Dear Rachelle investigation: Bizarre discovery in key murder suspect’s home

Creepy details have emerged about what was found inside the home of a key suspect in the murder of Rachelle Childs. Listen to the latest podcast episode.

EXCLUSIVE: Rachelle Childs’ suspected killer left newspaper clippings of her case under the carpet of a unit he rented, his former landlord has revealed.

Kevin Correll also kept a set of binoculars at the apartment with a direct view of the used car section of Camden Holden, south-west of Sydney, where he and Rachelle worked.

The Dear Rachelle investigation has now found Mr Correll failed to disclose the unit to investigating officers during his first interview, instead telling them he was living in a town 20-minutes away with his then-girlfriend, “Alice”.

Mr Correll was the manager of the car yard in the first half of 2001, which meant he was Rachelle’s boss when her burning body was found in the early hours of June 8.

Rachelle Childs, flanked by school friends in an undated, was murdered in June 2001.

Rachelle left work at about 5.15pm on June 7, had a brief phone call with her sister Kristy Childs, and was never heard from again.

He voluntarily participated in an interview with police three days after Rachelle’s body was found by a main road in the coastal town of Gerroa, about 100km south of her home in Bargo.

LISTEN TO THE LATEST DEAR RACHELLE PODCAST EPISODES BELOW:

In a statement to a coronial inquest into her death in 2007, Detective Senior Constable John Bryant said: “It is interesting to note that Kevin Correll in his interview on June 13, 2001, did not identify his residence at Camden, but … gave his address as being Picton, which was the home of his then-fiancee.”

Forensics eventually searched the apartment, leaving fingerprint powder on the walls and marks on the carpet. The landlord David Funnell then had to strip the place and repaint before the new tenant could move in.

Camden Holden dealership, where Rachelle Childs’ worked in the red train carriage. Her boss was Kevin Steven Correll, a person of interest in her murder.

Mr Funnell told this masthead he was pulling the carpet up when he uncovered folded newspaper pages inside a wardrobe, tucked into the area where the carpet met the wall.

“We found a lot of newspaper clippings all directly associated with [Rachelle’s] murder,” he said.

“I took them home and said to my wife ‘I found these’, and she said ‘take it to the police’, which I did the very next day.”

During the inquest, which ran from 2006 to 2008, Alice told the Coroner’s Court that the relationship had broken down and he moved out of her Picton address in early 2001. Despite the break-up, they maintained contact until the end of that year.

This contact included a 15 minute telephone call between the pair on the evening of June 7, the night Rachelle disappeared.

She told the inquest that she had visited the apartment and noticed the windows were directly in line with the used car section of Camden Holden.

“He didn’t have a lot in the unit, but there were binoculars there,” she told the inquest.

The view from an apartment rented by Kevin Steven Correll in 2001. Both bedroom and lounge room windows overlooked Camden Holden sales yard, which is now an agricultural machinery sales business. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

The view from an apartment rented by Kevin Steve Correll in 2001, which overlooked Camden Holden sales yard and the red train carriage where Rachelle Childs worked. The yard is now an agricultural machinery sales business. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

Former detective Damian Loone, who famously helped crack the Teacher’s Pet case, said the limited furnishings raise alarm bells.

“Sparsely furnished, overlooking the car yard with a pair of binoculars. Yeah, that does concern me,” he said.

Mr Loone also said by not divulging his Camden address, Mr Correll may have denied officers an opportunity to search for forensic evidence.

“It could have … possibly have been a crime scene,” he said.

LISTEN TO EARLIER EPISODES OF THE PODCAST BELOW:

In August, 2001, after Mr Correll had been fired from the dealership for financial discrepancies, he moved to another apartment in Warilla, about 70km south of Camden.

Mr Correll has always professed his innocence, despite being named a person of interest at her inquest which delivered an open finding. He has never been charged with her murder.

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 Dear Rachelle investigation: Bizarre discovery in key murder suspect’s home