and stabbed in the spine, to paralyse and humble them yet further. The gag was most likely a crucial part of Milat’s signature, as it contributed to his ultimate goal of the complete dehumanisation of his victims. Unable to speak or communicate intelligibly, his victims were rapidly stripped of their personalities. This would have been of prime importance to a control freak such as Milat.
Some victims also had their faces obscured with articles of their own clothing during the attacks. They were blind and muted as their sadistic assailant hacked and stabbed at them. This would have thrilled Milat yet more. He was a killer who experimented with different methods of dispatching his victims. Some were bludgeoned, some were strangled. Others were shot and stabbed. Multiple knife wounds were often inflicted on his prey. These knife wounds were often inflicted in a methodical or detailed pattern. This is a demonstration of the killer’s ‘picquerism’ (a term used to classify a sexually deviant condition in which the offender harbours an unhealthy predilection for using a knife to penetrate or cut a person).
The savagery of these murders was part of a steadily evolving ritual. The more Milat killed, the more ferocious the assaults became. Anja Habschied, her hands lashed behind her, was made to kneel down as if at some public execution, before being beheaded with a sword. Other victims were stabbed and slashed about the face and head. Many cases demonstrated instances of extreme ‘overkill’, demonstrating Milat’s almost unfathomable level of hatred for his victims. Some had been frenziedly stabbed, then shot multiple times in the head. In a number of cases, the head wounds were deliberately arranged to expose different areas of the skull to further attack. The aim was clearly to destroy, and each act was a different phase along an arc of pure sadism, committed out of an intense desire to inflict maximum suffering on a bound and helpless human being. Milat, as with so many other sexually sadistic serial killers, was a compulsive trophy taker, hoarding items of clothing and other personal effects as souvenirs that he could utilise later to relive his horrible deeds.
Seven murders and a forest full of death proved the undoing of Ivan Milat. When it became obvious that a demented serial killer was at work the police went all out to catch their man. It did not take long for the Milat family to come under suspicion. As a family already well known to the police and the authorities it was only a matter of time before the male members of the clan would come under official scrutiny. It was certainly a fact that several Milat brothers matched at least some of the profiles put together to describe the Belanglo Forest murderer. In the event, most turned out to have solid alibis. The exception was Ivan Milat, and he was placed under surveillance. Later examination of his, and other family members’ homes, yielded a wealth of evidence in the form of victims’ personal property. Forensic links were also established.
After months of close surveillance, the police finally secured a search warrant and raided Milat’s home on 22 May 1994. Neil Mercer from The Sunday Telegraph closely followed the case: ‘When the police raided the house, they found a treasure trove of evidence. There were backpacks, there were tents; there were cooking sets that had belonged to some of the backpackers. There were cameras; there were all sorts of things that could be traced back to individual backpackers.’ These items would later provide much of the evidence to convict Milat.
Police also raided the houses of other members of the Milat family. They found a huge amount of ammunition, an arsenal of weapons, and rope and cable ties that were identical to those found at the murder scenes. The Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi explains that there was even more damming evidence:
There was some rope found in a pillowcase at Milat’s home. There was some blood on this rope, and this blood was analysed and DNA profiling linked it to Mr and Mrs Clarke. Police found parts of a gun hidden in a wall cavity in Milat’s home. Ballistic tests proved that it was one of two weapons used in two of the murders. Milat’s response was, ‘I know knowing about the weapon’, even though it was painted with camouflage paint, and there were a whole load of other weapons, that he acknowledged were his, painted in exactly the same camouflage paint.
One item that Milat didn’t hide was a framed photograph of his girlfriend wearing a distinctive Benetton top. It was the same top that had been owned by Caroline Clarke.
More than ten years after Milat’s arrest, Police Superintendent Clive Small, who headed the task force set up to deal with the backpacker murders, spoke about his thoughts on Milat. Superintendent Small observed that Milat’s serial killer signature revealed: ‘a pattern of behaviour that goes clearly beyond just the killing of a person, and continues well after.’
As with the Russian cannibal Andrei Chikatilo – responsible for at least fifty-two brutal slayings – Ivan Milat felt compelled to hurt and terrorise his victims as much as possible. Both men preferred the outdoors as locations to perpetrate their killings, favouring dense woodland – a private place where they could spend a lot of time undisturbed with their victims. Some killers return to the scene of an undiscovered body, to gloat, masturbate or even engage in sexual acts with a decaying corpse. There is every reason to expect that Milat had returned to his own personal graveyard.
Using gags to muffle his captives’ pain, Milat would delight in maiming them with his weapons. While Chikatilo relished hearing his child victims’ screams whenever possible, Milat actually enjoyed gagging his. It furthered the control element to his fantasies as well as having the practical advantage of quieting their agonised cries. Evident in Milat’s case, too, as with Bundy, Gacy and Dean Corll, amongst so many others, is a unique thrill, gleaned from committing double homicides. Having a terrified boyfriend watch helplessly as his girlfriend was assaulted and killed, and vice versa, gave Milat insurmountable pleasure.
It has been alleged by one of Milat’s brothers that Ivan may have been responsible for up to twenty-eight murders, and that he also confessed the crimes to his mother, who has since passed away. Ivan was proven to have had an opportunity to commit the crimes associated with them each and every time.
Ivan Milat was arrogant and macho – a classic bully–loser type with a gargantuan chip on his shoulder. He was someone who craved attention, even if it was only in the form of notoriety. In prison for the rest of his days, he was moved to a maximum-security jail after a failed escape attempt. Milat, the tough guy, is segregated from many of his fellow inmates for his own protection. He has bragged that if ever presented with the opportunity he will escape from prison. He has also never once publicly admitted culpability for any of the murders.
Nevertheless, it is our opinion, based on viewing hours of trial testimony and reviewing the evidence in this case, that Milat’s guilt in these homicides is beyond reasonable doubt. Though the science of psychological profiling is far from gospel, Milat’s profiles closely resembled those based on the Belanglo killer. This, coupled with the rest of the police and prosecution’s findings, makes for a strong case indeed. Milat’s insistence that he is innocent is common among serial killers, especially seasoned and psychopathic criminals such as he.
For the families of the victims, Milat’s utter lack of remorse is yet another callous blow. Talking about their daughter Caroline, Jacquie and Ian Clarke remember fondly their bright and bubbly girl who had always dreamed of visiting Australia. She was a wilful, adventurous spirit, always keen to explore. When her wish was eventually granted, only to be cut dreadfully short by a pathetic, anger-driven, sexually inadequate monster, the pain was almost too much for her parents to bear. ‘I couldn’t bring myself to believe that such an insignificant little man could have wrought such horror and misery on so many people,’ says Ian Clarke. All these years later, the agony of knowing exactly what happened to their daughter is still very much with the couple, though they remained admirably composed during our interview with them. Resolute and dignified, they will not allow their daughter’s killer the satisfaction of seeing their own destruction.
Ian recalls the occasion, as he sat in court at Milat’s murder trial, when the wilting defendant, now lacking his trademark moustache, slipped up under clever questioning about a pair
