Serial killer Paul Denyer remains key suspect in murder of Sarah MacDiarmid
As the man dubbed the Frankston serial killer prepares to launch his parole bid, he remains a key suspect in an unsolved Melbourne murder.
Police & Courts
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Serial killer Paul Denyer – who will on Tuesday launch a parole bid – remains a key suspect in the unsolved murder of Frankston woman Sarah MacDiarmid.
The Herald Sun can reveal Denyer has twice been interviewed in recent years by police investigating the disappearance of Ms MacDiarmid from Kananook railway station on the night of July 11, 1990.
Denyer, dubbed the Frankston serial killer, denied killing Ms MacDiarmid in the jailhouse interviews but investigators still view him as a compelling suspect.
Ms MacDiarmid, 23, vanished after getting off a train and walking to the carpark to collect her vehicle and drive home.
Her red Honda car was found in the carpark after her disappearance but no trace of her body has been found.
There have been two main theories in the decades since the disappearance of Ms MacDiarmid.
One was that a violent local prostitute named Jodie Jones had murdered her with accomplices in a robbery, before disposing of her body.
Police inquiries into that scenario in recent years have not led anywhere.
Denyer has never been discounted by detectives and some police believe he is a more likely culprit than Jones, who later died of a drug overdose.
“Denyer is still well and truly in the frame,” a source with knowledge of the case said.
The notorious murderer was also interviewed by homicide squad detectives in 2011, and on that occasion he also vehemently denied any involvement.
Peter MacDiarmid, Sarah’s father, said Denyer was a “credible suspect” in his daughter’s disappearance.
“The evidence very much points towards him,” Mr MacDiarmid told the Herald Sun.
He said Denyer should not be granted parole.
“He is one person you wouldn’t want on the loose,” Mr MacDiarmid said.
“That man should be kept in prison.
“Sarah has been missing for so long, he’s not going to admit anything. We are hoping all the time, after 30 odd years, we find out what happened to our daughter.
“Will we find out before we die? Who knows. You just keep going, keep hoping. It would make our day to find out what happened to Sarah. It would be marvellous.”
Denyer’s fate is expected to be decided by the Victorian Adult Parole Board on Tuesday as he becomes eligible for release from jail 30 years after murdering Elizabeth Stevens, 18, Debbie Fream, 22, and Natalie Russell, 17.
The women were killed at random within seven weeks in 1993.
The investigation into Ms MacDiarmid’s disappearance continues.
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