More than 30 years after Ivan Milat was convicted of the murders of seven young travelers in Australia, new evidence presented during a parliamentary inquiry in New South Wales has brought back into the spotlight the possibility that the notorious serial killer was linked to many more unsolvedcases.

According to testimony given before the committee investigating unsolved homicides and long-term disappearances, the police had previously investigated possible links between Milat and 17 additional murders, as well as 14 other disappearances.

The chairman of the parliamentary committee, Jeremy Buckingham, told news.com.au that there are a total of about 30 cases in which Milat’s possible involvement had been examined.

These specific reports do not prove that Milat was the perpetrator of these crimes. The parliamentary inquiry is, however, examining how the authorities handled the relevant cases, both before and after his conviction.

The Belanglo Forest Murders

Milat was arrested in 1994 and, in 1996, was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences for the murders of seven young travelers, whose bodies had been found in the Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales.

The murders, committed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, are among the most notorious crimes in Australian history.

Former Senior Prosecutor Mark Tedeski, who had led the prosecution in Milat’s 1996 trial, testified before the commission that the authorities could have sent him to prison many years earlier.

The 1971 Case

In 1971, Milat was charged with rape and two armed robberies. After the charges were filed, he fled to New Zealand, but was arrested again in 1974 and brought to trial.

Tedeski referred specifically to the rape case and to an incident that, as he said, he considered unusual.

According to his testimony, he had been informed that Milat’s lawyer, the late John Marsden, had visited the home of one of the women involved in the case the night before the trial. When the woman testified the next day and was asked whether she had consented to sexual intercourse, Tedeski characterized her response as unclear.

According to him, following this response, the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence to prove a lack of consent, and Milat was acquitted.

Tenteski did not draw any conclusions regarding the reasons why the woman testified in this manner.

Questions Regarding the Robberies

Questions are also being raised about the outcome of the armed robbery case. Three other individuals who had been charged with the same robberies were sentenced, according to the evidence presented to the committee, to prison terms of 12, 16, and 18 years. Milat was acquitted.

The parliamentary inquiry is also examining the fact that no court transcript from that particular trial has been located.

Tendeski stated that he had strong suspicions that Milat may have been involved in other deaths as well, but clarified that he had never received evidence that could support criminal prosecution.

As he noted, there were indications that raised serious suspicions, but no evidence sufficient to lead to the filing of charges or a trial.

The murder of 18-year-old Peter Letcher

Among the cases under review is the disappearance and murder of 18-year-old Peter David Letcher in 1987.

The young man disappeared in November of that year while hitchhiking home from Liverpool, New South Wales. His body was found about two months later in the Jenolan State Forest.

Former police officer Chris Illingsworth, a member of the special Task Force Air, testified that the murder of Lecher was the only other case in which that particular task force believed Milat was the perpetrator.

According to the testimony, a case file had been compiled and forwarded to the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions. Prosecutors, however, did not proceed with charges, as they deemed the ballistics evidence insufficient. To date, that file has not been located.

The commander of the New South Wales Police Homicide Squad, Detective Joe Duweichi, testified that a search of police records was conducted but yielded no results. The prosecutor’s office also reported that it has no record of the specific case file.

According to him, there are approximately 400 boxes of archival material that may contain additional evidence.

Tenteski stated that he had never received a file regarding the murder of Lecher.

The parliamentary inquiry is also examining the possibility that Milat did not act alone in all the murders for which he was convicted.

Tendeski stated that he shares Judge David Hunt’s assessment that, in some cases, a second person may have been present with Milat.

The former prosecutor referred to crime scenes where different weapons had been used. In one instance, according to his testimony, there were indications that two different weapons had been used.

He clarified, however, that he had not been provided with evidence that would have allowed him to bring charges against another person.

Judge Hunt, who sentenced Milat to seven life sentences, had also expressed the view that the convicted murderer had not acted alone throughout his criminal activities.

Past Disappearances Also
in the Spotlight

The parliamentary committee is not limiting its investigation solely to cases that may be linked to Milat, but is examining, in general, how past disappearances and unsolved homicides were handled.

Buckingham referred to the testimony of the parent of a 15-year-old girl who had been reported missing and was never found. According to what was reported to the committee, the family felt that the police’s initial response to the disappearance did not reflect the seriousness of the case.

The committee chair is calling for the creation of a special judicial investigative committee and a new police task force, involving agencies from different jurisdictions, so that old cases can be reexamined.

The goal will be to investigate whether certain unsolved murders or disappearances are linked and whether there was evidence or common characteristics that had not been adequately evaluated in the past.

Tenteski focused particularly on the period between the first charges Milat faced in the early 1970s and the murders of travelers that began in the late the 1980s.

As he told the committee, Milat had already been involved in an incident with two women who were hitchhiking as early as 1972, and by 1989 he had begun murdering travelers.

The former prosecutor stated that he found it difficult to believe that no other criminal activity had taken place between the two periods, though he did not have evidence linking Milat to any specific other deaths.

The investigation is now examining whether these suspicions were adequately investigated and whether information regarding unsolved cases may still be found in archived police records.

Ivan Milat died of cancer in 2019, at the age of 74, at Long Bay Hospital.

The New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into unsolved homicides and long-term disappearances is expected to present its final findings to the legislature in February 2027.

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Source: PROTO THEMA