Rachelle’s burning body was later found on the side of a road near Gerroa, on the NSW south coast – more than 100 kilometres from where she lived in Bargo.

Her cold case is the focus of a multimedia investigation, called Dear Rachelle, which is reinvestigating evidence with the help of Rachelle’s family and ex-detectives.

The podcast, with its two million downloads, has regularly been the top series on Apple in Australia since it launched in March.

Murdered Bargo woman Rachelle Childs’ burning body was found at Gerroa on June 8, 2001.

In episode 13, Jazz told Ms Hansen she thinks her father is responsible for four separate sexual assaults, including rape, on women in Sydney, of which he was acquitted and all of which he strenuously denies.

“It says a lot about our judicial system in the 80s,” she told Dear Rachelle.

Jazz, a case worker, said her father was “much like a child – if you’re not giving him attention he gets very cranky.”

“Yeah, he’s very much a sociopath,” she said.

“He mimics emotions. He knows when he is supposed to act sad, but you know it’s not genuine.”

Rachelle Childs (right), with her sister Kristy.

The Dear Rachelle investigation has also revealed phone tower records also appear to conflict with Mr Correll’s alibi and place him in the area where Rachelle was last known to be alive.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Peter Singleton, who examined the phone ping evidence for the 2006 inquest, said: “It’s not conclusive, but as a matter of probability, you generally ping on a cell tower that is close to you and not obscured by a mountain.”

Investigators on the podcast team, including the detective who helped solve the Teachers Pet case Damian Loone also believe car fanatic Rachelle may have been lured to her death by the promise of a loan of a top-of-the line Holden Commodore.

She used to take home cars from the dealership where she worked.

“Was it a fictitious Commodore or was it real?” Mr Loone asked.

“Was it some way that was going to be delivered to her or did she have to go somewhere to go and get it?

“And was she lured to the Bargo Pub (where some suggested she might have been going) on a pretence of that being organised?”

A coronial inquest into Rachelle’s death in 2006 failed to identify her killer, and delivered an open finding, but ex-detectives working with the podcast have described the case as “solvable”.

For more information about our investigation, including early access to new episodes and case files, 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 Why chief suspect Kevin Steven Correll’s daughter believes her dad murdered Rachelle Childs