Rachelle Childs suspected killer’s cause of death in Thailand from night out clubbing
The daughter of a suspected mass rapist and killer who died in Thailand after partying in a nightclub has described her anger at her father. LISTEN TO THE BONUS PODCAST EPISODE
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The daughter of a suspected mass rapist and killer who died from a cardiac arrest in Thailand after partying with local girls has described her “red hot rage” towards her father and his supporters in a special bonus episode of the cold case investigation podcast, Dear Rachelle.
Kevin Steven Correll, 69, arrived at The Expat Hotel in Patong on July 15 and swiftly asked to change rooms because he wanted a balcony where he could sit and smoke all day with a view of the pool, before heading out for a night out with Thai women on sleazy Bangla Road.
The following night, one of the women took him back to his hotel because he was complaining about chest pain. By 10am on Friday, he was found dead on the bathroom floor, draped in wet towels.
Mr Correll’s estranged daughter Jazz previously spoke out about her manipulative and abusive father, and told the podcast team that she had mixed feelings about his sudden death.
Listen to the new bonus episode now:
“I think the anger I felt sort of kept me together initially,” she said.
“I’m being told that certain family members [have been] messaging my children and telling them that I was responsible for their grandfather’s death.
“There’s been a lot of harassment, so that anger contains me a little bit, but it’s red hot rage ... There’s anger for the lack of justice for Rachelle ... I don’t know, it’s just, I feel really angry.”
Jazz’s extended interview features on the Dear Rachelle podcast, which has had more than 3 million downloads since the launch in March.
It comes after this masthead revealed Mr Correll jumped off the plane in Phuket on July 13 and and headed straight to the notorious club district with Thai women.
Hotel staff told this masthead Mr Correll wasn’t interested in drinking at the sports bar attached to the hotel, which was open until 2am every night – he preferred to go out to local pubs and clubs on the infamous red-light strip.
He met up with at least two of the women again the following night, on July 16, and they partied until about 2am before he vanished into the bar’s bathroom and emerged complaining about chest pain.
Listen to the Dear Rachelle podcast below:
They asked if he wanted to see a doctor, but he declined, so they took him back to his hotel. They were the last people to see Mr Correll alive.
One of the women tried repeatedly to get in touch with him the next day, and eventually grew so worried that she arrived in the lobby of The Expat Hotel just before 10am on Friday, July 18, and asked staff to check on him.
Three staffers used a spare key to open his door and found him face down on the bathroom floor with no pulse and floppy limbs.
Another Australian guest was at the hotel when police arrived to investigate and they told this masthead that he saw Mr Correll’s body on the bathroom floor, draped in wet towels with bruises on his back.
A towel soaked in warm water can help alleviate chest tightness and pain. The bruising was likely skin discolouration due to pooling blood.
Once police conclude their investigation, Thai monks will be asked to perform a short ceremony at the hotel.
An autopsy was performed on Monday but his official cause of death is yet to be released.
It’s unclear if Mr Correll had travel insurance. If he didn’t, his family will have to fork out tens of thousands of dollars to repatriate his body to Australia.
Mr Correll was the prime suspect in the murder of Rachelle, a 23-year-old woman from Bargo who was killed, set alight, and dumped by the side of a road in June 2001.
He was her boss at a used car yard in Camden, south-west Sydney, and his alibi couldn’t be corroborated.
He featured in News Corp’s multimedia podcast Dear Rachelle, which aimed to reinvestigate the cold case and help bring her killer to justice.
Throughout the course of the podcast, a number of women came forward and accused Mr Correll of domestic violence, rape, stalking, and assault.
He consistently denied the claims, and insisted he had nothing to do with Rachelle’s death.
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 dearrachelle@news.com.au.
You can also join our Dear Rachelle podcast Facebook group.
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