Two women allege being attacked by key suspect in Rachelle Childs’ murder

As more details about the key suspect in Rachelle Childs’ murder case have come to light, two women have given detailed accounts of the “monster” who preyed on them. Listen to the podcast.

EXCLUSIVE: Two women have broken decades of silence to describe the lifelong trauma of being attacked by the man they now understand is the main suspect in Rachelle Childs’ murder.

A week after the Dear Rachelle investigation revealed her boss Kevin Steven Correll had changed his name after being acquitted of multiple sexual assaults in the ‘80s, the “incredibly brave” women have given detailed accounts of “the monster” who preyed on them and would “never stop” targeting others.

One of the women, “Jane”, described being raped in her own home as her young children slept.

“It was just like he’d done it before,” she said.

“Do this. Do that. Get in the shower.”

Rachelle, whose burning body was found far from home in Gerroa, south of Sydney, after an uneventful day at work at Camden Holden, on June 7, 2001, was thought to be the victim of a sexually-motivated killing.

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

Kevin Steven Correll, the main person of interest in the murder of Rachelle Childs. Picture: Julian Andrews

Mr Correll, who was Rachelle’s manager, was the leading person of interest at the coronial inquiry into Rachelle’s death, which delivered an open finding.

Aspects of his 1980s history of sexual assault allegations were canvassed at that time.

But only now have some of those alleged victims chosen to speak about their trauma.

“Jane”, who was assaulted at knifepoint more than 40 years ago, said she wanted to finally out “the monster”.

“I was hoping that at least if I’d put him away, he couldn’t hurt anybody else …” she said.

“He will never stop. Never ever stop until they put him away.”

LISTEN TO EPISODES 1-7 OF THE PODCAST BELOW:

In November, 1980, Jane, then of Punchbowl in Sydney’s southwest, wanted to rent out a bedroom and placed an ad in The Daily Telegraph.

A young man called about the room and turned up at about 6pm to have a look.

His name was Kevin Cornwall, who later changed his name to Kevin Correll.

He was 23 or 24-years-old and seemed “quite nice”.

“Jane” doesn’t like to speak about being attacked in her own home, at knifepoint, more than 40 years ago. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

Jane said he then returned later that night to look at the lounge room.

She was walking down the hall when, she told police, he pulled a knife.

As she recalled, he said something like: “If you don’t do what I say, I will kill your kids.”

She did what he said.

Jane said that he then raped her.

She said her attacker told her, as he assaulted her, that he’d killed a cop and raped a woman before.

“It’s like looking into somebody’s eyes and you can see their soul,” she said. “He hasn’t got one.”

The doorbell rang during the alleged assault. It was someone else hoping to see the bedroom for rent.

The visitor at the door, who knew him from a local club, later said he answered the door and said: “She is not here. She has been called away to the country, her boyfriend has been killed in a car smash.”

Three years after Jane’s alleged assault, “Nicole” placed an ad in The Daily Telegraph: “Stunning blonde Gold Coast model available for fashion and figure photography. Phone this number.”

Historical ad placed in The Daily Telegraph on September 10, 1983, by the Darlinghurst victim.

Her baby boy was sleeping in a cot when there was a knock at her Darlinghurst door. A man barged in, a beanie covering his face, and held a knife to her throat.

He took her to the bedroom and told her to undress. She could see his eyes. She recognised him.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked.

Two weeks earlier, a man had responded to her modelling ad. He claimed he was a photographer called Greg Hawkins, and he had shown her a business card.

The same man, according to Nicole, was taken aback by being recognised in a beanie.

Nicole’s survival instincts kicked in. She grabbed a ceramic ornament from next to the bed, opened the window, and threw it to the street below, where it smashed.

The man punched her, hard, in the face. Nicole did not doubt that he had come to rape her, but was scared off by her quick thinking response.

After the attack, Nicole’s husband answered a phone call from a man purporting to be a friend of Mr Correll.

The caller said: “Just remember if your wife puts him away, you and your family can take your choice of a shotgun or broken bones.”

Jane, too, said she received a phone threat a day or two after her assault: “If you report me, I will come back and kill you and your children.”

Less than four months before the alleged attack on Nicole, Mr Correll was charged with various sexual assault offences after a late night incident in a car in Liverpool.

When the police officers told Mr Correll to get out of the car, after hearing a female passenger’s screams, they claim his pants fell down below his knees.

Rachelle Childs (23) of Bargo with father Graham (left) and an uncle during her 21st birthday party.

Kristy Childs was grateful to both women for sharing their stories.

They were “incredibly brave” for sharing some of the worst moments of their lives.

“If I was there, I’d give you a massive hug. Honestly, I have no words,” she said.

Nicole has a big dog, for protection, because of that alleged attack more than 40 years ago.

“There’ll be other women for sure, I have full confidence in that,” she said.

Jane’s stint in a girls’ home, aged 14, almost a decade earlier, was raised during Mr Correll’s trial.

Mr Correll’s lawyer made her feel like she was on trial.

“All they did was bring up my past, and nothing about him,” she said.

Now in her 60s, she said: “I just forget him because he’s not worth anything. He’s just a speck, a speck of nothing.”

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].

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Originally published as Two women allege being attacked by key suspect in Rachelle Childs’ murder